By Gozde Bayar
Talented high school students in Türkiye received the Jinnah Young Writers Awards at a ceremony Tuesday in collaboration with the Turkish National Education Ministry and the Pakistani Embassy in Ankara.
Mustafa Mert Tokgoz from Istanbul received 1st place with his essay, Iqbal and Independence, at the ceremony at the Ministry of National Education in the Turkish capital of Ankara.
The theme was “Muhammad Iqbal and Mehmet Akif Ersoy - Two great poets of the 20th century.”
Türkiye’s National Education Minister Yusuf Tekin said he was happy to meet representatives of friendly and sisterly Pakistan.
He said the ministry plays a very important role in passing feelings of fellowship to future generations.
"We are currently going through days in which we need the freedom and dignified stance of the Muslim world. I hope that we, too, will make the effort to represent our country to future generations as the embodiment of the dignified stance that will set an example to the world, like (Republic of Türkiye's founder Mustafa Kemal) Ataturk and (Pakistani founding father Muhammad Ali) Jinnah,” he said.
Pakistani Ambassador to Türkiye Yousaf Junaid said high school students from various parts of Türkiye contributed excellent essays this year.
“Named after Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, the essay competition is one of the key features of Pakistani Embassy public diplomacy initiatives,” he said, adding that the key objective in instituting the award was to reach out to the younger generation and acquaint them with the “glorious history of fraternal ties.”
“I believe that our fraternal and deep-rooted ties would be further strengthened through such initiatives. The vision of the leadership in both countries is to transform this historic relationship into a strong strategic partnership- encompassing all fields of human endeavor,” he added.
Following speeches, winning students were presented awards.
The competition is held annually for high school seniors in Türkiye.