Three Turkish universities, Istanbul, Trakya, and Suleyman Demirel, have agreed to strengthen cooperation with 18 counterpart institutions across the Turkic-speaking world, including in Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Tatarstan.
The agreement came during a gathering in Istanbul, where rectors from all 18 Central Asian and Caucasian universities arrived to mark the start of the new academic year. Talks held at Istanbul University produced a consensus that existing partnerships should be broadened and deepened.
Planned initiatives include exchanges of faculty and students, joint academic conferences, and collaborative projects designed to draw in additional Turkic-republic universities. Special attention will be given to strengthening Turkish-language departments abroad, with steps to train qualified instructors as a priority.
Istanbul University rector Prof. Mesut Parlak will lead a joint working group overseeing these efforts for the next two years.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in October 2006, in its own words.