CoHE President Saraç Conferred Honorary Doctorate Degree in Azerbaijan
November 25-26, 2019
CoHE President Prof. M. A. Yekta Saraç paid a visit to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to hold official talks. Prof. Mehmet Şişman, CoHE Executive Board member and President of CoHE Education Commission, accompanied President Saraç during the visit. Firstly, they visited Baku Turkish Martyrs' Memorial with İdris İsayev, Deputy Minister of Education of Azerbaijan, and prayed for all the martyrs in Azerbaijan.
Following the visit to the memorial, they went to Azerbaijan University of Languages and met with Kemal Abdullah, the rector of the university, and the university administrators. President Saraç also talked with academics and students at the university. CoHE President Saraç was conferred with Honorary Doctorate Degree by Azerbaijan University of Languages for his services to strengthen the friendship and cooperation between the Republic of Turkey and the Republic of Azerbaijan and to improve the cooperation in education.
Saraç noted that he was proud and glad to receive the honorary doctorate and said, “We always consider the term of “two countries, one nation" as the essential principle. Turkey and Azerbaijan have signed many agreements in various fields. However, the agreements signed in education are the most important ones as they will influence the generations in the long term. We attach great importance to the cooperation in education, science, and higher education between the two countries." He said he was thankful for the honorary doctorate, stating that he was taking the degree on behalf of all his coworkers at the “New CoHE."
He noted that they attached importance to Azerbaijani language in Turkey and said, “There is a four-year program on Azerbaijani language at a Turkish university. We try to introduce the Azerbaijani language, its literature, and culture in this program. Both Turkey and Azerbaijan protect and develop their most valuable treasure, which is the treasure of language. Turkish is one of the oldest and most established world languages and has spread over a wide geographic area. We will strive to strengthen the relations between Turkish universities and this university."
Kemal Abdullah, Rector of Azerbaijan University of Languages, stated that he was quite happy that CoHE President Yekta Saraç was included in the list of Honorary Doctors of the university.
Erkan Özoral, Turkish Ambassador to Baku, İdris İsayev, Deputy Minister of Education of Azerbaijan, Prof. Mehmet Şişman, CoHE Executive Council member, President of the International Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation, Günay Efendiyeva, and Nevruz Mammadov, former Prime Minister of Azerbaijan, attended the event. Academics, teachers, and students were also present in the event.
President Saraç met with Ceyhun Bayramov, Education Minister of Azerbaijan, and talked about topics related to higher education between the two countries.
CoHE President Yekta Saraç also opened the Turkish Research Center during his visit.
President Saraç's visit to Azerbaijan was concluded with his speech at the program organized for the 100th Anniversary of Baku State University.