Turkish agency host iftar for 1K in Karachi

KARACHI, Pakistan

Turkey's state aid agency hosted a iftar, or fast-breaking meal during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, for hundreds of students, teachers and residents here Friday.

It was the second iftar this Ramadan by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) and was held at the Baitussalam Education Complex, which provides free education and boarding facilities to 1,000 students in the city’s northern outskirt.

About 1,000 people attended the Iftar where students performed Turkish poetry, according to organizers.

TIKA's head of the Balkans and Eastern Europe department, Dr.Mahmut Cevik, said the agency organized iftar meals in 150 countries in Asia, Africa, the Balkans and South America. It hosted iftar for 1,000 people in Islamabad last week.

Cevik extended Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr greetings -- a festival marking end of Ramadan -- and said Pakistan and Turkey embodied a "very special" relations, which had become stronger with time. He pointed out the role of Pakistan's national poet, Dr. Allama Iqbal, in the historic Caliphate Movement of 1919-1924, launched by the Muslims of India to protect the Ottoman Caliphate.

TIKA was active in health, education and social sectors across Pakistan for the last nine years and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Hospital Trust in the remote district of Muzaffargarh, located 236 miles (380 kilometers) from the provincial Punjab capital of Lahore, has been serving thousands every year with free health care to all patients.

TIKA plans to launch several projects in health, education and social sectors, including establishment of water filtration plants, and libraries, in the coming months in remote areas of Karachi and elsewhere in the country, he said.

These projects, he said, would be laid out and executed with an active involvement of the local community.

Appreciating the services of Baitussalam Education Complex for promotion of education, he noted students at the school could act as a bridge between Pakistan and Turkey.

Established in 1992, Turkey's government-run aid agency is responsible for implementing the country's developmental cooperation policies overseas.

Prominent among attendees at the iftar were local politicians , community representatives, Turkish Consul in Karachi Murat Erkol, İslamabad Program Coordinator Gökhan Umut and Karachi Program Coordinator İbrahim Katırcı.