DAKAR, Senegal
His real name is Samba Sy. But, unusually, this Senegalese man has a Turkish name, too -- Mecnun Karaoglan.
It is a name his Turkish friends gave him during his time as a student in Istanbul.
Sy graduated from Istanbul Technical University’s Electronic and Communication Department in 1998, then returned to Senegal.
Sy, one of many foreign students who came to study in Turkey, said he misses the country and has not forgotten it even though many years have passed.
More than a decade later, he continues to take every opportunity to familiarize his Senegalese friends and acquaintances with Turks and Turkish culture.
And he finds a receptive audience, he said.
People in Senegal generally do not have a good impression of Europeans because of the French colonization of the country, which began in earnest with the European scramble for African in the 1880s and 1890s -- though the French had founded the city of Dakar, for example, in 1857.
The country became independent of France in 1960. Dakar is now its capital city.
But no such history taints Senegalese relations with Turks.
"Britain and France shared Africa like a cake in 1885," Sy said. "But the Ottomans did not exploit African people in such a way."
And now, he said, his country looks toward Turkey for leadership is the country, at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, emerges as an ever-greater force in the world.
“Turkey is a leader and a source of hope for the Muslim world,” Sy said. Turkey, he said, does not easily do the bidding of the West.
Sy said he misses Turkey, Istanbul and the country’s culture. And, all these years later, he still knows the Turkish national anthem by heart.
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