TİKA Continues to Support North Macedonia in the Field of Education

Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) provided renewal and equipment support to the Faculty of Pedagogy and Faculty of Fine Arts within Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje in North Macedonia.

Opening ceremony of the Renewal and Equipment of the Lecture Hall of Kliment Ohridski Faculty of Pedagogy within Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje Project was attended by the Former Turkish Parliamentary Speaker, Mustafa Şentop; TİKA’s Vice President, Mahmut Çevik; and Dean of the Faculty of Pedagogy, Prof. Dr. Biljana Kamçevska, along with representatives of Turkish institutions and organizations in the country, academic staff, and students.

With the project, the lecture hall beneficiary for 360 students was renewed, the needed equipment was provided, and it was put into service for the university in the week of the “December 21 Day of Turkish Language Teaching”.

The program, held with the moderation of the former Minister of State of North Macedonia and faculty member Prof. Dr. Adnan Kahil, started with a ribbon cutting.

In his speech there, the Former Turkish Parliamentary Speaker, Şentop, celebrated the December 21 Day of Turkish Language Teaching in North Macedonia, stating that he has been coming to Skopje each year for 15 years on this wise.

Şentop noted that Türkiye has supported North Macedonia, stood by her, and supported her membership to many international institutions and organizations since the first day she declared her independence and that they will continue this support in the future.

Stating that TİKA, which renewed this lecture hall, is an institution that shows solid examples of the cooperation between Türkiye and North Macedonia, Şentop noted that TİKA is the soft hand and the most important international brand of Türkiye’s understanding of humane and conscious foreign policy all across the globe.

Stating that there still are people who are treated differently because of their religion, language, and race differences in other places of the world, such as Europe and America, Şentop continued:

“We lived together as brothers and sisters for 600 years despite our differences in language, faith, religion, and ethnicity. The Republic of North Macedonia is carrying on and continuing this mindset. As people who have the culture of living together in peace, we were able to practice the co-existence their books describe as the ideal for hundreds of years, making it a reality. Therefore, we hold this nice attitude and behavior of the Republic of North Macedonia and our beautiful history as an example to many countries.”

Noting that the world is standing on the edge of a quite important change, Şentop stated: “The international order of the 20^th century and the paradigms about the world and humanity are now crushed. The 20th century is the most bloody century in world history. Europeans have killed more than 100 million people, solely during World Wars 1 and 2. This order, which was built upon blood and tears, caused conflict, massacre, and genocide in many countries during the second part of the 20^th century. We still see the extent of it. We are seeing it in the war between Russia and Ukraine. We are seeing it in the genocide Israel commits in Palestine.”

Stating that the international order and its institutions, such as the United Nations, have been unable to stop the war between Russia and Ukraine and the genocide Israel commits in Palestine and Gaza, Şentop made an evaluation: “Politicians of the Western countries have been standing with the oppressors, who commit the massacre, instead of the oppressed and the persecuted.”

TİKA’s Vice President, Mahmut Çevik, reminded that the faculty is giving education in Macedonian, Albanian, and Turkish languages and stated: “The most important need of the region is the continuation of the culture of living together, that it is kept alive and sustainable. I hope in this lecture hall, new generations who will contribute to the peace and tranquility of the region and develop the culture of living together will be raised in the upcoming periods and semesters, and these generations will contribute to the regional and global peace, both in this region and in Türkiye.”

Dean of the Faculty of Pedagogy, Kamçevska, mentioning his studies in the faculty, stated: “I would like to thank TİKA for the raised fund and the efforts to turn our lecture hall into an area in which we can organize various events and hold educational activities with our students.”

Equipment of the Faculty of Fine Arts Project

Also, the opening of the “Multimedia Lecture Laboratory” installed in the Faculty of Fine Arts of Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje was held by TİKA.

The opening ceremony of the multimedia laboratory, which was installed and equipped by TİKA to enable the students to receive education under better conditions, was attended by the Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Prof. Dr. Slavitsa Yaneşlieva; the Former Dean, Bedi İbrahim; TİKA’s Vice President, Dr. Mahmut Çevik; representatives of Turkish organizations and institutions; academic staff of the faculty; and the students.

In his speech during the opening, Çevik stated that TİKA has carried out approximately 1,200 projects in North Macedonia for 18 years.

Çevik stated: “We supported the renewal and equipment of the Multimedia Laboratory in the Faculty of Fine Art of Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje, the longest-established university in North Macedonia. We enabled the students we had just seen to receive a high-quality education as craftspeople, artists, and painters through developing the fundamentals of the education and the physical conditions.”

Janeşlieva stated: “It is a great honor to be cooperating with TİKA. This is an excellent and promising project that is generally helpful for higher education. Having a modern laboratory that allows us to follow up-to-date education in multimedia arts and the field of new media and to give our students an up-to-date education is quite important. Because this helps staff of higher quality, who go hand in hand with modern trends, to emerge.”