Doha – QatarDebate

Turkish ambassador to Qatar, Fikret Ozer visited QatarDebate on Thursday 15 November; and gave a speech during the TOT academy closing ceremony, which organized and hosted by QatarDebate Center (QD) a member of Qatar Foundation (QF), at student center, Education City, and featured 26 participants from  Arabic-speaking and non-Arabic speaking countries.

The Turkish Ambassador to Qatar has expressed the wide significance of holding such academy, adding that it’s an honor to visit QD and meet friends and expats in Qatar in preparation for a valuable gathering at the 5^th International Arabic Universities Debating Championship 2019.

Ambassador Fikret Ozer expressed his happiness of the event effectiveness and its importance that respect the Arabic language – the language of the Holy Quran – noting that the Academy is a global communication tool for those interested in Arabic.

The Turkish ambassador expressed his thanks and appreciation to Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser -Chairman of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development, on the idea of QatarDebate, and he extended his thanks to QD staff.

Noting that “the Arabic debate is new in Turkey especially after the Turkish team won the first place in the fourth International Arabic Schools Debating Championship, and the team returned with a medal of victory.

“it worth mention, that the President of Turkey Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was studying at the school, which won the championship 40 years ago, and was one of the first to be proud of this victory, which was honor and enthusiastic for all schools in Turkey and of course was the result of interest in Arabic” the Turkish ambassador said.

“What the State of Qatar has done to enhance the position of Arabic and Islamic culture by debate is a great endeavor to raise the hat of gratitude to it, because Arabic – the language of the Holy Qurʾān – is the language of civilization and we know that Europe reached this development through the Arabs, so we must strive to re-establish its position” he added.

The Turkish ambassador said: “On behalf of the Republic of Turkey, we consider the TOT Academy guests in the State of Qatar, our guests in Turkey because we are one country, and this event is one of many methods to learn and spread the Arabic language, and then orientalists will know that we started to climb to the top despite some of the slopes that we faced, but we will succeed and add value to our Arabic language”.

“His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is supporting the study of Arabic and has provided many resources for this purpose. For four years, Arabic has become an optional subject with the rest of the languages, and the number of Arabic language learners in Turkey has exceeded one million,” the Turkish ambassador was quoted as saying.

The Turkish ambassador, meanwhile stressed that QatarDebate through the International Arabic Debating Championship will force participants to speak fluent Arabic which is a good thing and one of the most important initiatives to learn the Arabic language.

“In the past, most people read the Qurʾān and do not understand its meaning, but after allowing to open Holy Qurʾān Memorization Centers, families started sending their children to learn the Qurʾān and understand its teachings, which open the door to mosques to broadcast the Adhan (the Call to prayer) in Arabic ” the ambassador said.