Int’l students tell of Turkey through art

ANKARA Turkey’s Federation of International Student Associations (UDEF) announced the winners of a competition in short movie, poetry and short story categories on Friday. The competition was organized by UDEF for foreign students studying in Turkey. Mehmet Ali Bolat, head of UDEF, Bilal Erdogan, chairman of the World Etnospor Confederation and Health Minister Ahmet Demircan participated in the event. Speaking during the ceremony, Bolat, said more than 100,000 international students from 160 countries were studying in Turkey. Bolat also said the main aim of the project was to be able to see Turkey from the eyes of the foreign students and also to give them the opportunity to express their feelings and what they gained during the time they spent in Turkey. Erdogan said the international students studying in Turkey would be the voice of Turkey abroad. Manasbeg Maksudov from Kyrgyzstan won the best short movie award: “Turkey is my country”. Aziz Jahanov from Turkmenistan was second for his movie “We are One Nation” while Syed Fouzon Ishaqui from India became the third with his short movie “Turkey”. The best short story award was given to “The Black Boy in the Classroom” written by Ouesseini Zorome from Burkina Faso. Rabul Islam from Bangladesh was second with “A Torn Notebook” while Alizhon Shaymardonov from Afghanistan was third with his short story “Turkey, Hope for Oppressed”. In the poetry category, Sabina Abbasli from Azerbaijan was first, Betul al-Haznevi from Syria was second while Adam Abubakar from Nigeria was third. Among the jurors was Deputy Chairperson of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party, Ravza Kavakci Kan, a number of AK Party lawmakers, and Chairman of Ankara Chamber of Commerce, Gursel Baran. UDEF is a non-governmental organization founded in 2014 to provide coordination between international student associations.