Ahlan wa sahlan from Yemen

We are in Yemen, for whom that sorrowful folk song that pierces the soul, saying that those who leave do not return, is sung. Yemen is the 4th stop of the Arab Spring process. The US and Western powers, which were caught unprepared in Tunisia and Egypt, and even the other regional powers with ambitions in these regions, tried to show all their skill so as not to be caught in the same position, especially in Libya and Yemen. That is why neither the revolutions in Libya nor those in Yemen unfolded with the same clarity as those in Tunisia and Egypt. Although international interventions could not entirely suppress the democratic demands and the people's desire for change, they either tried to change their direction, or tried to determine their final course by becoming a partner in them. This path later became inspiring for the first two countries as well, and these days the Arab Revolutions face all kinds of obstacles and interventions. Our reason for being in Yemen is a workshop, jointly organized by the Institute for Strategic Thinking and the Democratic Awakening Movement in Yemen, at which "Yemen-Turkey Relations in the Context of Democratic Transformation and Economic Development" is being discussed. The program, held with the contributions of the Prime Ministry's Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities and its Public Diplomacy Coordinatorship, also coincides with the week of the Turkish-Yemeni Education Fair being held in Yemen these days. That is why the rectors of 35 universities from Turkey are here with their deputies, to introduce their universities to Yemeni students and attract students.

In fact, this sight is itself impressive enough. It is another indication of how far Turkey has come. Turkey has, thank God, left behind its contradictory, complex-ridden attitude of sending its people abroad for education while on the one hand holding its own educational institutions in contempt and on the other hand closing itself off, with an arrogant attitude, even to its own citizens. Rectors who market their own educational opportunities abroad could not find a better opportunity for self-improvement toward a better vision of a university, because by facing the opportunities, quality and visions of other universities at precisely this level, they gain an invaluable vision of quality standards.

With meetings like these we can now see that the education scholarships that the Coordinatorship for Turks Abroad and Related Communities is already giving to thousands of students from abroad have increasingly become an advertisement for Turkish universities, and that the return on them has begun in this way. Apart from scholarship students too, we can say that there has been an increasing demand to study at Turkish universities. We can foresee that this demand will serve, and is serving, the function of pushing Turkish universities to put themselves in order according to more international standards.

Today we can also see the results of TİKA's integration with the people here, as it operates in Yemen as in many Arab and African countries. Prof. Dr. Faruk Bozgöz, who heads TİKA, with his excellent knowledge of Arabic and his sociable personality, brought together civil society organizations in Yemen with participants from Turkey in the institution's garden. Turkey's Ambassador to Yemen, Fazlı Çorman, also gave a speech at the meeting. The Ambassador is also one of the new generation of diplomats of the new Turkey. When a representative of a Yemeni businessmen's association said that the trade balance between Turkey and Yemen is to Yemen's disadvantage and asked how they could close it, Çorman gave advice at the level of a trade attaché working in Yemen's favor. He said that if Yemen were to start exporting gas for the time being, this balance would probably shift in Yemen's favor at once. It was a nice joke when Çorman asked, in return for this advice, for the salary of Yemen's attaché in Ankara.

At the meeting with Yemeni civil society representatives in the TİKA garden, a woman activist's beginning her remarks by thanking Turkey for the Mavi Marmara reflected the true spirit of today's Yemen-Turkey meeting. "Please do not consider it an exaggeration when I say that the Mavi Marmara, together with Davos, were the events that started the whole Arab awakening," said the Yemeni woman, and she continued her words as follows:

"We watched both Davos and the Mavi Marmara with great excitement, and it showed us that Erdoğan is a true leader, and that those over us have no character at all. In our hearts, at that moment, we had already toppled those dictators; all that remained was to bring down their lifeless statues, which turned out to be easier than the first. The martyrs of the Mavi Marmara are our martyrs too; peace be upon those martyrs."

Another Yemeni trade unionist added to the words of the Yemeni woman activist: "Until five years ago we were under the influence of an understanding of history that saw Turkey, let alone as a country that had colonized us, as an enemy country that had attacked us. In the last five years we have not only discovered Turkey; thanks to this new Turkey, we have realized how our own history with Turkey was written with lies. Now, with all our sincerity and all our hearts, we say: Ehlen wa sehlen, O Turkey!"