The Damascus International Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Turkish School, which will operate in Syria’s capital, opened its doors to students following its inauguration ceremony. The school will provide education at the primary, middle and high school levels, with 36 classrooms and capacity for approximately 900 students.
The opening program highlighted the historic, cultural and family ties between Türkiye and Syria, as well as the strengthening of a shared future through education.
Ministry officials from Türkiye attended
The ceremony was attended by Ünal Eryılmaz, director general of the European Union and Foreign Relations Department at Türkiye’s Ministry of National Education, Fethi Fahri Kaya, head of the Inspection Board, Bülent Çiftçi, director general of Personnel, Cengiz Mete, director general of Secondary Education, and Yılmaz Güney, adviser for Press and Public Relations.
Sarp Erzi, chargé d’affaires at Türkiye’s Embassy in Damascus, and Mehmet İhsan Özdemir, communications adviser at the Damascus office of the Presidential Communications Directorate, also attended the program. Damascus Education Adviser Muhammet Musa Budak and Eryılmaz delivered the opening remarks. School Principal Mahmut Şanverdi wished the students and teachers success in the new academic year.
Tekin’s message highlights shared ties
Eryılmaz read a message sent by National Education Minister Yusuf Tekin for the school’s opening. Tekin said relations between Türkiye and Syria were based on more than geographical proximity, adding: “Borders exist on maps, but no borders can be drawn around hearts.”
Tekin said the school would serve students across three levels of education and that the 36-classroom institution could accommodate approximately 900 students. He said Türkiye and Syria were not simply two neighboring countries, adding that their historic, cultural and family ties had been intertwined for centuries.
Tekin said borders drawn by political circumstances could not erase the brotherhood and shared memory between the peoples. He added that Türkiye’s peace and security could not be considered separately from Syria’s peace and security. He said that, as the Syrian people went through difficult periods, Türkiye had opened its doors to millions of people as required by the principles of good neighborliness and had worked to ensure that children could access education.
Education presented as a foundation of reconstruction
Tekin said the reconstruction of a country was considered together with roads, buildings, hospitals and infrastructure investments, but lasting and genuine development was possible first through building up people. He described education as the most powerful tool for developing people and said opening a school meant opening a door to the future.
Tekin said they did not regard academic achievement alone as sufficient under the Türkiye Century Education Model, stressing the importance of bringing knowledge together with wisdom, skills with values, and achievement with virtue. He said they aimed to raise competent, responsible individuals who draw strength from their roots.
Tekin said children would be the force that makes the new era in Türkiye-Syria relations permanent. He added that the school’s students would eventually carry forward friendship, mutual understanding and a shared future. He urged the students to prioritize benefiting their countries, families and humanity, regardless of which professions they chose.
Officials join students for their first lesson
After the opening remarks concluded, Tekin connected to the school via a live link and spoke with students and teachers in the classrooms. He wished the new academic year well and conveyed his best wishes for the students’ success.
After the ceremony, the ministry’s directors general entered the classrooms, met with the students and taught during the first lesson. While the ministry delegation toured the school building, classrooms and educational facilities, it met with the teachers who will work at the school to discuss educational activities and the curriculum.
The program concluded with the delegation taking a commemorative photograph with the students and teachers.
Students returning to Syria pleased with the school
Hala, an 11th-grade student who continued her education in Syria after living in Türkiye for eight years, said her concerns about the future had given way to hope and excitement with the school’s opening. Hala said she had studied in Istanbul through the 10th grade and described her concerns about high school, making new friends and university education during the process of returning to Syria.
Hala described the opening of the Turkish school as a very positive development for students returning from Türkiye to Syria and wished for the process to go well for everyone.
Şehid, an 11th-grade student who returned to Syria two months ago after spending eight years in Istanbul, said she was very happy when she learned that the school would open. Şehid said the school was better than she had expected and that being able to continue her education made her happy.
Şehid said she wanted to study psychology and was considering pursuing university education in Türkiye or Syria. She added that the school’s opening had made her feel more confident about the future.
