CoHE President Özvar Visits Gaziantep
April 16, 2025 / Gaziantep
Erol Özvar, President of the Council of Higher Education, visited Gaziantep
to make visits to universities.
Visiting Gaziantep Islamic Science and Technology University, Özvar chaired
the senate meeting. In his speech, he stated that Gaziantep, as an
industrial province, is one of the most ideal provinces for
university-industry cooperation. He also stated that Gaziantep is also one
of the provinces most open to international interaction and that they
expect universities in the province to cooperate with neighboring countries
and universities.
Drawing attention to the human tragedy in Palestine, Özvar stated that they
opened their doors to lecturers and students who lost their universities in
Gaza and said:
“I am calling out to the rectors and universities here. Please open your
doors to scientists who are facing expulsion from their universities for
opposing oppression or criticizing this human tragedy in Gaza.
Our doors are open to well-known and internationally respected scientists
who are in a difficult situation and are about to lose their jobs. We
should invite them to our universities. We believe that we will grow by
embracing people through cooperation.”
Emphasizing that geopolitical instability is not limited to the Middle East
and that scientists and students face serious danger due to conflicts in
some countries in Africa, Özvar said that they are currently hosting three
Sudanese universities in Konya, Niğde and Malatya.
Pointing out that conflicts and tensions in various parts of the world may
negatively affect the scientific production of universities and the
mobility of scientists, Özvar continued as follows:
“Scientific production is under threat. We are concerned about this.
Science can make progress with openness and the mobility of scientists. The
recent tensions are in a way to restrict the mobility of scientists. We
think this could be a serious danger for the whole world.”
CoHE President Erol Özvar also visited Gaziantep Governor Kemal Çeber and
Gaziantep Mayor Fatma Şahin.