Nouakchott / Mohamed El Bekkay / Anadolu

The University of Nouakchott celebrated on Monday evening the graduation of the first cohort of students from the Turkish Language and Literature Department, a step reflecting the growing academic and cultural cooperation between Mauritania and Turkey.

The graduation ceremony was held at the Conference Palace in the capital Nouakchott, in the presence of Mauritanian Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Yaacoub Ould Amine, and Turkish Deputy Minister of National Education Cihat Demirli, according to the Mauritanian News Agency.

Also attending the ceremony were Turkish Ambassador to Mauritania Burhan Köroğlu, University of Nouakchott President Aly Mohamed Salim Ould Boukhary, and a number of officials and academics.

Minister Ould Amine said that "the inclusion of Turkish language as a specialization in Mauritanian university curricula is part of an approach aimed at opening up to global languages and cultures, and developing the higher education system to serve the country's development."

He added that "language represents a bridge for cultural and economic exchange, and contributes to learning about civilizational and scientific experiences that can be benefited from."

He pointed out that "the Turkish language is linked to a civilizational heritage, and a history full of prominent milestones in the record of human history, and scientific and technological achievements that have made Turkey one of the advanced countries."

The minister praised the efforts of the University of Nouakchott, represented by the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, and the academic and administrative staff who oversaw the launch of the department and the success of its experiment.

For his part, the Turkish ambassador to Mauritania said that the graduation of the first cohort of Turkish language department students reflects the growing interest in learning the Turkish language and opening up to Turkish civilization and its Islamic heritage.

In turn, University of Nouakchott President Aly Mohamed Salim Ould Boukhary said that cooperation with Turkish academic and cultural institutions has resulted in scientific and cultural exchange programs, and contributed to expanding academic and professional opportunities for students of the Turkish language department, in addition to introducing them to Turkish civilization.

This cohort comes within the framework of the growing cooperation between Mauritania and Turkey in the fields of education and culture, which has witnessed in recent years an expansion in academic exchange programs and Turkish language teaching, with support from Turkish educational and cultural institutions.

This cooperation has gained momentum since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to Mauritania in 2018, which was the first by a Turkish president to the country, and contributed to expanding areas of bilateral partnership, including academic and cultural cooperation.