In this part of his memoirs, educationist Taner Koçyiğit wrote about the duties he and his colleagues undertook within the scope of their public relations tasks besides teaching in Lahore. Koçyiğit explained how PakTurk students started their trips to Turkey with their parents and businessmen.

Part Twenty-Two:

The Pakistani outlook towards Turkey is strongly positive. How Turks used to view Europe in the 1980s, the same is Pakistani’s attitude towards Turkey. I understood this from the words of my local friends shortly after I arrived in Pakistan. Almost everyone we met talked about Turkey’s historical and touristic places, and they tried to have more information by asking me about the places I hadn’t even been to. I would often research on the Internet and inform my Pakistani friends about the places where I had not been or seen.

When we first went to Pakistan, our outreach was limited. We had contact only with our parents and almost none were in good financial condition and went abroad for vacation. Until 2008, we had little contact with well-off people from Pakistan who went to Turkey or other famous places worldwide. Our schools were serving in small buildings repurposed from bungalows and our school buildings to appeal to the children of the wealthy businesspeople of the country had not been built yet. In 2007, we moved to our own fully-equipped and purpose-built school campuses in many cities of Pakistan. School fees took shape to appeal to higher social classes.

Parents and businessmen wished to visit Turkey

From 2007 onwards, along with our students on scholarship, the children of the country’s leading businesspeople enrolled in our schools by paying full tuition fees. In Lahore, I and a few of my friends working in the public relations department would keep in touch with the parents and, sustaining strong relations with them, organized different activities to contribute to the success of the students. In this context, we would visit the parents at their workplaces, organize family picnics, go on intercity trips, invite the parents to our homes or be their guests in their homes.

Soon, our relationships with the parents improved and we learned most of the well-to-do parents would go to European countries for vacation, but not to Turkey. Those who travelled to Turkey thought their visit was dull because they could not find a person or institution to guide them properly. They asked us to organize trips and give them guided tours. When these requests increased gradually, it was also the time to look for answers to questions like ‘How to organize trips’, ‘Where to go?’, and ‘Where to stay?’

The Turkish Embassy announced visas would be issued with our reference

Meanwhile, we introduced our guests from Turkey to the parents and assisted them in exchanging commercial ideas or signing agreements. Businessmen from Turkey, who would also sponsor the likes of our schools, invited the parents, whom we introduced to them each time they visited Pakistan, to Turkey. If we organized a trip to Turkey, we needed the assistance of such businessmen to arrange the schedule of events there. Whenever we contacted them, the businessmen said they would be happy to host us and our Pakistani guests in their homes, and they would even help with the arrangement of vehicles and meals and support the planning of the trip.

Emboldened by this support, we took the parents and businessmen to Turkey with their families. With other friends working in the public relations department, we formed large and small groups and first contacted the Turkish Embassy in Islamabad to deal with the visa procedures. We were elated when the Embassy officials said visas would be issued to those who would participate in the trip with our reference, without the need to make a personal application, as most of those who wished to participate in the trip already had either American or European visas. Some of the participants did not even need a visa because they had American or British passports.

Below we share an example of one of the official letters we wrote to the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism about these trips:

Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and TourismDirectorate General of Promotion

Ankara

As the PakTurk Businessmen Association, officially operating in four cities in Pakistan, we introduce the business and trade opportunities in Turkey to the Pakistani business community at different times and grounds to boost the trade between Turkey and Pakistan.

Conventions such as the TUSKON South Asia-Pacific Trade Bridge (May), the MUSIAD Trade Bridge (October), the Textile and Machinery Fair (May), the Metallurgy Fair (October), and the Pipe Fair (March) are only a few of many activities we conducted in 2008. With these activities, we have contributed to significant trade between the two countries. In times other than attending to such business and trade conventions, we also tour and introduce the historical and touristic places of our country Turkey to the members of the Pakistani business community.

To be used in such promotional activities, we request promotional items including 100 brochures, booklets and promotional CDs in English on Cappadocia, Black Sea Region, Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Bursa, Konya, Kayseri, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Mardin and Turkey, and promotional literature on business and finance sector in Turkey to be dispatched to our Istanbul liaison office through courier service.

Thanking you in advance for your attention to this matter.

To be continued…

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Part Twenty-One: How did Pakistani businesspeople get involved in education services?