On Wednesday, October 16, USP received a visit from the new Consul General of Turkey in São Paulo, Özgür Uludüz. Graduated from the Department of International Relations of the School of Economic and Administrative Sciences of the Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ, in its Turkish acronym), he has already stayed at the Turkish embassy in Brasília, between 2004 and 2009, and assumed his new duties at the Consulate at the end of September.
Uludüz emphasized that the University was among his priorities for the first contacts with institutions representing the São Paulo society.”The consular jurisdiction of São Paulo covers 24 States that correspond to most of Brazil, that is, a continental-sized region close to half of South America, and USP is a representative of the highest relevance for this entire region for everything it produces and for its global academic weight,” he said.
The consul recalled that the history of relations between the Brazilian and Turkish peoples dates back to 1871, when Emperor Dom Pedro II visited the territories that made up the then Ottoman-Turkish Empire: “This was a historic moment that drew the attention of the region’s populations to Brazil, triggering several migratory waves that brought Syrian, Lebanese, Armenian, Sephardic Jewish, and other immigrants here, all popularly called ‘Turks’ and who helped shape the profile of the current Brazilian population,” he remembered, adding that in 1923, Brazil gained its first embassy of the modern Turkish republic, operating then in the iconic Copacabana Palace Hotel, in Rio de Janeiro, until it was moved to Brasília in the 1970s.
The diplomat commented that his country received 55 million visitors last year, ranking among the most sought-after tourist destinations in the world. At the same time, the export of audiovisual productions and the large supply of direct flights make the local culture increasingly widespread and, for him, there is still room for a deepening of more consistent relationships, especially in the academic area.
“Today, Turkey is dealing with the problem known as ‘brain escape’, as our best talents are seeking study opportunities in Europe and end up not returning, while we need to import labor from countries in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. It is necessary to better plan our long-term future and, due to its quality, USP represents an important partner to expand this range of partnerships, both as a destination for our students, and for the arrival, at our entities, of highly qualified Brazilian students,” he added.
Upon receiving the visitor, president Carlos Gilberto Carlotti Junior recalled that USP has active agreements with three universities in Turkey. “The intention of the current administration is to deepen and qualify our international partnerships. We have adopted a policy that values effective and multidisciplinary work collaborations, which bring many benefits to researchers from all involved parties,” he explained.
As next steps in the partnership, Carlotti invited the consul for possible lectures and academic and cultural activities about his country, to be held in spaces of the University, and proposed a study to identify Turkish universities and priority areas of operation for the establishment of agreements with units of USP.
The president of the USP Agency for National and International Academic Cooperation, Sérgio Proença, also participated in the meeting and presented a history of partnerships and agreements already carried out with Turkish institutions in recent years and explained data and information about USP and its internationalization activities.
English version: Nexus Traduções
