MILF: Turkey Officials commit to establishment of Bangsamoro University

Posted to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front Website (Dec 28): Turkey Officials commit to establishment of Bangsamoro University



Academic Officials of Turkey expressed their commitment to support the establishment of university in the Bangsamoro.

The announcement was made after the speech of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Chairman Murad Ebrahim during the closing program of Bangsamoro – Turkiye Youth Forum held in this city on December 24, 2016.

One of the guests in the closing forum, representing the academic community, stood up in the crowd and declared such commitment.

This was in support to the statement of Mr. Ahmet Sorgun, a Turkish government official. Mr. Sorgun, mentioned that Turkish Government should continue the assistance to the Bangsamoro people beyond the humanitarian services provided by the International Humanitarian Relief (IHH).

The MILF head is one of the guest speakers of the forum. In his speech, he emphasized that education is one of the priorities of the Bangsamoro people after the signing the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) in 2014.

CAB is the fruit of more than 17 years of peace talks between the Philippine Government and the MILF aimed at putting an end to the decades of conflict in Southern Philippines.

The Bangsamoro people demand the establishment of its own government. The MILF represents the Bangsamoro people in negotiating with the state to acquire self-rule through a genuine autonomy.

Murad recalled that during the war, many of their soldiers including himself dropped out from schools to uphold their cause. “Education was not a priority then, we have neglected it so much,” he related.

“But now that we entered into an agreement, we need people to manage if we have our own government. We have to send our people to studies” Murad said.

He then added that health, capacity building including human resources development, and poverty alleviation are among other priorities in the Bangsamoro homeland.

The Moro leader further said that the word “jihad” which also means “struggle” is a continuous process even with in the governance aspects.

He also clarified that the MILF and the Bangsamoro communities in the Philippines condemns terrorism and never condone terrorist activities as it is against the teaching of Islam, “thus the youths should be educated well for them not be radicalized and be part of extremist groups,” he pointed out.

The guests of the said forum agreed for establishment of the Bangsamoro University to extend further support of the Turkish nations to the Muslim in the Philippines.

This is on top of the continuing scholarships provided by the Turkish government to the Moro students enrolled in the different universities in Turkey.

The Forum was organized by the different youth organizations in Turkey with support from the IHH and hosted by the Provincial Government of Konya held at Novotel on December 24, 2016.

The closing program was moderated by Dr. Kudret Bulbul, President of Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB).

Other guests include Mr. Omer Kesmen, IHH Head for Asia Pacific, Dr. Mohammad S. Yacob, BDA Executive Director, Turkish Government Officials and NGO representatives and the members of Moro International Students Association (MISA – Turkey). (See Related news: International Students participate Bangsamoro – Turkiye Youth Forum)



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