Within the scope of the education, culture and arts activities carried out by Azaz Yunus Emre Institute in the Syrian Safe Zone, 10 thousand saplings were brought together with the soil. Between 9-29 April, 10 thousand saplings were planted in primary, secondary, and high schools in eleven cities and one village in the region.

THE FOREST OF THE FUTURE WITHOUT LIMITS RISES IN THE SAFE ZONE

The planting festival, which was started under the name of “The Forest of Border-free Tomorrow’’, different kinds of gardens were placed in the gardens of primary, secondary, and high schools in the cities of Azez, Çobanbey, Ahtarin, Soran, Mare, Afrin, Şeran, Raco, Bab, Kabbasin and Bzaa and in Yazıbağ Village of the Safe Zone, 10 thousand pine trees of all kinds were planted with the participation of students. On April 28, the closing program of the sapling planting festival was held at Çobanbey Hadabat Primary School and Ahtarin Martyrs Primary School with the participation of the members of the regional civil administration.

Azaz Yunus Emre Institute Director Fikret Çıtak gave the following statements in his opening speech at the "1071 Memorial Forest" sapling planting festival program of Çobanbey Hadabat Primary School:

“We want to show the manifestation of the peace and trust environment established by Turkey in the Safe Zone to the public in addition to social, cultural, and educational activities, in nature, which is indispensable for human life. Our biggest goal is to take the schools of our children, who are the guarantee of our future, out of the gray and raise them with a love of trees and nature.”

Stating that the rapid decrease in water resources due to climate changes and the destruction of forests as a consequence of reasons such as fire and drought are the common problems of humanity, Çıtak remarked that Yunus Emre Institute has taken an important step toward the solution to this global problem by making the education centers green in the Syria Safe Zone. 

Indicating that they will continue to bring thousands of saplings to the soil with the planting of fruit and landscape saplings in the coming years, Çıtak spoke as follows about the other afforestation activities that Yunus Emre Institute targets in the region:

“It is among our dreams to establish honey forests with stakeholder collaborations in the region. Our goal for a green Syria is to bring 100,000 saplings to the soil. The afforesting of barren land and making it available to the people of the region and other living things are among our greatest motivations on the way to the construction of a new future, to the Border-free Tomorrows.”

10 THOUSAND SAPLINGS FOR 10 THOUSAND STUDENTS 

Remarking that they set out to keep the memories of 10 thousand students who participated in Yunus Emre Institute Turkish teaching programs in the region since September 2020, with 10 thousand saplings, Çıtak continued his speech as follows:

“Our brotherhood will develop and flourish with interaction like these saplings. As we understand each other, we will remember the days when we were one. The fact that the words "yeşil" (green) and "yeni"(new) in Turkish begin with the same letter "y" is actually the herald of the "yenilik" (innovation) in education and thought, of the saplings planted. Undoubtedly, it is not possible to ignore the heroes who are at the heart of this innovation. In the past years, we created memorial forests in memory of our martyrs. This year, we started to plant saplings in the names of Turkish public officials working in the fields of education, health, agriculture, media, municipality, and security in the Safe Zone. Although it is not a reward for the service and sacrifice, we want to keep the sincere intention of Yunus-like gratitude alive with the saplings to be planted in their names. Among the Turkish public officials who are always on the road with the spirit of 1071 for the people of the Syrian Safe Zone, we are very happy to bring our 200 saplings to the soil on behalf of the Öncüpınar Customs Gate and Çobanbey Customs Gate officials.”

THE SAFE ZONE IS TURNING GREEN

The program ended with the distribution of bags, combed cotton, stationery, and candy to the students after the saplings were planted.

The number of saplings planted and the forests created in the Safe Zone according to the cities are listed as follows: 2023 saplings in Ahtarin, “1071 Memorial Forest” with 2 thousand 23 saplings in Çobanbey, 1,071 saplings in Bab-Kabbasin-Bzaa, 1,071 saplings in Azaz, 2 thousand 23 saplings in Afrin-Şeran-Raco, 300 in Soran saplings, 300 saplings in Mare, 118 saplings in Yazıbağ village.