AAU confers honorary doctorate on Turkish President

BY WORKU BELACHEW

ADDIS ABABA- Addis Ababa University (AAU) awarded honorary doctorate degree to Turkish President Tyyip Erdogan on Thursday in a prestigious ceremony organized at Ras-Mekonen hall.

The awarding ceremony was attended by FDRE President Mulatu Teshome, FDRE Speaker of the House of Federation and Chairperson of the Governing Board of AAU Kassa Tekle-Brhan, Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom, and member of the diplomatic corps as well as the university community.

Opening the event university president Dr. Admasu Tsegaye said the remarkable achievement of Erdogan in further up scaling the Ethio-Turkish relations such as in a matter of less than a decade, his continued move for the peace of the Horn region as well as the unbending stand he holds for justice, among others, convinced the university senate to bestow the award.

“You [Tayyip Erdogan] did not choose the easy way, instead decided to go where no other leader dared to step foot,” said Admassu when he cited Turkish President visit to a ones war torn Somalia, and kept on saying, “You went to Somalia because you knew well that by supporting this country you would be contributing to stability and security in the Horn of Africa.”

In his acceptance speech, President Erdogan on his part appreciated the recognition the University gave for his achievement and vowed to further strengthening the historic relations of the two sisterly countries in economic, social and other fronts.

Appreciating the ethnic, religious and cultural peaceful co-existence of the people of Ethiopia, he said this example should be rippled for the rest of the word. “Had the world known the peaceful co-existence of Ethiopians with their distinct Ethnic, religion and culture, the Muslim community in Europe and other areas would not have been discriminated, and the killing and tortures would not have happened in our world today,” he added.

The president also reiterated to work alongside the government of Ethiopia for the sustenance of peace and stability in Africa and the Horn region in particular.

Closing the event, President Mulat congratulated Erdogan and appreciated the decision of the university describing it as “a timely and proper” move.