Queen Rania Meets with Spouse of Turkey’s PM Erdogan and Visits Institute for Girls in Ankara

(Office of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah – Ankara) Accompanying His Majesty King Abdullah on a working visit to Turkey, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, met with Mrs. Emine Erdogan, the wife of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and got a glimpse today of Turkey’s experience in vocational and technical training for girls through a visit to The Institute of Technical Education for Girls in Ankara.

Her Majesty was accompanied by the wife of the Turkish Finance Minister, Mrs. Esra Şimşek, and the Director of the Institute Mrs. Ayşenur Usta, who briefed Her Majesty about the activities undertaken at the institute, which is currently operating in 14 provinces in Turkey.

The Ankara Olgunlaşma Institute, founded in 1945, provides vocational training for girls and women of all ages, where they are trained on producing traditional clothes, handicrafts and jewelry, with the aim of preserving the Ottoman culture heritage, while presenting it in a modern style. In order to enroll, students have completed primary school. Most training programs run for two years, after which students are certified as qualified designers.

During the tour, Her Majesty paid a visit to the Turkish flag workshop as well as the jewelry, knitting, sewing and traditional clothes workshops. After the tour of the workshops, Her Majesty paid a visit to a museum, hosted at the institute since 1981, where she was able to see products made by the institute on display.

Later in the day, Her Majesty met with Mrs. Erdogan, the spouse of Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan. They discussed matters of mutual interest and ways of boosting cooperation between Jordanian and Turkish civil society and social institutions concerned with education and training.