Soft power through a branch campus in former ISIS base

The war in Syria has been going on since 2011. In recent months, Gaziantep University, a public university in the southeast of Turkey neighbouring Syria, has opened a branch campus in Jarabulus, Northern Syria.

As the official website of the campus indicates, the decision to open the campus was taken by the Turkish cabinet and was announced in the official gazette on 5 June 2018.

Gaziantep University was asked to open the campus as it was close to the region, already had a lot of experience in teaching Syrian refugees on its central campus in Turkey in Turkish, English and Arabic programmes, had hired Syrian academics and had provided Syrian refugees with public services in Turkey. The university had even started to publish a journal and newspaper in Arabic.

The Turkish authorities decided to build in Jarabulus, a city under the protection of the Turkish army. As the building selected had suffered damage during the war, Gaziantep University renovated it and made it ready for education purposes over the summer. It was announced that the campus would accept Syrian students who have a high school diploma in autumn 2018.

As the number of applicants was higher than expected, the university asked applicants to sit an entrance test in four locations in Northern Syria. The candidates were then informed about their test scores and asked to choose a programme. One hundred and forty five candidates with the highest test scores were placed in a programme being run on the campus.

A closer look at the campus

Gaziantep University’s branch campus in Jarabulus offers associate degrees in five programmes: first and emergency aid, patient care, office management, divinity and private security.

Gaziantep’s Rector, Professor Dr Ali Gür, stated in an interview on Turkish radio and television that the programmes were selected to meet Syria’s needs. For example, graduates of first and emergency aid and patient care are expected to be helpful at hospitals in the region; graduates of office management are expected to work in bureaucracy; graduates of divinity are expected to counter extremist versions of religion and graduates of private security are expected to support the security forces in Syria.

All the programmes are taught in Arabic and classes start and finish at the same time as those on Gaziantep University’s central campus in Turkey. The rector added that two students from each programme who have the highest grade point average at the end of the academic year will be given the right to transfer to the central campus in Turkey. He thinks that this will motivate students to work harder and added that attendance at classes would be compulsory.

Soft power

Turkey carried out Operation Euphrates Shield against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for more than seven months starting from August 2016, saying it wanted to protect the security of its southern border. Although that operation has come to an end, Turkey still controls some parts of Northern Syria, including the location of the branch campus.

Several messages can be inferred from the latest move by Turkey into the region:

• • Message to the world: Right after Operation Euphrates Shield ended, Turkey started to train local police officers, opened a hospital and helped more than 20,000 Syrian students gain access to primary and secondary education there. By opening the new branch campus, Turkey is declaring to the world that "it is a part of the game", implying that it has a long-term plan to stay in Syria. Turkish officials have already declared that they would like to open other branch campuses and eventually a university there.
  
  
• • Message to ISIS and SDF: The branch campus building was once used by ISIS as a military base. Turkey took it from ISIS during Operation Euphrates Shield. The building will now serve as a university, serving Syrians in a region that is under the control of Turkey. This will be portrayed as a symbol of the Turkish triumph against ISIS.
  
  
• • Message to Syrian refugees in Turkey: According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, Turkey already hosts more than 3.6 million refugees. The government repeatedly declares that Operation Euphrates Shield resulted in the creation of a safety zone under the strict protection of the Turkish military forces. This branch campus is confirmation of this as it may attract Syrian teenagers who live in Turkey as refugees, meaning some Syrians will be able to return to Syria from Turkey.
  
  
• • Message to Syrians in Syria: The number of Syrian refugees in Turkey is increasing day by day. Some of the Syrian teenagers and families gave the lack of a university in a safe zone in Syria as a reason for them coming to Turkey. By opening the branch campus, Turkey addresses this concern.
  
  
• • Message to future Syrian governments: The programmes offered by the branch campus show that Turkey would like to educate future health workers, clerics, bureaucrats and security personnel who will serve in Syria. This could be a source of soft power that boosts Turkish diplomatic relations with post-war Syrian governments.

Hakan Ergin holds a PhD from Bogazici University, Turkey. His research interests include internationalisation of higher education, migration, adult education, the right to education and distance learning. He works as a postdoctoral fellow at Boston College Center for International Higher Education, United States. Email: hakan.ergin1@yahoo.com