Kuwait to finish most COVID-19 jabs by September, if vaccines are supplied

Kuwait to finish most COVID-19 jabs by September, if vaccines are supplied

ISTANBUL: Ankara has announced that it will open a health care vocational school and a medical faculty in the Cobanbey (Al-Ra'i) town of Syria near the Turkish border.

The surprise decision was published in Turkey's Official Gazette on Friday night.

Cobanbey, in northern Syria in Aleppo, is a predominantly Turkmen town under Syrian opposition control. The medical school will be established under the auspices of Turkey's Health Sciences University.

While some experts consider such moves a boost to the region's damaged social infrastructure, others say Ankara may face accusations from Syria of foreign meddling violating its territorial sovereignty.

Since 2018, Turkey has been building hospital university faculties in Syria, including in Afrin, Al-Bab and Idlib, to encourage the return of Syrian refugees. The Turkish lira is also being used in Cobanbey district and Al-Bab.

A university campus was established in Al-Bab by Turkey's Harran University to provide trilingual education in Turkish, Arabic and English.

Turkey's Diyanet Foundation opened a primary school for 1,100 students in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib in November 2020.  

The Turkish Health Ministry has completed three hospitals in Al-Bab, Marea and Cobanbey with a total bed capacity of 475.

With such "footprints“ in Syrian territories, Ankara hopes to persuade millions of  refugees in Turkey to