H is a Turkmen exchange student at Ankara
University in Turkey. He came a few years ago
on a scholarship program for promising young
people from the five Central Asian Republics.
However, with the implosion of the Turkish
Lira the money for this program dried up. H's
future was suddenly thrown into doubt.

Students originally came, expecting to earn their degrees and
return home to help build countries that were struggling in the
aftermath of the Soviet Union. When the money grew scarce, the
government took the fair approach and divided what funds there were
among all of the exchange students. Unfortunately, the money has
grown so scarce that students are now being forced to use book
money on food and lodging. H was one of these students. When this
happened to him, he was unable to pay the special course fees for
certain classes required to graduate.

What started as dreams of a beautiful future had turned into a
nightmarish present.

Since the early 1990s, the Turkish government has held open places
at its universities for students from the Central Asian Republics.
At present, it serves roughly 8,000 of these students from the
Central Asian Republics. The funding for the most promising of
these young people has also come from the Turkish government. This
program was one of several instituted by Turkey to help integrate
the republics into the international arena. For example, Turkey
was first nation to accept the Republics at a diplomatic level,
establishing embassies there as early as 1992. It supported them
in their quest to become a part of the United Nations. It has
extended more than 1.5 billion dollars of credit to the nations,
and investments by its companies have passed 8.4 billion.