Rawal Park renamed Ankara Park

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Rawal Park, situated at the bank of Rawal Lake with an area of 33 acres of land, was named “Ankara Park” on Sunday as a symbol of friendship between Pakistan and Turkey.

Mayor of Ankara Melih Gokcek, Defence Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal and Kemal Gur, Turkish ambassador to Pakistan, attended the ceremony.

A 130-member Turkish delegation is in the capital city on a three-day visit to take part in the ongoing “Margalla Festival 2005”. Melih Gokcek is leading the delegation, which includes 10 parliamentarians, members of Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, journalists, and a cultural troupe of folk dancers and pop singers.

Addressing the ceremony, Mr Gokcek said the Ankara Municipality would redesign and construct a modern park at the site as a gift to the people of Islamabad. He also offered architectural and technical assistance to the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to redesign and develop other parks and playgrounds in the capital city. The exchange of technical experts and social and cultural delegations would cement the brotherly ties between the two countries, the mayor added.

CDA chairman Kamran Lashari sought technical assistance from Turkey for improving the landscape of the metropolitan, building a slaughter hose in the federal capital, and redesigning the F-9 Park.

Islamabad and Ankara were declared sister cities in 1982 but this is the first visit of any mayor of Ankara since then.

Meanwhile, Senate chairman Muhammadmian Soomro hosted a lunch in honour of the visiting Turkish delegation at his farmhouse on Chak Shahzad road. The Ankara mayor, the Turkish ambassador to Pakistan, Senators Wasim Sajjad and Syed Mushahid Hussain, and others, participated in the event.

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