The “Bridge of Hearts” project has been conducted jointly by the Turkish Ministry of National Education and Turkcell.

It is a social responsibility project which enables 100,000 students from all over Turkey to visit provinces within the country that they have never seen before, to explore regional characteristics and different cultures and break the ethnic based prejudices, especially between the impoverished east and relatively developed western parts of the country.The students, aged 13-17, took part in cultural activities and built lasting friendships during their one week trip.

During the trip, each student was placed in a host family which had a child at the same age. The hosting child helped the visitor student get to know the visiting province more closely.The program started on June 1, 2008 and lasted for 8 weeks.

During the project;4,760 bus trips were made and a distance of 4,630,000 km was covered. Close to 10,000 trees were planted in 10 cities of Turkey to form the “Bridge of Hearts Memory Forest”. 2,380 administrators and 4,760 teachers accompanied the students. Project Teams of 255 individuals in 81 provinces of Turkey ensured the project to run smoothly.From the announcement of the program till the end of the trips, a considerable intensity in media coverage has been achieved.

The primary goal of this project was to establish familiarity and permanent relationships between students from different parts of Turkey; for them to build long lasting friendships and allow themselves to discover the natural and cultural richness of their own country.

The young population, especially the ones growing up at underprivileged social and economical backgrounds, have lesser chance to get acquainted with different regions of the country.

The “Bridge of Hearts” project isn’t just a cultural exchange programme but also a valuable chance for them to expand their vision. With this project, most of the students left their hometown and explored the sea, underground metro, skyscrapers, farms, opera, museum, cinema, concerts etc. for the first time in their lives.

The first launch inauguration of the project was organized in Ankara, the capital city, with the participation of the Prime Minister, the Minister of National Education, the students and the press. At the meeting, the Prime Minister, stated that the project is one of the most important social responsibility projects of this year in terms of content and budget. Hundreds of letters were sent to opinion leaders, artists, professors who were called to support the project as “Project Volunteers”.The kick-off meeting was organized on June 3rd in Diyarbakir, one of the major cities in the southeast part of Turkey owning different ethnic groups, and the first group was waved off by the Minister of National Education, Turkcell employees and journalists.A documentary film of the project was produced – The short version was distributed to the media and the long version was shown on TV.Another innovative idea was the duty of planting a tree in every visited city to form a Memory Forest. So the children would also gain environmental awareness.

Exchanges of 100,000 students between all the provinces of Turkey have been realised.The benefit of this project was realized by a survey conducted at the end of the project: 90% of the participants stated that the program contributed positively to their self improvement and that they would like to re-participate to such a program if it was repeated.The participant’s interviews in the documentary show that the trips eliminated the regional prejudices in their minds and that they established bonds of affection with their host families and peers.Corporate social responsibility projects as Bridge of Hearts affects also the employees positively. A survey showed that 98% of Turkcell employees stated that they consider voluntary activities an important tool for their commitment to the company.From the announcement of the program till the end of the trips, a considerable intensity in media coverage has been achieved: • Newspaper: 379 news articles (187 national & 192 local newspapers)• TV: 191 programmes (aired 25 hours)• Internet: 132 news articles.

Turkcell, the leading mobile operator of Turkey with 37 million customers, has always supported many social projects that it believes will add value to the society in different aspects such as, education, technology, sports and culture. With these activities, Turkcell aims to contribute to the social welfare of the community, rise in development of qualified human resource needed for continuous prospect.

The “Bridge of Hearts” project perfectly matches with what Turkcell aims to achieve with the social responsibility projects.

The project was developed jointly by the Turkish Ministry of National Education.

The students were selected by the Provincial Directorate of National Education.Three days of the trip were planned by the Provincial Directorate of National Education and two days by the host family responsible for each student.Communication channels of the project:• Media relations• Turkcell Internal Communication• Advertising including TV (An intense media campaign with TV, radio commercials and newspapers advertisements has been conducted (701 Spot – 31.558 sec. for TV) • Documentary Film• Website• Promotional materials (Notebooks, backpacks, school materials, etc.)

Turkey has seven geographical regions and each region has their own cultural codes and characteristics under the common Turkish identity. Turkey is also one of the youngest populations throughout the world (approximately 15 million is aged 13-17). This young population is a great opportunity for the economical growth and prospect. But, this young generation is also a social issue with regards to education and social rights. In Turkey, interregional disparities in development are reflected in education as in other areas. There are disparities not only between the western and the eastern regions of the country, but also between the centre and periphery of urban settlements.