The awards were handed out during a ceremony held at the Ministry of Education’s Assembly Hall in Ankara. The olympiad covered the subjects of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and computers.Samanyolu students Mehmet Can Şahiner and Cihad Özge won gold medals for their school in chemistry and computers, respectively. Osman Akyan Kargin, a student from İzmir’s private Yamanlar College, which won 13 medals this year, received a gold medal in biology. Other winners include Yunus Emre Demirci from Erzurum’s Aziziye High School, who won a gold medal in math, and Makbule Esen from İstanbul’s private Kasımoğlu Coşkun High School, who won a gold medal in chemistry.
Turkish students place well in international science olympiads, TÜBİTAK Chairwoman Nüket Yetiş said at the ceremony. She noted that 35 students were sent to international olympiads in 2004, 2005 and 2006 and won 18 awards on average in these years. The number of awards won has been on a gradual increase in recent years, Yetiş said. “Our students returned with 29 awards in 2007, 32 in 2008 and 34 in 2009. These are the admirable results of [Turkey’s] investment in science.”
