Pakistani Metuites – particularly those who weathered the early years – have a very deep sense of belonging to each other. We became one big family floating in the sea of Turkish culture in Ankara that surrounded us – supporting each other and building our future.

While we all have great reminiscences, with the passage of time, some of our seniors took the extra step to try to preserve those unforgettable memories and sentiments. At least two websites were built on a private basis to record the names of the Pakistani Metuites, their achievements, photographs and stories.

The first website was built by Fareed G. Rabbani (1963-1966) and Waseem Siddiqi (1963-1970) with the active support of Wahaj Uddin Habib (1963-1968). The domain name of that website was http://home.ica.net/~rabbani/ . This was a remarkable initiative and many of the senior Metuites contributed with articles, stories and photographs. While the website can still be accessed, its design and web tools are out-of-date and much of the information is not accessible anymore.

The second major attempt was made by Mohammed Ali Khan “Pakistanli” (1965-1971). He had previously published a book titled “Pakistanis at METU” which had valuable information on the early entries until 1968. Secondly, he took on the task to improve on the earlier work of Fareed Rabbani and Waseem Siddiqi, and collected substantially more information to build his website which is accessible at http://pakistanli.com/ODTU/. Over the past few years, Pakistanli bhai had been trying hard to pass on the mantle to the younger generation, but with little luck.

Most of us kept our own private photograph albums and contacts. In 2006, Kazi Zulkader Siddiqui (1969-1971) compiled and published a “Directory of METU Pakistanis 2006” on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of METU/ODTU. This directory became the key source book for a decade or so.

In 2020, a group of us from the 1960s and 1970s period decided to combine our efforts for a joint project to launch a new comprehensive website which would utilize the latest tools and employ a professional web developer. The responsibility to lead this effort fell on the shoulders of Kazi Zulkader Siddiqui (1969-1971). This new site incorporates all the information that we have been able to salvage from the earlier websites. We have tried to expand its information base many times more by getting a greater number of people to participate.

It will be our effort to keep building this website as a joint effort so that it will keep on propagating itself. The aim is to make it into an institution that will preserve our archives, history and memories, and keep on growing the friendship and love between us.

We are bound to acknowledge the vision, wisdom and hard work of Fareed G. Rabbani, Waseem Siddiqi, Wahaj Uddin Habib and Mohammed Ali Khan “Pakistanli”. They were the pioneers and our guides. We salute them and thank them for their wonderful efforts. Therefore, we would like to dedicate this website these four great elders of the Pakistani Metuite community.

Many friends have contributed since by sending their photographs and monographs. Some friends helped a lot by verifying data of alumni in their region or by writing articles and memoirs. We would like to thank the following:

Last, but not the least, we would like to thank and appreciate the wonderful work done by the team of Logic Powered Solution who have designed and implemented this website.

• 1. Faridoon
• 2. Zeeshan
• 3. Zohaib
• 4. Saad
• 5. Hamza