Turkish Berat Barakat gave a speech at the graduation ceremony Ramallah – Sona al-Deak Turkish student Berat Barakat celebrated her graduation on Thursday at the University of Bethlehem, proclaiming that she was "proud of Palestine and its people", after she was stopped from studying in her country because she wore the Muslim head covering, called the "hijab". Barakat, who achieved one of the highest grades, delivered a speech to her fellow graduates, where she said she was "proud to be Turkish". The mother-of-two, married to a Palestinian, said she was prevented from studying in her own country due to her choice to wear hijab. Turkey is well known for its secular character, which forms a central tenet of governance in the Islamist-led state. She said she was happy and grateful to her "beloved University of Bethlehem". Barakat, 10 years older than her class peers, said her commitment to wearing the hijab had prevented her from joining medical school in Ankara in 1998. She was also allegedly stopped from studying engineering in Northern Cyprus in 2001, two years after she had enrolled. “I am a graduate today at the age of 33. I am a mother of two children and I love knowledge. Although life does not always go as we plan, the secret to success is faith in God, then hard work for what we love to achieve. If things are not going as planned, we should keep confidence in God and work hard and be sure that we will gain what we deserve at the time set for us by fate.”