The Yunus Emre Institute and Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language event was held at CIU

The Cyprus International University (CIU) Faculty of Education, Department of Turkish and Social Sciences, organized an event on “Yunus Emre Institute and Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language”.

The event which was held online within the scope of the Covid-19 measures, was moderated by the Department of Turkish and Social Sciences Education Chair Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hatice Kayhan, while Abdullah Aktaş, Deputy Director of the Nicosia Yunus Emre Institute and the Yunus Emre Institute Training Coordinator Yeliz Tanay and Instructor Nihal Solak provided information about the event.

At the opening of the event, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kayhan stated that the Yunus Emre Institute is an important stakeholder of the University when it comes to teaching Turkish to foreign students and went on to advise that their purpose with relation to this event was to bring students together with the experts of the subject. Informing that Abdullah Aktaş is a graduate of CIU, Kayhan said, "this gives us great pride".

“We work in 60 centers across 55 different countries”.
In his speech, the Deputy Director of Nicosia Yunus Emre Institute Aktaş, provided information about the establishment and aims of the Yunus Emre Institute and said that Northern Cyprus is an island of education and that it is a source of economic and cultural importance for the island. Noting that in this context they carry out protocol processes with universities, Aktaş noted that they also carried out their first protocols with CIU. Aktaş emphasized that the Yunus Emre Foundation is a public foundation established in 2007, and that the Yunus Emre Institute is an institute operating within the foundation that conducts cultural diplomacy studies. Advising that they work in 60 centers across 55 different countries around the world, Aktaş also stated that they perform very serious work in terms of introducing the Turkish culture and teaching Turkish.

In her speech, Yeliz Tanay stated that she has been working as an education coordinator at the Nicosia Center for 4 months, and stated that their aim is to spread Turkish teaching and introduce the Turkish language to the world. Tanay also provided information in relation to Turkish teaching materials prepared by the Institute.

Pointing out that they developed the digital infrastructure of the institute in 2020 due to the epidemic, Nihal Solak went on to state that they reached more than 4 million people worldwide in this way. Noting that they were able to reach people via their social media accounts who were closed in their homes during the epidemic process, Solak advised that they tried to appeal to individuals of all ages with a wide range of programs, from culture to science, and from arts to sports.