The President of the Yunus Emre Institute Prof. Dr. Şeref Ateş was hosted at the “Sahur Bereketi” program aired on the TRT1 channel. Prof. Ateş assessed Institute’s activities and the perceptions about Turkey on the live broadcast.  

Prof. Ateş said that the Institute promoted Turkey with its 55 cultural centers throughout the world and that they organized more than 1000 activities every year  in various fields such as Turkish instruction, cultural and artistic activities, science diplomacy and cultural diplomacy, all of which helped forge bonds between Turkey and other countries.    

More than 10 thousand people learnt Turkish in the YEE cultural centers, more than 100 thousand people across the world have learnt Turkish on the Turkish Instruction Portal created in February 2017, and every year hundreds of people attend Turkish summer school programs organized in Turkey, he added.      

This year, Prof Ateş underlined, more than 100 thousand applications were made for 1000 places in the Turkish summer school, which, contrary to the one reflected in the international press, demonstrates  a positive perception about Turkey and the Yunus Emre Institute is one of the contributing players in this regard.

The Institute President Prof. Dr. Ateş continued: “Culture is a way of doing something, and this way you can establish close relationships. Our culture, with its prevailing features such as truthfulness, honesty, punctuality and reliability, has earned the sympathy  of many people all over the world. The Institute crowns the power of Turkey with its activities abroad in the fields of art, literature, science, and language. It does not have cultural centers only in the Balkans or Turkish Republics, but also in Latin America, USA and other countries. Thousands of students have been hosted in the Turkish Summer School programs. The interest in the Turkish Instruction Portal continues to increase with more than 100 thousand users. All of these create a positive perception about Turkey and they are a significant indication of  Turkey’s enhanced  reputation.”