The Kemankeş (Archer) Project, launched jointly by Yunus Emre Institute and the Archers' Foundation in order to strengthen friendship and cultural ties among countries by promoting our traditional archery, one of the building blocks of our cultural history, which had made its impact on the Turkish lifestyle before Islam and managed to thrive on after conversion of Turks to Islam, continues to grow.

In 2018, this project was implemented in Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Morocco, Palestine, Iran, Japan, Qatar, Kazakhstan, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Lebanon, Malaysia, Egypt, Poland, Serbia, Sudan, and Jordan, and 72 classrooms were opened in 16 counties, and more than 1,000 people were given training on Turkish archery. The highly popular Turkish archery courses continue to be held through its third term in 16 countries while the Kemankeş Project will be introduced to 10 cities in 9 countries as well.

The preparations are under way for starting Turkish archery courses in late April 2019 at Yunus Emre Institute's branches in Albania (Tirana), Azerbaijan (Baku), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo), Georgia (Tbilisi), Croatia (Zagreb), Montenegro (Podgorica), Hungary (Budapest), Macedonia (Skopje), Pakistan (Lahore) and Tunisia (Tunis).

The Third Archers' Training Program to be held between April 15 and 22, 2019 in Istanbul will be attended by the archers who are selected from the applications from 10 countries. Young archers will have an opportunity not only to go through intensive archery training, but also to have glimpse of the Turkish culture in its unique historical atmosphere at the Archers' Lodge, established upon the imperial edict by Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror in Ok Meydanı, which served as a center for knowledge and learning for centuries. The facilities include indoor and outdoor training fields, training classes, a fitness center, a cafeteria and the world's largest shooting track dedicated exclusively to archery.

Following their intensive training, the archers will return to their countries where they will give archery courses under the Turkish archery curriculum at the classrooms prepared by Yunus Emre Institute using the training materials and handmade archery equipment provided to them, and, thus, the second phase of the project will start in additional nine countries. Everyone who are interested in archery will be able to attend the courses given at Yunus Emre Institute's branches at specified times and perform practice shooting.

Another phase of the project consists of seminars, exhibitions and performance shows on the traditional Turkish archery to be held in 10 countries. In addition to the archery courses to be held at Yunus Emre Institute's branches, the academics who are known for their work on archery as well as leading master archers will visit 16 countries to attend seminars and performance shows for the promotion of this traditional sport. Exhibitions will also be held to showcase the history and culture of the traditional Turkish archery with all its intricacies.