Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Dönmez, who came to Malaysia to make various contacts in the field of energy, visited the Yunus Emre Institute (YEI) in Kuala Lumpur. After receiving information about the Institute's activities in Malaysia and the region from Dr. Ömer Altun, Kuala Lumpur Yunus Emre Institute Coordinator, Dönmez met with students, business people, and academicians studying in Malaysia within the scope of his visit.

During the meeting, Minister Dönmez met the visitors one by one and received information about the student’s educational lives and their work.

THEY ARE THE VOLUNTEER ENVOY OF TURKEY

In his speech at the meeting held at the service building of the Kuala Lumpur Yunus Emre Institute, Fatih Dönmez touched upon energy policies around the world and Turkey's recent breakthroughs in the field of energy. Minister Dönmez also expressed his satisfaction with the rapidly developing relations between Turkey and Malaysia in recent years and said that each of our citizens living abroad is ambassadors who establish ties between Turkey and the country they live in.

Minister Dönmez shared his visit on his Twitter account and said, "We came together with our young people who came to Malaysia to receive education thousands of kilometers away from Turkey at Kuala Lumpur YEI. I wish success to Yunus Emre Institute, which brings our Turkish language and culture together with the world. Come, Let Us Meet with Yunus Emre Institute, our new window to the world."

MORE THAN 22 THOUSAND STUDENTS START LEARNING TURKISH IN MALAYSIA

At the Kuala Lumpur Yunus Emre Institute, which has been operating in Malaysia since February 2017, more than 22 thousand students have so far been introduced to Turkish in Turkish courses held in 3 semesters (fall-spring-summer).

Within the scope of the "My Preference is Turkish Project" carried out by the Institute, protocols were signed with 9 universities and 3 colleges in Malaysia and one university and one college in Thailand, and Turkish included in the curriculum as an elective course in these educational institutions.

With the start of the Covid-19 pandemic process, Kuala Lumpur Yunus Institute, which switched to online education without interrupting classes, had the opportunity to open its doors to all Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. Trainees from Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Singapore, Cambodia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and many other countries can participate free of charge in the online Turkish courses run by Kuala Lumpur Yunus Emre Institute since the first days of the pandemic. In addition, Kuala Lumpur Yunus Emre Institute organizes Turkish courses for the personnel of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense of Malaysia. As of the summer semester of 2022, the institute has 2,643 active students.

ART COURSES AND KEMANKEŞ PROJECT CONTINUES

Kuala Lumpur Yunus Emre Institute continues its efforts to carry out activities in the field of culture, arts, and language with its local stakeholders in Malaysia and regional countries.

In addition to Turkish education activities, Kuala Lumpur Yunus Emre Institute also organizes activities in the field of culture and arts. The institute organizes courses in Ottoman Turkish, oud, hüsn-ü calligraphy and traditional Turkish archery.

Within the scope of the Kemankeş Project implemented by the Institute with the Archers Foundation, traditional Turkish archery was included in the school curriculum for the first time in the world within the framework of the protocol signed with the International Idrissi School. Since 2018, 440 students have attended traditional Turkish archery classes at the International Idrissi School, taught by instructors trained in Turkey.

Kuala Lumpur Yunus Emre Institute organizes promotion days, conferences, exhibitions, film screenings, concerts, academic meetings, translation workshops, speaking clubs, and Turkish cuisine events in Malaysia. In the Turkish Cuisine event organized by the Institute at the Royal Palace of Malaysia in 2019, Turkish Cuisine History Researcher, Food Writer, and Chef Ömür Akkor cooked dishes from Turkish cuisine together with the Queen of Malaysia Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah and Turkish cuisine culture was introduced with the event.