Yunus Emre Institute President (YEI) Prof. Şeref Ateş made evaluations on the current activities of Yunus Emre Institute and the activities planned in the future.

Stating that Yunus Emre Institute introduces the idea of Turkey, the ideal of Turkey and the idea of cultural Turkey to the whole world, Prof. Ateş emphasized that Turkey has an ideal that prioritizes peace and development and that they introduce it to the world through events.

Prof. Ateş said that the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war were also reflected in Turkey and that on the initiative of Emine Erdoğan, wife of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Olena Zelenska, wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, they organized various activities for children brought to Turkey from orphanages in Ukraine.

TURKISH EDUCATION ACTIVITIES ARE ORGANIZED FOR UKRAINIANS

Referring to the activities related to Ukrainian children in Turkey, Ateş said, "Currently, more than 1,200 orphaned children are staying in Antalya. In this process, we carry out many activities to support their Turkish language learning and to ensure their personal development and psychological happiness through cultural and artistic activities. At the same time, there are many Turkologists from Ukraine who have sought refuge in Turkey. By mobilizing these Turkologists, we have prepared Turkish education sets for Ukrainians who have come to Turkey or live in different countries of the world, and we teach Turkish through distance Turkish teaching."

UKRAINIANS LEARNING TURKISH ARE INCREASING

Pointing to the increase in the number of Ukrainians receiving Turkish education, Ateş said, "Currently, nearly 5 thousand Ukrainians are learning Turkish in Turkey. They either attend distance Turkish classes with us from time to time or learn Turkish in Turkey in different ways. This number is expected to increase gradually."

Ateş underlined that Turkey's awareness of the region increased as the war in Ukraine dragged on and reminded that there are Gagauz, Tatars and different Turkic tribes in many regions of Ukraine.

Stating that they organize different culture and arts activities for Ukrainian children and adults, Ateş said, "The main purpose here is to use Turkey's cultural richness as a tool to connect with the whole world through culture and arts."

"WE TRY TO MAKE TURKISH ONE OF THE FIRST FIVE FOREIGN LANGUAGES LEARNED AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE"

Ateş stated that Ukrainian Turkologists also contributed to the teaching of Turkish and said, "We are trying to bring Turkish back to the level it deserves in the world, that is, to be one of the first five foreign languages learned as a foreign language in the world. We are making a lot of effort for this."

Noting that they have produced 50 books specific to different languages, Ateş said that they teach Turkish differently for each nation.

Introducing the books they have prepared for Ukrainian children, Ateş pointed out that Turkish will be easier to learn through these books.

"THERE IS AN UNPRECEDENTED DEMAND FOR TURKISH IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES OF LATIN AMERICA"

Yunus Emre Institute President Ateş stated that there had been a great interest in Turkish in Latin America recently, especially in cultural terms, and emphasized that Turkish TV series, digital media and media content are very effective in this.

Noting that many private media organizations, especially TRT, produced a great deal of content, Ateş said that these contents reflect cultural elements such as Turkishness, Anatolian Islam, as well as reason, science and democracy.

Pointing out that Turkish TV series are popular in many countries from Latin America to the Far East, Ateş said:

"People who watch Turkish TV series, of course, want to learn Turkish, they are not satisfied with subtitles. For this, there is a program we have developed as Yunus Emre Institute. We will share this with Turkologists and those who teach Turkish as a foreign language as a certificate program. Our lecturers are constantly improving themselves on 'how to teach Turkish through TV series and digital content'. In this way, on the one hand, cultural Turkey is spreading to the world, and on the other hand, Turkish language teaching is developing itself with newer methods."

Prof. Dr. Ateş stated that they focused on digital activities, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic and said, "We have seen that there is a demand for Turkish, especially in different countries of Latin America, at a level you can never imagine. Thousands of people have applied to us for distance Turkish teaching."

Explaining that they opened the Yunus Emre Institute's centers in Mexico and Argentina at the end of last year and that they will officially open them in the coming months, Ateş said, "There are millions of people in these countries who want to learn Turkish, Turkish culture and Turkey as a cultural Turkey."

"WE WANT TO CROWN YUNUS EMRE INSTITUTES WITH 100 CENTERS ON THE 100TH  ANNIVERSARY OF THE REPUBLIC"

Referring to the activities to be held in 2023 for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkey, Ateş said, "In 2023, hopefully in the 100th anniversary of the Republic, we want to crown Yunus Emre Institutes, which is the brand of Turkey, with 100 centers and 100 representative offices. Our work on this issue is going on. We are working towards our goal of 100 cultural centers, both within universities and as stand-alone cultural centers."

On the other hand, Ateş stated that they have many projects based on the concept of 100, such as "100 Literary Figures of Turkey, 100 architectural works, 100 women", and that they plan to carry out many projects in the fields of literature, art, cinema, gastronomy, culture, and history.