The opening ceremony of Yunus Emre Institute's 2019 Thematic Summer Schools has been held in Istanbul.

Marking the 10th anniversary of its establishment, the Institute has introduced thematic summer schools in various cultural and scientific fields to its traditional Turkish Summer School program.

200 participants from more than 60 countries are hosted in Turkey as part of the summer school programs. The Turkish Summer School will be held in Ankara and the Turkish Literature Summer School, the Turkish Cinema Summer School and the TABİP Summer Science Academy (TSA) while the Archaeology Summer School will be organized in Çanakkale, İzmir, Urfa, Gaziantep, Çorum, Ankara and Istanbul.

The opening of the two-week thematic summer schools was performed on July 22, 2019. The opening ceremony of the program was held in Istanbul, the melting pot of diverse civilizations, with the attendance of 50 students who have come to our country from different countries for the archaeology, literature and cinema summer schools.

Delivering the keynote speech, Advisor to the President of the Institute, Tayfun Kalkan stressed that Yunus Emre Institute's summer schools play a major role in increasing the number of foreign friends of Turkey.

In his keynote speech, İstanbul Şehir University Rector Prof. Dr. Peyami Çelikcan indicated that the Institute has been fulfilling important missions and extended his thanks to the participants for their participation.

"I am in Turkey thanks to my friend"

Many participants visit Turkey for the first time. One these participants, Maya, commented on the program, noting that she has come the Netherlands to attend the Turkish Cinema Summer School. "I currently study film and production. I attend the Polish State School for National TV and Cinema. I am here thanks to my friend who attended the last year's summer school. She encouraged me to apply here. I am here thanks to her," she said.

"I will build not only a plane, but also a spaceship"

Mario, from Ethiopia, a participant in the TABİP Summer Science Academy, indicated that he attend the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Technology Institute of Technology. "I am particularly interested in aviation and the related areas. For the last two days, many technological advances have caught my attention in Istanbul. Given that Ethiopia is behind in this regard, the only thing that can be said to Turkey is that you have mustered magnificent development here," he said.

The opening ceremony of Yunus Emre Institute's Thematic Summer Schools was attended not only by the representatives of many stakeholder organizations and invitees, but also faculty members from İstanbul Şehir University, one of the stakeholders of the Cinema Summer School, director Ümit Köreken and Mustafa Karadeniz.

A Summer That is Full of Science in Turkey

TABİP Summer Science Academy (TSA) which will be held for the first this year within Academic and Scientific Cooperation Project (TABİP) conducted under the auspices of Presidency started in İstanbul Technical University Faculty of Aeronautics and Astronautics with the participation of 15 students from 7 countries.

At the first hours of the day, information about the courses on “Control Theory” which is the subject of the day was given to the participants welcomed by TSA science counselor, Dr. İsmail Bayezit.

Trainings which will continue in İstanbul till 26.07.2019 will continue in Kayseri and Ankara as well within the program composed of 3 stages.

During TSA which will be held with the contributions of Turkey’s prominent universities and companies in aeronautics and astronautics area between 22 July – 4 August 2019, participants will have the change the observe and test the theoretical information to be given by academicians in practice by visiting our country’s leading institutions in aeronautics and astronautics area.

Voyage to Anatolia's cultural heritage

The participants of Yunus Emre Institute's Archaeology Summer School, which brought together 21 different cultures including the US, South Korea, Italy and Egypt, have met in Çanakkale.

The program, conducted under the academic mentoring of Prof. Dr. Rüstem Aslan, the head of the excavations in the ancient city of Troy, and in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) Regional Development Administration, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University and Çorum Governorate, has brought 21 university students who are keen on cultural heritage and archaeology to Turkey this year for the first time.

The participants have had a chance to see Troy and Tevfikiye Village, which constitute a significant cultural treasure with their historical, mythological, cultural and natural assets on the 21st anniversary of the inclusion of Troy in UNESCO's List of World Cultural Heritage Sites, and they closely examine the assets from the period under the leadership of Troy Excavation President Prof. Dr. Rüstem Aslan.

Commenting on the Archaeology Summer School, Prof. Dr. Rüstem Aslan stressed that the participants of the program which will proceed from Troy to Göbeklitepe will have a perfect chance to experience Anatolia's contributions to the world cultural heritage and this will positively affect the world's perspective on Turkey and Turkey's cultural history.

Visiting Tevfikiye Village, an "archeo-village" which was arranged as an outdoor museum with the intention of transferring cultural heritage to future generations, the students witnessed the relics, buildings, figures and historical and mythological assets which are reminiscent of Troy's period and climate. As part of the workshops held as part of the program, the participants tried to make ceramic works with their own hands in a friendly competition and had fun in designing and producing their own works. Then, they visited the unique structures in the historical site of Troy and had a voyage back in time with the story of the Trojan horse.

At Troy Museum, showcasing the relics from Troy and many ancient cities in Çanakkale, the students found the Iliad and many stories from the Eastern Roman and Ottoman periods, and they were briefed about the significance, background and excavation processes of the works in the museum by Troy Excavation President Prof. Dr. Rüstem Aslan and 18 Mart Çanakkale University Archaeology Lecturer Veysel Tolun.

Turkish literature opens up its door to summer school students

The first Turkish Literature Summer School, organized by Yunus Emre Institute with support from the Directorate General of Libraries and Publications, has commenced in Istanbul with 25 participants from 25 countries.

The foreign participants most of whom are attending postgraduate programs in the field of Turkology and translation will meet prominent representatives of the Turkish literature at various venues in Istanbul. The two-week program has started with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Turgay Anar's conference on the "Venues of Turkish Literature."

During the event held in the Procession Kiosk (Alay Köşkü), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Anar noted that the venues where literary figures gathered to talk about literature were big power centers and indicated that similar meetings were made to share. Anar pointed out that people are considered as mirrors of each other because they need each other. "When we look into this mirror, people want to share everything with other people. This is a great characteristic given to people. Thanks to it, people can share something with others," he said.

Following the interview, Assoc. Dr. Anar and the participants posed for a souvenir photo before attending the trip undertaken as part of the event entitled "Venues of Literature from Divanyolu to Beyazıt."

History of Turkish cinema discussed

The Turkish Cinema Summer School, organized initially in 2018 with a view to sharing Turkey’s cinematic history with the world and present a deeper insight into Turkish cinema, is held this year with support from the Directorate General of Cinema of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey and in cooperation with İstanbul Şehir University.

On the first day of the Turkish Cinema Summer School, 22 young movie-makers from 22 countries traveled back in time to the Turkish cinema with Prof. Dr. Nezih Erdoğan, the head of the Department of Cinema and TV at İstanbul Şehir University. During the course on the early years of cinema in Istanbul, the first films, the first movie theaters, shooting conditions and aims, the students discussed the early years of cinema from the Ottoman era to our time.