The winners of the South Korea 3^rd National Turkish Speech Contest received their awards. The event was organized by Seoul Yunus Emre Institute (YEI) in cooperation with the Private Foreign Languages Education Center (CFL) and the Mediterranean Studies Institute. 

On the occasion of the declaration of 2021 as the "Year of Yunus Emre and Turkish" by the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey and including this special year among UNESCO's commemorative anniversaries, the 3^rd Turkish Speech Contest was held online on 3 December 2021 with the theme of Yunus Emre and the slogan of "South Korea Speaks Turkish”.

The award ceremony of the competition, which took place on 21 January 2022, was attended by Turkey’s Ambassador to Seoul Ersin ERÇİN, Hankuk Foreign Studies University Rector Prof. In-chul Kim, Undersecretaries to the Embassy Ömer Çelikkol, Mert Tokman, Dean of HUFS Yong-woong Lee, CFL Director Eung Gu Lee, Seoul Commercial Counselor Münir Oğuz, Turkish Airlines Seoul Office Manager Mehmet Gürülkan, academicians and students who won the competition at HUFS Sky Lounge Hall.

TIGHT RACE THORUGH THE SEMI FINAL AND THE FINALS

Students of the Turkish Language Department performed an intense competition first in the semifinals, then in the finals in order to succeed. In the exciting event where 12 students qualified to compete in the final, the contestants displayed their Turkish skills by giving speeches on Yunus Emre's life and literary works.

Students of the Turkish Language Department performed an intense competition first in the semifinals, then in the finals in order to succeed. In the exciting event where 12 students qualified to compete in the final, the contestants displayed their Turkish skills by giving speeches on Yunus Emre's life and literary works. 

GRAND PRIZE OF TRIP TO TURKEY

Within the framework of the theme chosen specifically for the Year of Yunus Emre and Turkish Language, the contestants competed in two categories: basic and advanced.

Yeji Kim, who successfully interpreted Yunus Emre's perspective on knowledge and science won at the basic category, while Gayeon Han, who conveyed his perspective on humanity and love, became the top prize winner at the advanced category.

The winners of both categories happily received their round-trip flight tickets to Turkey, which they can use whenever they wish in the year 2022.

Basic category’s runner-up Dabin Kim, second runner-up Garam Oh; advanced category’s runner-up Jung Ju-Hyung and second runner-up Ha-Jeong Jo were awarded various scholarships.

VOICE OF YUNUS RAISED FROM SOUTH KOREA

After the award ceremony, a musical ensemble consisting of traditional Korean instruments such as Haegeum and Gayageum and artists performing the traditional music of Korea gave an unforgettable musical feast for the guests.

The Korean artists, who pleasantly surprised the listeners by reinterpreting Yunus Emre's poem titled "Ben Yürürüm Yâne Yâne" composed by Selahaddin Pınar, the famous composer of classical Turkish music, lute player and tamburî, gave a new breath to Yunus Emre's voice 700 years after his death.