Yunus Emre Institute President Prof. Dr. Şeref Ateş has made remarks on the Institute's goals for 2020.

Institute President Prof. Dr. Şeref Ateş has attended the TV program "Gece Bakışı," hosted by Fuat Kozuklu on TRT Haber as well as "Afiş" hosted by Büşra Sanay on CNN Türk to comment on the activities conducted by the Institute in 2019 as well as the goal it has set for 2020.

Institute President Prof. Dr. Şeref Ateş has stated that the Institute has made great progress in terms of teaching Turkish in 2019. "We have taught Turkish to 30,000 people through our traditional training courses. In addition, we have provided services to more than 100,000 people through our Distance Turkish Teaching Portal. We have conducted several activities both in Turkey and around the world to promote Turkish as a science language," he said.

President Ateş indicated that the second primary area of activity of the Institute was cultural and artistic activities. "We have increased the number of people who forge bonds with Turkey. In 2019, we have organized 1,020 events abroad. We have 58 cultural centers around the world and, adding our liaison offices to this number, we have more than 100 points of contact in the world. We aim to raise the number of our cultural centers to 100 by 2023, i.e., on the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, thereby increasing the number of the people who forge bonds with Turkey all around world," he said.

President Ateş noted that the portal run as part of the Academic and Scientific Cooperation Project of Turkey (TABİP), conducted under the auspices of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey, made it possible for the Institute to reach 300,000 academics who were involved in scientific developments, innovation and knowledge-based production in Turkey in 2019, adding that they intend to bridge Turkey with the rest of the world in the field of science and technology. "In particular, we have to use science in order to drive development and reach out to young people abroad. Science makes it possible for us to conduct activities even in the countries with which Turkey has political or economic conflicts. Thus, with small incentives, we promote the importance Turkey attaches to science and innovation aboard and establish bonds between them and Turkey," he said.

Ateş noted that the Institute will host a group of Turkologists doing their doctorates from various countries in Turkey. "They will come from Russia, France, the US, etc., and we will give them training for 1 month. When they go back to their countries, they will relay our arguments and perspective. This is very crucial as we intent to guide the Turkology studies around the world," he said.

Also commenting on the Institute's last cultural center formally opened in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, President Ateş said: "People of Malaysia show huge interest in Turkey. We currently teach Turkish as an elective course at nine universities there. Likewise, traditional Turkish archery, too, enjoys great popularity in Malaysia. So we have launched a traditional Turkish archery course as well. Even, the Malaysian Ministry of National Education has included traditional Turkish archery in the official curriculum. We may conduct different activities depending on the geography; that is, we are targeting specific audiences."

Ateş also asserted that the Institute has been working diligently to promote Turkish films around the globe. "In 2019, we organized more than 30 events, Turkish film weeks abroad in cooperation with the General Directorate of Cinema. Most recently, we had events in Vienna and Rome to which Nuri Bilge Ceylan attended. Thousands of people have attended the interviews he gave and thus, they had a chance to learn more about Turkish cinema. We bring Turkish directors and actors and actresses with the audience. Our next goal is to ensure that they cooperate with Turkish directors and Turkish cinema sector. I hope we will be able to realize that goal in 2020," he said.