Students come to Turkey for Turkish language summer school

Culture Minister Ertuğrul Günay posed with international students who came to attend the Turkish Summer School.

The annual Turkish Summer School, organized by the Culture and Tourism Ministry's Yunus Emre Institute, kicked off at Ankara's Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodities Exchanges Economy and Technology University (TOBB-ETÜ) on Monday.

This year, the program has brought 123 students from 23 countries to Turkey. The students, who came top of their Turkish classes taken in Yunus Emre institutes abroad, will take part in a summer school for the Turkish language. The group also includes students of Turkology from different universities abroad. “You will see the beauty of Turkey in the places you visit. I hope you will love Turkey during your short trip,” Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay said when he addressed the students attending the Turkish Summer School this year, expressing his happiness to have foreign students in Turkey. The visiting students in Turkey will go on cultural tours in the cities and towns of Beypazarı, Konya, Eskişehir, Nevşehir, Çankırı, Kayseri, Bursa and İstanbul. They will also take part in seminars on the Turkish language, culture and the social and economic aspects of Turkey. “I believe we have a duty to build awareness of our language and culture,” Günay said, recalling that efforts to spread Turkish language and culture were helped along in 2007 with the establishment of the Yunus Emre Foundation. “This law [which established the foundation] was passed in 2007. The name was a good choice.” “Look how the Spaniards named an institution after their world-famous novelist and how the Germans named an institution after their great poet, we have made a good decision in naming our institution after Yunus Emre, one of the greatest poets of the Turkish language. My thanks to the friends who thought of this,” he added. The location of the Yunus Emre Institute was chosen in the historic and glorious part of Ankara. “I believe it is a beautiful place. After I saw the Cervantes Cultural Center in Madrid, I thought our institute should have such a historic building as well. It really happened.” The Yunus Emre Institute has opened 10 branches in 10 different countries over the last two years. Günay said he wants to open other centers in Berlin, Paris and Moscow because these cities have a high population of citizens with Turkish background. Meanwhile, Yunus Emre Institute Chairman Ali Fuat Bilkan said the institute will sign a rental contract in Lebanon to open a branch in the country, whilst an institute in Rome is also going to be established and permission is being awaited from Tehran to establish an office in Iran. SOURCE: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-249430-students-come-to-turkey-for-turkish-language-summer-school.html