Directors of Yunus Emre Institute centers abroad, came together in Ankara with the executives of Yunus Emre Institute.

Organized in Ankara Bera Hotel between 26 and 28 October, 2015 activities were evaluated, an interactive study on regional strategies was carried out, and operations in coming years were consulted in the 8^th Training and Consultation Meeting. In addition to operations, panels and seminars were organized in the meeting.

Head of Yunus Emre Institute Prof. Dr. Hayati Develi and Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deputy of Undersecretary Ahmet Muhat Gül made the opening speeches in the meeting held with participation of 34 directors, each directing a center in a different country. In his speech, Prof. Dr. Hayati Develi underlined the following: “Our Institute, which began its operations in 2009, have opened more than 40 cultural centers in a short period. We continue to rapidly open new Cultural Centers as well as completing our institutionalization process. We take the necessary steps to organize advanced and effective activities at the same time.”

Develi also mentioned the significant operations carried out within the last two years: “It is of course of major importance that our Institute with a vital mission in Cultural Diplomacy field, to expand fastly and to increase the number of cultural centers. More importantly, we aim to achieve our goals by proceeding with correct strategies in an organized and programmed manner. We determined our 2023 goals with this purpose, carrying out our 2023 Vision with the slogan 'World is getting closely acquainted with Turkey'. We determined the macro goals we like to achieve in Culture-Arts and Turkish instruction fields. To achieve these, planning the short and medium term steps to take is of course important. I hereby thank our Cultural Center Directors who carry out these operations on the field and represent us as well as Turkey. I wish our trainings and consultation meetings to be held for three days, to be fruitful.” Develi extended his thanks to Members of the Board of Trustees, members of Board of Directors and institution representatives for their participation.

Meeting continued with panel and seminars. Head of TIKA (Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency) Dr. Serdar Çam, YTB (The Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities) Vice President Serdar Gündoğan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Cultural Diplomacy Deputy Director General Şebnem İncesu and Ministry of Culture and Tourism General Directorate of Promotion General Director İrfan Önal participated in the panel. Following the vision speeches, collaboration opportunities were assessed.

In another session held with participation of Director of National Agency Mesut Kamiloğlu and Promotion Fund of the Turkish Prime Ministry General Secretariat Chief of Personnel and Administrative Affairs Zafer Tekin, project supports and collaboration opportunities with Yunus Emre Institute were discussed and they announced that they are open to project proposals. Kamiloğlu said that not just Turkish national agency, but also the national agencies of countries in which centers are located, receive project proposals. He stated that the highest number of proposals were submitted from Turkey in Europe although Turkey is not a member state of the European Union, and Spain follows Turkey with half as many submissions. Kamiloğlu emphasized that it is more advantageous to apply in countries outside of Turkey to increase the chance of being elected. He remarked that the Institute may also benefit from European Volunteer Services program, and collaboration opportunities can be created, and added that Sarajevo Yunus Emre Institute's operations regarding AGH might constitute an example to this.

First half of the meeting was completed after Turkish Instruction, Test Center and Turcology department situation assessments presentation. Second half of the meeting ended with the dinner accompanied by Sipihr Ensemble's performance following the round table meeting held in 12 sessions.

On the last day of the meeting, Cultural Center Directors discussed the current strategies and how to develop these in their country and region of operation.

Seminar moderated by Strategy Department and evaluation speeches made by Yunus Emre Institute Vice Presidents Dr. Şaban Çobanoğlu, Dr. Ebubekir Ceylan and Ass. Prof. Dr. Şeref Ateş took place in the closing day of the meeting.