The Cultural Diplomacy Academy's 13-week training program that started on March 2, 2019 in Istanbul has ended.

Turkey's leading cultural diplomacy institution, Yunus Emre Institute, has shared its academic knowledge and practical experience in the field of cultural diplomacy with the participants in a comprehensive training program organized by its Cultural Diplomacy Academy for three months. The closing ceremony of the training program, designed to boost qualified and well-equipped human resources for the effective and correct promotion of Turkey's image, was held at Yunus Emre Institute's Istanbul Office on Saturday, May 25.

70 lecturers (12 foreign) including Prof. Dr. İlber Ortaylı, retired ambassador Prof. Dr. Kenan Gürsoy, retired ambassador Uluç Özülker, and Diplomacy Academy President Prof. Dr. Mesut Özcan lectured at the program which consisted of the following five modules: "Diplomacy," "International Relations," "Cultural Diplomacy," "Project Management and Business Skills," and "Anatolian Civilizations, Identity, Style and Culture."

The program, implemented as part of the Cultural Diplomacy Academy, which has been working under Yunus Emre Institute to expand the special implementation areas of cultural diplomacy, is geared toward university students who dream of a career at the United Nations, the European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the African Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and many other international organizations and civil society organizations as well as toward graduate and doctoral students, young professionals, academics, diplomats, military officers, bureaucrats, artists, journalists and civil society organization staff.

The training program was enriched with seminars, talks, panel discussions, workshops, laboratories, views and contributions from foreign experts, sample application analysis around the world, interactive evaluations, film screenings, cultural and artistic events, scenario-based simulations, presentations, readings and project work, and contained work on how to associate Turkey's deep-rooted cultural with its cultural diplomacy practices. The participants had an opportunity to examine national and international project development and implementation processes, contribute to Turkey's cultural diplomacy practices, develop new ideas and implement them, and turn what they learned into practices and projects at workshops.

Following the final session organized with the participation of folklorist and Turkish National Commission for UNESCO President Prof. Dr. Öcal Oğuz and NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy Ambassador Tacan İldem, a certificate program was organized for the participants who successfully completed the training.

The ceremony was attended by retired ambassador Prof. Dr. Kenan Gürsoy, who acted as a project consultant for the Cultural Diplomacy Academy Applied Cultural Diplomacy Training Program, and Institute President Prof. Dr. Şeref Ateş.

New horizons, new hopes...

Prof. Dr. Şeref Ateş delivered a keynote speech during the closing ceremony. "This was only a begging. From now on, you should take what you have learned here as your guide. Be horizons for each other. During this three-month program, we have acquired a horizon and new hope. We have come to believe that Turkey may make great progress with its diversity," he said.

Rıdvan Gölcük, who has participated in the program, expressed his views on the program. "For the first time in my life, I have seen how such a diverse group of people can produce such a synergy," he said. Another participant, Derya Kemal, said, "We are like the trees shedding leaves because we are leaving, but we enter a beautiful garden thanks to what we have learned at this program."

At the end of the program, the participants posed for photo shooting.