Yunus Emre Enstitüsü President Prof. Dr. Şeref Ateş explained Enstitü's activities and its battle with FETÖ in Provincial External Affairs Directors Meeting held in Ak Party Headquarters.

Provincial External Affairs Directors Meeting held in Ak Party Headquarters began with the speech by AK Party Vice Chairman Mehdi Eker.

AK Party Vice Chairman Mehdi Eker said, “We respect territorial integrity of all countries. We cannot idly stand by while a country is being separated or dissolved, and we have no such intentions. We never set eyes on other people's lands however we will never allow those who set their eyes on Turkish territory.”

Condemning the heinous terrorist acts on Turkey and Turkish nation, Eker reminded the incident where two terrorists, preparing for a car bomb attack were captured dead in an operation organised near Haymana district of Ankara.   

Eker, marking that the fates of nations are determined by the region they live in, underlined that Turkey witnessed several times how Middle East was set on fire.  Eker pointing out the plans concerning reshaping Middle East, said a new play wants to be staged. Eker continued as follows: “We respect territorial integrity of all countries. We cannot idly stand by while a country is being separated or dissolved, and we have no such intentions. We never set eyes on other people's lands however we will never allow those who set their eyes on Turkish territory.”

"They harmed Muslims the most"

Eker emphasized that the cowardly coup attempts and operations are carried out to neutralize President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and AK Party, and expressed that they will continue to protest the evil powers against the interest of Turkish nation and Turkey and remain vocal in the face of regional events.

Eker stating that solutions were offered in order to put out the fire in Syria and Iraq and to prevent new fires from breaking out however those were not complied, continued his speech as follows:

“Some powers aspire to reshape Syria and Iraq and utilise stooges, puppet governments, puppet administrations, terrorist organisations and ISIS. They harmed Muslims and Islam the most. PKK in Iraq and PYD (DUP) in Syria are the same organisations, extensions there. ISIS, PKK, PYD attack Turkey. This is happening because 'Turkey opposes the dirty and bloody plans for Middle East going against the interest of the people in the region, proposes humane solutions and peaceful policies.'”

Stressing that Fethullah Terrorist Organisation (FETÖ) is the stooge and puppet of dark minds, Eker stated that the goal of the coup attempt was not to merely overthrow the government but to ensure Turkey's collapse and make the country susceptible to international intervention

Mehdi Eker relayed that FETÖ collected money from citizens as donations for charity but allocated the collections to lobby activities against Turkey.  

"This is not an issue only for the state”

Requesting the citizens to share their knowledge regarding FETÖ and to enlighten their kith and kin abroad in face of propaganda against Turkey, Eker stated the following:

“This is not an issue only for the state and government of Turkish Republic. The efforts of the government, diplomatic contacts established, the delegations will not suffice. Because these traitors are true professionals. FETÖ terrorist organisation is professionally conducting operations in the United States. They pay 8 billion dollars to a single lobbyist company. And what does the company do? They explain FETÖ's thesis to relevant people, masses and organisations. Fethullah Gülen's men pay that lobbyist company. And they use this against Turkey.”

Ak Party  Vice Chairman Mehdi Eker added that Turkey is impeded in process of European Union membership and there are impositions in question exclusively for Turkey. 

Prof. Dr.

Yunus Emre Enstitüsü President Prof. Dr. Şeref Ateş made a speech in Provincial External Affairs Directors Meeting and explained our Enstitü, its activities and 2023 vision. Ateş gave information on Yunus Emre Enstitüsü's expansion policies, international collaborations, recent international operations and Global Public Diplomacy Network (GPDNet) Term Presidency. Ateş also briefed participants on public diplomacy activities following July 15^th coup attempt and the operations conducted as part of the battle against FETÖ.

Marking that more than 700 activities are organised annually in 45 centres and over 100 contact points in 37 countries for the last seven years, President Ateş stated that they reach nearly 40 thousand people annually and 2145 cultural events have been organised attended by countless guests.

Yunus Emre Enstitüsü President Şeref Ateş expressed the following on the vision and mission of Enstitü:

“Our vision is to introduce Turkey further and through correct sources to world people with activities to be organise and collaborations to be established in numerous countries under culture-arts and teaching Turkish to foreigners headlines. 

Our mission is to promote Turkey, its cultural heritage, Turkish language, culture and arts, improve Turkey's friendship with other countries, further cultural exchange, present relevant information and documents of local and foreign origin for the world to benefit, and offer services abroad to those who aspire to get education in the fields of Turkish language, culture and arts.

Our Enstitü that came into operation at home in its central building at Ankara Ulus in 2009, opened its first centre abroad in Sarajevo and has opened 45 Turkish Culture Centres in the last seven years in 37 different countries in Europe, Asia, Middle East, Far East, Africa and America.

Enstitü gave weight to the Balkans and Middle East until 2013 and to Europe in 2013 and 2014, and concerted opening cultural centres in major capitals. As of 2015, Enstitü determined American continent, Sub-Saharan Africa and Middle Asia as priority regions as part of 2023 Vision.

To summarize the distribution of current centres to regions and cities:

There are 12 YEE centres in Europe: Brussels, London, Budapest, Warsaw, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, Rome, Vienna, Cologne, Zagreb and Comrat. 13 centres are active in Middle East and Africa: Cairo, Alexandria, Beirut, Amman, Tehran, Pretoria, Rabat, Jerusalem, Algeria, Kabul, Nicosia, Khartoum and Doha. There are 13 YEE centres in the Balkans: Sarajevo, Fojnica, Mostar, Tirana, Shkoder, Pristina, Prizren, Pec, Skopje, Bucharest, Constanza, Podgorica, Belgrade. Our 6 centres in Asia and Far East are as follows: Kazan, Tbilisi, Baku, Astana, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur. We have a centre in USA in Maryland and another in Latin America, in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
 

“Launched Operations in Brazil”
Announcing that a new centre has been inaugurated next to 45 centres worldwide, Prof. Dr. Ateş continued as follows: “Sao Paulo Yunus Emre Enstitüsü Director Hüsamettin Aslan, gathered with Muslim minority in the first mosque of Latin America and Brazil, Mesquita Brazil on his first day in the office. Hüsamettin Aslan performed Friday prayer with Brazilian Muslims and introduced Yunus Emre Enstitüsü to the community in the chat session following the prayer. Brazilian Muslims who enjoyed hours-long chat, informed Sao Paulo Yunus Emre Enstitüsü Director Aslan on their own status. Brazilian Muslims explained that Mesquita Brasil Mosque offering a complex where Muslims gather and hold educational, cultural, religious and social activities was built in 1920, and how things have changed since the past.

Battle against FETÖ

Yunus Emre Enstitüsü President Ateş who described the battle against FETÖ in the closed-door section, elaborated on some of the global operations Enstitü has carried out  following July 15^th coup attempt. Prof. Dr. Şeref Ateş spoke as follows: “To observe how terrorist leader Fethullah Gülen is disturbed both by this operation we realised just hours after the heinous coup attempt and by Yunus Emre Enstitüsü activities in general, just watch the almost one hour-long speech he gave on July 17^th Sunday. FETÖ/PDY ringleader Fethullah Gülen directly pointed Yunus Emre Enstitüsü as the target during his interview on July 17^th and this proves how on point and efficient our operation was.”

The meeting was attended by Mehdi Eker,  Afif Demirkıran, Cemalettin Kani Torun, Fazilet Dağcı Çığlık, Fevzi Şanverdi, Halil Özcan, Hüseyin Bürge, İsmail Emrah Karayel, and Sena Çelik.