Yunus Emre Institute (YEI) was awarded the "Turkish Language Service Award" by the Turkish Language Association (TDK).

Presented by the Turkish Language Association (TDK), 'Turkish Language Service Awards' were rewarded during the ceremony held on December 17, 2020. Yunus Emre Institute was awarded with the "Turkish Language Service Award" for its activities on teaching Turkish abroad and its contribution to the Turkish language.

During the award ceremony organized at the Conference Hall of the Turkish Language Association, awards were rewarded to Prof. Şeref Ateş on behalf of the Yunus Emre Institute, the Secretary General of the International Organization of Turkic Culture Prof. Düsen Kaseinov on behalf of TURKSOY, Abdullah Eren on behalf of the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities, Prof. Hamza Zülfikar, Prof. Mustafa Canpolat and Tunç Erdoğan on behalf of turkceyaz.com website.

In his Twitter post regarding the award ceremony, Prof. Ateş said: "Our Institute's Turkish teaching activities across the world were rewarded with TDK's 2020 'Turkish Language Service Award'. I was happy to receive this valuable award on behalf of the family of Yunus Emre Institute, which brought our Turkish language to the entire globe. We will continue to work with determination, diligence and enthusiasm...”

TDK HAS BEEN ON THE SAME LINE SINCE 1932

In the opening speech of the ceremony, President of the Turkish Language Association Prof. Gürer Gülsevin indicated that this award ceremony was very important for the Turkish language, Turkish and the Turkish Language Association and said: "We have gathered here to honor our institutions and instructors that have made superior contributions to the Turkish language, Turkish and the Turkish Language Association by rewarding these service awards". Sharing significant information about the Turkish Language Association, Prof. Gülsevin went on to say:

“As known, the Turkish Language Association was established in 1932 with the Turkish Historical Society (TTK) to emphasize the culture and importance of our Republic, founded in 1932 as the society of supervising the Turkish language under the guidance of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The Turkish Language Association has been on the same line regarding its activities from 1932 onwards in line with the principles and agreements specified on the day of foundation. There are principles and aims such as revealing the unique beauty of the Turkish language, promoting it to its well-deserved place among the languages of the world and performing studies on the Turkish language."

Stating that may works were digitalized and everybody could have access to these works, Prof. Gülsevin made the following remarks:

“Thousands of books have been published by the Turkish Language Association so far. Over 100 books were published this year, and the institution also issues 3 magazines. Scholarships are granted. We were very ambitious in terms of the scholarships this year. We increased the number of scholarships. Our announcement covers more than 700 undergraduate scholarships. We increased the number of undergraduate and PhD scholarships to 75. As you know, budget of the institution corresponds to the 28-percent share of İşbank as bequeathed by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. That share is equally shared between TDK and TTK. Culture is the foundation of a state and nation. Underlining this fact, Atatürk bequeathed his inheritance to these two institutions."

In his speech, President of the Supreme Institution of Atatürk Culture, Language and History Prof. Muhammet Hekimoğlu delivered the following remarks:

“It was necessary to give a special privilege to the language, which is the main element of our national existence, which makes a nation complete and is the most important factor that ensures the nation's continuity for centuries. There are many institutions and individuals serving the Turkish language. We are very happy to reward a symbolic award, present these awards to all parties serving the language and reward these awards to you on behalf of them. What can one do for language? There are lots of things to say in this respect but, in essence, there must be a structure protecting the entire language. A structure must be in place to protect a language against the pressure of foreign languages, improve its vocabulary and pass it from one generation to another. This organization must be under the auspices of the President. It is also necessary to allocate a resource for this purpose."

WE SHOULD WORK HARDER TO PROTECT OUR TURKISH LANGUAGE

Stressing that the use of Turkish words instead of foreign words was very important to protect Turkish, Prof. Hekimoğlu went on to say: "We name buildings and shopping malls as towers or residences. We declared 2017 as the Year of Turkish Language to organize some activities so as to object to this situation. By the way, how will we protect the language? The Turkish Language Association and our valuable institutions like you are working to protect our Turkish, but this is not enough.".

Drawing attention to the foreign words entering into the Turkish language with the age of informatics, Hekimoğlu said:

"We need to pay attention to the expressions spilling out of our tongue into our language. We personally need to pay attention.  The 21st century is an era of informatics. However, the era of informatics and technological movements bring about their unique values. There are words imposed on us by technological trends. Let us talk in a way that our ears can hear what comes out of our mouth and not be disturbed when our ears hear it. Let us not sacrifice our beautiful Turkish to pandemic, filiation (contact tracing), online and setup. Let us use the Turkish equivalent of each word, because our language is our identity."

"YUNUS EMRE INSTITUTE DOES WHAT THE TURKISH LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION CANNOT DO IN PRACTICE"

Informative videos describing the activities of TURKSOY, Yunus Emre Institute, the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities were watched at the ceremony.

Turkish Language Service Awards Presented to the Winners Upon presenting the award to the President of Yunus Emre Institute Şeref Ateş, Prof. Gürer Gülsevin said:

“Yunus Emre Institute offers Turkish education abroad in the best way possible or, in other words, what the Turkish Language Association cannot do in practice. There are over 100 points of contact around the world and 30,000 people receive education online. Even parts of the world with no point of contact can be reached. This is the largest institution teaching Turkish outside Turkey. On behalf of the Turkish Language Association, we thank and congratulate them".

The ceremony came to an end with a group photo after the awards were presented