In an interview, Yunus Emre Institute President Prof. Şeref Ateş evaluated the large-scale activities carried out by Yunus Emre Institute, Turkey's leading cultural diplomacy institution, for the promotion and dissemination of Turkish language and culture around the world since its establishment, the activities delivering Yunus' philosophy to nearly 200 countries and the goals set for the 100^th anniversary of the Republic.

Mentioning the number of representative offices operating in different regions of the world and the mission and vision of the Institute, Institute President Prof. Ateş said:

"As Yunus Emre Institute, we carry out our activities mainly around educational diplomacy, cultural diplomacy and scientific diplomacy to promote Turkey, its cultural heritage, Turkish language, culture and arts, and to develop Turkey's relations and friendship with other countries through our over 80 foreign representative offices across over 60 countries in Europe, Asia, Middle East, Far East, Africa and America. With the activities we conduct, while acting with the mission of increasing the Turkey’s recognition, reliability and reputation in the international arena, we aim to increase the number of people all over the world who establish bonds with Turkey and are friendly to Turkey.

Prof. Şeref Ateş spoke about the initiatives taken by the Institute since 2009 to make Turkish language and culture attractive in the world through various diplomacy activities:

"With the Turkish language teaching activities we have started abroad since 2009, we have introduced many people to Turkish, many of whom have successfully learned Turkish.

As you know, many activities have been canceled or postponed due to the measures implemented worldwide against the Covid-19 outbreak. As a result of the work we carried out as the Institute during the pandemic, we turned this adverse situation into an opportunity by strengthening our digital infrastructure and not suspending our activities but switching to online activities, and we have reached remote regions where we do not have foreign representative offices. We have reached hundreds of thousands of people from nearly 200 countries with our online Turkish courses. During this period, we reached out to countries where we do not have representative offices and brought people interested in Turkish language and culture together in our online Turkish courses and “got acquainted” with them. We are very happy to see that Turkish is already echoing in hundreds of countries. Since the establishment of our institute, we have introduced 15 million people to Turkish language and culture through face-to-face and online Turkish courses, My Choice Is Turkish Project, Turkish Language Teaching Portal, teaching Turkish through videos, support to the Turkology departments of universities abroad, and international cooperation with local institutions and organizations."

THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO WANT TO LEARN TURKISH IS INCREASING EVERY DAY

Regarding the ever-increasing demand for learning Turkish around the world, Prof. Ateş commented: "Many issues such as the great interest shown in Turkish TV series around the world, Turkey's tourism potential and Turkey's education and career opportunities have paved the way for an increase in interest in Turkish language and culture in many regions, as well as encouraging people to learn Turkish. Accordingly, the number of people who want to learn Turkish by attending our courses increases every day."

"WE AIM TO REACH 1 MILLION PEOPLE BY 2023"

Ateş made a statement regarding the Institute's goals for the 100^th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey: " In line with our 2023 vision and expansion strategy, we aim to increase our activities to utilize our country's soft power potential in the international arena in the most effective and efficient manner and to expand our sphere of influence. We wish to accelerate our activities in various fields of diplomacy and reach 100 foreign representative offices in the 100th year of the Republic of Turkey with the motto ‘From weaving Turkey with iron nets in the 10^th anniversary to weaving the world with cultural nets in the 100^th anniversary.’ Activities befitting the 100^th anniversary of our Republic will be organized in 2023. In this respect, we aim to reach 1 million people in 2023 as part of the face-to-face and online Turkish language teaching activities we carry out."

WORLDWIDE DIGITAL DIPLOMACY AND SCIENCE DIPLOMACY ACTIVITIES

Prof. Ateş shared details about Yunus Emre Institute's digital diplomacy and science diplomacy activities, which have gained momentum recently. Ateş said: "The "Tanışkan Project, which was developed by our Institute in order to adapt to the changing and developing technology world and brings art and Turkish together using new technologies such as artificial intelligence and NFT, was implemented. The project, which brings education diplomacy and digital diplomacy activities together, Turkish digital art content produces worldwide through artificial intelligence and NFT technologies. In 2023, we plan to organize workshops in many countries, starting with the Netherlands.

Through scientific and academic interaction, our Institute carries out activities to promote and support Turkey's scientific and academic work globally. In particular, we use the ties we have established with foreign universities for science diplomacy and prepare the ground for cooperation between universities in Turkey and those in abroad. We continue our cooperation with many universities as part of the TABIP Project, which we carry out under the auspices of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey, and our efforts for new collaborations will continue to increase in 2023."

Institute President Prof. Şeref Ateş made evaluations on the stories of the people with whom the Institute has established lasting bonds among the millions of people it has taught Turkish and interacted with around the world:

"With our online and face-to-face Turkish courses as well as our cultural interaction activities, we leave lasting traces of Turkish language and culture in the lives of many people around the world. We have a special story in each region as we consider establishing lasting ties with Yunus Emre's philosophy in our activities. From the trainee who saw the art of marbling in a Turkish TV series and attended courses at our Institute and made a living from it, to the trainee whose visual impairment did not prevent him from learning Turkish; from the trainees who traveled across cities and even across countries to learn Turkish, to the trainees who started learning Turkish after being influenced by Aşık Veysel's folk songs, we have many special stories.

In 2023, we will introduce our language and culture to the whole world and carry the Turkish nation, Turkey's story and the 100^th anniversary of the Republic to the whole world."