Near East University Atatürk Faculty of Education faculty members attended the “10th International EMI Entrepreneurship and Social Sciences Congress” held in Romania. The congress, which was organized to discuss innovative ideas and approaches in the fields of entrepreneurship and social sciences and to raise awareness about the effects of social sciences on social change, provided the opportunity to develop interdisciplinary projects.

This year, 487 researchers representing 187 universities from 22 countries came together at the congress hosted by Valahia University of Targoviste. Focusing on current issues and solution proposals in the field of social sciences, the congress that provides a better understanding of social problems was represented by the academicians of the Department of Turkish Language Teaching at the Atatürk Faculty of Education, Near East University. At the congress where 297 scientific papers were presented, the Vice Head of the Department of Social Sciences and Turkish Language Teaching from the Atatürk Faculty of Education, Prof. Dr. Burak Gökbulut won the “Best Paper” award with his presentation titled “The Concept of Fear with the Shape-shifting Motif in Fairy Tales and Legends of Cyprus and Azerbaijan”.

487 researchers from 22 countries attended the congress!

At the congress, which was attended by participants from Germany, USA, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, India, England, Italy, Canada, Kazakhstan, TRNC, Nigeria, Norway, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine and New Zealand; Mustafa Yeniasır presented the papers titled “Educational Functions of Novels with Historical Content: The Old Warrior by Cengiz Dağcı and Sultanmurad by Cengiz Aytmatov”, Prof. Dr. Burak Gökbulut presented the papers titled “The Concept of Fear with the Shapeshifting Motif in Fairy Tales and Legends of Cyprus and Azerbaijan” and Turkish Preparatory School faculty member Dr. Tülay Kaya Tekman presented the papers titled “Evaluation of the Perceptions of Turkey and Turkish Language by Students of Turkish Origin Studying in TRNC”.

Prof. Dr. Burak Gökbulut: “The shape-shifting motifs frequently used in Azerbaijani and Turkish Cypriot folk legends are similar.”

Prof. Dr. Burak Gökbulut, who won the “Best Paper” award at the congress with his research titled “The Concept of Fear with the Shape-shifting Motif in Fairy Tales and Legends of Cyprus and Azerbaijan”, stated that the shape-shifting motif is widely used in Azerbaijani and Turkish Cypriot folk legends and that these motifs are similar between the two countries. Prof. Dr. Burak Gökbulut said, “The most common shape-shifting motif in the legends of both countries examined was seen to be ‘being turned into stone’. In addition, it was determined that the motifs of turning into animals, plants and water were similar in the legends of both countries.”