“International Turkish and Literature Days” was held in cooperation with Near East University and University of Kyrenia Turkish Language Teaching Departments.

“International Turkish and Literature Days” was held with the cooperation of Near East University and University of Kyrenia Turkish Language Teaching Departments. At the opening of the International Turkish and Literature Days, of which Near East University faculty members Prof. Dr. Şevket Öznur and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Yeniasır co-chaired the organizing committee, Turkish Language Association President Prof. Dr. Gürer Gülsevin, Hacettepe University faculty member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Filiz Mete and Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University faculty member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gülsine Uzun made speeches.

Prof. Dr. Gürer Gülsevin: “Turkish is the fifth most common foreign language learned in the world.”
Emphasizing that Turkish has been enriched by being fed from the geographies it has traveled like a river throughout history and spread this richness to the geographies where it flows, Prof. Dr. Gürer Gülsevin said, “Turkish has been in contact with many languages ​​such as Chinese, Mongolian, Persian, Arabic, Russian, Georgian, Armenian, Hungarian, Greek, Macedonian throughout history, taking words and giving words.” Gülsevin emphasized that Turkish is one of the few languages ​​among the 7,000 languages ​​spoken in the world that has all the features of “spoken language, written language, literary language, state language, official language, language of education and language of science”. Emphasizing that Turkish is one of the 10 oldest languages ​​with the oldest written records in history, Prof. Dr. Gülsevin said that Turkish is the sixth most spoken language in the world with 250 million people today.

Explaining the exchange and interaction between languages ​​with examples, the President of the Turkish Language Association Prof. Dr. Gürer Gülsevin’s “kiosk” example attracted a lot of attention. Stating that the word “kiosk” used in daily life today entered Turkish from English, Prof. Dr. Gülsevin said, “This word entered English with the word ‘mansion’ from Turkish. The kiosk took the word ‘küşk’ from Persian, and the Persian word got this word from the word ‘köşige’ from Turkish. Therefore, the actual origin of the word ‘kiosk’, which we use today in English, is the word ‘köşige’ in Turkish. Words can circulate between languages, transform and return to the same language.

Stating that Turkish is the fifth language learned as a foreign language in the world today, Prof. Dr. Gülsevin said, “This is a very important indicator that shows that Turkish is among the most important world languages ​​today.”

At the end of his speech, Prof. Dr.Gülsevin said that Turkish is among the top five languages ​​​​of the world and that it is currently in its brightest period.

Teachers need to improve themselves in Turkish proficiency
Hacettepe University faculty member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Filiz Mete, on the other hand, commented on the proficiency of foreign language instructors in Turkish in the context of teacher qualifications and said that teachers should improve themselves further in this regard. Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University faculty member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gülsine Uzun also talked about the importance of language in the construction of national identity and underlined that language has been effective in shaping the identity of a nation throughout history.

The winners of the intercollegiate poetry competition have been awarded!
After the speeches, on the first day of the program, the “Turkish Cypriot Novel and Bekir Kara” and “Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” panels were held. The second day continued with the panels “Problems in Turkish and Literature Teaching in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” and “Past, Present and Future of Folklore in Cyprus”. On the last day of the program, a special session was held in memory of Kamil Özay, the master pen of Turkish Cypriot literature, who passed away in 2021. At the closing, Ahmet Uçar, one of the students who ranked in the “Inter-University Poetry Competition” organized in memory of Kamil Özay, was presented with the first prize, Raul Dinyev with the second prize and Büşra Göltaş received the third prize.