"Turkish Teaching Center Managers Coordination Meeting" was held hosted by Yunus Emre Institute (YEI).

The opening speeches of the meeting held in a hotel were made by Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Serdar Çam and YEI President Professor Şeref Ateş.

Çam stated that Turkish education is gradually developing, and as the Turkish economy, trade, politics, diplomacy and the international influence of the country increases, the demands for the use of Turkish also increase.

Stating that the increasing spread of Turkish TV series, cinema products and cultural activities contributes to the demand of Turkish language all over the world by improving its use, "I think language education has a competition, an area of struggle. Efforts to preserve our cultural codes from history with our language together and to keep them alive and prevent them being under the influence of other languages are very valuable." Çam said.

Çam pointed out that within the scope of the works of Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, all units of the Ministry directly or indirectly contribute to the spread and development of Turkish, including tourism activities.

Emphasizing that efforts to establish contact with tourists through new technological opportunities, QR codes and guidance systems, and to popularize Turkish at the same time are valuable, " I think this study carried out by YEI will hopefully contribute to the development of future generations, representatives of both Türkiye and all other countries supporting Turkey." Çam said.

"As youth, let's appreciate our language. Learning a foreign language is, of course, valuable in today's conditions, but there is no need to lose our own language or allow it to deteriorate or erode. Mothers and fathers, let's raise our children, especially knowing the value of our language." he called.

Deputy Minister Çam used the following expressions:

"Let's protect our own culture and heritage from our history. Today, we are faced with a world mass that uses the Turkish language, approaching 300 million. Even though there are different dialects through which we can establish contact with all our brothers in Central Asia, the Turkish world and Turkestan, we can communicate with each other with common words, and we can communicate with all our brothers and sisters abroad. I would like to appeal to our 7 million compatriots to protect, develop and spread the Turkish language used by our compatriots, relatives or Turkish language and culture lovers who have been in contact with Anatolia for at least 3 centuries, from the Balkans to Africa and Latin America."

"There is A Demand for Turkish Everywhere that Human Beings can Set Foot Today"​

Pointing out that it is very important to strengthen the cooperation and coordination between YEI and Turkish Language Teaching Research and Application Center (TÖMER), to see the situation in the field, to exchange ideas about future studies and to produce joint projects, " I think that our focus should be smart solutions, not problems.” Ateş said.

Emphasizing that protecting, developing and keeping Turkish language alive is our primary duty and that learning and teaching Turkish as a foreign or second language is important, "Although it may seem like an exaggeration, I think there is a demand for Turkish everywhere that human beings can set foot today." Ateş said.

Stating that a significant part of this demand consists of young people who want to receive education in Türkiye, and that YEI abroad and TÖMERs in universities in the country have great responsibilities, "So much so that we do not only teach languages, but also build bridges between our country and different cultures. When we meet young people who graduate from Türkiye and return to their country, we realize that they know our country better than we do." Ateş said

Ateş emphasized that for purposes such as carrying out studies on the teaching and dissemination of Turkish in the international arena, developing joint projects, producing materials in areas needed abroad, and using trained human resources efficiently, they have decided to support the projects with different contents, different materials and evaluative trainings to be given to people trained in TÖMERs  which encourage the teaching and learning of Turkish as a foreign/second language and contribute to this field.