“Turkish Language Feast” organized by the international students of Ondokuz Mayıs University (OMU) attracted considerable attention.
The activity was held by OMU Turkish Teaching and Application Research Center (OMU-TURKCE) under the theme of “World Turkish”. The organization performed in Atatürk Congress and Culture Center was honored with the participation of Governor of Samsun İbrahim Şahin, OMU Rector Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Akan, OMU Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Sevilhan Mennan, Dean of OMU Faculty of Education Prof. Dr. Yavuz Bayram, Dean of OMU Faculty of Science and Letters Prof. Dr. Recep Tapramaz, Deputy Manager of OMU TURKCE Asst. Prof. Dr. Ömer Saraç, other academicians, and the students.
Asst. Prof. Dr. Ömer Saraç gave the opening speech of the activity. Saraç stated: “we have more than three-hundred students in our center which had adopted the motto “World Turkish” and these students come from fifty different countries. OMU TURKCE is now a brand which has proved its success. Our affection is our power. Each student coming to our center in order to learn Turkish is our sibling, our child. This relationship has gone beyond to such an extent that we define our center not as “OMU TURKCE” but as “OMU TURKCE Family”.
OMU Rector Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Akan remarked that OMU-TURKCE became a brand within 3 years, and he underlined: “our university held an exam for international students last Saturday. More than 4500 students participated in this exam from all over the world. Probably, 500-600 participating students will come to OMU next year. Our international adventure which began with 200 students continues to broaden its scope with 3000 students in the 2016 academic year. We do not teach Turkish to foreigners. We teach Turkish to our friends who cannot speak this language because we never see our international students as foreigners.”
Governor of Samsun İbrahim Şahin, stated: “We should carry our struggle on Turkish language to a point where each of us will assume a role in this issue. I would like to thank everyone playing part in the organization of this event. I especially congratulate our university for increasing the number of international students.”
After the speeches, 39 trainees were given their certificates on the stage. The students ranking among the top three received their certificates from İbrahim Şahin; other trainees were awarded with the certificates by Rector Prof. Dr. Akan.
International students both entertained and affected the protocol members with their poems, songs and performances in the organization. Especially, the video in which the international students read the Turkish National Anthem for the 41st year of the university was highly appreciated by the participants. In the video prepared with the motto “41 verses, 41 places, 41 countries, 41st year”, 41 foreign students read the National Anthem consisting of 41 verses in 41 different locations in the university campus.
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