Some 1,000 foreign students in Turkey for summer school

By Andac Hongur

ISTANBUL (AA) - This summer nearly 1,000 foreign students from 118 countries are getting a chance to discover Turkey’s culture, art and language during a program organized by the Yunus Emre Institute (YEE).

Students at the summer school were selected from 150,000 applicants from 118 countries including Indonesia, Algeria, U.S., Armenia, Israel, Cuba, Germany, the U.K., Denmark, Palestine, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, and the Netherlands, said a statement by the institute.

Students will learn Turkish while traveling around Turkey until Aug. 12. The students will also take part in training programs across 28 different provinces of Turkey. The program will end with a final trip to Istanbul.

As part of the program, students learned Turkish in the eastern Malatya province, played traditional Turkish instruments, and learned Turkish folk dances. In southeastern Gaziantep, the foreign students also visited a Baklava Museum and learned how to make the famous Turkish treat.

Seref Ates YEE, who heads the institute, said that they aim to spread Anatolia's richness and cultural diversity to the world.

"The Yunus Emre Institute has 56 cultural centers across five continents worldwide. This is our ninth year [of the program] and we’re hosting nearly 1,000 students from 150,000 applications we received," he said.