Turkey lacks expertise on neighbor countries: Official

By Sena Guler

ANKARA (AA) - There is a lack of expertise in Turkey on neighboring countries, especially Iran, head of Turkey’s Presidency of Turks and Related Communities Abroad (YTB) said on Thursday.

“In Turkey, you cannot find very detailed research on around 20-25 million Turkish cognates in Iran,” Abdullah Eren told the launching meeting of the book Iran Dusunce Tarihi [History of Thought in Iran] at the Center for Iranian Studies in Ankara (IRAM).

Noting that Turkish academicians are mostly focused on Western side, Eren added: “In recent years, an academic literature has been formed thanks to the institutions such as IRAM, theses by master students and support of the institutions like YTB.”

Stating that YTB carries out some projects on relative communities in various fields including education, culture and social life, Eren said they have focused on history of thought since the last year.

He said there are five-six books under the contemporary thought history series, including History of Thought in Iran.

Eren said another book from the series, History of Thought in Azerbaijan, is also going to be published soon and other books of the series include Egypt, India-Pakistan and Turkey versions.

Eren also noted that Turkey uses soft power in its foreign policy in recent years, which has equivalent neither in military nor political terminology, referring to the YTB’s scholarship program for foreign students.

- First book of IRAM

Also speaking at the event, Acting President for IRAM Hakki Uygur said that the book was the first one since the institution’s establishment in 2016 and briefed the attendees on his part in the book.

Assoc. Prof. Mehmet Alici of Mardin Artuklu University in southeastern Turkey and Lecturer Turgay Safak of Istanbul Medeniyet University also delivered speeches on their parts in the book.

The meeting was attended by Afghan ambassador in Ankara, academicians, and university students.

The book was written by 10 Turkish and foreign experts in the field and co-edited by Uygur and Abdulla Rexhepi.