Turkish institute offers language classes in Kazakhstan

By Aliia Raimbekova

ASTANA (AA) - The branch of Turkey’s Yunus Emre Institute (YEE) in capital Astana if offering Turkish lessons to hundreds of people, an institute official has told Anadolu Agency.

Serpil Gucukluoglu, Turkish education coordinator at the Astana Yunus Emre Cultural Center, said Kazakhs are very eager to learn the Turkish language.

The YEE has been teaching Turkish in Astana for eight years. A total of 162 students between the ages of 17 and 55 are attending the classes with an eye to work and study in Turkey or understand the Turkish culture better.

"Over 300 people are waiting to be enrolled in the courses," Gucukluoglu said, adding the demand was increasing day by day.

Gucukluoglu said there are four trainees in the course aged over 55 and some of them were learning Turkish more quickly than young trainees.

"Two years ago, we had a 60-year-old student whose daughter married a Turk. Since he could not communicate with his granddaughter, he began to learn Turkish secretly," Gucukluoglu said.

Teacher Ahmet Sahin said the Turkish series had an impact on increasing interest in the Turkish language in Kazakhstan. "They prefer to watch the series in Turkish without subtitles," he said.

Since its establishment in 2009, the institute has taught Turkish to nearly 100,000 people in 43 countries.

Named after the 13th-century poet Yunus Emre, the institute now has over 50 cultural centers around the world, offering artistic, social and scientific programs.