Center promotes Turkish language skills in Bosnia

BELGRADE, Serbia

Turkish Yunus Emre Cultural Center has provided nearly 10,000 people in Bosnia-Herzegovina with education in Turkish language since 2009, the center’s local coordinator, Mehmet Akif Yaman, has told Anadolu Agency.

Yaman said they offer Turkish language classes and cultural events across the country.

The center offers cultural, artistic, social and scientific programs to promote Turkey and the Turkish language.

The center organizes two semesters of Turkish education every year and so far approximately 3,600 people have registered for the courses in Sarajevo, Mostar and Fojnica Yunus Emre centers , according to Yaman.

Teachers at the center also teach Turkish in the country's schools as a second foreign language.

So far, more than 6,000 students at such schools have taken classes.

"The demand for the courses is just too much. More than we can cover," Yaman said.

He added that the center will need to increase its capacity by 50 percent next year to be able to cope with the demand.

The center also offers certified Turkish language courses in the country's capital city of Sarajevo.

Moreover, Turkish is being taught at seven schools as a second foreign language in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

"Ottoman Turkish language courses will also be taught," added Yaman.

Yunus Emre Institute is a Turkish organization established in 2007 with over 30 cultural centers around the world. It is named after the influential Turkish poet and mystic,Yunus Emre.