Language, culture an Yunus Emre Institutes: a new type of diplomacy

Language is one of the core elements that countries build up their cultures on and is a very significant tool to provide insight for the nature of their way of life. Since language has strong relation with culture, common definition on culture describes it as: “shared beliefs, values and behaviors of a social group”. It’s clear to see that language and culture are two core elements for understanding and defining relations with a country. Until the dissolution of USSR, world system was consisting of bipolar nature which in effect almost for 40 years. And during those so called bipolar world years, relationship definition between states described on bloc politics and most importantly on hard power elements. However, after the end of ‘Cold War’ era, definition of the relationships got into change; countries started to create new destinations all around the world. For doing so, ‘cultural centers’ (like Goethe Institute, British Council, Confucius Institute etc.) played a crucial role for introducing their language and culture towards to foreign audiences. Most importantly, thanks to ‘Cultural Diplomacy’ concept, this type of introduction recognized as exportation of a country’s positive image towards international area. Yunus Emre Institutes, working on this manner all around the world; introducing Turkish language, art and culture towards to foreign audiences, teaching Turkish language and providing insight about Turkish art and culture is quite important for exporting Turkey’s positive image. In other words, Yunus Emre Institutes carrying on activities under the Turkey’s cultural diplomacy approach. In this paper, its aimed to explain ‘Cultural Diplomacy’ concept with Language and Culture point of view through Yunus Emre Institutes that now acknowledged as one of the main tools for Turkish diplomacy understanding

ICT in Teaching ESP to Future Civil Engineers at Technical University

The paper analyses new technologies in teaching ESP to future civil engineers in their professional training. The research was held at the National Aviation University (Kyiv, Ukraine) and involved 86 second-year students majoring in “Civil Engineering” who study full-time. The distance learning profession-oriented course on the Moodle platform was applied in the experimental group as well as a set of intellectual games and brainstorming tasks. The study examined how students majoring in civil engineering perceive the implementation of ICT in the ESP learning environment and how these technologies improve students’ ESP proficiency and their readiness for self-educationand lifelong learning. A student survey was held at the end of the experiment. The analysis of the responses in the questionnaire with open-ended questions revealed that students had positive perceptions of using different forms of ICT in the ESP classroom. After establishing the appropriate psychological and pedagogical conditions, the number of students in the experimental group having the productive and creative levels of readiness to use English in their professional activity have significantly increased compared to the control group. On-line learning enhanced students’ motivation for self-study as well as improved their ESP proficiency

Turksoy, Turkic Council and Cultural Diplomacy: Transactionalism Revisited

WOS: 000492390900001This paper's aim is to read the process that crowned with the practice of cultural diplomacy thanks to TURKSOY and Turkic Council in Central Asia (especially in between Turkic republics and in general Turkic World) through Karl Deutch's "transactionalist" approach. In his book, "Political Community and the North Atlantic Area" Deutsch explains the transactionalist theory as a study that would enable "possible ways in which men someday might abolish war." So, the question is "How can men learn to act together to eliminate war/conflict as a social institution?". Therefore, also, this article is an attempt to answer this question with cultural diplomacy and cultural diplomacy implementations through international organizations such as TURKSOY and Turkic Council in the Turkic World

TIKA's impact on turkey-ukraine relations

After World War II, relationship definition between states started to change; during bipolar system-based world, interdependence started to be crowned between states. Meanwhile, thanks to ‘the Marshall Plan’ implemented by US, showed ‘foreign aid’ concept would be a tool for diplomacy to states. At that time on, very first steps of ‘foreign aids’ as a concept used as direct financing application by developed countries to underdeveloped or developing countries. After years, ‘foreign aids’ concept got evolved and got diversified, in terms of content and the number of aid providing countries. After dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), new foreign policy opportunities aroused for Turkey; those newly independent Turkic states provided a foreign policy destination for Turkey. Thus, Turkey founded TIKA, in order to claim this opportunity through providing technical assistance primarily to those newly independent Turkic states of the Central Asian and South Caucasian Turkic states via TIKA. Later on, in line with the developments both in domestic politics and in the international arena, Turkish foreign aid started to reach other countries in different parts of the world. Undoubtedly, it is clear that TIKA’s uniqueness and its having a pivotal role in Turkish Foreign Policy braced up from the ‘Soft Power’ concept. In this paper, its aimed to review TIKA’s activities in Ukraine and its impact on Turkey-Ukraine relations

Language, culture an Yunus Emre Institutes: a new type of diplomacy

Language is one of the core elements that countries build up their cultures on and is a very significant tool to provide insight for the nature of their way of life. Since language has strong relation with culture, common definition on culture describes it as: “shared beliefs, values and behaviors of a social group”. It’s clear to see that language and culture are two core elements for understanding and defining relations with a country. Until the dissolution of USSR, world system was consisting of bipolar nature which in effect almost for 40 years. And during those so called bipolar world years, relationship definition between states described on bloc politics and most importantly on hard power elements. However, after the end of ‘Cold War’ era, definition of the relationships got into change; countries started to create new destinations all around the world. For doing so, ‘cultural centers’ (like Goethe Institute, British Council, Confucius Institute etc.) played a crucial role for introducing their language and culture towards to foreign audiences. Most importantly, thanks to ‘Cultural Diplomacy’ concept, this type of introduction recognized as exportation of a country’s positive image towards international area. Yunus Emre Institutes, working on this manner all around the world; introducing Turkish language, art and culture towards to foreign audiences, teaching Turkish language and providing insight about Turkish art and culture is quite important for exporting Turkey’s positive image. In other words, Yunus Emre Institutes carrying on activities under the Turkey’s cultural diplomacy approach. In this paper, its aimed to explain ‘Cultural Diplomacy’ concept with Language and Culture point of view through Yunus Emre Institutes that now acknowledged as one of the main tools for Turkish diplomacy understanding

TIKA's Soft Power: Nation Branding in Turkish Foreign Policy

WOS: 000489686900010Over the past fifteen years, nation branding has become a popular subject of study, and a formative enterprise in the creation of national character. The aim of nation branding is to create positive feelings in people's minds toward the economic, political, social and geographical conditions of a nation. The aim of this paper is to examine the role of TIKA in the context of Turkey's nation branding in general, with special attention to the Syrian refugee crisis. Further, this paper aims to explain the effects of the Turkish humanitarian assistance process on the Syrian people who live in Turkey as refugees, and to bring a nation branding perspective to how and why nations pay attention to public diplomacy in their attempts to keep their national image strong

Reinvention of Turkish Foreign Policy in Latin America: The Cuba Case

WOS: 000450367400024The current research has the purpose of analyzing Turkey's approach toward Latin America and the Caribbean region through the prism of soft power theory, and through a specific case study, i.e. Turkey-Cuba relations. The working assumption is that Turkey has been able to increase its presence and influence in the region, thanks to a particular soft power-oriented approach known as multi-dimensional policy, which reflects both new behavior and new agents. An analysis of Turkey-Cuba relations will not only help to improve the literature about Turkey's foreign policy on a subject which has not yet been adequately examined, but will also underline features and peculiarities of Turkey's soft power, such as the emerging "Mosque Diplomacy."