First lady Emine Erdoğan officially inaugurated a Turkish cultural center in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur Thursday.
The center is under the state-run Yunus Emre Institute (YEE), named after famous 13th-century Anatolian Sufi and poet, Yunus Emre. His works deal with human values, love and social peace.
In her speech at the opening ceremony, Erdoğan highlighted Yunus Emre’s philosophy and said Turkey wants to take this philosophy to every corner of the world through YEE.
“Our aim is not limited to representing the Turkish language and culture. We also want to add new crossing points to the experience of our country, which has been the crossing point of civilizations for centuries,” she said.
She added that Malaysia, hosting different cultures and languages, will contribute to this exchange.
The first lady, who is accompanying President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to the Kuala Lumpur Summit, said the institute will further improve the close relationship between the two countries.
YEE is a flagship organization to promote Turkey, Turkish language, its history and culture and art. It makes related information and documents available, organizes courses on Turkish language, culture and art. It also plays an important role in improving the friendship between Turkey and other countries and increases cultural exchange.
Since its inception in 2009, YEE has opened more than 58 cultural centers abroad. Apart from Turkish language education, YEE also backs Turkology departments and Turkish teaching through cooperation with different educational institutions in different countries. It also organizes programs and events to promote Turkish culture and art as well as national or international events.
YEE President Şeref Ateş also spoke at the event and said that the cultural center has been active for two years and expressed his satisfaction with the official opening ceremony.
