The Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB) on Wednesday organized an online program marking the end of the Balkan Youth School.

The Balkan Youth School was organized in cooperation with nine nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and educational institutions this year with the participation of nearly 500 youngsters from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Greece, Albania and Serbia. It presents an opportunity for the participants to increase their academic, cultural and historical knowledge, while also offering them a chance to discuss and find common solutions to the problems of the Balkans.

The participants also visited Turkey and explored the historical and cultural heritage of the country.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the program is mostly being held online this year. The head of the YTB, Abdullah Eren, and representatives of NGOs and educational institutions from the Balkan countries participated in the closing ceremony, which was also organized online.

“We completed Balkan Youth School, which provided a rich content from academy world to history and culture, despite the conditions of the pandemic,” Eren said.

The YTB oversees Türkiye Scholarships, a comprehensive grant program for international students from around the world. The program aims to enhance Turkey's relations with other countries in the fields of higher education and culture. The scholarship program was launched in 2012, and last year the YTB received 146,600 applications, a record number, from 167 countries.