The Yunus Emre Institute’s name hints at its purpose. Considered Turkey’s national poet, Emre was a bard and mystic in 13th and 14th century Anatolia, or Asia Minor. This is a side of Turkey that Ender Korkmaz, the director of the Kyiv branch of the institute, said he wants to promulgate.
The Turkish government-backed institute recently opened a center on Pushkinska Street, near the Lva Tolstoho metro stop. This brings the total worldwide to 55 and coincided with 25 years of Turkish-Ukrainian diplomatic relations.
In addition to a conference hall, library and garden, the building has an art gallery displaying the traditional Turkish painting style of Ebru and an exhibit documenting the Ottoman Empire and Ukraine’s involvement on the Galician front in World War I. Portraits of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the father of the modern Republic of Turkey, hang from the walls of the four classrooms.
In his comfortably furnished office, under the gaze of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Korkmaz told the Kyiv Post that the institute’s goal is “promoting Turkey, its cultural heritage, Turkish language, culture and art” and “improving the friendship between Turkey and other countries.”
The British Council and Goethe Institute are “colleagues,” he said. But they are not templates. “It’s not the right time, I think. We are similar but we are not emulating them. We have our own character. We have our own ingenuity,” he said.
The institute’s objectives have a more political edge. Following last year’s failed coup and what opposition journalists, human rights organisations and foreign governments denounce as a repressive crackdown on dissent, the director feels that the Turkish government needs to convey its own version of events.
He wants to “ensure that societies around the world” know about Turkey from more “accurate sources. There are so many sources that can lead you to misinformation, so we are doing this through the activities carried out in numerous countries under the categories of culture, arts and Turkish language.
“Last year there was an attempted coup d’etat. The terrorist organisation, which helped this attempt, is also working to spread misinformation about Turkey.”
The institute can “correct this misinformation,” he believes. “The terrorist organisation is blaming the Turkish government, the Turkish people for being a dictatorship, a monarchy. But that’s not true. Our government is elected in a just way. They’re trying to spread misinformation that is why we need people to take their source of knowledge accurately from us.”
The Yunus Emre Institute’s role is not as a government propaganda outlet, he says, but a benign way to bolster Turkey’s soft power through cultural enlightenment.
Work has already started in Ukraine. The institute supplies teachers of Turkish language to universities offering Turkology courses. Ivano Franko and Taras Shevchenko have faculties in Kyiv. About 200 students are enrolled in the capital, and another 100 nationwide in towns like Odesa and Lviv.
Over Turkish coffee and Turkish delight in his office, Yunas Emre Institute director Ender Korkmaz speaks with the Kyiv Post on Oct. 24. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
The center will make Turkish culture accessible, Korkmaz stresses.
“The students in the faculties aren’t our only aim. We’re also aiming at ordinary people who want to learn Turkish languages. We hope these ordinary people will be our many guests”, he said.
Besides “this academic interest, there are so many people who are admiring Turkey with its TV series; they are visiting Turkey. They already want to learn Turkish. So we will provide them Turkish lessons in order to satisfy this demand. That’s why we are here. Also we will be organising cultural events … From Turkish theatre to Turkish music and Turkish movies. And we can also bring traditional Turkish army band, orchestra. We are working in many fields to promote our culture.”
He is confident interest already exists: “People want to learn Turkish language mainly due to their admiration about Turkish culture and Turkey.
“Also we have a strong trade tradition with Ukrainian people. For example, I met many Ukrainian customers when I was a boy and worked at the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul at my uncle’s shop. There were friendships built between the shopkeepers and customers. Today Turkey has even more trade relations in Ukraine,” he said.
Food is a Turkish export to Ukraine the center will celebrate. “It is already popular here. Just in this area there are five Turkish restaurants”, the director observed. There will be classes showing “how to cook it at home, in a more professional manner. The food culture is a part of cultural heritage.”
Turkish poet Yunus Emre (1238–1320)
Korkmaz hopes Turkey and Ukraine’s cultural exchange will progress along the same lines as their diplomatic relationship.
“I can say we have a developing relationship … I see Ukraine as a friend-country. I’m sure they are thinking much the same about us. President Erdoğan visited 10 days ago. They signed many pacts with the Ukrainian government. I think our relations will grow,” he said.
