On November 8th, 2024, we had the pleasure to welcome at the Faculty of Foreign Languages more than 40 professors from 10 foreign universities: from Kazakhstan to Texas, USA. These professors gathered for the Intercontinental Congress “Turkish Language as a Balkanic and Mediterranean Bridge” organized by the Turkish Language Branch, Department of Slavic and Balkan Languages, in cooperation with the Turkish Language Department from the University of Nicosia in Cyprus.
During her speech, the dean, Prof. Dr. Esmeralda Kromidha, congratulated the Cypriot Turkologists and foreign researchers for their contributions and emphasized the efforts that the Faculty of Foreign Languages is paying to internationalization. She highlighted the importance of this process and expressed a desire for support in every necessary direction for the development of the Turkish Language Department and beyond.
Professor Theocharis Starides, chief of the Department of Turkish Language and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cyprus, in his speech mentioned the importance of scientific seminars for the enrichment of knowledge of the academic staff and new researchers, by emphasizing the need for exchange of ideas and experiences.
Prof. Assoc. Dr. Adriatik Derjaj, Chief of the Department of Slavic and Balkan Languages, during his speech highlighted the years-long efforts of the Faculty of Foreign Languages staff, who have greatly enriched the teaching and promotion of the Turkish language through valuable activities.
Lectures on glossodidactics and other fields like sociolinguistics, lexicology, lexicography, linguistic contact and dialectology, that are related to teaching Turkish as a foreign language, are an essential part in the development of turkological studies, by following the tradition since the Pristina Consultation on 1968, the Orthography Congress on 1972 and so on. Turkish language and turkology have always been central to the studies of distinguished scholars like Çabej, Kostallari, Dizdari, etc. Turkisms and mutual lexico-grammatical elements between turkish language and Balkan and Mediterranean regions, remain the most valuable heritage that unites us.
Outcomes of the Congress which have received full accreditation of the 10 universities’ absolute authority, will be presented to the highest institution of the Turkish language TDK and YOK, and it will be the sole accurate reference point for new researchers.