Students from 135 countries to join Turkish Olympiads this year


Date posted: March 11, 2012

İBRAHİM ASALIOĞLU, ANKARA

Foreign students from 135 countries will attend the 10th International Turkish Olympiads, which brings together hundreds of foreign students each year from Turkish schools established throughout the world.

A total of 1,500 students will compete at this year’s Olympiads, organized by the International Turkish Education Association (TÜRKÇEDER), in singing and poetry recitation contests, fascinating audiences with their outstanding performances of popular Turkish songs and well-known Turkish poems.

The theme of this year’s Olympiads, which will run from May 30-June 14, is “İnsanlık için el ele” (Hand-in-hand for humanity). Last year’s slogan was “One language, 7 billion people,” signifying the world uniting under one common language.

This year’s competitions will be predominantly held in Ankara and İstanbul, but there will also be activities in 38 other Turkish cities.

Ankara’s Kızılcahamam Asya Thermal Complex will host the Turkish-speaking children of the world for the duration of their two-week stay.

Foreign schools whose students attend the Olympiads will be able to set up tables to introduce their cultures at a cultural festival to be held mainly at the İstanbul World Trade Center.

Each year, about 15,000 students around the world prepare for the Olympiads, but only the finalists who win at national competitions are invited to attend the huge international competition in Turkey.

The competition will see gold medals given to the top 10 individuals, silver medals given to the top 10 percent of competitors and bronze medals given to the top 30 percent of competitors. TL 1,500 will be presented to gold medal winners, TL 1,125 to silver medal winners and TL 900 to bronze medal winners.

Tuncay Öztürk, secretary-general of TÜRKÇEDER, told Today’s Zaman that interest in the Olympiads increases with each passing year. Regarding the theme of this year’s competition, Öztürk said, “Our aim is to bring together all people in an atmosphere of love and dialogue.” He added that the Olympiads will be a feast of Turkish language that will be celebrated enthusiastically in every corner of Anatolia.

Source: Today's Zaman , March 11, 2012


Related News

Emotional farewell for Turkish teachers

The students, who have been groomed and educated by the Turkish teachers at the PakTurk schools, seem down in the dumps since word about their mentors’ departure got round. The teachers are scheduled to leave Pakistan in the coming week following the government’s deadline.

Great interest shown in Turkish school in Egypt

CUMALİ ÖNAL , CAİRO The Salahaldin International School (SIS) in Egypt, one of many schools sponsored by Turkish entrepreneurs throughout the world, has kicked off the new school year with 600 students, which is an astonishing success for the newly opened school. Speaking to Today’s Zaman, the director of SIS, Şevket Şimşek, underlined that the […]

Panicky parents calmed over Feza Schools closure reports

The director assured the public that claims linking the institution to an alleged terror network were grossly untrue and a fabrication made with the intention of spoiling its image. “Our schools have no link with any terror group, we are a local registered charity organisation where every single sent obtained from schools fee is used for the redevelopment of the schools,” he added.

Mongolia’s Elite Schools sponsor reading halls at pediatric hospital

The Turkish-initiated Elite International Schools in Mongolia provided a state pediatric hospital at the capital city Ulaanbaatar with new reading halls for its young residents. At the ribbon cutting ceremony were the schools’ officials, students and hospital authorities along with the local press.

Kazakh leader heads to Turkey to explain decision over Gulen schools

The official announcement did not provide any details about the visit, but Nazarbayev is expected to smooth over any disagreements between the two Turkic countries following the failed coup. The Kazakh-Turkish schools employ 1,124 teachers, of whom 1,030 are Kazakh citizens (91.7%) and 94 are Turkish citizens (8.3%).” Kazakhstan also has the Suleyman Demirel University, opened in Almaty in 1996.

Turkish School Officially Opens in Rwanda

FRANK KANYESIGYE Hope Kids Academy, an international Turkish school located in Kigali’s prime suburb of Nyarutarama, was on Friday evening officially opened. The school that admits children of four and five years of age offers Cambridge International Primary Programme (CIPP) and Cambridge ICT starters’ programme. The academy has both nursery and primary sections. The initial […]

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

Gülen’s brother at risk of death in prison

Turkey bans math textbooks due to questions including Gülen’s initials

Pro-Erdogan gang leader says will hang all Gülenists

Can Erdoğan finish off the Gülen movement?

A road less traveled

Gülen says planned assassinations of prominent figures in Turkey could be blamed on him

Turkey to Release Tens of Thousands of Prisoners to Make Room for Coup Suspects

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News