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

Tags: | |


Related News

Turkish school in Romania moves to new building

Spectrum Turkish School in Yas city of Romania moved to its new building on Tuesday with a ceremony. Turkish schools which have been operating in Romania for 21 years continue to develop. The school which has a capacity of 500 students gained new building.

Turkish teacher dies of cancer, buried in Australia

Sezer Morkoç (43), a chemistry teacher at a Turkish school in Australia, died of cancer on Monday and was buried in Adelaide. Morkoç graduated from the chemistry department of Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ), one of the most prestigious universities in Turkey. He and his family moved to Australia in 2001. He had been teaching at Burc College, a private school founded by Turkish entrepreneurs in Adelaide.

Graduation ceremony of Turkish School in Kenya

(Ebru News/AP) While Turkish schools around the world are praised by many, 10th year graduates are enjoying their diplomas in Africa where Turkiye has launched a new diplomacy inniative. Isik College located in the capital of Kenya that started educating in 1998 and achieved the most important accomplishments in the country. At 2007 Kenya university […]

Gov’t’s pressure for closure of Turkish schools abroad yields no result

The movement that started out a quarter-century ago to support education for children abroad starting with the autonomous Azerbaijani republic of Nakhchivan has now reached 160 foreign countries, with the founders of the movement and its volunteers welcomed with open arms around the world.

Police raid Gülen-inspired Samanyolu schools in Ankara

In yet another government-orchestrated operation targeting the faith-based Gülen movement, popularly known as the Hizmet movement, more than 60 police officers carried out raids on four different branches of the private Samanyolu schools in Ankara early on Monday.

Standing by the Education Rights of Schoolgirls

Influential Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, who is considered by TIME magazine as “the most potent advocate of moderation in the Muslim world,” has strongly condemned the kidnappings in Nigeria as well as other such violent acts. In an interview he said that denying girls access to education simply goes against the spirit of the Muslim religious tradition and that women should be able to take on every role in our society, including those of physicians, military officers, judges and head of state.

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

Turkish Gov’t media targets exiled journalists, their lives at risk

Man campaigning for anti-Gülen protest in US Turkish Communist Party member

CHP: Anti-Hizmet ops were part of agreement between Erdoğan, military

Turkish school opens in northern Iraq, more schools in demand

How does PM Erdoğan hurt the liberal pious of Turkey?

Will Gülen Movement schools offer Kurdish-medium education?

Saving the soul of Turkey [amid the graft probe]

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News