The Department of Turkish Language Teaching at the Faculty of Education at International Balkan University organized a panel discussion titled “Turkish Language in the Balkans” focusing on the deep-rooted history of the Turkish language and its influence in the Balkans.

Turkish ambassador in Skopje H.E. Fatih Ulusoy and Prof. Dr. Lutfi Sunar addressed the audience in the panel discussion, whose moderator was Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aysun Demirez.

Prof. Dr. Ahmet Bican Ercilasun, the eminent figure in Turkology and former President of the Turkish Language Association, took us into the depths of Turkish with his speech titled “The Oldest Ages of the Turkish Language”, witnessing its journey from ancient times to the present day.

Prof. Dr. Bilge Ercilasun, a retired Faculty Member of Hacettepe University’s Faculty of Literature, presented her paper titled “Rumelia and Atatürk in Turkish Novels”, providing insights into the richness of the Turkish Language in Rumelia and information about Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkiye, whose roots trace back to the village of Kocacık in North Macedonia.

Dr. Nuray Tamir shared her work titled “Studies on Rumelian Dialects in Turkiye”, announcing the richness of the Turkish Language in Rumelia and studies in this field.