The “4th International Symposium on Turkish Teaching and Turkology in the Balkans,” hosted by the Konya Metropolitan Municipality, has started.
Speaking at the opening of the symposium held at the Konya Metropolitan Municipality Stone Building Culture and Art Center, Prof. Dr. Ali Güneş, Rector of New York Tirana University, stated that the phenomenon of migration began with Prophet Adam and continued with Prophet Muhammad.
Güneş noted that people have been forced to leave their countries for various reasons and said, “The Balkans have become a center of different migration movements because they have served as a bridge between Europe and Asia. Today, we are witnessing significant migration movements in the Balkans. Therefore, when the phenomenon of migration is examined, it becomes clear that people are facing an identity dilemma.”
Rector of Necmettin Erbakan University, Prof. Dr. Cem Zorlu, emphasized that as a university, they attach great importance to international activities due to their educational sensitivity and said, “Whenever I visit a university abroad that has a Turkology department, I say, ‘Send your students, and we will host them in Konya.’ There are universities interested in this. This year, we have formed a partnership with the Yunus Emre Institute for this organization. Konya deserves to be promoted. Everyone visits Istanbul, which hosts many civilizations, but Konya is a city that has hosted just as many. When you dig into its soil, you find traces of the Ottoman, Seljuk, Byzantine, Roman, Phrygian, and Hittite civilizations — whatever you seek. We are talking about a city that has been home to a civilization dating back 8,000 to 9,000 years before Christ. I wish our symposium to bring beneficial outcomes.”
