RISING AFRICA, STRENGTHENING TÜRKİYE: THE HUMAN COMPASS OF CULTURAL DIPLOMACY

The vision of ‘Rising Africa, Strengthening Türkiye’ addressed in this issue of DEIK Business Diplomacy magazine demonstrates that this strategic partnership, spanning from 2003 to 2025, is based on a foundation that is too deep and human to be ex plained solely by political will or economic data. The cement of this partnership is mixed with mutual understanding, trust, and a shared vision of the future.

As the Yunus Emre Institute, we act with the responsibility of building this human foundation in full alignment with our country’s ‘Africa Partnership Policy.’ We take care to develop our activities on the basis of equal partnership and mutual benefit. Because we derive our philosophy from the timeless invitation of the great thinker whose name we bear: “The home of a friend is the heart / We have come to make hearts.

This philosophy distinguishes cultural diplomacy from the one-sided ‘promotion’ patterns of the past. Our approach is as much a discipline of ‘listening’ as it is an activity of ‘narrat ing’; it is not a one-way transfer, but rather a partnership based on ‘co-creation’ and ‘mutual learning’ with local stakeholders.

Today, our 18 Yunus Emre Turkish Cultural Centers, operating in 15 countries across Africa, reflect this philosophy in the field. Our centers are not replicas of a standard model; they are structures that breathe according to the sociocultural rhythm and needs of the country in which they are located.

The key to this interaction is language. Since 2010, over 35,000 African friends have learned Turkish at our centers. However, this is not merely a language teaching activity. Turkish plays an important role in filling the gap in qualified human resources, which is most needed by Turkish entrepreneurs and companies whose numbers are increasing every day on the continent. Young people who benefit from our courses are becoming the strongest bridges between the economies of the two countries. Transforming our cultural activities into tangible economic and social benefits, alongside cultural interaction, is one of our top priorities. For us, cultural diplomacy is also part of sustainable development. In this regard, many of our activities are compatible with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

For example, in Senegal, our skilled Turkish chefs provided mastery training to a chain of bakeries staffed exclusively by women. Today, the products resulting from this training are offered to the local market through the efforts of women entrepreneurs. This is a direct contribution of gastrodiplomacy to the local economy and women’s employment. Another example is the Turkish language course organized by our Institute for young Sudanese women who are nursing graduates. These young Sudanese women are learning Turkish in Sudan before joining the advanced nursing education project in Türkiye. This is a concrete example of how our cultural diplomacy activities extend to supporting healthcare services in Africa.

Similarly, we do not just support local artists; we also open collaborative production spaces with craft workshops such as pottery, basket weaving, or glass painting, which have a strong tradition in Africa. More importantly, we provide ‘instructor training’ to artists and athletes selected locally in areas such as traditional Turkish archery and ebru, and employ them at our own centers. In this way, we both develop local capacity and train new local masters of these arts.

This approach is the very essence of our philosophy of ‘co-cre ation.’ We design our programs in collaboration with universi ties, municipalities, civil society organizations, and artists in the countries where we operate. In this way, our activities become a social gathering with an ever-growing number of stakeholders. Our goal for the coming period is to produce more joint content with Africa’s dynamic creative industries (cinema, music, digital arts) and to increase youth mobility.

The power of a rising Africa and Türkiye’s accumulated ex perience can only transform into a lasting partnership on this human foundation. As the Yunus Emre Institute, we will continue to build the ‘language of the heart’ for this partnership. Because the phrase “We came to make hearts” is not just a slogan for us; it is a work ethic and a human responsibility that is tested anew every day in the field.

Sincerely yours,