Distance learning portal helps 100,000 learn Turkish

Turkey's Yunus Emre Institute's (YEE) distance learning portal has taught Turkish to nearly 100,000 users from 159 countries in six continents in a less than a year, according to the institute on Saturday.

The portal has users mostly from Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Algeria, Ecuador, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, Yemen, the U.S. and Germany, it said in a written statement.

YEE provides services abroad to people who want to learn the Turkish language, culture and art; and to improve friendship between Turkey and other countries and increase cultural exchange.

The portal's users are 57.63 percent males and 42.37 percent female. The majority of the users are 18-34 age group with 76.23 percent, followed by 35-54 age group with 19.03 percent and 55 years old and above group with 4.73 percent, statement read.

"Through the Internet, we are able to spread our Turkish language and culture. Students from one corner of the world to the other can now communicate with each other in Turkish," YEE Chairman Prof. Seref Ates said.

"The language portal started broadcasting in February 2017 and has reached approximately 100,000 users from 159 countries today, and this number is increasing every day," he added.

The countries where the portal is used are: Angora, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Bangladesh, Belarus, Benin, Bolivia, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Ivory Coast , Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq , Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Liberia, Macau, Madagascar, Malta, Nepal, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia , South Korea, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.