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TEPAV Russian Center opened
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12/05/2010 - Viewed 2223 times

ANKARA- Russian Center was launched in TOBB ETÜ campus in cooperation with TEPAV and Russkiy Mir Foundation.

TEPAV Director Güven Sak, TOBB ETÜ Rector Yücel Altunbaşak and Russkiy Mir Foundation Director Vyacheslav Nikonov participated at the opening ceremony.

Delivering the opening speech TOBB ETÜ Rector Yücel Altunbaşak underlined that Russia and Turkey are two neighbors which played a key role for the region and the world politics throughout the history and said: "Turkey visit of Distinguished President of Russia Mr. Medvedev and the opening of the Russian Center in TEPAV with which we share the same campus as well point out this key role of the two countries." Altunbaşak added:

"In the current era, cooperation in the field of education, culture, science, technology, and economics gain critical importance. The role of universities in the establishment of these cooperation increases and the borders of the campuses disappears.

TOBB University of Economics and Technology prioritizes cooperation with Russian universities and makes effort for the students to learn Russian. We are currently carrying out cooperation with State University of Moscow and State University of Saratov. A great majority of our students select Russian as a second language.

Moreover, this year our university breaks a new ground in Turkey opening a new department: 'International Entrepreneurship'. Students of TOBB ETÜ will study two years here in Turkey and two years in Russia and take courses on International Relations, Economics, and Business Administration which will also involve subjects on the economic and social life and business culture of Russia. We are planning to work with State University of Moscow as a partner for the Russia pillar of the cooperative education program.

Thanks to the Russian Center launched here in TEPAV, our cooperation will improve with joint projects and students and academics will have easy access to information on Russia right here on the campus.

We are all aware of Russia's importance in the field of energy. I believe that the Energy Research Center we are planning to launch at the University will also receive fruitful cooperation by universities in Russia. I hope that the Russian Center plays a great role in enriching the relations between our countries and universities and I want to thank to Mr. Nikonov for their cooperation."

Nikonov: Learn Russian and live happily

At his opening speech Russkiy Mir Director Vyacheslav Nikonov addressed the advancing relations between Russia and Turkey and the importance of learning Russian in this context. Explaining why they did not translate the name of the foundation to foreign languages, Nikonov maintained:

"The name of the foundation is Russkiy Mir not because it is impossible to translate the word Russkiy into other languages; it is Russian. But because it is impossible to translate the word 'Mir' into foreign languages since it has too many meanings in Russian. Meaning number one, it means the world, the universe. And it is a big world. It is at least three hundred million people who speak Russian, think Russian, interested in Russian culture, literature. It is the fourth of fifth most commonly spoken language on earth. It is the language of a great culture. And the names of some people whose portraits are here are well known in the world, like Tolstoy, Turgenev, Dostoyevsky and others. It is the first language to be spoken in space since Gagarin was the one who made it. It is the language of great science. Many great inventors including those of television and helicopters were Russians. Russian is the language to be spoken at technical schools.

But Mir in Russian also means peace. And today the function of our foundation is to promote better understanding among nations, better understanding of Russia and better understanding of cultural heritage of Russian civilizations. But the word Mir in Russian has a third meaning, which is community. That is quite a huge community we are building around the world: community of Russians, those who are interested in Russia or those who are going to deal with Russia in one way or another.

Today we are a meeting at a quite historic day. Mr. Medvedev is in town. He had very productive talks with the President and Prime Minister of Turkey which lasted at least two hours longer than expected. The amount of agreements signed today is over twenty. Among them there are some agreements which make studying Russian in Turkey more valuable. First, the figure they mentioned the target for bilateral trade in five years is US$100 billion. Today the amount is US$40 billion. Another good thing the presidents did is they eliminated visas. Now you can travel freely to Russia. This is also a nice thing for Russian tourists which are probably most numerous tourists at least on the southern coasts of Turkey. Russians regard turkey as probably their major resort destination.

The leaders of two countries also signed several agreements on energy sphere. We will continue cooperation on very important gas deals and pipeline construction which will involve a lot of resources and intellectual power from the both sides. The leaders agreed on constructing a new nuclear power station here in Turkey. I know some people would not like it very much. But it would also include a lot of investment and a lot of technical cooperation which requires knowledge of language.

The two sides agreed to cooperate closely on fighting against crime, terrorism and drug dealership which requires cooperation between law and the forces. And as far as I know Turkish law and the forces are already are studying Russian.

So we are at the beginning of a new stage of our relationship which can be defined as strategic partnership. We are the countries with similar views on many international issues with few disagreements which are minor. We both regard ourselves as belonging to European family with no big chances of joining that family. I think we understand that our mutual cooperation is extremely important for the future of or two countries. That is why I think learning Russian is important. And last but not least, these scholars have already proved that those people who know several foreign languages than those who do not know foreign languages. So, please learn Russian and live happily."

TEPAV Russian Center

The Center is planned to provide support for persons and institutions that interested in learning Russian and in Russian culture.

In this context the Center will first provide services for the students learning Russian at TOBB ETÜ.

TEPAV Russian Center will be the 53rd Russian Center established by the Russkiy Mir Foundation. Previously centers were established in 29 countries including USA, Britain, Germany, Japan, Israel, China, and Cuba.

Russian Center is the second center established at TEPAV. World Bank Information Center, the first center established at TEPAV, continues its operations.

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