User:TurkishOlympiads

Turkish Olympiads

Students to be selected from a pool of students representing from countries all over the world for the Turkish Language Olympiads.

First Year 17 countries
In 2003 Students participated from 17 countries from all over the world, For the first Turkish Olympiads.

Second Year 24 countries
In 2004 The second statewide Turkish Olympiad was held in Houston,Texas at the Raindrop Turkish House in which students competed in 17 categories, including speaking, grammar, singing, poetry, and folklore contests.Students who chose Turkish as their elective course in public schools in Texas took part in this years Olympiad.

Categories: 1. Turkish as Second Language Tournament 1. Speaking Contest 2. Grammar Contest 3. Folklore Contest 4. Singing Contest 5. Poetry Contest 6. Presentation Contest 7. Turkish General Culture 8. Talent Contest 9. Drawing Exhibition & Sculpture Contest 10. Country Exhibition Contest 2. Turkish Native Language 1. Writing in Turkish Native Language Competition 2. Singing in Turkish Native Language Competition 3. Poetry in Turkish Native Language Competition 4. Fast Reading & Explanation Competition

Third Year 41 countries
in 2005 Students participated from 41 countries from all over the world, For the second Turkish Olympiads.

Fourth Year 83 countries
in 2006 Students participated from 41 countries from all over the world, For the second Turkish Olympiads. The Turkish Olympics broadcasted live by STV and brought the worlds of cinema and art together and finalists were presented their awards by pop star Sertap Erener.

Fifth Year 100 countries 500 Students
In 2007 The 20 students -- to be selected from a pool of students representing 100 countries -- that enter the finals meets numerous famous faces during their stay in Turkey. Famous actors Uğur Arslan, Haluk Levent, Mirkelem and Gezegen Mehmet helped the students give their best in the finals. In addition, Ahmet Özhan, Coşkun Sabah, Garo Mafyan, Umut Akyürek, Demet Sağıroğlu, Burcu Güneş, Nurettin Soydan, Mazhar Alanson, İskender Pala, Kerem Alışık, Bedirhan Gökçe, Cem Kurtoğlu and Nebil Özgentürk represented the jury at an evening event was held in the İstanbul Show Center on Saturday, June 2.

The International Turkish Olympics, realized for the fifth time by the International Language Education Association, staged colorful shows during the 10-day period. The event was hosted 500 students from 100 countries, including the US, Vietnam, Brazil and Tanzania. The students compete in several areas; poems, songs, story-writing, presentations and basic knowledge of Turkish.

There were 17 countries involved in the first Turkish Olympics, 24 at the second, 41 at the third and 83 at the fourth. The competition part of the fifth International Turkish Language Olympics held from May 24 to June 3 in Ankara and İstanbul.

Finalists was selected by popular vote in Turkish Olympiads

For the first time, the finalists at the Olympics was chosen by the public. Finalists in categories of best poem reading and singing presented to the public in groups of 10 on television. The semi-finals was broadcast live.

The finalists of the Turkish Olympiads, which start on Friday, to be selected by the Turkish people. Olympiad Coordinator Tuncay Öztürk said that 10 of the 15 poetry and singing semifinalists will qualify for the elimination round to decide the finalists. The finalists will then be selected from the 10 by a popular vote. The winners selected by jury of popular and professional names.

The Olympiads was held by the International Language Training Association and taken place between May 25 and June 3. Preliminary elimination rounds was held in Ankara’s renowned resort Kızılcahamam Asya Thermal Hotel and the semifinals at the Anadolu Congress and Culture Center in Balgat. Five-hundred foreign students from 100 countries participated in the Olympiads with their poems, songs, presen-tations, essays and Turkish language skills.

Venue changed its name

Recalling that they had considered changing their name last year, Sevda Şireci from Anatolia Showland said they thought the Olympiads would be the best timing to announce this decision. Last year’s venue Myshowland took a similar step and changed its name to Istanbul Gösteri ve Kongre Merkezi (İstanbul performance and congress center). Owner of the center Mustafa Özbey said back then that such an action was unavoidable in the light of the nature of the competition, which featured Turkish speakers from five continents. The Turkish Language Society (Türk Dil Kurumu, TDK) gave the former Myshowland an award for their efforts.

TDK Chairman Şükrü Haluk Akalın said that Anatolia Showland would also be in line for an award - to be presented during the Olympiad eliminations -- if it decided to change its name to a Turkish title.

Chair of International Language Training Association and Department of Turkish Language and Literature at Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) Economy and Technology University Professor Ali Fuat Bilkan described the drastic name change as the latest achievement of the Turkish Olympiads. Recalling the name change last year, Bilkan opined that Turkish people remained keen to use Turkish names and further underlined that extensive use of Turkish should be pro-moted and encouraged.

Sixth Year 110 countries 550 Students
In 2008 The students participating in the competition came from different nations and backgrounds but gathered around a common denominator -- Turkish. Many commentators said the event brought the "United Nations" to Turkey. Kemal Gülen and Ebru Ediz were the announcers for the evening, which began with the singing of the national anthem and an opening speech delivered by Turkish Language Olympics Committee Chairman Mehmet Sağlam. The chairman said his committee hopes to ensure that the Turkish language has a special place among other world languages as the language of love and tolerance.

“Turkish teachers have established hundreds of schools all around the globe. They have set excellent examples for the whole world with their lifestyles and are respected in every country they have worked in,” he noted.

The students, brought together with their love for Turkish, gave messages of friendship, solidarity, brotherhood and affection during the event. The World Colors Choir’s musical number delighted the audience with its outstanding performance. “We are the world’s children, branches of a single tree. We are peace and affection that embrace the universe,” they said. The Olympics Folk Dance Group also entertained the audience up with its Turkish folk dance performance.

Finalist received their prizes from Parliament Speaker Toptan, Education Minister Çelik, Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Şahin, State Minister Mehmet Şimşek and Galatasaray’s veteran striker Hakan Şükür.

Şükür said he was proud to give the students participating in the competition their awards. “I have appeared before huge crowds in many places around the world but have never gotten as excited as now. I would like to bow with respect before the teachers who have been serving in various countries,” he said.

Award-winning students

Hatice Alizade from Azerbaijan ranked first in the song competition, while Abadan Halmedova from Turkmenistan came in second and Suman Kurbanova from Tajikistan won third place. The three students were given their prizes by Parliament Speaker Toptan.

Adeila Selimaj from Albania came in first in the poetry competition, and Anisa Fitria Dewi from Indonesia as second best competitor. Walaa Tarık Mohamed from Sudan won third place.

A folk dance group from Vietnam was chosen as the best with its excellent performance. It was followed by two other groups from Azerbaijan and Moldova.

A number of world-known figures were also granted special awards during the event. The Atatürk Turkish Language Award was granted to Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the Karamanoğlu Mehmet Bey Award was bestowed on Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Ali Şir Nevai Turkish Language Award was given to author, poet and philosopher Hilmi Yavuz.

‘This is real patriotism’

Prime Minister Erdoğan, who could not attend the event as he was in meetings with senior Justice and Development Party (AK Party) leaders in Ankara, praised the Turkish Olympics and their organizers during a speech he delivered earlier in the day.

“I salute with love all of our guests who have come to our country from different places around the world to participate in the Olympics. Such events not only prepare the groundwork for new friendships but also turn into bridges of language that bring together different cultures and civilizations. The Turkish Olympics are an extremely meaningful event for the alliance of civilizations,” he said.

Erdoğan stressed the fact that peace has difficult times before wars and cannot be attributed to the differences between cultures and civilizations.

“The reason is that intercultural dialogue weakens and bridges between countries collapse. Fortunately, such events are of great importance to overcoming bias,” he added.

In the meantime, Education Minister Çelik, who accepted the prize on Erdoğan’s behalf, delivered a speech during the gala event and thanked the organizers of the event.

“The real heroes of this event are our teachers who take the love in our hearts to people living in places whose names we do not even know. As the education minister, I would like to say that these teachers are people whose hands should be kissed. You cannot become a compatriot only through words and a nationalist solely through slogans. Real patriotism is to love Turkey and take the Turkish language to the whole world,” he remarked.

Categories: 1. Turkish as Second Language Tournament 1. KONUŞMA YARIŞMASI 2. YAZMA YARIŞMASI 3. DİL BİLGİSİ YARIŞMASI 4. ŞARKI YARIŞMASI 5. ŞİİR YARIŞMASI 6. SUNUM YARIŞMASI 7. GENEL KÜLTÜR YARIŞMASI 8. ÖZEL BECERİLER YARIŞMASI 9. MAKALE YARIŞMASI 10. ÜLKE TANITIM STANTLARI YARIŞMASI 2. Turkish Native Language 1. Writing in Turkish Native Language Competition 2. Singing in Turkish Native Language Competition 3. Poetry in Turkish Native Language Competition 4. Fast Reading & Explanation Competition

Participated Countries in 6th Year 2008 1. 	ABD 	30. Finlandiya 	59. Kuzey İrlanda 	88. R. F. Tataristan Ö.C. 2. 	Afganistan 	31. Fransa 	60. Laos 	89. Romanya 3. 	Almanya 	32. G. Kore 	61. Letonya 	90. Rusya Federasyonu 4. 	Angola 	33. Gana 	62. Liberya 	91. Senegal 5. 	Arjantin 	34. Gine 	63. Litvanya 	92. Sırbistan 6. 	Arnavutluk 	35. Güney Afrika 	64. Macaristan 	93. Singapur 7. 	Avustralya 	36. Gürcistan 	65. Madagaskar 	94. Slovenya 8. 	Avusturya 	37. Hindistan 	66. Makedonya 	95. Srilanka 9. 	Azerbaycan 	38. Hollanda 	67. Malavi 	96. Sudan 10. 	Azerbaycan Nahçıvan Ö.C. 39. 	Irak 	68. Maldiv Adaları 	97. Suriye 11. 	Bangladeş 	40. İngiltere 	69. Malezya 	98. Suudi Arabistan 12. 	Belarus 	41. İran 	70. Mali 	99. Şili 13. 	Belçika 	42. İskoçya 	71. Meksika 	100. Tacikistan 14. 	Benin 	43. İspanya 	72. Mısır 	101. Tanzanya 15. 	Birleşik Arap Emirlikleri 	44. İsveç 	73. Moğolistan 	102. Tayland 16. 	Bosna-Hersek 	45. İsviçre 	74. Moldova 	103. Tayvan 17. 	Brezilya 	46. İtalya 	75. Moritanya 	104. Togo 18. 	Bulgaristan 	47. Japonya 	76. Mozambik 	105. Türkmenistan 19. 	Burkina Faso 	48. Kamboçya 	77. Myanmar (Burma) 	106. Uganda 20. 	Cezayir 	49. Kamerun 	78. Nepal 	107. Ukrayna 21. 	Çad 	50. Kanada 	79. Nijer 	108. Ürdün 22. 	Çek Cumhuriyeti 	51. Karadağ 	80. Nijerya 	109. Venezuella 23. 	Danimarka 	52. Kazakistan 	81. Norveç 	110. Vietnam 24. 	Endonezya 	53. Kenya 	82. Orta Afrika Cumhuriyeti 	111. Yemen 25. 	Estonya 	54. Kırgızistan 	83. Özbekistan 	112. Yunanistan 26. 	Etiyopya 	55. Kolombiya 	84. Pakistan 	113. Zambiya 27. 	Fas 	56. Kongo 	85. Papua Yeni Gine 28. 	Fildişi Sahili 	57. Kosova 	86. Polonya 29. 	Filipinler 	58. Kuveyt 	87. Portekiz

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