HISTORY

TÖMER Turkish and Foreign Languages Research and Application Centre was founded in 1984 as a part of Ankara University for the purpose of teaching Turkish to foreigners; such leading language and culture associations as the British Council, Goethe Institut, Cervantes and Alliance Française were taken as models. In the 1980s, TÖMER stood as the first and only institution to teach Turkish as a foreign language. TÖMER took the Turkish language, already spoken worldwide, as a “project” and supported the teaching of Turkish as a foreign language so that this field could be based on an academic basis.

In later years, in 1989-1990, TÖMER undertook the task of teaching such foreign languages as English, French and German as well. This feature earned TÖMER the identity of “a scientific-based language centre” and made it possible for TÖMER to develop method and techniques to be applied in the teaching of foreign languages. Many other foreign languages as well as Turkic languages of Central Asian countries were gradually added to the list.

Today, as many as 20 languages including Turkish, English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Japanese, modern Greek, Dutch, Bulgarian, Chinese, Ottoman language, Arabic and Central Asian Turkic languages are taught in TÖMER.

Ankara University TÖMER is a colossal institution with 10 branches around Turkey and about 55,000 students per year.

Within a quarter of a century, TÖMER has made great achievements by completing various projects abroad and at home, and by teaching Turkish to thousands of foreigners and teaching foreign languages to thousands of Turkish people.