During her visit to Turkey, Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska visited Istanbul University, where specialists in Ukrainian language and literature have been trained for the past six years.
"They are not only future (or rather current) translators but also specialists in international relations who know, love, promote, and will continue to promote Ukrainian culture, helping to better understand Ukraine in Turkey—and vice versa," said the President's wife.
Istanbul University also collaborates with five Ukrainian higher education institutions: Kharkiv, Lviv, Odessa, Dnipro, and Kyiv National Universities.
Olena Zelenska met with Turkish students and Ukrainian lecturers from the department and thanked the Dean of the Faculty of Literature, Ms. Sevda Kadioglu, for the development of Ukrainian studies.
"Scholars from Kharkiv, Kyiv, Ternopil, and Khmelnytskyi are now passing on their knowledge of the Ukrainian language and literature to Turkish youth. The growth and development of Ukrainian studies within these walls is very inspiring. Recently, we established the Global Coalition for Ukrainian Studies in Washington. We are working to increase the presence of Ukrainian studies—thus, mutual understanding—across the world," emphasized the First Lady.
During her visit to the university, Olena Zelenska also donated publications representing Ukraine to the Ukrainian Book Shelf, which was inaugurated last year.
