U.S. selects IU for Turkish Flagship site

IU has been chosen as the site for the country’s first Turkish Flagship program. 

The Language Flagship, a project of the National Security Education Program within the United States’ Department of Defense, selected IU as the sole location for its program in Turkish and other Turkic languages.

Kemal Silay, director of IU’s Turkish studies program and chair of Ottoman and Modern Turkish Studies in the IU College of Arts and Sciences, has been appointed as the leader of the program.

“As the director of the Turkish Flagship Center, I will put all I know about the Turkish language and its associated cultures into the heart and soul of the program in order to transform it into a national success,” he said in an email.

The Language Flagship is a partnership between the national security community and higher education that attempts to address the national need for knowledge in certain languages and regions.

The program is established with a three-year $1.5 million grant, according to a press release.  

IU’s Turkish Flagship Center will aim to train about 15 undergraduate students per year in Turkish, Silay said. To do so, an outreach coordinator may be hired in the second year of the program.

“It’s very much focused on undergraduate education and achieving language learning at a very high level,” said Christopher Atwood, chair of the Central Eurasian studies department.

The program is unique in that it allows students the opportunity to use Turkish as a bridge to another Turkic language, Uzbek, according to a press release.

“It is certainly a turning point not only for Indiana University but also for Turkish Studies in the United States,” Silay said. “It is an academic and educational distinction that IU-Bloomington was chosen for such a prestigious award.”

The flagship program is currently being organized and set up, Atwood said.

He said the first group of students will likely begin the program by the start of next school year. To be considered, students must express interest in the language and be advancing through Turkish classes.

Incentives, including financial aid and study abroad opportunities, will hopefully draw students to the program as well, Atwood said.

The Turkish Flagship has been established at IU at a very opportune time, he said.

“Turkey is a rising country with more and more influence in the world,” Atwood said. “It’s very timely that we have the Turkish Flagship.”