Delegation Led by Ambassador of Turkey to China Visits GDUFS

On the morning of June 1, H.E. Selçuk Ünal, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to China, led a delegation to visit Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS). President Yan Xiangbin met the delegation at the Baiyun Mountain Campus. The visiting delegation also included Adnan Hayal, Consul General of the Republic of Turkey in Guangzhou, among other officials.

Highlight from the Meeting

Yan extended a warm welcome to the delegation and introduced the university’s distinctive internationalized education. As one of the high-level universities with major development support in Guangdong Province, GDUFS serves as a pivotal base for cultivating international talents across South China. He highlighted that the Turkish language program at GDUFS is the only undergraduate Turkish program in South China, accredited as a provincial first-class undergraduate program. The program adopts an interdisciplinary training framework and a “3+1” international joint training model, alongside a dual-degree program combining Turkish language and Law. He also recounted exchanges between the two sides over recent years. A Turkish delegation led by Türkiye’s former Ambassador to China visited GDUFS in 2023, while university administrators visited multiple Turkish higher education institutions with a delegation in 2024. To date, GDUFS has established cooperation with numerous Turkish universities, facilitating frequent exchanges of faculty and students. He highly praised Ambassador Ünal’s remarkable contributions to advancing friendly China-Turkey relations and expressed the hope that this visit would serve as an opportunity to deepen bilateral cooperation in fields such as talent cultivation and academic research.

Ünal conveyed sincere gratitude to GDUFS for its warm reception. He noted that since China and Turkey established diplomatic relations in 1971, bilateral relations have maintained sound and steady development, with fruitful outcomes in education, culture, and people-to-people exchanges in recent years. The Ambassador spoke highly of GDUFS’s outstanding achievements in internationalized schooling and Turkish language talent training, and praised the university for launching the Turkish language program and fostering interdisciplinary Turkish language professionals. He stressed that China and Turkey boast broad prospects for cooperation in politics, economy, trade, culture, and other sectors, and that strengthening people-to-people exchanges and youth interactions between universities of the two countries is of great significance. He also expressed his hope that more Turkish students would come to study at GDUFS in the future, and that the university would continue to nurture outstanding talents to advance bilateral friendship.

Group Photo

Following the meeting, Ünal and his delegation held face-to-face exchanges with faculty and students from the Faculty of Asian and African Studies. Students majoring in Turkish delivered a Turkish choral performance to extend a heartfelt welcome to the delegation. The members of the delegation spoke highly of the students’ foreign language proficiency and confident demeanor. During the discussion session, the Ambassador engaged in lively conversations with faculty and student representatives covering topics including the significance of Turkish language learning, prospects for China-Turkey economic and trade cooperation, and cross-cultural communication skills.

Exchange with Faculty and Students of the Turkish Language Program

Representatives from the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange and the Faculty of Asian and African Studies were also present at the meeting and discussion session.