Designed to provide education in dozens of common and rare languages, primarily Turkish, English, and Arabic, the IHU Language Village was opened on Monday, April 13, 2026, with an opening ceremony held in Yalova.
The ceremony commenced with a recitation of the Holy Quran and continued with keynote speeches by the Deputy Minister of National Education of the Republic of Türkiye, Dr. Nazif Yılmaz; the President of TÜRGEV, Att. Hatice Akıncı Yılmaz; our Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Prof. İrfan Gündüz; our Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Necmeddin Bilal Erdoğan; our University President, Prof. Atilla Arkan; and the Director of our School of Languages, Dr. Furkan Alpat.
The speeches highlighted that the dream of establishing a language village dates back years, a place where young people can be exposed to their target language within the flow of daily life without needing to go abroad, gaining not only knowledge but also self-confidence to raise generations proficient in foreign languages. In his speech, Dr. Nazif Yılmaz stated: “We have schools that send students abroad. Our students will now be able to acquire the necessary infrastructure here before going to those countries, or they will master the four fundamental skills (listening, comprehension, speaking, and writing) right here without any need to go abroad. This marks a significant breakthrough for Türkiye. I believe that from now on, this will be a vibrant environment where our students converse in different languages and experience multiple languages simultaneously. I also consider this facility vital for our private schools in terms of language teaching skills and potential cooperation.”
Necmeddin Bilal Erdoğan, Deputy Chairman of our Board of Trustees, noted that according to YÖK data, Ibn Haldun University provides the best language education in Türkiye. He emphasized that with this project, IHU has established the fifth university-backed language village in the world and the first of its kind in Türkiye. Erdoğan remarked: “Language plays a massive role in strengthening Türkiye and increasing our international connections, networks, and influence. Whether it is establishing legal frameworks, persuading people, or winning hearts, what we call 'soft diplomacy' today, language education remains a vital necessity. As Ibn Haldun University, we are crowning our highly successful language education activities to date with this language village in this beautiful location.”
Our university president, Prof. Atilla Arkan, stated that as a university founded on social sciences, they aim to address the world universally through languages. Highlighting the need to address and solve global crises on-site, Prof. Arkan added: “Language education is a tool in this sense, but we aim to teach and provide this tool in the most competent way possible. We have a School of Languages at our Başakşehir campus; we have now established a Language Village here, alongside a dedicated language school for teaching Arabic. These achievements certainly deserve great appreciation.”
Speakers shared examples from their own experiences abroad, emphasizing that a language is learned with more confidence when one is exposed to it within the rhythm of daily life. The prosperous and secure environment of the Language Village was also highlighted.
Following the speeches, the opening ribbon was cut, and participants toured the Language Village to receive detailed information about the facilities and opportunities provided.
