The opening ceremony of the Russian Language and Literature Department was held at Faculty of Fine Arts Conference Hall. The department was opened as part of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in order to consolidate the bridge between Russian and Turkish.

The Opening Ceremony was attended by Yeditepe University Founder and Honorary President Bedrettin Dalan, Yeditepe University Board of Trustees Chairman Yusuf Akgün, Yeditepe University Rector Prof. Dr. Canan Aykut Bingöl, Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Ahmet Aydın, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Prof. Dr. Ahmet İnce, Consul-Undersecretary of the Russian Federation Dmitry Evdokimov, Second Secretary to the General Consulate Aleksander Khlopotnov, Director of Russian Language and Culture Center Liudmila Nosova Kural, All World Education, Culture, Art, Health, Research and Solidarity Association (TEKSAD) President Samir Khalilov, TEKSAD Vice President Farid Akifoglu, faculty members and students.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Yeditepe University Founder and Honorary President Bedrettin Dalan said that he wanted to establish the Yeditepe University Russian Language and Literature Department and that mutual culture and language learning between the two countries would bring people closer to each other.

Dmitry Evdokimov, the Istanbul Consul-Undersecretary of the Russian Federation, said that they hoped that such initiatives would allow for closer rapprochement between the citizens of the two countries.

Prof Dr. Tamara Gurtueva, the head of the Department of Russian Language and Literature, said that the powerful Russian language and the great Russian literature were still at the top of the world culture and that “Our mission is to help to understand this magnificent power and to establish this communication”.

Prof Dr. Ahmet İnce, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, noted that with the addition of  the Russian Language and Literature Department the number of departments within the Faculty of Science and Arts had risen to 11.