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The Republic of Turkey Maltepe University Center for Practice and Research on Street-Working and Homeless Children (SOYAÇ) has signed a significant international cooperation agreement with Komrat State University in the Gagauzia Autonomous Region of Moldova.
The "Intellectual Property and Partnership Agreement" signed between the two institutions is set to be implemented under the TÜBİTAK 2530-NARD (Moldova) Bilateral Cooperation Program, as part of the 2025-2026 joint project call.
The agreement focuses on the project titled "A Socio-Cultural Model Experiment to Prevent the Loss of the Gagauz Language and Culture: Turning Healthy Bilingualism into an Advantage for the Gagauz People." This initiative aims to preserve and develop the Gagauz language and culture through jointly planned and implemented activities.
This collaboration seeks to combine the innovative educational and research approaches of both institutions, fostering interdisciplinary studies to develop sustainable solutions.
The project aims to develop an innovative and interdisciplinary approach to preserving Gagauz culture and language. Based on the SOYAÇ Model, a socio-cultural application model specific to the Gagauz community will be created and aligned with Turkey and Moldova’s educational and development strategies. The project also aims to contribute to UNESCO’s sustainable development framework by promoting the protection of the Gagauz language within the context of healthy bilingualism.
The initiative will be carried out in collaboration with Maltepe University (Turkey), Komrat State University (Moldova), and Trakya University (Turkey), with financial support from TÜBİTAK and the National Agency for Research and Development (NARD) of Moldova.
As part of the agreement, Dr. Güllü Karanfil from Komrat State University and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gökçesu Akşit Dudaklı from Maltepe University have been appointed as the project leaders and representatives.
