i THE NATIONAL YOUTH AND SPORTS POLICY DOCUMENT ...

people at home and to encourage foreign qualified young people to live and work in ourcountry.According to the data provided by the Student Selection and Placement Centre, over26 thousand foreign students from 147 countries study in Turkey. Guest students are a sourceof wealth for our country. It is necessary to involve guest students in youth activities more andto establish ground to introduce different cultures to our young people. To reverse the braindrain by extending employment opportunities of guest students and encouraging talentedyoung people to stay in our country and to transform Turkey into an attraction centre areamong our priorities.The concept of “Inter-cultural dialogue” has become prominent today as aconsequence of the interaction resulting from the synergy of different cultures at national andglobal level more widely. Turkey, with its historical experience of living together in peaceand with its cultural heritage, has a unique place in order to understand the importance ofdialogue between civilizations and intercultural tolerance. Within this context, Turkey has tocarry out necessary studies in order to help young people gain tolerance since it is animportant element of our own culture and a universal value.POLICIES1. Increasing the effective contribution and participation of our young people inthe international society in the globalized world.Targets• To provide the access of more young people from each socio-economic groupto the centres giving information on student exchanges, educational programs and internships.• To increase incentives to enable young people living in the countryside andhave limited financial opportunities to benefit from participation opportunities in internationalactivities.• To extend visa-free travel opportunities in order to increase the internationalcirculation of young people.• To extend the scope of target group of international exchange programs byallowing the participation of secondary school students in such programs.• Not limiting youth exchange programs with EU countries; to extend the scope ofexchange programs to include Turkish Republics, the Middle East, Balkans, Africa and America.• To extend scouting which has a great role on the understanding of young peopleon one another and their communication habits.36