Contemporary Turkish Dialects and Literatures started teaching in the 1993-1994 academic year.This department aims to provide students with profound and broad knowledge on the subjects related to the language and literature of Turkic nations and the history, geography, and culture of the Turkish world. This includes the development and eras of the Turkish language and its literature; the formation of dialects and literature of Turkic nations such as Azeri, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Turkmen, Tartar and Uighur; and the comparison of old and contemporary dialects and their linguistic properties. Students are trained to translate texts and to do research in each dialect. They are also taught Russian throughout the four years of this programme. Graduates are awarded the title ‘Turcologist.’