By now it became obvious that Turkish influence is growing globally. The signs of it are being felt economically, militarily and now even culturally. Furthermore, all predictions are that the 80 million-strong nation will continue on that path for the foreseeable future.

Positioned at one of the most strategic geographic locations in the world, close to the sources of all strategic natural resources, with excellent relations with its neighbors, Turkey is becoming a go-to actor not only in the regional affairs. As any other global player, Turkey is also now entering world cultural stage with increasingly noticeable Turkish Cultural Olympiads.

Once the Turkish culture becomes established on the global stage, the so called 'question' of Turkish and Muslims integrations in Europe will have to be reconceptualized. It will become same as suggesting that French residents in Italy need to integrate into Italian society, or Dutch residents in Bulgaria need to integrate into Bulgarian society, or any other possible European combination. This will be just one of the consequences of establishing the culture on a global stage. However, it was not always like that and Turkey had a difficult path towards this moment.

The Ottoman Empire, once a hegemon, struggled for about three hundred years to prevent its collapse. But it could not succeed. Ataturk established the modern Turkish state. The successor of the Ottoman Empire, the new Turkish state, had to face poverty, political instabilities, and a traditional inefficient bureaucracy. In the modern Turkish state there have been four important cleavages: secular and religious; Sunni and Alevi; Kurdish and Turkish; military and civilian. Turkish state despite all these cleavages made a huge progress. While it was among the poorest nations of the world in the initial decades of the 20th century, now it is the world's 16th biggest economy, second most important NATO military force and a respectable democracy.

The changes in Turkey's global position became finally noticed in an unusual way. Many observers were surprised by the regional popularity of Turkish television soap operas, with success of policy of zero problems with neighbors, and increasing investments and political influence beyond the Middle East and Europe. Turkey has been an inspiration and role-model for many Arab countries, and some even see Turkey as the inspiration for the "Arab spring."

Not much noticed event, but crucial for many Turks globally, happened last week in Turkey: Olympiad of Turkish language and culture. This global scale event has been organized for previous 9 years. Students attending Turkish schools in 130 countries, compete in several areas of Turkish language and culture, such as folklore, music, art, and language. The event has two stages of qualification. First, students compete in the country where they based, and then the winner from each country is sent to Turkey to compete against each other. Students from very different cultural backgrounds, American, African, European, or Asian, find each other competing over proficiency in Turkish language and culture.

The event looks like a festival with people from different countries gathering together based on knowledge of Turkish language and culture. During their time in Turkey, these students spend some time with Turkish families, and that way they further enhance their knowledge of Turkish culture. These final days of Olympiads are organized simultaneously on several stages in different Turkish cities, from west to the east and from north to the south. That way olympiads engulfs the entire country and it also raises Turkish global consciousness and self-confidence. At the same time Turks themselves are exposed to different world cultures and people.

The Turkish schools are being opened globally by the groups inspired by teachings of Fethullah Gulen, a highly respectable Islamic scholar. He is part of Nur (light) school of thought in Turkey, founded by Said Nursi. These two figures envisioned the educational system which combines universal moral values with a secular approach to learning. According to them, the balanced individual with such qualities can find happiness and become more productive member of their respective communities.

In his teachings, Nursi points out that the humanity has four common enemies, poverty, conflicts, discrimination, and ignorance. The remedies for these problems are education, consensus, and hard work. These teachings constitute the foundation of these global Turkish schools which sprang out of Turkey.

Education is provided in the language of a home country, with a special attention given to quality teaching of English and Turkish language, and in some countries Russian and French, as elective courses. The schools have a very liberal educational curriculum adapted to the requirements and demands of each country's educational system.

Turkish schools proved themselves to be among most successful educational institutions. Students graduating from these schools speak several languages and upon their graduation, they become accepted at the best universities. The schools earned its fame by the student's performance in math and science and their victories in international science olympiads. When they return to their countries with even more love and respect for Turkey, they become genuine Turkish cultural ambassadors.

Many observers point that these schools are opened by the NGOs and not by the Turkish state, but they clearly demonstrates the raising soft power of the nation and demonstrate how Turkey is becoming a global player with its culture, accommodating politics, growing economy, and powerful military.

In Turkey, there has been increasing interest in olympiads among business, political, educational, and art circles. These olympiads remind Turkish people of their glorious past of Ottomans and Seldzuk Empires. However, the people of today's Turkey are different people who embraced modernity, globalization, and peaceful coexistence. The new nation also is working hard to contribute to the advancement of universal values, democracy, and harmony in the world, through business, culture, education, art, and consensual politics. It is becoming increasingly important that the West realizes that it can no longer look at Turkey with the old lenses. Turkey is not anymore just a regional actor; it is a global player with a big footmark.