International Symposium on Asian Languages and Literatures (ADES) started to be organized by Erciyes University Faculty of Letters with a view to contributing scientific research on specifically Eastern languages and creating opportunities for scholars to meet periodically, and with the hope to become a distinguished international symposium in its field.

The first ADES, which was held on 5-‐6 May, 2011, has been a greatly fruitful event in terms of achieving the goals of bringing together recent scientific research in the fields of Language, Literature, and Culture, sharing the experiences of individuals and institutions who work in these fields, and creating new networks. The symposium received 114 applications from 20 countries and 50 universities, and upon the evaluation of the Scientific Advisory Board, 75 papers were presented.

Upon the great interest that ADES I received, it was decided to hold the second ADES on 3-4 May, 2012. 30 faculty members from 5 countries representing 12 universities functioned as members in ADES II Organizing Board and Advisory Board. The main theme of ADES II was determined as “Teaching Asian Languages in the 21st Century” and the aim was to discuss primarily the issue of teaching methodologies of Chinese, Indian, Japanese, and Urdu as foreign languages as well as the problems faced during instruction in a scientific context. As a result of the evaluations of the abstracts, papers of 63 participants, 72% of whom were foreigners and came from 20 countries (i.e., Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, China, England, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, the USA, and Turkey) were accepted.

Upon the meetings aiming to evaluate ADES II, it was decided to hold ADES every two years periodically due to the contribution it made to the field and the great interest it achieved.

During the organization of ADES III, held in Kayseri on 8-9 May, 2014 and hosted by Erciyes University, 24 scholars from 5 different countries (i.e., Turkey, China, Japan, India, and Pakistan) acted as referees and members of Advisory Board and Organizing Board. 92 scholars from 17 different countries and affiliated to 55 universities sent abstracts to ADES III, the main theme of which was “Literature-Culture”, and 51 of these abstracts were accepted. The analysis of the countries of the 189 participants who attended the first three symposia reveals that Turkey, as the host country, has the highest percentage (43,4%), followed by China and India, with the percentages of 10,6 and 9,0 respectively. That is why, it was decided to hold the fourth symposium abroad, and mutual interactions led to cooperation with a university in India.

ADES IV was held in cooperation with Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar University (BAMU) in Aurangabad, India on 2 – 4 February, 2017 with the theme “Understanding Culture”. 76 papers out of 157 applications from 13 countries (Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Germany, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mauritius, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Turkey and United States) were presented. In its fourth meeting, ADES brought together scholars to read cultures via texts produced in the Asian geography and explore and investigate the reflections of a joy of a birth, a funeral ritual, a merriness of a melody and the taste of a meal on the texts that Asia has accumulated throughout its history.

As a scientific facility focusing on the Asian geography, bringing together scholars from disciplines, countries, and institutions and organized internationally and successively, ADES enriches its contributors and the place it is held. The more the stakeholders involved in the organization contribute, the more academic, social, cultural and interpersonal benefits will be attained.

Publications of ADES
1. The proceedings of ADES-I (ISBN 987-­‐975-­‐6478-­‐66-­‐0) (http://ades.erciyes.edu.tr/ADES-­‐I_BildirilerKitabi.pdf.)
2. The proceedings of ADES-II (http://ades.erciyes.edu.tr/ADES-­‐II%20Proceeding.pdf).
3. The selected papers of ADES II were published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing with the title “Studies on the Teaching of Asian Languages in the 21st Century” (http://www.cambridgescholars.com/studies-­‐on-­‐the-­‐teaching-­‐of-­‐asian-­‐languages-­‐in-­‐the-­‐21st-­‐century-­‐3).
4. The proceedings of ADES III (ISBN: 978-­‐975-­‐6478-­‐80-­‐6). (http://ades.erciyes.edu.tr/wp-­‐content/uploads/2016/06/ADES-­‐III_Proceedings.pdf)
5. The proceedings of ADES IV has been published.
6. The selected papers of ADES IV will be published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing with the title “Understanding Culture”.