Serif Yenen

Serif Yenen was born in Odemis-Izmir in 1963. He graduated from Kuleli Military High School in Istanbul, earned a degree in English Philology at the University of Istanbul in 1985, became an Army Officer, and taught English as a second language for a while. He quit the Army when he was a lieutenant and began as a tour guide in 1989, and has been working as a national tour guide. He has held elected positions as chairman of the Istanbul Tourist Guides Guild (IRO) and the Federation of Turkish Tourist Guides (TUREB) since 2002. While actively working as a tour guide, he also makes films, writes guide books, articles for travel magazines, and weekly columns on tourism for newspapers and websites. He gives comprehensive lectures about 'Turkey' and 'Civilizations of Anatolia' at schools, universities, museums, cruise ships, tour companies, etc. Among the places where he has lectured successfully several times are the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C., Boston University and Penn Museum in Philadelphia.