The undergraduate program concentrates on old and modern Turkish literature and the history and structure of Turkish language. The program encourages students to approach their subject matter from a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective, with reference to eastern and western literatures. A wide range of elective courses is offered in related fields and social sciences.

The graduate program aims at training students in productive scholarship and effective teaching. Courses are offered in the above mentioned three fields, together with theories of literature.

The department also offers Turkish courses for foreigners and provides training in research languages such as Ottoman Turkish, Arabic, Persian, as well as in Ottoman paleography. In addition, the department invites academics and men of letters to give courses in special topics, and organizes regular graduate seminars with visiting scholars, and carries out numerous projects in fields of Turkish literature, language and culture.

Students of the Department of Turkish Language and Literature who complete graduate degrees become academics and scholars in the fields of Turkish language and literature, linguistics, humanities and social sciences. Moreover, many with undergraduate degrees enter into diverse career fields such as secondary school teaching, tourism, advertising, publishing, media, archiving, and librarianship.

Most of the courses in the Department of Turkish Language and Literature are in Turkish due to the fact that they are based on original Turkish literary texts.