A new training program has been launched in Turkey that is designed to fill the skills gap in the country's IT industry.

Academy Tech - with support from Turkey's leading IT firms and unions - will launch a new initiative this year, which will provide training for hundreds of individuals in internationally-accepted certificates, Today's Zaman reported.

The program will last for three months and will provide employees to the Eurasian country's technology sector, which is expected to be the driving force behind the economy in the future.

Ozcan Yildiz, general manager of Academy Tech, explained that participants will find it easier to secure employment following this scheme.

He told the newspaper: "This program does not necessarily provide a job guarantee but focuses on equipping the trainees with the best skills possible."

Turkey's unemployment rate remained unchanged in the third quarter of 2009 at 13.4 per cent of the available labor market, according to the Ankara-based Turkish Statistical Institute.