Students from all around the world who were runners-up in competitions in their native lands to earn a berth at the Turkish Language Olympiads were invited to Turkey to display their talents in several Turkish provinces, stretching from East to West.
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| President Abdullah Gül welcomes the international students participating in the 9th Turkish Language Olympiads |
Group three hit the Black Sea roads in the beginning of their run, and they continue performing in Adana, which will be followed by Mersin, Kahramanmaraş, Şanlıurfa and Karaman.
One of the members of this group, Shoirakhon Ismailzhanova (15), is from Kyrgyzstan where she came in second in a song contest. Studying at a Turkish high school in her country, she can already speak excellent Turkish after one-and-a-half-years of study. She is very happy to be in Turkey, where she saw the sea for the first time in her life. Shoirakhon chose to attend a Turkish school. She was familiar with the school since her sisters also studied there. She wants to become a dentist and study at an İstanbul university.
Father listens to Turkish music when his blood pressure rises
In Shoirakhon's house, everybody watches Turkish channels and follows Turkish TV shows. "My family watches Kurtlar Vadisi [The Valley of the Wolves] at home. When my parents don't understand the Turkish, they call me from my room."
Like Shoirakhon, her family is also fond of Turkish music. Her father plays the saz, a musical instrument used in Turkish folk music that resembles a guitar, but has a long neck and less strings. He puts on saz CDs when his blood pressure rises. The 15-year-old thinks the most beautiful songs are in Turkish, and she likes the music of Serdar Ortaç, Sezen Aksu and Yavuz Bingöl.
The Kyrgyz student, who also speaks Russian, Uzbek and English in addition to her native language and Turkish, says she has made friends from Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Tanzania during their tour.
She loves her Turkish teachers and is fond of one in particular. She cannot help but cry as she talks about how her teacher, Aslı, helped her study at a Turkish college although she and her family had decided to give up school and how Aslı had to return to her hometown, Malatya, because she was pregnant.
Bosnian student sets sight on Trabzon university
Fifteen-year-old Hasan Grosic also came in second in a song qualification contest in his native land, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He attends one of the seven international colleges run by Turks in his country. Having been learning Turkish for one year, Hasan speaks Turkish very well and says Turkish and Bosnian have many words in common as Ottomans had ruled the country for nearly 400 years.
He is familiar with the contests as he took part in many competitions in the fields of mathematics, physics and computer science. He came in fourth in the computer science competition in Bosnia. He wants to either be a teacher or an electrical engineer. Hasan liked Karadeniz Technical University (KATÜ) during their visit to the university in Trabzon, where they started their Turkey tour. He is impressed by the architecture of İstanbul palaces, including Dolmabahçe and Topkapı.
His friend from Moldova, Anton Kirilük (18), joined the group as he was the runner-up in last year's song qualifications in his country. Anton plays a musical instrument for people who come to see their performances on their tour of three cities.
Albanian Enida Meti says she does not want to leave Turkey as the trainers at the Turkish Olympiads joke, "We will send you back because you cannot speak Turkish," in Turkish. Enide has a perfect accent and voice as she sings Turkish songs. But she says it is "kind of difficult" for her to speak the language. "I learn songs fast because I like singing," says Enida, who wants to be a painter and singer. The 14-year-old has been attending a Turkish college and learning Turkish for less than a year. Australian-born Enide's parents enrolled her in a Turkish school because it was known for discipline and good teachers.
Published on Today's Zaman, 21 June 2011, Tuesday
