Students from around the world performed in front of thousands of people in Antalya on Saturday at a festival commemorating the 10th International Turkish Language Olympiad, which brings together hundreds of foreign students studying at Turkish schools established around the world. The Antalya festival took place at the Akdeniz University Stadium, with about 35,000 attendees. A total of 73 international students from 21 countries performed at the Antalya festival.
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Students from around the world performed at the Akdeniz University Stadium in front of 35,000 people as part of the Turkish Language Olympiad on Saturday. Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ presented plaques for the people who contributed to Turkish language education. |
A total of 1,500 foreign students from 135 countries have come to Turkey for the Turkish Language Olympiad, which is organized by the International Turkish Education Association (TÜRKÇEDER). This year’s competition, which is taking place from May 30 to June 14, will predominantly be held in Ankara and İstanbul, but there are also activities in 41 other Turkish cities. The world’s children came together at the Antalya festival and recited poems of famous Turkish poets, sang popular Turkish songs and performed folk dances.
Students fascinated locals in Antalya with 17 song performances, three folk dance shows and two poetry performances. Gaffar Şamilay from Azerbaijan sang two of the most popular Turkish folk songs: “Zahidem,” and “Nartanesi,” and played the saz (a stringed instrument) very skillfully, which was appreciated by the audience. Gaffar also sang the song “Mihriban” at the request of the show’s presenter in commemoration of the renowned Turkish poet and writer Abdürrahim Karakoç who died in hospital at the age of 80 on Thursday afternoon. Karakoç was best known for his poem “Mihriban,” which was also turned into a song.
Speaking after the plaque ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ said: “The students have shown us how people from different cultures, with different languages and ethnicities can create beauty when they come together. The human being is the most honorable creature according to our [Turkish] understanding of civilization. Remember what Yunus Emre [a great mystical folk poet who died in 1320] says ‘Come! Come and let’s get acquainted with one another! Let us make life easy on us.’ We are all witnessing tonight, how much easier it is to achieve any endeavor when human beings join together.” Stating that international Turkish schools in 135 countries from around the world construct bridges between those countries with the help of a language, Bozdağ added that cultures, love, respect and kindnesses are shared with the help of bridges that the Turkish schools have constructed. Bozdağ thanked teachers who contributed to the construction of such bridges in his speech.
“What the world is searching for is here tonight. If the world is searching for peace and solidarity and if people want to construct a world in which people love and respect each other, the thing that should be done is certain. We should bring together different languages, different complexions and different religions instead of sowing discord among them,” Bozdağ noted. Bozdağ thanked all the people who contributed to the event and also sent his greetings to the esteemed “Hocaefendi” (referring to Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen) for his inspiration and support of the organization.
Tens of thousands of people around Turkey had a chance to witness the Olympiad with the foreign students performing at various venues throughout the country. A total of 70 students from 15 countries were in the southern province of Adana on Saturday and performed for more than 5,000 people. While another groups was in the northwestern province of Tekirdağ, where students fascinated more than 15,000 locals. A Tajikistani student’s one-man play, in which he talked with the distinctive local accent of the Tekirdağ province, received the most applause.
On Sunday, 70 students from 20 countries performed in the northwestern province of Sakarya. The Malian students’ folkloric dance, a Kenyan student impersonating Turkish journalist Mehmet Ali Birand and American Taylor Dunn’s song of “Gamsız Hayat” received heartfelt accolades from the audience.
The Olympiads show that took place in the capital province of Ankara on Saturday, was seen by prominent political figures including Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, Interior Affairs Minister İdris Naim Şahin, Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek and former Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal.
Criticizing the second İstanbul Shopping Fest (İSF), which kicked off on Saturday, Çiçek said he found the situation rather ironic. “It is paradoxical that at a time when we celebrate some foreign students’ speaking Turkish, a Turkish fest that is named in English kicks off,” Çiçek explained. “We shouldn’t be the subcontractors of other cultures, while trying to introduce our language and culture to other countries.”
Published on Sunday's Zaman, 10 June 2012, Sunday
