The Turkish Culture and Lifestyle Festival, organized by the Bilkent University Student Council, was held at Main Campus for two days, April 15 and 16.
The festival aimed to introduce Turkish culture and tradition, lifestyles and cuisine to foreign students and instructors. "The need for such a special occasion is aroused when we realized that nobody and no organization put enough effort and interest in promoting our traditional values," said Alper Yasin Altınel, President of the Student Council. "There is popular culture in almost every part of our lives, therefore we sensed a need for an enjoyable carnival to make Turkish culture widely known. Today I realized that we reached this goal as there is a great interest in the organization both from foreign and native students, as well as instructors. Now, our next goal is to make the festival an annual event at Bilkent."
The event included entertaining activities that are unique to Turkish culture, such as Hacivat and Karagöz performances, folk dance, Turkish art and folk music concerts, a Mehter Takımı (janissary band) show, and Orta Oyunu and Meddah (traditional Turkish theatrical plays). There were also food stands offering the best selections of Turkish cuisine, from gözleme (Turkish pancake), kebab, and Maraş ice cream, to tantuni, tea and famous Turkish coffee. Apart from these, special attention was paid to the traditional arts, such as porcelain and ceramic arts, calligraphic art, glass arts and Ebru (marbling).
The festival attracted an impressive number of participants enjoying the activities, food, and music.
Nagihan Aydın (ELIT/IV)
Bilkent News
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