5 million people expected to attend 11th Int’l Turkish Olympiads

Nearly 3 million people attended the Cultural Festival held on May 24-26 in the Aegean city of İzmir. (Photo: Today's Zaman, Mehmet Yaman)
Nearly 3 million people attended the Cultural Festival held on May 24-26 in the Aegean city of İzmir. (Photo: Today's Zaman, Mehmet Yaman)


Date posted: May 30, 2013

İSA YAZAR

Five million people are expected to watch the wide range of shows to be performed in 55 Turkish cities as part of the 11th International Turkish Olympiads, a festival that celebrates the Turkish language and is this year brings together 2,000 students from 140 countries.

The 11th International Turkish Olympiads, which is organized by the International Turkish Education Association (TÜRKÇEDER) each year as part of the International Language and Culture Festival, will be held between June 1 and 16. A total of 99 activities are planned to be held in 55 cities of Turkey during this 16-day period.

Most of the activities will be held at the stadium in the cities, says Turkish Olympiads media coordinator Halit Soylu, who spoke to Today’s Zaman, stressing there is generally a stampede each year for tickets in each city with locals showing great interest in the performances of the international students who come to Turkey as part of the Turkish Olympiads. Soylu stated they expect 5 million people to watch the performances.

Soylu noted that the Turkish Olympiads have become one of the most leading cultural events across the world.

The inauguration ceremony of the 11th International Turkish Olympiads will be held on June 1 in Ankara’s May 19 Stadium.

Speaking to Today’s Zaman, Turkish Olympiads Ankara Media Coordinator İlhan Yerli said the Olympiads this year are being held as part of the International Language and Culture Festival. Stating that 1st International Turkish Olympiads was held 11 years ago with the attendance of just 17 countries, Yerli said that a total of 135 countries attended the Olympiads last year and this number has increased to 140 countries this year. “Five new countries attended this year’s Olympiads: the Dominican Republic, Libya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Brunei Sultanate and Rwanda. Approximately 2,000 students will compete in the Olympiads. These students, whose languages, religions and skin color are different from one another, will compete in 19 categories such as singing, poetry reading and Turkish folk dances.” Yerli noted.

This year’s Cultural Festival was held between May 24 and 26 at the İzmir Fair Center in the western Aegean city of İzmir. Nearly 3 million people attended the festival that was held under the slogan of “Towards Universal Peace.” The three-day event was held at İzmir’s Kültürpark. Children from 140 countries displayed cultural items from their countries and talked about their countries and traditions in Turkish with visitors, most of whom were surprised by the students’ Turkish abilities. In addition, many other activities were held at the Kültürpark, such as concerts and theater performances. Visitors enjoyed seeing different kinds of traditional dress and musical instruments, tasting traditional meals and having their photos taken with the foreign students.

Yerli stated the slogan of this year’s Olympiads was determined by the votes of people through the social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook. He stated that the slogan “Toward Universal Peace,” received a total of 4,739 votes from people. Among the slogans used in the previous Olympiads are “The Language of Love: Turkish,” “We Are Talking the Same Language,” “Come, Let Us All Be Friends” and “Humanity Hand in Hand.”

Source: Today’s Zaman, 29 May, 2013


Related News

Erdoğan…a factionist PM?

Now that the prime minister is battling a corruption scandal for which he is blaming the Hizmet movement, his new victims are Fethullah Gülen’s followers, who he calls “traitors.”

Cancer patient arrested over Gülen links deteriorates to stage 4 in one month

Fatma Aşkın, a breast cancer patient who was arrested on Feb.14 in the southeastern Turkish province of Gaziantep due to her alleged links to the Gülen movement, has experienced a spread of the disease during her one-month stay in prison and has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.

Peshawar High Court Restrains Federal Government From Deporting Turkish Teachers Of Pak-Turk School Till Dec 1

The petitioners submitted before the court that Pak-Turk schools had been imparting quality education to hundreds of Pakistani children. They said that the forced deportation of Turkish teachers and other staff members was illegal as they had been provided protection under the Constitution.

Nigeria won’t allow mistreatment of her students by Turkey – Presidency

According to Dabiri-Erewa: “The Federal Government is taking the detention of Nigerian students by Turkish authorities seriously. It seems that Turkey is trying to get at Nigeria for our failure to close down the 17 schools they requested. The government did not close down these schools because their owners and managers, who are private people have not breached Nigerian laws.”

International Panel: The Virgin Mary in the Holy Books [in Istanbul]

Turkey Catholic Communities, Roma Tevere Instituto and the Intercultural Dialogue Platform (IDP) are organizing an international meeting, which will be held to study how the Virgin Mary has been approached in the holy texts, both in Christianity and Islam. The panel will be held on November 1-2, 2013 at the WOW İstanbul Convention Center, Turkey

Erdogan’s Faux Coup may have been Turkey’s Reichstag Fire

Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute just gave us a pat on the back confirming our original assessment of July 2016 that Erdogan had staged the July 2016 coup. Several career Turkish military officers make a persuasive case that Erdogan’s narrative is false and that the coup was essentially Turkey’s equivalent of the Reichstag fire.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Questions for the government regarding prep school closure

Kosovo PM to Turkey’s Erdogan: ‘We Mind Our Own Affairs’

Former Pakistani PM expresses gratitude for Turkish schools

An interview at a party-state

What we learned from the operation

Why is the Hizmet community alone?

[Alleged] “Coup leader” Gülen’s friendships with the Catholic Church

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News