Yunus Emre Institute has organized the Youth and Kite Festival in Azaz within the scope of the Yunus Emre Year.

Yunus Emre Institute was founded to promote the Turkish culture and art and to teach the Turkish language, and another event has been added to those hosted by Yunus Emre Institute in the past 10 years to increase the morale and motivation of the people of Azaz. Azaz Yunus Emre Institute, which became operational last year, organized a Kite Festival in Azaz, the safe zone of Syria.

This year, Yunus Emre Institute organized several events with its foreign centers since 2021 is the Yunus Emre Year due to his 700th death anniversary and did not forget its Syrian brothers and sisters in Azaz. The Institute organized a series events for children and young people under the name of "700th Year of Yunus Emre Youth and Kite Festival" on June 10-11.

The programme started with the opening speech which included the Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Özgül Özkan Yavuz, Kilis Governor Recep Soytürk, President of the Azaz Local Council Muhammed Kenno and Yunus Emre Institute President Prof. Şeref Ateş.

In his opening speech, the Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Özgül Özkan Yavuz passed on the warm regards of the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to the participants. Yavuz also passed on the warm regards of children in Turkey to the children in Syria and mentioned how happy he was for everything done for the people of Syria in Azaz.

PROF. ATEŞ: "MAIN SOURCE OF TURKEY IS YUNUS EMRE"

The Institute President Prof. Ateş mentioned that there were many events held at different locations on the world within the scope of Yunus Emre's 700th death anniversary, and said "The main resource of Turkey, which has the power of exposure and sanctions in the world, is Yunus Emre.  With the inspiration we take from Yunus, we do not shut our eyes to the issues within the geographies we live in and try to alleviate the pains of every nation who is oppressed and mistreated."

CONCERTS AND THEATER PLAYS

After the protocol speeches, songs in Arabic, Kurdish and Turkish were voiced all together at a mini concert with local artists.

Right after the concert, the play "Adventures of Parsley the Lamb" by the performers of the Izmir State Theaters was presented to the children. The event continued with the stage performance of Azaz Gymnastics Society and was applauded by the children. The stage performances ended after the local dance performance by the Syrian Folk Dances Society.

NASREDDIN HODJA WAS ALSO IN THE FESTIVAL

The entertainment continued for the whole day at the festival after the protocol committee opened the playgrounds and workshops, and the drama activities, puppet shows, mascot, Aşuk-Maşuk, Nasreddin Hodja, bubble and balloon shows gathered great interest. The children joined colors with the dreams through the play dough, sand painting and face painting activities.

DIGITAL BICYCLE RACE, ASTRONOMY THEMED PHOTOGRAPHY, AND DRONE TRAINING

The booth of the Scientific and Academic Cooperation Project of Turkey (TABIP), which was initiated by Yunus Emre Institute under the patronage of the Presidency of the Republic for the purposes of engraining the children who had been the victims of the war with the love of science, was also the focus of interest at the event. Participants who participated in the bicycle race in front of digital screens and acquired the best score was awarded small gifts. At the astronomy themed photoshoot area, they had the opportunity to keep the space themed photographs as memories. The participants who experienced virtual reality with the astronomy theme found themselves in a three-dimensional special world by wearing the VR headsets. Drone training was also delivered at the event where the participants had an unforgettable experience in relation to astronomy and space sciences. After two trainings, the participants flew kites in the activity area by using drones. In addition, thanks to the device attached to their hands which had a motion sensor, the participants competed head-to-head by driving a robotic car on a platform. The participants who wanted to closely see and observe the microorganisms which cannot be seen with the human eye had the opportunity to make observations with microscope.

LIVE PERFORMANCE WITH THE ARCHERY FOUNDATION  

Young people who wanted to experience traditional Turkish archery participated in the archery training at the area prepared by the Archery Foundation, and the calligraphy art performed in another booth was the participants’ focus of attention. After the live performance, the names of the participants written by calligraphy were gifted to the participants.

The children and young people who had the chance to express their feelings and ideas freely in the environment created with the support of Turkey relayed their gratitude to the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with the letters they wrote.

KITE WORKSHOPS

Families prepared kites with their children at the workshop which also named the festival itself. Kites were prepared and released to the sky with pleasure, and the kites decorated with Turkish and Syrian flags created colorful images.

The participants enjoyed the entertainment for two days with the concerts, theater plays, animations and drama shows and engaged in friendly competitions at the playgrounds. Medals were awarded for those who made it to the finals and ranked first in the competitions.

Within the scope of the festival, the participants created a giant map of Turkey and Syria by completing the puzzle that included the flags of both countries. The festival ended with the distribution of gifts.