Australia Holds First National Turkish Competition
For the first time in Australia a national Turkish competition was held, mostly attended by Turkish-origin youth. The contest, which took place at Sule College's Prestons Campus, was organized by the Feza and Selimiye foundations for the purpose of increasing interest in Turkish.
Şule College's sports hall was filled with visitors. Beside the invitees, there were almost 1,000 visitors from all parts of Australia. Families and friends of the competitors, which came from Melbourne, Dandenong, Shepperton, Perth, Wollongong, Geelong and Sydney, were excited as the competitors were. Among many of Australian Turkish students there were competitors from other nations as well. Competitors from various age groups displayed their talents in competitions composed of singing, poetry, story narration, folklore, animation and theatre. Repeating a quote from Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who said as Turkish youth get to know their ancestral heritage they will find within themselves to accomplish great things in the future, Sule College General Manager Ahmet Yamakoğlu, who gave the opening speech, said they have given special significance to the issue of teaching Turkish to the Australian Turkish youth.
"During this program our eyes were filled with the tears. After I saw this program I believe that great future awaits the Turkish youth in Australia. I believe that within 10 years they will achieve great accomplishments," said Professor Mehdi İlhan of the Canberra's Australian National University.
Selimiye Foundation Chair İbrahim Dellal also expressed his feelings: "I was deeply touched while watching the young people who spoke Turkish beautifully on stage. I personally have been waiting for 56 years to see what I saw nowadays. All these are messenger of a beautiful future. The dark face of our world will be turned into fresh and peaceful environment by enlightenment brought by our youth." (Samil Gündüz, Ömer Özde / Sydney)
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