Seventh Turkish Olympiads Start With Colorful Opening Ceremony

This year's international Turkish Olympiads, a hugely successful event now in its seventh year, started with a colorful opening ceremony held at the Haliç Congress Center in İstanbul on Wednesday.

Seven hundred students from 115 countries who will perform in the Turkish language in different categories over 14 days were at the ceremony along with Olympiads Organizing Committee Chairman Professor Mehmet Sağlam, famous Turkish pop singer Erhan Güleryüz and actor Hasan Kaçan along with other guests.

One of the winners of last year's Olympiads, Suman Kurbanova from Tajikistan, delivered an opening speech at the ceremony. Also speaking at the gathering, Sağlam said he would like to greet Turkish language-loving students in the hall along with their teachers who taught them Turkish. Stating that 700 students have been chosen from 10,000 foreign students, he said they will try to do whatever they can in order to promote Turkey and Turkish as Turks.

Stating that around 250 million people speak Turkish in the world, Erhan Güleryüz said the Turkish language is the language of love. “We look at all world cultures with love. We really love you,” he said. Addressing the students participating in the Olympiads, Kaçan said: “I am quite happy to see you here. The love that brought you here will be reciprocated. The Turkish language is among the languages through which you express your feelings the best.”

Students performed various activities during the meeting. Students from Kyrgyzstan performed Kolbasti, a regional folkloric dance known to have originated from the Black Sea province of Trabzon, and a Nigerian student read a poem by famous Turkish folk literature poet, Aşik Veysel Şatiroğlu.

‘I am proud to be a part of the Turkish Olympiads’

In the meantime, famous Turkish pop singer Serdar Ortaç, who previously said the Turkish Olympiads should be supported more than Eurovision, told Today's Zaman that he is proud of being a part of this year's Turkish Olympiads, as he will be a member of the evaluation committee. “This organization will be among events that will be remembered with pride in Turkish history,” he said.

This year, 700 students from 115 countries will perform in the Turkish language in different categories over 14 days. A cultural festival will be held on May 30-31 in Altinpark in Ankara, where the students will promote their countries. The 7th International Turkish Olympiads, in which students will compete in 13 categories ranging from poetry to songs, will be held in Ankara, İstanbul and Bursa. Turkish Parliament Speaker Köksal Toptan will award students who receive gold medals with a Turkish Language Service Award.