Turkish Language Olympics Begin in Ankara Today
The official opening ceremony of the 6th International Turkish Language Olympics will take place today at 11 a.m. with a cultural exhibition by the contestants at Ankara’s Altinpark.
Hundreds of contestants from Ghana to Greece and from Azerbaijan to Canada will say "merhaba" (hello) to 4,000 residents of Ankara during the opening ceremony. There will be many colorful performances at the cultural exhibition, which Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek and former Education Minister and current Parliamentary National Education Commission Chairman Mehmet Saglam plan to attend.
There will also be a world costumes competition among the contestants of the Turkish Language Olympics — which is sponsored by scarf producer Aker — during the cultural exhibition, and the winner will be awarded YTL 1,000; the person who takes second will receive YTL 750 and third place will win YTL 500.
The students, who are staying at the Asya Thermal Hotel in the town of Kizilcahaman, participated in the preliminary trials for the event earlier in the week. A welcome party was thrown for the students on Monday morning at the hotel and the preliminary trials were held in the afternoon. Ankara locals in attendance were touched by the Turkish poems recited by students from around the world.
The finals of the song contest will take place at the Anadolu Exhibition Center in Ankara on Sunday at 6 p.m. with the theme "The Stars of Turkish Language," and the finals for the poetry contest will take place in Bursa on Wednesday evening. The awards ceremony will be held on June 1 at the Istanbul Exhibition and Congress Center. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Parliament Speaker Köksal Toptan will both attend the ceremony.
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