International students share ethnic food and culture in exhibit

Instead of traveling thousands of miles to a foreign country to see its sights, culture, food and tradition, Turkish citizens are fortunate to be able to see countries not far from their own home through exhibits of photographs, local ethnic handcrafts, dresses and cultural shows in the 8th international Students Gathering 2015.

Thousands of university students from all over the world, who are studying here in Turkey, swamped popular squares in 33 big cities, opened stalls and showcased their diverse cultures, through different and interesting cultural handcraft, explaining their countries to the visitors and dressing in their traditional clothing.

The exhibition of the Üsküdar square on the coast of the Bosphorus strait, opened its doors for the Istanbulites on Saturday, May 9, through a ground opening ceremony with the participation of AK Party Vice President and Istanbul Deputy Mustafa Şentop, Üsküdür Municipality Mayor Hilmi Türkmen, the Deputy Governor of Istanbul Osman Ateş, the head of the Yunus Emre Institute, Prof. Dr. Hayatı Develi, UDEF President Mehmet Ali Bolat and the consulate generals of Sudan and Indonesia in Istanbul.

“To be a host of this type of colorful, rich and large organization, to meet and be a part of the event with the all color of the world is a distinct pleasure, great enthusiasm for us," said Hayatı Develi during his opening speech.

Mayor Türkmen said communication was the way to understand the brotherhood, as he underlined that all of them were brothers living in different geographical regions. “If we talk to and listen to each other, we will realize that all of us are guests in this world from the same father," he said and added, “The crucial thing is not an agreement but understanding."

Hundreds of thousands of people visited the stalls from all over the world. The students from the Indonesian stall was one of the focus points of the program. They performed their Saman dance with their traditional dresses, while a Caucasian dance performed by the Caucasian students received great appreciate from the visitors.

Along with the thousands of Turkish nationals, hundreds of international students also visited each other's stalls. They didn't miss the opportunity to learn the world from the Philippines to Morocco, from Kosovo to Ethiopia.

“This is a mini world. We can learn about our brothers from all over the world at the same time in the same place. This kind of organization reminded us that despite being from different places of the world, we are members of one nation," Alisher Imamove, an Istanbul University student from Kyrgyzstan uttered his expressions.

Budi Wirwan, an Indonesian student studying Geothermal Energy at Yıldız Technical University, said the organization gave them a great chance to introduce their country and culture to the Turkish people. “We are very happy for being here," he said and thanked UDEF, the organizer for this kind of organization.

“The organization teaches us to share the same place, same thoughts with brothers from the other side of the world. Though Pakistan is a brother country of Turkey, this gathering takes us to the heart of the Turkish nations," said Umer Faizan, a Pakistani student studying petroleum Engineering at Istanbul Technical University.

Monjure Alahe, a Student from Bangladesh studying International Relations in Boğaziçi University, expressed his joy by saying that the program gave them a platform where they can introduce their country. “ The Turkish people know so much incorrect information about our country. But now they can learn the correct facts directly from the source, from the native people. Both countries have good relations. By sharing the correct information, we can be closer to each other," he said.

The Ethiopian students offered Ethiopian Coffee to the visitors while Malaysian students served their traditional food.

Students from Morocco, try to attract the visitors by singing their traditional songs in colorful dress. Students from almost all countries of the world, including Djibouti, Ghana, Comoro Islands, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Greece, Georgia, Yemen, Somalia, India, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Macedonia also presented their countries at the program.

Mehmet Ali Bolat, the president of the UDEF, said that about 80,000 international students from 160 countries joined the programs, which prompted a variety of ethnic exhibits all over the country, that attracted 1 million visitors.

He also said the closing ceremony was scheduled to take place at the Sinan Erdem Sports Hall in the Ataköy neighborhood in Istanbul on May 16, with the participation of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.