7th Boston Turkish Festival Opens with Turkish Republic Day Celebrations
The Turkish Times - 7th Boston Turkish Festival (BTF), which takes place annually between October 29 - November since 1996, was opened with a proud and joyful celebration of the 79th anniversary of the Turkish Republic. Celebrations began with a flag-raising ceremony in the city center, at Boston City Hall Plaza. Turkish folk dance performances by Collage Dance Ensemble added spirit to readings of the Turkish Republic Day proclamations, messages and raising of the Turkish flag. TACS-New England's "Cumhuriyet Bayrami" celebration continued with Turkish Republic Night with joyful music of Yeliz-Bilgehan-Cem and Turkish hits spinned by DJ Seyhan. Erkut Gömülü, founder and organizer of BTF talked about the early days of the Festival.

"Boston is a very unique city and there are many respectful academic institutions such as Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Berklee College of Music. It is very diverse setting with more than 140 languages spoken in Boston, and over 30 percent of the city consists of new immigrants. These immigrants bring their vivid cultures and share them with other communities. There are also many Turkish students, artists and musicians, either studying, residing or visiting Boston. This is culturally a very fertile environment. To celebrate our rich cultural heritage, the only thing you needed to do was to come up with a program which brings together these rich resources, when you had respectful academic and cultural institutions, and talented artists and musicians residing in the area."

Talking about the beginning of BTF in 1996, Erkut Gömülü added, "As the co-founder of the International Student Center at Northeastern University and its Program Director since its inception in 1994, I was organizing many cultural festivals for different ethnic communities in Boston and I gained significant experience in organizing such events. Then, I started thinking about organizing a cultural festival for the Turkish community in Boston. The idea of BTF was in mind my roughly. The only decision left to be made was to choose the month of the Festival. Month of May was one option, but on the other hand, it was naturally one of the busiest months of the year in Boston; lots of finals, graduations, and also lots of festivals and cultural activities were taking place in May. I chose October 29th as the beginning date of BTF, because of its very special meaning for the Turkish community and also the educational opportunity it gives us for cross-cultural understanding. Another significant date in our history was also in November, November 10th, as we commemorate Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. These historically important days for our heritage and November being a relatively peaceful and relaxed moth for the organizational purposes made it very inviting. So, starting on October 29th, whole month of November was dedicated to BTF, and the first one-month long cultural festival in the United States was born. The program of the first BTF in 1996 was a combination of music and visual arts, culinary arts, lectures and workshops. In the later years, it gained a tendency to focus more on visual arts and music.

To reach the most audience BTF events are offered mostly free of charge, and in public places for easy access to enrich the cultural diversity in Boston. Festival also gives the opportunity to the talented artists and musicians living in the area to be exposed to the Turkish community, as well as to other communities in the area. Festival also brings together a very diverse group of co-sponsors and individuals in the realization of this cultural and educational project, and we are very grateful for their participation. It also gives pride that this year BTF was supported by a grant from the Boston Cultural Council. We hope to celebrate many years of the Boston Turkish Festival in the future."

Within the context of the 7th Boston Turkish Festival, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was commemorated on November 10, on the 64th anniversary of the death of the great leader and founder of Turkey. During the highly emotional remembrance ceremony two documentaries, "Atatürk" by Tolga Örnek and "Sari Zeybek" by Can Dündar, were screened. 7th Boston Turkish Festival continues until the end of November with a variety of concerts and film screenings. Movies "Filler ve Çimen" (Elephants and Grass) by Dervis Zaim, "Mayis Sikintisi" (Clouds of May) by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, "Melekler Evi" (House of Angels) by Ömer Kavur, and documentaries "Desperate Hours" by Victoria Berrett and "Nemrut: The Throne of the Gods" by Tolga Örnek will be shown in this year's festival.

Musical performances at the BTF 2002 are Turkish Classical Music Concert by Eylem Basaldi and her group, acoustic jazz concert with original compositions by Sanlikol-Mutlu-Pienasola Jazz Trio and another jazz concert by Stephane Wrembel Trio featuring Bilgehan Tuncer at acoustic guitar.

Program of the 7th Boston Turkish Festival may be found in this issue of the Turkish Times or on the web site of TACS-New England, www.tacsne.org