HALIL ÜRÜN: POETRY IS OUR SOUL'S DOOR TO LOVE

D. MEHMET DOĞAN: KONYA ENSHRINES IN THE HEARTS OF ART LOVERS

HASAN KILCA: WE HAVE BEEN GUESTS IN THE HEARTS OF THE ART LOVERS WITH A POETRY FESTIVAL

AHMET KÖSEOĞLU: WE SET OUT ON A UNIQUE JOURNEY OF POETRY WITH THE FESTIVAL.

The 11th Mevlana Poetry Festival, organized jointly by Karatay Municipality, Writers Union of Turkey, Konya Branch, and Konya Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, was held in Mevlana Rose Garden Open Sky Area. Poetry lovers of all ages attended the night, where poets from different cities of Turkey coloured with their poems. Halil Ürün, the Former Konya Deputy of AK Party, expressed his pleasure for being in the Mevlana Poetry Festival, and said, "Poetry is the expansion of our soul to excitement, love, and passion." D. Mehmet Doğan, the Honorary President of the Writers Union of Turkey, said; "Konya always stands by art and artists and has enshrined in the hearts of art lovers." Hasan Kılca, the Mayor of Karatay, said that they were happy to be a guest of the hearts of art lovers on the occasion of the Mevlana Poetry Festival, while Ahmet Köseoğlu, the Head of the Konya Branch of the Writers Union of Turkey noted that the Mevlana Poetry Festival was a unique night for art lovers and the journey of poetry.

Mevlana Poetry Festival, aiming to reflect and traditionalize the rich tradition of Turkish poetry in terms of language, literary understanding, and cultural value, took art lovers to the fairy world of poetry.

The 11th Mevlana Poetry Festival, organized jointly by Karatay Municipality and Writers Union of Turkey, Konya Branch, was held in Mevlana Rose Garden Open Sky Area

The poets who participated in the festival found a chance to share their precious works with art lovers in Konya and all around Turkey.

The program started with surah al-Fatihah which was read for the citizens harmed by forest fires and floods. All the protocol members and poets conveyed their best wishes to the citizens affected by the fire and flood.

WE BELIEVE IN THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF POETRY.

Ahmet Köseoğlu, the Head of the Konya Branch of the Writers Union of Turkey, who made the opening speech of the program said that Mevlana Poetry Festival was a unique night for art lovers and the journey of poetry.

Köseoğlu, who expressed his pleasure in bringing the Poetry Festival program together with art lovers in the presence of Mevlana, said: “We believe in the changing and transformative power of our poetry. Of course, our poetry is one of the most important factors in the development and enrichment of our language. We think that our modern poetry carries traces of our modern poetry to the present and the future by enriching. Here, beautiful people came from all over Turkey and met in the shadow of Sage. We think that it is also important for us to contribute to the development of our modern poetry and thus to our literature. Mevlana Poetry Festival has become a tradition and will continue to maintain its name firmly and decisively from now on. I would like to thank all institutions and organizations that contributed to our Mevlana Poetry Festival program, our honored guests, poets and critics due to their valuable contributions.

POETRY FESTIVALS INCREASE THE BRAND VALUE OF KONYA

Abdüssettar Yarar, the Konya Provincial Director of Culture and Tourism, who referred to the importance attached by Konya to cultural and artistic activities stated that Mevlana Poetry Festivals increases the brand value of Konya.

Thanking the Writers Union of Turkey and the Municipalities of Konya, Abdüssettar Yarar said the following: “The Poetry Festivals,  held for the 11th time this year, have joined the brand activities in our Konya as a new one. In carrying out these activities, our Mayor of Karatay and other district mayors make major contributions to the art activities in Konya, both by taking part in these activities and by supporting financially and morally. I want to convey my thanks. Konya is one of the cities that attaches the most importance to culture, art and literature, and we prove this with the international programs in our city. We want the Poetry Festival program to be more comprehensive  next year and to spread this program over 3-4 days. At this point, we are ready to provide the required support.”

WE HAVE BEEN GUESTS IN THE HEARTSOF THE ART LOVERS

Hasan Kılca, the Mayor of Karatay, said that they were happy to be a guest of the hearts of art lovers on the occasion of the Mevlana Poetry Festival.

Hasan Kılca, who said that they were happy to contribute to the Poetry Festival for the third time this year, as Karatay Municipality, stated that as they, the municipality, accepted to serve in the field of culture and art as well as physical investments in Konya.

WE CARE ABOUT SCIENTIFIC, INTELLECTUAL AND THOUGHT MOVEMENTS

Kılca, who stated that they will be involved in every project that will contribute to the cultural life of Karatay and Konya and highlight their artistic identity,  said the following:  “We, the Karatay Municipality, had the pleasure of hosting the 11th Mevlana Poetry Festival this year. Our ancestors, who left great traces throughout the globe and in very large geography for hundreds of years, bequeathed to us these lands admired by all humanity and that smell magnificent history, culture, and civilization. The deeper the poem is, the deeper our ancient city Konya is, mentioned in the last line, in the field of intellectual, science, civilization, and literature. Konya is a valuable city that has trained many important literary figures from its hundreds of years of history and witnessed the emergence of precious works. We, the municipalities, will continue to support poetry, art, culture, and literature. We said that spoken words fly away, written words remain, and together with the Head of the Konya Branch of the Writers Union of Turkey, we collected all the 10-year-old poems in a book that were organized retrospectively and read in these programs and put them at the disposal of art lovers. In the next process, these artistic activities will continue with the great efforts of the  Writers Union of Turkey and our Konya Branch. We, the Karatay Municipality, also care about scientific, intellectual, and thought movements. Therefore, we shall continue to support these steps and projects. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our masters of speech, who have honored us by exhibiting their eye-straining and effortful precious works. Once again, I would like to express my gratitude to all the people of culture and art who offered us poetry, to the Konya Branch of Writers Union of Turkey, and all stakeholders

KONYA ENSHRINES IN THE HEARTS OF ART LOVERS

D. Mehmet Doğan, the Honorary President of the Writers Union of Turkey, who expressed his pleasure with the continuation of the Poetry Festivals, said the following; “We are performing a beautiful program in the presence of Mevlana, one of the greatest poets of all time. Our great poets took their inspiration from Mevlana and Yunus Emre for many centuries. Konya always stands by art and artists and has enshrined in the hearts of art lovers."  I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Mayor of Karatay and all the stakeholders who contributed to the organization of the program.”

POETRY FESTIVALS CONTRIBUTE TO THE LITERARY REVIVAL

Musa Kazım Arıcan, the President of the Writers Union of Turkey, who pointed out that Poetry Festivals are an important field of activity in the cultural world, the Chairman of the Writers Union of Turkey, noted that they contributed to the literary revival.

Musa Kazım Arıcan said, “We attach importance to poetry festivals to remind the monumental poets of the past centuries, to bring together the living language and poetry masters of our time from everywhere, and to provide a new literary revival basis. We consider this poetry festival which has been continuing for 11 years in Konya, the city of civilization, as an example of contribution to our literary revival. In this sense, I would like to thank Hasan Kılca, the Mayor of Karatay, and our Provincial Director of Culture”.

POETRY IS OUR SOUL'S DOOR TO LOVE

Halil Ürün, the Former Konya Deputy of AK Party, who said that " Poetry is actually the explanation of our life. Every person who sheds tears and knows how to laugh is a poet. Poetry is the expansion of our soul to excitement, love, and passion, expressed his pleasure for being in the Mevlana Poetry Festival, and mentioned the following:  "I congratulate all our poet friends here one by one. The words they read at this festival are the words that are our hearts’ desire. I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the organization of the program.”

The program held in Mevlana Rose Garden was attended by Halil ÜRÜN, the Former Konya Deputy of AK Party, Burhan Sakallı, the AK Party Central Decision And Executive Board Member, Hasan Kılca, the Mayor of Karatay, Mehmet Genç, the Karatay District Head of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), D. Mehmet Doğan, the Honorary President of the Writers Union of Turkey, Musa Kazım Arıcan, the President of the Writers Union of Turkey, Ahmet Köseoğlu, the Head of the Konya Branch of the Writers Union of Turkey, Abdüssettar Yarar, the Konya Provincial Director of Culture and Tourism, Esin Celebi Bayru, the 22nd generation granddaughter of Mevlana, her spouse Osman Bayru and many citizens.

In the program of the 11th Mevlana Poetry Festival and Poetry Workshops, Ahmet Aka, Ali Ayçil, Ali Bal, Ali K. Metin, Burhan Sakallı, Duran Boz, Emre Öztürk, Emre Söylemez, Eray Sarıçam, Fatma Şengil Süzer, Gökhan Akçiçek, Hıdır Toraman, Hicabi Kırlangıç, İbrahim Demirci, İhsan Deniz, M. Ali Köseoğlu, Mehmet Aycı, Mehmet Narlı, Murat Küçükçiftçi, Murat Soyak, Mustafa Aydoğan, Mustafa Uçurum, Osman Özbahçe, Ömer Korkmaz, Selçuk Küpçük, Selim Somuncu, Tuba Kaplan, Vasfettin Yağız, Vural Kaya, Yunus Emre Altuntaş, and Yusuf Araf presented a feast of poetry to the people of Konya with their precious works.

At the end of the Mevlana Poetry Festival, in which a pleasant journey into the world of poetry was experienced, the members of the protocol thanked the names who coloured the night with their poems by giving them some gifts. On the other hand, the book consisting of the poems recited by the poets was given as a gift to the people of culture and art and the program’s participants as a day of remembrance.