The event began with the national anthems of Turkey and Australia and opening remarks by İstanbul Culture and Art Center General Coordinator Zakir Yıldırım. “On this road we are walking down to make Turkish the language of love, we feel the support of Turkish society behind us tonight as always,” he said. Yıldırım asked that the support for solidarity and unity continue.
The event was held in two categories, for those who are native speakers of Turkish and for those who speak Turkish as a foreign language. The 10-member jury, including artists, educators and writers, awarded Hafsa Baig first place in the Turkish as foreign language category’s Turkish poem category and Nurun Abdulhamid in the same category’s song category. The awards were presented to the winners by Kısaparmak, Professor Mehmet Metin Belviranlı, Education Director at the Turkish Consulate General in Sydney Mahmut Ayhan and Turkish Consul General in Melbourne Aydın Nurhan.
Thanking the organizers, Nurhan said Turkey needs thinkers with large vocabularies. Noting that the Turkish language is being influenced by foreign words, Nurhan continued: “We should not insert foreign words into our language. We do not need to make up words. We have the heritage of Central Asia behind us. You can take as many words as you like from Central Asian languages. We must have an expanding and growing language approach instead of a narrowing one.” Folkdance groups from a Turkish college performed during the event.
