Academic Member of Department of Turkish Language Teaching of Near East University Assoc. Prof. Dr. Burak Gökbulut and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Yeniasır made presentations at the 2nd International Develi-Âşık Seyrani (well known minstrel) and Turkish Culture Congress.

It was announced that Assoc. Prof. Dr. Burak Gökbulut and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Yeniasır participated in the congress, to which academicians from Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan participated in, and made presentations titled as “Fairs and Weddings in the Cyprus Turkish Entertainment” and Âşık Şeref Taşlıova’s “Bağdat Hanım ile Hafız Hikâyesi”; providing details regarding proverbs, episodes and folkloric features.

According to the press release issued by the Directorate of Press and Public Relations of Near East University, the presentations of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Burak Gökbulut and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Yeniasır focused on the significance of fairs and festivals for the Turkish Cypriot culture, in addition to the importance of weddings for the local folks.

Fairs and festivals are a significant part of the Cyprus Turkish entertainment culture...
Through the studies conducted by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Burak Gökbulut and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Yeniasır, they revealed the significance of weddings and festivals for the Cyprus Turkish entertainment culture. They stress that fairs and festivals stand out as an entertainment element that provides social solidarity. Even though the festivals organized today have increased the entertainment dimension especially for children, festivals in the past and today have a large economic function. Just as it is the case in the world, one of the most important features of festivals is related to spending, consumption and reproduction due to social recovery.

Weddings turned into economic profit …
In studies especially focused on weddings, weddings are found to be one of the most important types of entertainment in the Turkish Cypriot culture in the past, such that they would continue for days, purely for entertainment. However, in time weddings are limited to three hours and seen as an economic gain by families.

Due to social change and development, it is seen that many applications made in weddings in the past are not being done today. It was revealed that abolition of some applications such as arranged marriages, wedding procession, bridal baths caused reduction in social solidarity among the Turkish Cypriot community, and thus weddings lost their entertainment feature. Especially in the past, festivals and weddings, which were the best examples of the unity and solidarity of the Turkish Cypriot community, it was emphasised that there was a need to create awareness in the youth and future generations on this matter so as to assure that they had the above mentioned feature.