― 12 января 2019 г.

Meeting on "Tales of the Turkic World" with Metin Feyzioğlu

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the career of the famous author of tales Yücel Feyzioğlu, the International Organization of Turkic Culture TURKSOY organized a meeting on "Tales of the Turkic World" in its headquarters.

The meeting held in the conference hall of TURKSOY on January 11th, 2019  gathered TURKSOY Deputy Secretary General  Prof. Dr. Fırat Purtaş, the Chairman of the  Board of Directors of the Foundation of Authors and Artists of the Turkic World (TÜRKSAV)  Mr. Yahya Akengin and the author Yücel Feyzioğlu along with many literature experts and students.

In the opening speech he delivered at the event, TURKSOY Deputy Secretary General  Prof. Dr. Fırat Purtaş said that in line with its mission statement, TURKSOY has been carrying out its actvities to promote the culture and art of the Turkic World on a global scale from Southern America to the Far East and from Central Asia to Europe and the Balkans  for 25 years and that TURKSOY celebrated its 25th anniversary with many colourful events in 2018.
Prof. Dr. Purtaş further said that with the symposium on "Tales of the Turkic World from Tastarakay to Keolglan" held in cooperation with the Institute of Turkic Culture in 2011, TURKSOY also contributed to the promotion of tales of the Turkic World and added: “Tales of the Turkic World are the embodiment of our spiritual world and common future. We must increase the number of projects carried out in this field. I believe that the publication of the Book of Tales of the Turkic World in cooperation with the State Children's Library of Azerbaijan named after Firudin Bey Köçerli has been such a contribution”.

The Chairman of TÜRKSAV Mr. Yahya Akengin who also delivered a speech at the meeting said that tales are works of literature which transcend time and space. Mr. Akengin who also stressed that tales are the materialization of people's dreams which they cannot realize in real life further said: "Tales are our invisible world which transcends the limits of time from our ancient past to eternity."
Mr. Akengin further said that tales also foster one's imagination  and added: "Our childhood is our motherland. Our childhood can be compared to a series of white, empty pages which are filled with tales we are told. Impressions left behind in our memory by these tales in our  childhood follow us throughout our lives." 

The author of Turkic tales  Yücel Feyzioğlu who said that the Turkic World has an incredibly rich heritage of tales added that compilations of these tales are being published in the journal "Kindred Tales".
Mr Feyzioğlu who also stressed that there is a lack of awareness regarding the Turkic World's own tales  further said that tales containing codes of reference from our own culture are more beneficial not only in pedagogical terms but also in terms of their integrative function and that it is therefore more important to teach our children tales of our own culture rather than tales of other peoples.
Mr. Feyzioğlu who also said that tales play a key role in the formation of children's identity added:  "Tales have multiple functions: they contribute to the formation of one's identity, they are our bond with our history and language, they contribute to the development of our listening comprehension and  perception and they also  motivate us to defend those who are right and to fight against injustice." Mr. Feyzioğlu also stressed that tales foster children's sense of justice and help them see that beauty is not only about one's outward appearance and said: "Tales play a key role in developing children's sense of optimism. Indeed, children who do not read tales tend to be more pessimistic."

At the meeting, TURKSOY Deputy Secretary General  Prof. Dr. Fırat Purtaş extended the Meadl of TURKSOY dedicated to the commemoration of the 90th Anniversary of the Birthday of the great Kyrgyz author Chingis Aitmatov.
The meeting which took place in an interactive atmosphere gathered many students who showed strong interest in Mr. Feyzioglu's presentation on tales of the Turkic World. At the end of the meeting, Mr.  Feyzioğlu signed his books offered to the audience by TURKSOY.

The meeting ended with a group photograph as a remembrance of the day.