― 21 декабря 2023 г.

Commemoration of Mehmet Akif Ersoy, the poet of independence in North Macedonia

Within the scope of the events dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birthday of  the Poet of the Independence of Türkiye  Mehmet Akif Ersoy, a one-man play entitled "Don't be afraid" by the famous theatre actor Ahmet Yenilmez was performed in Tetovo, depicting the life of Mehmet Akif Ersoy and the Çanakkale epic.

The one-man play “Don't be afraid” performed at the International Maarif Schools Kalkandelen Campus in cooperation of the Embassy of the Republic of Türkiye in Skopje, with the Yunus Emre Institute, TIKA, the Maarif Foundation and MATUSITEB on the occasion of the "Year of Mehmet Akif Ersoy 2023" declared  by the  Permanent Council of TURKSOY was highly appreciated by the audience.

Delivering the opening speech of the one-man play entitled "Don't be afraid" in which Mehmet Akif Ersoy narrates episodes from his life, TURKSOY Deputy Secretary General Sayit Yusuf said: "At the meeting of the Permanent Council, the highest decision-making body of our organisation, held in Bursa, 2023 was declared as  year of Mehmet Akif Ersoy in the whole Turkic World upon unanimous vote of the ministers of culture of  Turkic States. In order to keep alive the cherished memory of Akif, whose mother's side is from Bukhara and father's side is from Peja, and to better understand his works, we have implemented a series of activities called From Bukhara to Peja. In the past weeks, a comprehensive event was organised in Bukhara under the auspices of the Authors' Union of Türkiye. It is not well known to the public that Akif's mother was from Bukhara while his father was from Peja. We tried to emphasise this fact with these meetings. 

Following these events, we have come together with our compatriots in Tetovo at the outskirts  of the Shar Mountains  today. This play will then be performed in Pristina within this week. Thus, to honour the Year of Mehmet Akif Ersoy which we declared, we will introduce Akif's legacy to the Turkic World with a performance in his father's homeland. In addition to this, tomorrow, on December 21st, we will celebrate the  Day of Education  of North Macedonian Turks in Turkish  Language. It goes without saying that  the  commemoration of  Akif  on this date is quite meaningful indeed.  Let me thank all our compatriots who came to attend the performance of this theatre play from all over Macedonia, especially from Tetovo. Tonight, we have once again noted in history that  Turks of the Balkans are an inseparable part of the Turkic World."

Mr. Ahmet Yenilmez expressed his happiness to be  in the city of Tetovo  in North Macedonia  and said: "I would like to thank TURKSOY as well as all other relevant institutions for this wonderful event, which made it possible for us to meet with our compatriots on the occasion of the Day of Education in Turkish Language celebrated by  Turks of  North Macedonia ." 
 

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