DOHA DOHA has seen many cultural events in the week gone by with First Turkish Festival recently ending at Katara, providing a wonderful opportunity to peep into Turkish traditions and lifestyle.
The event which was held at Katara, was opened by the Ambassador of Turkey to Qatar HE Ahmet Demirok.
A Turkish band paraded around the Katara Esplanade escorting dignitaries to the Building No 3, where the main action took place. There was an ample opportunity for visitors to indulge in Turkish traditional life, which included authentic food waiting to be tasted, typical children’s games, a display of story-telling, tradition folk arts such as shadow plays and lot of other activities to choose from.
There was also a display of rich traditional arts such as silver-making, calligraphy, carpet-weaving and lot more. Some of the arts were as old as thousands of years but carefully preserved in the hands of artisans who have received these skills as passed down to them through generations.
One such art was the art of silver, which has been preserved by the Balik family. Explaining the intricacies of the work was Istepan Balik who hailed from the city of Istanbul. According to him, they still use many motifs which have been passed on from generations and are still in demand.
Their family has received the honour of supplying the ware to many royal families of the Middle East. In addition, they have designed the trophy for the Turkish Football League. ‘It is our first time in Qatar and we are so happy to display our art to the people of Doha, said Istepan Balik.
Another ancient art of traditional Turkish Shadow Puppetry also attracted a lot of attention of young and old alike. What is known as Karagoz is the art of puppetry, which was made popular during the reign of the Ottomans and preserved in current times by the couple Suat Veral and Merve Ilken. The duo is doing its best to preserve this ancient tradition of entertainment.
The calligraphers during the Ottoman rule received royal patronage and it developed into a style of its own during this period. Husn-I Hat, which literally translates to ‘beautiful calligraphy’, is an art of writing adhering to strict rules of aesthetics and grace and is preserved by the master calligrapher Mustafa Cemil Efe, who also gave a stunning display of his art during the festival.
Kilimworks or carpetweaving is another traditional art popular in Turkey that was displayed during the festival. The project, which was initiated to empower women in Turkey, called Hisar Anatolian Support Society or HADD, displayed the carpets made from the artisans with whom the society is working. The project aims to revive the traditional arts of dyeing wool and kilim-weaving.