/3


June 2002-Issue 48

Results of Writing Competition
Award ceremony of writing competition Ogretmenın Sesı among secondary school students was held on Saturday, June 15. The subject of the competition was "Friendship, Peace and Brotherhood in The World in New Century"

The winner of the competition, Meltem Tahsin (Celal Bayar Minority High School, 2nd Grade), the second winner Aysel Cambaz (Muzaffer Salihoglu Minority High School, 2nd Grade) and the third winner Pervin Tuccar (Muzaffer Salihoglu Minority High School, 2nd Grade) have been awarded with a computer, Encyclopedia and Story books, respectively. All the joined students have got presents. Totally 68 students participated in the competition and compositions were examined by 7-people commission. Sakir Guven- Turkish Literature Teacher of Celal Bayar Minority High School, Huseyin Mustafa- Teacher of Philosophy of Muzaffer Salihoglu Minority High School, Rasim Hint, Sevim Kadioglu, Tunalp Mechmet, Saadettin Sakir and Ilknur Chalil were the members of the commission.

Balkan Turks Met in Manisa
University of Celal Bayar Manisa Region Turkish History and Culture Investigation and Application Center organized a symposium on "The existence of Turks in Balkans" between the dates 20-22 June.

A great number of scientists from Bulgaria, Greece, Azerbaijan, Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, and Turkey participated in the symposium in the University of Celal Bayar Suleyman Demirel Convention Center.

Participants from Western Tharce were Ibrahim Serif- elected Mufti of Komotini, Ilknur Chalil- Director General of the periodical Voice of Teacher-Sociologist, and Orhan Ismail- one of the writers of Voice of Teacher. Second Cherry Festival

2nd Cherry Festival organized by Sosti Municipality was held between the dates 7-9 June. There were much more people in the Festival that was started on Friday , June 7 in the stadium of Asomati village than the previous one.

Along the dates of the festival singers impressed the audience with their songs and the folk demonstrations were fascinating.

Besides many activities of the Festival "Balkan Youth Football Tournament" was organized. There were approximately 20000 people and Muazzez Abaci and Ekrem Ataer gave concerts and the honorary guests of the Festival were Cem Karaca, weight-lifter Naim Suleymanaoglu and Ayse Ozgun.

Pedals For Friendship
A group of Turkish and Greek bicycle riders cycled from Greece to Turkey to make positive contributions to Greek-Turkish friendship. The trip started on Monday, June 3 in front of Mustafa Kemal's house in Thessaloniki and finished in front of Dolmabahce Palace-the place of death of Ataturk on Wednesday, June 7.

The riders reached Komotini on Tuesday, June 4. The riding lasted 4 days and organized in contribution with PAOK and Istanbulspor.


July 2002- Issue 49

Dr. Sadik Ahmet Was Commemorated on the 7th Anniversary of His Death
Rodopi Independent Member of Parliament- The Former and The First Director General of Friendship, Equality, And Peace Political Party, Dr. Sadik Ahmet was commemorated in the graveyard on the 7th anniversary of his death.

After the ceremony religious chants was organized in Old Mosque.

Minister Resat Dogru- Representative of Turkish Parliament, Huseyin Avni Botsali- Turkish Consulate General, Turkish Parliamentarians, Buraucrats and a huge amount of people joined to the ceremony in the graveyard.

The same day's evening Friendship, Equality, Peace Party arranged a dinner to honor the guests. Besides the guest committee and the representatives of Turkish minority, Governor of Rodopi-Stergios Stavropulos, Candidate Governors Aris Yannakidis and Mihalis Athanasiadis and candidate Mayor Kimon Kaldirimcis joined to the dinner.

In their speeches governor Stavropulos and minister Dogru gave friendship and peace messages.

Turkish Committee's Contacts in Western Thrace
Turkish Minister Resat Dogru and Turkish Parliamentarians and Bureaucrats who came in Thrace to join the 7th anniversary ceremonies of Dr. Sadik Ahmet's death got in touch with government officials during their stay in Western Thrace. They first visited Secretariat General of East Macedonia-Thrace Region then the province of Rodopi and different organizations.

Turkish Ministry of Culture Folk Dancers were in Sappes
Traditional Cultural Activities of Sappes Municipality started on Tuesday, July 25.

Municipality of Sappes invited Turkish Republic Ministry of Culture Youth folk dancers and folk singers again. Turkish dancers were wached with a great interest of the audience on Tuesday, August 1 at Dimitrios Tsetines Amphitheatre.

Turkish folk dancers demonstrated an impressive feast to the audience and showed figures from Silivri, Kars, Silifke and Artvin regions. Besides folk dancers singers of Ministry of Culture, Arzu Celik, Zafer Albayrak and Serap Yukruk made people enjoy themselves with their songs. Serap Yukruk sang a song both in Turkish and in Greek and was applauded very much.

An undesirable event occurred at the end of the day. 10-15 people attacked on the Turkish group and two of the dancers were injured. Police intervened the belligerent people.

Cultural Feast in Yalova
Yalova Folklore Training Center (YAFEM) made people came together in Yalova by organizing the 5th Turkish Tribes Cultural Feast between the dates 12-21 June.

During the 10-day feast folk dancers from different countries demonstrated their figures to the thousands of people.

In the feast discussion-meetings were organized. Sociologist Ilknur Halil who made a speech on "Western Thrace and Turks in Balkans" and Journalist Gulten Abdullah were the representatives of Western Thrace and Romania Turks in the feast. The same day a stand was opened in the Education Center and the periodical Voice of Teacher introduced to the people. Folk dancers from Bulgaria, Prizren, Romania, Moldavia, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, the Crimea and Macedonia joined to the feast.

We Lost The Mayor of Komotini
The mayor of Komotini, Georgios Papadriellis had died on August 9 because of cancer. The funeral of Papadriellis brought in the Church of Evangelismos Tis Theotokou on 11th August, Sunday at 10.30 o' clock. After the funeral ceremony he was buried to the Graveyard of Komotini.

He was a hard-working, honest politician and was the mayor of Komotini in the last 12 years.


August 2002-Issue 50

Activities…
We witnessed many activities on August and September. Thousands of people came together in those activities in the name of friendship, unity and harmony.

At the beginning of August High Plato Festival was organized by Secek Educational and Cultural Association.

The 650 years traditional festival started with a religious chant on August 2, Friday in Korinvos village. The participation of Turkish Consul-General, Huseyin Avni Botsali to the festival was a big surprise for the people of region. Ministry of Culture folk dancers and folk singers and wrestlers from Turkey and Bulgaria were among the guests.

The third-day feast was on the high-plateau of Secek. Turkish and Greek politicians and a large group of people watched the last day of the festival.

After the Secek festival another traditional activity was organized in Alantepe. Wresters from Turkey, Bulgaria and Greece participated in the activity on 30 August-1 September.

The famous Turkish singer Sukriye Tutkun impressed the audience with her songs. Alantepe Educational and Cultural Association and Hemetli Sub-district organized the festival and Vice Minister Interior Stavros Benos, Turkish Consul-General, Secretary General of the region Aris Papadopulos and a lot of Turkish and Greek politicians, representatives of associations and approximately 7.000 people watched the festival.

Two More Proposals from Galip Galip -Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament and Head of High Consultative Committee of Western Thrace Turkish Minority, Galip Galip offered two proposals to the Greek National assembly to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Defense. In his proposals Galip Galip mentioned about people from Western Thrace living in Turkey and young people who faced with difficulties about their military services. In his proposal Galip Galip asked to Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Western Thrace Turkish people living in Turkey faced with some difficulties while getting visa from Greek Consulates Generals in Turkey. In his second proposal to Ministry of National Defense he asked about the Young people who were born in Greece but because of studying abroad they faced with difficulties about their military services. He asked the officials of Greek Consulates Generals to give them passports to come to Greece in order to do their military services. Related to the subject he wanted the application of Ministerial decision number 3036/2002 in the Consulates Generals.

Livaneli and Faranduri were in Sapes
In the framework of August Cultural activities in Sapes Zulfu Livaneli and Maria Faranduri gave a concert on Sunday, August 25.

The unforgettable concert lasted approximately two hours. There was an audience of 5.000 in the concert that was held in the Theatre of Dimitrios Tsetines.