Turkey hosts World Cultural Olympics

Turkey is hosting 1,500 students from 135 countries for this years 10th annual World Cultural Olympics which has the slogan of hand-in-hand for humanity.
The students are competing in singing, dancing, music and poetry recitation contests. They have been fascinating audiences with their outstanding performances. Children of various religions, languages, ethnicities and cultures are united for 15 days.

Each year, about 15,000 students from around the world prepare for the Olympiads, but only the finalists who win national competitions are invited to attend the huge international competition in Turkey. This year’s competition runs from May 30 until June 14. 41 total Turkish cities will host the students.

The World Cultural Olympics, organized by the International Turkish Education Association (TÜRKÇEDER), were first held in 2003 with the participation of 62 students from 17countries. Since then the numbers of students involved has grown as has the fun!

Different from the past years where Olympiad events were mostly held indoors, this year’s events are held in stadiums so that as many people as possible can participate in the event. In addition, giant screens have been assembled in metropolitan centers across Turkey to make it possible for people who were unable to make it to the stadiums to watch the students’ performances.

Stadium events will take place in the provinces of Adana, Afyonkarahisar, Ankara, Antalya, Balıkesir, Bursa, Çorum, Denizli, Diyarbakır, Elazığ, Erzurum, Eskişehir, Gaziantep, İstanbul, İzmir, Isparta, Kahramanmaraş, Karaman, Kocaeli, Konya, Kütahya, Malatya, Mersin, Ordu, Osmaniye, Rize, Sakarya, Samsun, Sivas, Şanlıurfa, Tokat, Trabzon and Zonguldak.
In Muğla, Cultural Olympic performances will be held at the Bodrum Antique Theater, in Tekirdağ at the Coastal Festival Area, in Edirne at Er Square, in Hatay at Anıt Square, in Kayseri at the Kadir

Has Indoor Sports Facility, in Kırklareli at the Fair Grounds and in Van at Serhat Colleg. <Cihan News Agency>

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