Balkans | More than 6,000 children are expected to attend the festival, which will be held on May 9 in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

More than 6,000 children are expected to attend the 10th Children’s Festival, which has become a tradition of Bosnia and Herzegovina Yunus Emre Instituso (YEE).

As part of the “My Choice is Turkish” project organized by YEE, children learning Turkish in different parts of the country will gather in Zenica on May 9.

Within the framework of the extensive program, the cultural colors of Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina will be held, children’s dance performances and traditional folk dance will be shown.

With the organization of Selcuklu Municipality from Konya, the festival will also bring some of the children who were injured in the Kahramanmaraş earthquake that occurred on February 6 in Turkey and meet with their peers.

In the program, Turkish and Bosnian poems will be read and songs will be sung. In this event, with the support of the Sarajevo Embassy, ​​Turkish dishes and sweets will be served to the guests.

Prizes will be awarded to the winners of the drawing, modeling and poetry competitions organized by YEE throughout the year.

In addition to the children’s festival, we added the “Turkish Days”

Mehmet Akif Yaman, director of YEE in Sarajevo, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that their preparations have reached the final stage, and they expect more than 6,000 children with their families to attend the festival.

Noting that the municipalities of both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Turkey support them, Yaman continued:

“We will present their prizes to our students who ranked high in the competitions we held throughout the year. There will be interesting moments for children. We will hold a concert inviting famous artists from Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition, this year, we will include children from Turkey who were affected by the earthquake with the support of the Municipality We have Seljuks, and we will invite those from the civil defense teams who went to Turkey from Bosnia and Herzegovina and bring them together at the stage with their invitation.

Yaman mentioned that this year they added “Türkiye Days” in addition to the Children’s Festival. In addition to the 10th Turkish Film Week within the scope of “Turkey Days”, our traditional games of Turkish cuisine such as tug-of-war, sack racing and egg transportation will be held in Novigrad Municipal Park in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, on May 6 and 7. There will be many different activities such as marble art show, face painting, concert, animation show and kite festival,” he said.

One of the largest YEE enterprises abroad

Yaman confirmed that they contributed to promoting Turkey with the event they organized, and pointed out that the festival contributed greatly to teaching the Turkish language.

Yaman said that the event is one of the largest programs organized by YEE abroad:

When we visit schools, we see children who attended this festival 5-6 years ago. They still talk about that festival and that day. We see children using the gifts they received there. In this festival, of course, we have brought together the most important artists and athletes of Bosnia and Herzegovina with children. At an early age, we see those unforgettable moments of meeting these people in children. It is important for us that children prefer the Turkish language in schools. The continuation of the Turkish language in schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the most valuable activity for us.

AA