The Turkish Student Association’s and the Turkish American Women Student Association’s Nevruz (Spring) Festival is not limited to just Turkey. Five other countries will be represented including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The free festival will be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Butler Plaza.
“Since this event is not for making money but for showcase, the foods will be affordable,” said Tayfun Tuna, member of TSA. “Two types of foods will be served — homemade food prepared by local Turkish families and restaurant food by Nazif Turkish Grill Restaurant in Houston. There will be a field goal challenge: Whoever scores a goal will get a t-shirt or Turkish baklava for free.”
Other activities at the festival will include taking a picture in traditional Turkish attire, field games and giveaways. Some examples of the food attendees can expect are baklava, a layered pastry sweetened with syrup or honey and topped with nuts, doner, a type of meat dish, kebabs, meat served on skewers, Turkish coffee and Turkish delight, an assortment of confections.
“An important part of Turkey is its food. Everyone in U.S. knows the word shish kebab. Many types of kebabs and different vegetable dishes such as stuffed peppers and grape leaves and tasty sweets such as baklava and kunefe are among the food rich Turkish cuisine offers,” Tuna said.
Tuna also shared a few fun facts about Turkey.
“Turkey is a parliamentary democracy and located on both Europe and Asia. It is a bridge between the east and the west. Istanbul is the only city in the world half is in one continent the other is in another. This greatly created a unique and rich culture that has characteristics of both the east and the west. Turkey is also home to more than ten past civilizations,” Tuna said.
The Turkish Festival has been organized and held on campus by Turkish students at UH consecutively for the past five years. Tuna said he encourages students to attend.
“This is a great opportunity for people to experience culture from different countries,” Tuna said.
A little known fact about Turkey is it currently has more journalists imprisoned than any other country in the world.
Frredom of speech or of the press is apparently not a strong cultural norm in Turkey as is obviously the case throughout the Islamic world.