CULTURES MET IN KONYA

The 5th Project meeting of European Approach was held in Konya between the dates 9th-14th November,2011.30 participants from six different countries and 11 participants from the host country attended the meeting during these days.

On the first day they visited some cultural places in Konya such as Zazadın Han,Sille and Meram  and after the lunch in Meram they returned the city.In the evening they exhibited their cultural products in Meram Halk Eğitim Merkezi.They offered their food and drinks to the guests and to each other.

Ali Kemal Dönmez,the headmaster of Meram Halk Eğitim Merkezi,said” We intend to share and exchange our cultures with our partners and get experienced.And he added “People will get to know each other better through this Project  and one of our biggest aim is to eliminate the prejudice among people in Nations.

During the process of our Project all the partners are visiting each other in their homes and they are observing the lifestyle,cultures of the host country.

The next day they are going to visit Kapadokya region.On Saturday they will have a chance to visit Mevlana Museum and they will be able to see Sema Show.

By Journalist Metin Oralöz

Italian participants’ impressions

Italian participants’ impressions about Turkey

 “It was the second time that the programme LLP took me to Konya. After four years found the city in full development: there are open building yards and I sow public works made with great taste and with the respect for places and for tradition. I think that if Turkey wants, it will be fully part of our shaky Europe (from the financial, political and administrative point of view), even because the peace philosophy, that has found in Mevlana a great supporter, is very current and it has been and it is the reason for the existence itself of Europe (don’t forget that when the European Economic Community CEE was born in 1957, with the Treaty of Rome, Europe was getting out of the world War) and it is my personal approach to Europe and to my work”.

Giovanna Romaniello

 “It was a very beautiful experience thanks to the wonderful hospitality of the Turkish friends. We had the knowledge of wonderful places and works, showed by a learned person. Even if we were of different ethnicities and even without knowing the language very well, I came back to Italy full of knowledge. Thank you to the wonderful opportunity and I hope to repeat it with you as guests”.

Wanda Cunzo

 “I didn’t think to see and to live for four days in a country of fairy tales. You are exquisite people, thanks for having let me visit, explained in a wonderful way, monuments and places that I didn’t know – your hospitality exceeded all imagination. Again thanks to you and to other nations participating in the meeting”.

Gabriella Cunzo

Project meeting in Konya

EUROPEAN APPROACH   - Project meeting in Konya

9 - 14 November 2011

Notes by the Finnish group

Wednesday 9 November

The Finnish group travelled via Istanbul to Konya on Turkish Airlines flights.  To start with we were pleased to notice that TK offered a very good service in the way of food and drinks. During our stay in Konya we stayed at Hotel Selçuk. The groups from other countries stayed there, too.

Thursday 10 November

We walked through the city centre to our host School called Meram Halk Egitimi Merkezi Ve A.S.O. Müdürlügü - Meram Education Centre.  We were taken by bus outside the city centre.  There was a guided visit at Zazadinhan Caravansherai, a guest house/fortress from 13th century.  Then the bus took us to Sille, a place where early Christians had had dwellings inside caves and also a church.  There was also a mosque and a synagogue in the area and people of different religions lived in peace with each other at that time.

In the afternoon we visited Meram Park and river area, Ince Minare mosque (from outside) and Karatya Medrese museum.

In the evening there was the meeting and exhibition customary to our project. The groups from different countries had exhibition tables plus typical products for tasting.  The theme of the exhibition and the meeting was handicraft, although delicacies from each country played a considerable part.  The food table of the hosts was really abundant.  The most outstanding product on it was the typical Turkish desert Baklava - sweet and fatty but very delicious.  A group of young people performed a traditional wedding dance. It was an impressive performance.

Friday 11 November

We made a day-tour to Cappadocia region. On the way we visited Sultanhani Caravancherai, another guest house/fortress from 13th century.

In Cappadocia, in the Uchisar valley, there are mountain peaks of different sizes caused by a volcano eruption and erosion, and an ancient castle.  In the old times people made caves inside the mountains as dwellings for themselves and for their animals. Caves were also used for storing food etc.

Nowadays, especially in the town of Göreme many of the caves are enlarged and hotels are built partly inside the caves.  Some of the hotels are so expensive that only world-famous celebrities and other rich people can stay in them. The area is also suitable for air balloon flying.  This service is profitable for the local entrepreneurs. Our bus ride continued via Göreme to the village of Avanos.

On the way we visited a jewelry factory which makes e.g. vases and other products of local onyx. Avanos is the handicraft centre of Cappadocia.  We visited a 350-years-old pottery workshop located in a cave. We followed pottery making with traditional methods.  The clay for the products comes from the surrounding area.

Saturday 12 November

There was a lecture about the history of Konya at the school.  Afterwards we walked through a big bazaar area to a restaurant where we were served a traditional Konyan wedding meal.  Especially the ocra soup, wine leave rolls and the dessert were very delicious.  The main dish was lamb stew which had been cooked for three hours.  Good but rather heavy.  After the five-course meal it was appropriate to do some walking.  We visited the Mevlana Museum 

In the evening we watched a "Whirling Dervish" dance performance at Mevlana Cultural Centre. Both the building (over 2000 seats) and the performance were a unique experience.

Sunday 13 November

There was the presentation of the portfolios at the school.  Each country presented what they had learned and done during the previous course period.  The Estonian group showed a DVD on Finnish music, Poland had a presentation on Greece, Portugal on Finland, Greece on Polish Christmas and Italy on Estonia.  The Italians also showed some handicraft - how to make paper flowers and decorations of "magic dough".  The Greeks showed us how to make ceramic products without a wheel.

We were reminded of the fragility of life as we learned that one of our hosts had perished quite unexpectedly. We honor his memory.

In the afternoon there was the coordinators' meeting and in the meantime the others had an opportunity to go to Turkish bath. - And indeed we did have several refreshed ladies with rosy cheeks to company us for dinner, which was served in the Stadyum Restaurant. There was Turkish classical and also modern music performed by a band and a singer. 

Monday 14 November

No good things last forever and nor did our stay.  We had to leave the hotel and our host Tahir at 07.15, pack ourselves and our luggage in a bus and head for the airport for a flight to Istanbul and on to Helsinki.

We extend our sincere thanks to our hosts Tahir, Nazir, Kemal, Azis and others, the names of whom I don't have.  (Unfortunately, the Turkish family names are beyond my capacity).  We also thank our good guides who gave us a lot of interesting information at the places we visited.  The hosts had really done great work in preparing the meeting and other programme.  We keep the good memories for a long time to come.

Liisa Nyqvist

KONYA IN BRIEF

* Konya is situated in Central Turkey, appr. 200 km south of Ankara. The city of Konya has 1.2 million inhabitants. The Konya province has about 2.5 million people.

Konya lays over 1000 meters above sea level.  The actual Konya area is very flat but surrounded by mountains. The climate is continental.

* The general impression of the city is dominated by several mosques and the call for prayer coming from the minarets five times a day. Otherwise a visitor cannot notice a big difference compared eg. with a West-European city. In many places in the city one can see new and handsome apartment buildings. Many are also under construction.

* Economic life is brisk.  There is a big bazaar area, shops owned by international companies, but also a lot of small private businesses. Konya also has considerable industry.  Outside the city there are three industrial areas where the factories produce eg. spare parts for cars, electric and electronic equipment, tractors, textile products and food products, eg. dairy products and sugar. Making bricks is a traditional industry. As source of energy coal, natural gas and oil coming eg. from Russia and Iran are used. There are some hot springs in Turkey.  They have also been used for heating.  In the countryside many people use wood and straws.  

* Agriculture is important.  Eg. turnips, potatoes, sugar beets, wheat, barley, corn, apples, plums   and pears are grown in Konya region. The farmers also keep Cattle and sheep.

* Education system in Turkey in general is the same as in the countries of Central Europe. May be one difference is that high school last for four years.  There are two state universities and two private ones in Konya. 

* Vacation: People who have permanent employment have 30 days holiday a year. Nowadays also many women with family go to work. Depending on the economy of the family people like to spend at least a part of their holiday on the seaside.

* The culture in the Konya region is very old.  The recent excavations show that there have been people in the area as early as 6800 BC. Konya, as other areas of Turkey, have in the course of the centuries been concurred and ruled by different tribes and nations. The most outstanding period of history from which buildings and data has been preserved seems to be the Selçuk period. On 11th, 12th and 13th centuries Konya was the capital of the Selçuk Sultanate. From that period are preserved eg. Zazadinhan and Sultanhani "Caravansherais" - Guest houses.

* Caravansherai was a combined accommodation building and fortress guarded by soldiers.  Such buildings were built in 13th century.  The region was on the Silk Road and there had to be caravansherais at every 40 km distance, so that travelers could get shelter for themselves and their animals. Normally, there were two different areas in the building: one to be used in winter and one in summer.

* Karatay Medrese museum is one of Konya's many museums.  Originally it was a school where Koran, Islamic law and astronomy was thought. Now it includes a collection of ancient ceramics.

* Mevlana (Rumi) was a great poet and humanist, the most esteemed representative in the history of Islamic thought. He was born in Belkh in 1207.  He arrived in Anatolia with his father and settled in Konya. Mevlana had many students and connections to other teachers. He has written several famous books.  In his works, the predominant themes are love, the Universal meaning of Islam, and the mystical soul.  Mevlana died in Konya on 17 December 1273.  His life and his work is presented in the Mevlana museum, which also comprises his mausoleum.

* Whirling Dervish:  Mevlana founded the Sufi Mevlevi order which became famous for a specific dance of its members.  The dancers repeat a whirling movement and thus reach different stages of mind.  This "whirling monks" dance tradition has been preserved until today.  The performances can be watched eg. in the Mevlana Cultural Centre in Konya. The performance consists of five different parts.  These parts together form a unity called SEMA  



Partakers’ experiences and opinions in Finland

Partakers’ experiences and opinions of the project European Approach

Gathered at the meeting 20 September, 2011

The partakers (24 persons) were divided into six small groups (3 – 5 members) to discuss the project European Approach. Each group wrote short comments on their common experiences, with regard to the studies of partner countries in the study group in Kuusankoski and the visits to partner countries.  

What has been good about the project?

Group A thought that the good atmosphere and continuing enthusiasm in the study group show that the project has been successful. Language studies, music from partner countries, cultural studies and discussions as well as visitors (from Greece, Poland and Turkey and the coordinator of Kouvola EU information centre) were interesting and informative.  

In Group B’s opinion, they have got a lot of information from the good presentations in the study group. At the same time, they have met new interesting people.

Group C had also experienced the good atmosphere; getting acquainted with the culture of other countries has been rewarding.

Group D had also found enthusiasm in the study group. Common knowledge, cultural and language studies have been useful. Two members had made a tour of Italy on their own and had been able to use their knowledge in practice. The EU information coordinator’s presentation was also good.

Group E paid attention to both working in the study group and the journeys, on which it has been possible to learn more about the country’s history, culture and language by meeting people. One important form of everyday culture for them was traditional food. This group also mentioned the EU information coordinator’s visit.

Group F mentioned that getting more knowledge of the partner countries has widened horizons and given impetus to finding out more about the countries. Readiness to travel has increased. Those who have taken part in the partnership meetings have dedicated a lot of time and energy to the assignments given. Enthusiasm in the study group has prevailed and the visitors have been interesting.

What could have been done better/ otherwise?

Group A thought that a longer summer pause would have been ok (the writer’s comment: it was now six weeks), and the programme could have been less tight (the writer’s comment: there were on an average two meetings a month during each three-month study period).

Group F thought that the tasks in the study group could have been allocated to more people. (The writer’s comment: Each study period has been led by a different voluntary tutor.)

The members of Group B thought that they missed a lot of what was told in the study group, thus handouts of the contents would have been useful and a summary of the lessons could have been put in the net. (The writer’s comment: a number of handouts have been dealt to the participants and the material has mostly been taken from the net). They would prefer shorter language studies. The group would also like to have more contact with the partners before and after the journeys.

Both Group C and Group D would have liked the study period of the country where the next meeting was held to be immediately before the journey (the writer’s comment: because studies were planned to go on with the partners in pairs, it was not always possible to have the ”right” partner).   Keeping to the timetables on the journeys did not always succeed and, on the other hand, tight timetables were a weakness, thought Group C. There should be more interpretation during the visits to partners, otherwise those who don’t understand the language miss a lot.

Group E’s wish was to have more visits to people’s homes.

Group F suggested more versatile activities in the study group to enliven the lessons.

What has been done wrong?

Group C and Group E mentioned that the study timetable had been too tight (the writer’s comment: carrying out the project needed this timetable, with six partners a period of about three months had to be reserved for each of them).

Other ideas

Groups B and C thanked the tutors of the study group. Group E wished some kind of continuation to this activity.
Group F said that the project has been well planned and managed. Travelling arrangements have been reliable.

The groups:

A: Helvi, Jaana, Miikka and Ulla

B: Arja, Eira, Marja and Terttu

C: Irma, Maire, Risto and Teuvo

D: Eero, Meeri, Mervi and Pirkko

E: Marjatta, Sirpa, Tauno, Tuulikki I. and Tuulikki S.

F: Maini, Pirjo and Sirkka-Liisa

Comments: Seppo

Experiences in Estonia

I had the possibility to take part in an EU-project meeting “European Approach” in Estonia 27.-31.7.2011. The meeting was a part of Grundtvig learning partnership project. We were nine participants together from Finland. The main theme of the meeting was this time dance culture. The other participants in this meeting, which was held in Palamuse, were from Greece, Turkey, Italy, Estonia, Poland and Portugal, 30 persons altogether.

The beautiful Estonian landscape and people who in spite of the different cultures and inadequate language skills were able to communicate and cooperate so well together made a big impression on me. The most important aim of the EU is to create contacts at grass roots level between people living in different circumstances and in this way promote the understanding of different cultures.

Especially rewarding were the verbal and illustrated presentations of the participants on the culture, life, political situation and particularly on the perspectives of each country. The international get-together with product exhibitions, dance performances and entertainment programme gave a god opportunity to discussions between the participants.  

 Because of my inadequate language skills I got help from my kind English speaking fellow travellers, when we drove around in Palamuse, Tartu and Tallinn and their sights which in many ways were related to traditional landscape, past and culture of Estonia which the Estonians want to cherish and sustain.

To sum up all the participants got pleasant memories from the seminar. Our special thanks go to the Estonian project coordinator Ivar Vinkmann for his efforts for our comfort and entertainment.

Teuvo Nurmi

3rd Partnership Meeting - Bialystok, Poland

Friday May 20th, 2011

We all meet at 9.00 a.m. at the Cristal Hotel entrance. After, we go by bus to Tykocin where we visit the catholic church, the synagogue and the Jewish Culture Museum. Then we go for lunch in Folwark Nadawki, where we learn how to make “pierogi”. In the afternoon, we to visit the Orthodox Icons Museum in Suprasl. In the evening, we have an international dinner where we taste typical meals from partner countries – Italy, Estonia, Turkey, Portugal, Finland and Poland. We sing, we dance and we have a good fun! Now we become friends!

Saturday May 21st, 2011

Today we meet at CKU to see presentations of participant’s countries. At the end of the meeting we also watch the presentation of Podlasie region. Later we go for lunch at noon in Esperanto Café. After lunch we visit Bialystok with a tourist guide. We see a lot of cultural events around the city. Bialystok is a real cultural melting pot! In the evening we have dinner in Tokaj restaurant where we taste Hungarian cuisine.

Sunday May 22nd, 2011

At 8.00 a.m. we leave for Bialowieza. We visit bison’s reserve. We buy souvenirs from Podlasie region – “Zubrowka” grass, honey, wooden rural utensils, herbs. We have a nice cold glass of beer in “Car’s Restaurant”. Around noon we go for lunch in Siolo Budy. There, after lunch, we have an international how-to-make-a-butter course. Of course we all taste it. It is delicious! After the visit a typical XIX-century farm. There we see how hard was the work of our grandparents. After the visit we walk along “King’s Oaks Alley” in the primeval forest. In the evening we go back to Bialystok – tired but happy. We say goodbye and we hope to meet again soon!

Text by Polish Team

2nd Partnership Meeting in Greece - Photostory by Portuguese Team

Meeting in Athens, Feb 2011 by the Greek Team

Although many months have passed we still remember this meeting. End of 2010 beginning of 2011 Athens was on demonstration and strikes almost every day.  We were very stressed because we didn’t know if the participants could arrive to the venue because of the situation. Finally everybody was there although there were strikes and demonstrations the arrival day as well.

Our first meeting started with nice view from the tenth floor of the hotel. In front of us all the beautiful and historical monuments of Athens, Acropolis, Lycabetus hill,  Philopapou, Piraeus port. After our welcome/introduction meeting and the practical arrangement s we started our walking tour in Athens. Through Omonoia square we passed from the central food market and reached Monastiraki square under Acropolis, next to the roman bibliotheque, and to ancient agora.

After our traditional meal in a cultural centre we went back to the hotel to prepare our international fair. The fair was visited apart from some Greeks members of NGOs many young international volunteers who had their midterm evaluation meeting in the same hotel. So the meeting was very alive and it was nice to meet two generations there and learn the one from the other. One of the most impressive moments was the presentation of our Turkish colleagues who showed us their unique painting technique.

The next day in the morning we presented the portfolios and in the afternoon we visited Acropolis museum and the site around. Our guide’s description was very alive and we got a very good idea of the festivities in honour to Athena Goddess. Our coordinator’s meeting was held in the cafe of the museum.

Next day we visited some other cities near Athens as the archaeological site of Mycenae, Nafplion and the ancient theatre of Epidaurus. During this visit we had the opportunity to learn how many different tribes passed from Greece and the influences of each one.

On our way back to Athens we stopped for coffee over new Epidaurus village and there, enjoying the beautiful view of the forest over the sea and the small village hidden in the green environment we discover each ones’ secret friend.

The meeting for the greek participants it was a very nice break from the everyday hard reality which we live the last two years and we still remember it with happy and love.

Thanks to all the participants, thanks to the partners we have nice memories and enrich our knowledge and experience. 

MOSQUES ARE SAD IN ATHENS.

There aren’t any people to perform  their praying and The mosques are closed.

Athens,the capital city of our neighbour Greece,used to be a small city like Ankara, it became a modern, cultural and developed city after the Republic.

We arrived in Venizelos Airport.(Venizelos is an important person for Greek people.) The airport is about 30 kms.far away from the city center and we had three choices to go to the center ;taxi,bus and tram and we decided to try the bus.It took about an hour.After we got off the bus we arrived at our hotel.The hotel is on the main street and very near to the Parliment buildin and other important buildings.

The hotel is very large and it had a lot of facilities for the guests;cafeteria,meeting rooms.The top storey is very impressive,you can see the whole city from the top floor.

If  I were in Konya today.I would participate an anniversary meeting but as I am in Athens ,it is not possible but my soul is in Konya.I send my best wishes to my friends.

I wanted to perform my praying but I din’t know which direction I should face for Mecce.I tried to guess the approximate direction and I performed my praying.

The next morning I understood that my direction was correct  when  the sun rose.In the morning we had our breakfast with our team.And we decided to see the city .

It was a different day for the native people,because there was a strike.All the officers,workers and police were in the streets.And most of the shops were closed and the main roads were blocked for traffic.

As far as we could observe the people were accustomed to such activities and they closed their shops and the poice were waiting at the corners of the streets.In democracy it is their one of their natural rights to protest and demand a better life for themselves.

We preferred to go to the touristic area.The shops were open here and the shop owners were waiting for their customers.The streets looked very clean and quiet.They kept the old buildings as it is,and they restored some of the buildings too.

While we were having a rest in a cafeteria, we saw a couple and we thought they are Muslim.Soon they started to talk to an old man sitting and reading books.As I am a curious person I approached them and introduced myself They saluted us.The couple came from Palestine .As the old man learnt that we are from Konya-Turkey he began to talk about Mevlana ,Konya,Islam,Prophets.and angels.After having a small talk we said good-bye and left them.

We decided to return to our hotel to perform our praying.When we approached the main street,everywhere was in a mess.There was a strange scent,it was very affective we tried to close our noses and eyes and hurried to the hotel.

As our host had warned us about the strike,we brought some food with us,in the hotel we met our friends in one of the rooms and had our lunch together.

In the evening we went outside and saw that everything was quiet.The workers were cleaning the streets.

The next morning we met our partners while we were having breakfast.After the breakfast we had a city-tour on foot and we had a chance to see the old part of the city.On the way we saw a music group performing a traditional music and some of our friends danced with the music.

As far as I can observe we have a lot of common cultures,products and habits with Greek people.

In the evening we had an international fair and a lot of people joined it.As Turkish group our participants performed a water marbling paint (Ebru) and I hope everybody liked it.

The next morning every country had a presentation about their parners’countries ,we liked it too.

We had our lunch in an old restaurant which looked like a museum,we had a chance to talk with the owner of the restaurant.He mentioned about himself and his family.As far as I understood he is an old member of  Athens Municipality.He loved music and painting.

We went to visit Acropolis in the afternoon.The building looks very impressive on the hill.The guide gave us a lot of information about it and the area,we went inside the museum and saw alot of impressive monumets and statues.

The guide told us that in ancient times they used to sacrifice animals for the new-born baby and this custom  is not only in Greece but also in Turkey,Italy and some Arabic countries too.

The next day we went to Troy to see some remains ,it was very amazing.

I left Athens with very good impressions.I hope the countries will have better relations in the future.

By Kasım Yazıcı

Turkish Study Group started to learn about their partners

The Project was approved in July,2010 and our contact person participated to the kick-off meeting that held in Poland in August 2010.We started to work to carry out the Project according to the application form.

First we announced that we are carrying out a EU Project:A local Tv Channel saw our announcement and we gave a speech to them, it was broadcast on the local Tv.After this programme a lot of candidates applied for the Project and we had to choose 20 of them as the first study group.

In September we had a meeting with them and we gave information about the Project.They were all volunteers to participate the Project.

Our first group started to learn about Italy and Italian.But unfortunately we couldn’t have a good contact with them.But our learners continued learning about the subject.They learned about the daily life in Italy,culture,food language and many other subjects.

And some of our members prepared Powerpoint shows about the subject and they showed them in one of the meetings.

The learners said that they understood that they hadn’t known much about Italy and the course helped them to gain a lot of information about Italy and Italians.

Our friends learned many things about Portugal and Portugese during the Project meeting in Lisbon.

As soon as we returned to Turkey,we had a meeting with our learners and gave them information about the meeting and showed them the photos that we had taken during our stay in Lisbon.,

In this period we are studying about Estonia and Estonians.We searched on the net and we get information from our Estonian partners.

Estonia is a far country to Turkey and there are a lot of things that we have to learn about,such as; culture,history,geography,food,literature and etc.

But our study group are very eager  to learn about our partners.

It is one of the targets of our Project.

We are going to have the next Project Meeting in Greece and we are getting ready for the meeting.We hope it will be a fantastic meeting.

I must tell you that there are many Turkish learners who want to participate the meetings but as it is known ,we have a limited number, but we are sure that when this Project ends ,we are going to prepare other projects.

By Tahir Demircioğlu, Turkey