― 21 декабря 2023 г.
Presentation of a book on Yuruks by TURKSOY in Skopje
On the occasion of December 21st, Turkish Education Day, an event to present the book of photographs featuring "Yuruks and Nomadic Turkic Peoples" and issued by TURKSOY was held at the Yunus Emre Institute in Skopje.
The event featuring the presentation of the book "Yuruks and Nomadic Turkic Peoples" published by Izzet Ibrahimsoylu gathered the Ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye to Skopje Hasan Mehmet Sekizkök, the Deputy Secretary General of TURKSOY Sayit Yusuf, the MP and President of TDP Beycan Ilyas, the President of TMBH Erdoğan Saraç, the Rector of the Ankara University of Social Sciences and President of the Authors' Union of Türkiye Prof. Dr. Musa Kâzım Arıcan, the Representative of Maarif Schools in Macedonia Mehmet Baran, the Representative of the TRT in Skopje Ömer Serim, the Mufti of Ishtip Nasir Recepi, Prof. Dr. Numan Aruç, the Head of the Department of Turkish Language and Literature in Ishtip Prof. Dr. Mahmut Çelik, Prof. Dr. Aktan Ago, Turkish Airlines Skopje Manager Ülke Şule Aksoy, the Board Member and Executive Manager of Halksigorta Selin Şakarer, Prof. Dr. Orhan Kurtoğlu, Education Counsellor of the Embassy of the Republic of Türkiye in Skopje, Abdülfeta Fetai, the Director of the Bureau for the Development of Education, Shahbaz Molaliev, the Director of MATTO Icar, as well as representatives of official institutions and civil society in Skopje along with scholars and students.
“This book gives an insight into cultural values and traditions kept alive by members of the Turkish community who have been living here for centuries”
Speaking at the event, TURKSOY Deputy Secretary General Sayit Yusuf gave brief information about the establishment and activities of TURKSOY and emphasised the intensive cooperation with the Balkans in the recent period.
In his speech, Mr Yusuf said: "The book is on the one hand an archiving and a determination of the values that the Turkish community living here, especially the Turkish community living in Eastern Macedonia, has used for centuries, their cultural texture, their cultural texture, the culture they live today, which will carry this culture into tomorrow. On the other hand, TURKSOY has supported this activity in order to remind and show both the people here and other parts of the Turkic World that the people living here have similarities with other geographies of the Turkic World with their clothing and culture."
"The lifestyle of our nomads reflects the harmonious unity of Man and nature"
The Ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye to Skopje Hasan Mehmet Sekizkök stated that the first time he set foot on this region of nomads for the first time was during his with his first visit to the village of Gökçeli in Eastern Macedonia four years ago and said: "Four years ago, I came to Eastern Macedonia for the first time with a visit to the village of Gökçeli where our nomads live. After the warm welcome, we chatted with the beautiful people of Gökçeli, with the young students, in the charming school of the village. One of our brothers, who was standing there joined the conversation and said, 'We have been waiting for these lands for 600 years'. At that moment - I remember this as if it were yesterday – I was deeply moved and had tears in my eyes."
Ambassador Sekizkök said, "Our ancestors adopted these beautiful lands as a homeland, and our Yuruks blended our ancient culture in the culture of these lands where it is still alive today. I have always been proud to witness that Turkish culture and wisdom with its century-old history and cultural heritage has been kept alive in the land of our ancestors, and I am experiencing this feeling once again today." Sekizkök further said: "Our nomads are the incarnation of the harmonious unity of Man and nature. Their lifestyle allows us to see the beautiful sides of human beings such as simplicity, purity, gratitude and humility. Our nomads stand for resilience. They are the descendants of our “Beys”. They are brave, selfless and patient people. They have a special human love in their hearts. They always feel bonded to their homeland Türkiye. And they have many more qualities."
“Turkish language is our spiritual homeland”
Speaking at the the event, Prof. Dr. Musa Kâzım Arıcan, the Rector of the Ankara University of Social Sciences said: "Turkish is our spiritual homeland. For thousands of years, the foundation of our consciousness of being a nation has actually continued with Turkish and the language of our civilisation is Turkish. We have tried to set law and order in the world with Turkish by distributing justice, showing mercy, heroism, valour and telling our glorious history. Turkish is a literary language spoken from the Great Wall of China to the Adriatic, a language of ideas, a language of science, a language of philosophy, a language of thought" and expressed his gratitude to everyone who contributed to the publication of the book.
“Today is a historical day as we are introducing the visual museum of Turks of Macedonia to the world”
Moderating the programme, the Editor-in-Chief of the Yeni Balkan Newspaper Mürteza Sulooca said: "Today we are introducing the visual museum of Macedonian Turks, in general and Yuruk (nomadic) Turks in particular. Thanks to TURKSOY, we see the work of Izzet Ibrahimsoylu, who has been doing field research for years with pictures, handicrafts, pictures of all our villages. This book on Yuruks gives an insight into all aspects of their nomadic life". Sulooca said, "I would like to express that this work is the first of its kind not only in Macedonia but also in Tükiye and I wish this work to continue."
“This work is documenting traditions along with topographic data”
Prof. Dr. Mehmet Zeki İbrahimgil, Faculty Member of Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zeki Gürel, Director of Kastamonu University Culture Art Research and Application Centre, shared their opinions about the book.
In his speech, Mehmed Zeki Ibrahimgil said, "It is also very important that this book is introduced today and coincides with the Turkish holiday of Macedonian Turks on 21 December. At the same time, it has a documentary quality as it is a study that introduces the traditions, customs, customs, clothing, clothing and topographic geography of the Turks living in Macedonia, especially the Yoruk Turks. Zeki Gürel and I tried to be the rapporteur of this book, but we were all very happy to be together on an important day both by TURKSOY and on this happy day of the Macedonian Turks.
If we come to the essence of the book; it also determines the geographical topographic location of Yoruk Turks. At the same time, it is a work that documents both the lives and livelihoods of the Yoruk Turks there, especially the Yoruk Turks, as it includes local names such as Alikoç, Kocali, Topolnitsa, Pırnalı, Radoviş, Ustrumca and Valandova villages. The reason why it has a documentary quality is that perhaps today in that region, especially in the region where Yoruk Turks live, there is a trend towards normal urbanisation. There is a situation of losing these traditions and customs, but this book has the feature to keep them alive for a lifetime."
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zeki Gürel said, "Turks started settling in Macedonia from 700 BC on, but during the Ottoman Empire, Yuruk Turks also started to settle in Macedonia. Today, we are here for the presentation of a book made by Izzet Ibrahimsoylu, a Yuruk from North Macedonia, to explain the culture, art and lifestyle of the Yoruk Turks in Macedonia. This book published with the support of TURKSOY on the occasion of its 30th anniversary is a book introducing the nomads of North Macedonia to the whole Turkic world. We are here together with Mehmed Zeki Ibrahimgil for the presentation of this book."
“We have tried to preserve our fading cultural values threatened to disappear in a globalizing world”
Izzet Ibrahimsoylu, the author of the book, explained the purpose of publishing such an important work and said, "With the global world, our traditional values are gradually disappearing, especially in our concrete examples, these values are disappearing. Considering this situation, I wanted to keep these values alive, if not in a museum, at least in a book. I have been doing field research in the region since 2007. We have identified everything about the nomads and started to publish some of them in the form of concrete books. I hope that these publications will continue."
Ibrahimsoylu went on saying: "We named our book "Yuruks and Yuruk Turks with Photographs". Yoruks is the name of a region in Eastern Macedonia. Yörüks, on the other hand, means the nomadic Turks living there. The word Yuruk was first used in Anatolia in 1430. “Yörüyen Turk” means walking Oghuz. During the Ottoman period, Yoruks gradually came from Anatolia to the Balkans, especially to Macedonia. Since then, they have preserved and kept alive the oldest values of the Turks, old language heirlooms, clothing, culture, values since the Hungar period, the Gokturks period, the Seljuk and Ottoman periods for two thousand years, and since these have been disappearing in the global world in recent years, we have entrusted ourselves with the duty to preserve and promote this history and culture. This is what led us to publish this book."
At the event, Deputy Secretary General of TURKSOY Sayit Yusuf handed over the 30th anniversary Medal of TURKSOY to H. E. Mr. Hasan Mehmet Sekizkök, the Ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye in Skopje, in recognition of his valuable contribution the culture and art of the Turkic World.
