Three Conferences on the Culture and History of Cyprus to Take Place in TRNC

This week, three scientific conferences on the culture and history of Cyprus will be held in Northern Cyprus. The events will take place on December 19, 20, and 22.

On December 19, the Folklore Foundation (HASDER) will host the 36th folklore symposium, which has been a tradition since 1983. The event will begin at 19:00 in the conference hall of the Cyprus Turkish Teachers' Union.

During the symposium, HASDER awards for contributions to folklore will be presented. This year, the honors go to the families of Mahmut Islamoglu, folklore researcher, teacher, founder of the British School, and author of the first book on folklore, and the late Tunder Bagiskan, the first Cypriot archaeologist and folklore culture researcher.

Additionally, well-known Cypriot researchers, writers, teachers, and university professors will present at the symposium. They are the authors of works such as "The Origin of Turkish Cypriots: Migrants from Anatolia," "Hidden Geometry in Lefkara Motifs," and "Spirit of Place in the Slow City of Lefke: Life, Rituals, Places." Articles on "Cypriot Culture in Elegy Written in Greek in the 1970s" and "Features of Mediterranean and Cypriot Cuisine" will also be presented.

The second scientific conference, dedicated to Cypriots of African origin, will take place on December 20 at the Middle East University in collaboration with the Center for Advanced Studies and the Cyprus Research Center. The event starts at 11:30, and researcher-artist Serap Kanay will be a speaker. The statement noted that Cypriots of African origin are people brought to the island voluntarily or for work during the Ottoman Empire from countries such as Niger, Libya, Kenya, and Sudan.

Another conference on "Namık Kemal in Cyprus on the 135th Anniversary of His Death" will be held in the conference hall of the Halil Günsel campus in Yeniboğaziçi at the Middle East University on Friday, December 22. The session will start at 12:30.

Cypriot writers and researchers of the works of Turkish poet and journalist Namık Kemal, who wrote numerous works in Famagusta during his 38-month stay from 1873 to 1876, will present at the conference. The legendary prose writer played a significant role in educating many writers among Turkish Cypriots.