Turkish food and dancing filled Walter Rotunda on Sunday evening.
The Turkish American Student Association hosted Turkish Night to share Turkish food, dancing and music. The rotunda was decorated with red and white tablecloths and balloons with the Turkish flag on them.
The vice-president and president of the Turkish American Student Association welcomed everyone who came had a message for the crowd.
“I am presenting myself as a Muslim woman and I have a message for others — be a leader and advocate for yourself,” Nur Dedeoğlu, the president of the Turkish American Student Association, said.
After Dedeoğlu’s speech, Joseph Lee, associate professor of linguistics and the assistant director of English Language Improvement Program, spoke about his time in Turkey.
He immediately fell in love with Turkish pizza and Dondurma, a kind of ice cream, Lee said.
“Food is so much a part of one’s identity and one’s culture,” Lee said.
Later, there was a ney performance, which is an “end-blown flute.” After the ney performance, there was a daf and a kemenche performance. A daf is a frame drum and a kemenche is a kind of fiddle.
The daf and kemenche duo performed a Turkish folksong. Once they started playing, many people recognized it and started clapping along. After the duo was finished, there was an oud performance. An oud looks like a guitar with a larger, rounder body.
After all of the musical performances, six people went on stage and performed four different kinds of Turkish folk dances. Many people started clapping along to the music and one girl started dancing on her own.
“I like Turkish culture and I recommend everyone should go to Turkey at least once,” Sanam Azadiamin, a freshman studying industrial engineering, said.
Hashim Pashtun, the president of the International Student Union, made announcements about the ISU and said the meditation room on the fifth floor of Alden Library was officially open and open to all.
Once the speakers had wrapped up, the vice-president of Turkish American Student Association announced that there were four winners of Turkish coffee mugs. When everyone entered the rotunda, they were given a bookmark with “Ebru”, which is Turkish for “marbling.”
After the prizes were handed out, the tables were released to go get food. The food that theTurkish American Student Association was serving included Kofte, which are Turkish meatballs made with ground Halal beef, pita bread and Dolma, which are stuffed grape leaves.
“I came to support some of my friends who are international students,” Sam Campbell, a senior studying journalism, said.
