Turkish Pazar Festival

Tuesday 29 March 2009
Queen Victoria Market

The 2nd "Turkish Pazar" Festival was held on Sunday 29 March 2009 at the Queen Victoria Market.

Turkish Pazar

The festival was organised by the Turkish 40th Anniversary Committee and was sponsored by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (major sponsor), Victorian Multicultural Commission, City of Melbourne, Queen Victoria Market, Multicultural Arts Victoria, UBI World TV and A.G. Print.

The festival was an all day event incorporating on and off stage events, Turkish food and merchandise sale outlets and cultural displays of various Turkish organisations.

Stalls

More than forty stalls provided visitors with an opportunity to taste Turkish food including gozleme (the popular filled Turkish pancake), simit (crusty rings of breadcovered with sesame seeds), doner kebap and many other familiar and some less familiar food.

The stalls provided opportunities to purchase Turkish handcrafts, jewellery, ceramics and gave visitors an insight into the work of some of Melbourne's many Turkish community organisations.

Artists and performers

Musicians like Turkay Ilicak, Unified Gecko, Gurbet Kuslari, Group Nazar, Solo Porque, Nevzat Eser, Joey Harmonious and folk dancing groups like Ekol School of Art, Turkish Black Sea Folk Dancers and Meadow Heights Primary School provided entertainment for the visitors to the festival.

Off stage performances included the Australian Turkish Mehter Band, Nasreddin Hoca (storyteller, folkloric character of wit and satire), belly dancers and a traditional sherbet seller.

SBS Turkish Radio was on site to broadcast live from the festival.

Visitors

The visitors to the festival were officially welcomed by Mr Umit Ugur, the Secretary of the 40th Anniversary Committee, followed by Mr George Lekakis, Chairperson Victorian Multicultural Commission, Mr Huss Mustafa, General Manager Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Mr Aydin Nurhan, the Consul General of the Republic of Turkey and Ms Susan Riley, Deputy Lord Mayor.

More Information

www.multiculturalarts.com.au