The Yunus Emre Institute welcomed over 60 friends and guests on July 19th to enjoy traditional Turkish food in celebration of the Institute’s nomination for City Paper’s “Best of: Arts and Culture Nonprofit.”  The institute was nominated because of their work promoting Turkish culture in the US by organizing cultural related events.  Guests included current students, students from semesters past, embassy representatives, and many others.  The night of Turkish food began with an introduction from the Institute’s public relations director, Casey Kim.  Casey spoke about the goals and mission of the institution and about their City Paper nomination.  She also thanked the guests for attending the event, and for their continued support of the institution.  Without their support, the nomination would have never been possible, stated Casey.  After the introduction guests began to make themselves plates of the Turkish cuisine.  On the menu for the night was sigara böreği, döner, ezme, patlıcan salata, dolma, kısır, and baklava. 

After filling their plates, guests chatted about their lives and about their experiences with Turkish culture, while listening to the traditional Turkish music that filled the atrium.  Stephanie, a current Turkish language course student, stated that she became involved with the institute because of her love of Turkish music, and her desire to learn a third language.  As the evening continued, the music was switched to Turkish dance music and everyone gathered together and were lead in Turkish dance.  The upbeat Turkish dance music moved the guests from left and right around in a large circle.  Everyone was laughing and enjoying the dancing; a few guests even broke away and performed their own unique solo dancing.  The night started to wind down and the guests filtered out.  Many thanks were expressed from the guests, as they had enjoyed their time at the event. Guests were encouraged to keep in touch with the Institution and attend future Turkish cultural events.

The Yunus Emre Foundation is a public foundation formed to promote Turkey, Turkish language, its history and culture and art, make such related information and documents available for use in the world, provide services abroad to people who want to have education in the fields of Turkish language, culture and art, to improve the friendship between Turkey and other countries and increase the cultural exchange. If you are interested in future events please follow our social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: @YEEWDC.