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Festival Draws to a Close with Record-Breaking Crowds

Forty five thousand people from across the U.S. and around the world came together at the Third Anatolian Cultures and Food Festival, making this the most successful year to date for the growing festival.

“We couldn’t be more excited,” said Ibrahim Barlas, president of the Pacifica Institute. “Hundreds of people worked very hard to bring a taste of Anatolia to California and this was our best year yet.”

Most festival-goers were simply there to enjoy the regional foods and watch the colorful performances, but many also came to have an enriching and even healing cultural experience. At any given time, the festival was host to people from the Philippines, Great Britain, Lebanon, Greece, Taiwan, Spain, Pakistan, Armenia, the United States and Turkey,

“I am very impressed with all the scenery and the motifs and the food was excellent,” said James (Hagop) Matossian of Orange County who explained that his parents were Armenians born in Turkey and that he was drawn to the festival because of his connection to Anatolia and this was the next best thing to actually traveling to Turkey.

Parents and teachers alike also took the opportunity to teach the younger generations about this important but distant land.

“We studied this part of the world and I just wanted to make the history that they learnt come alive,” explained Linda Cho, a mother of three from Irvine who home-schools her children Matthew (11), Elise (8) and Sarah (6) as they enjoyed a stroll through the city exhibits. “This is all very well done and I like how realistic everything is.”

The festival was also a big draw to Turks living in California and other parts of the U.S. who attended for nostalgic reasons. Husne Sahin Yilmaz and her 82 year-old mother have been coming to the festival for three years and enjoy the connection with fellow Turks. She said:

“We come because the festival promotes Turkey and we enjoy a chance to meet, talk and understand more.”

For the many craftsmen, artist, performers and vendors who participated in making this one of the most colorful and lively events of its kind, the four days were a unique opportunity to showcase their products and their work. But it also gave them a chance to interact with visitors from the U.S. and many other parts of the world.

“I’m here to show that we don’t just eat Doner kebabs and dance,” said acclaimed ceramist Mehmet Gursoy. “I want to explain Turkish culture; we are a knowledgeable, educated, modern society and we are an integral part of the world.”

Abdulhamid Ozcan from the city of Mardin who learnt how to carve copper from his grandfather and teaches the ancient art at a professional college for women in his city also agreed.

“I’m here to represent Turkey and to show people these ancient crafts,” he added. He said that he is a perfect example of Turkey’s multicultural history and explained that copper carving was first developed in Anatolia by Armenians.

“You simply have to come here and breathe in this atmosphere,” said Aysun Celenk, a representative from the Tourism and Culture Office in Hatay, one of the new cities participating at the festival this year. “The message of peace and understanding here is what our city is all about.”

Celenk explained that the Hatay is home to a historic synagogue that is still in use today and that it also has one of Turkey’s few existing Armenian villages where more than 35 families live and practice their religion.

Burdur, best known for its walnuts and walnut paste, also participated at the festival for the first time this year alongside the city of Isparta, home of the edible rose, which is used to make Turkish lokum, jam and cosmetics. They were showcased along with the cities of Istanbul, Antalya, Mardin, Konya and Van.

At an opening ceremony on Saturday, many V.I.P.s praised the festival and the Pacifica Institute.

“I feel honored that the Turkish community in Los Angeles has the capacity to organize such a festival,” said Aydin Topcu, Consul General of Turkey.

Also present were US House of Representatives Loretta Sanchez and several other local and government officials. In their speeches they acknowledged the strategic importance of the region today and the festival’s role in helping to bridge cultural divides in California and around the world.

“It is a pleasure to have all of you with us today,” said Sanchez, who will be part of a delegation visiting Turkey in October. “And it is such a pleasure for you to share your culture with the rest of America... I love this community.”

Sanchez and other V.I.P.s and festival-goers talked about their plans to visit Turkey and see the actual sites first hand.

Highlights from the Festival

Friday, October 7 - 2011 / OC Fairgrounds, Costa Mesa, CA

Here are some things you might learn if you visit the Third Anatolian Cultures and Food Festival:

- That you can make your own pomegranate molasses by boiling down pomegranate juice. You can then use it in salad dressings, according to Seattle-based chef Sureyya Gokeri.

- That artist … has made portraits of 20 presidents from Charles De Gaulle to Barack Obama, using pebble stones, sand, glue and paint.

- That the town of Isparta cultivates 60% of the world’s edible roses, which are used in jams, sherbets, candy and cosmetic

- That Tefik Akar from Hatay has dedicated his life to perfecting the art of making a dessert called Kunefe, with a special cheese and shredded pastry.

- That near the town of Hatay is a village called Vakifli whose inhabitants are all Armenians and once a year Armenians from around Turkey congregate there to celebrate a religious holiday.

- That another man called Abdulhamid Ozcan from the town of Mardin has dedicated his life to the dying art of copper carving and now teaches it to his students at a local professional college.

- That it costs $10 to buy a mother-or-pearl pendant with a handpainted design by Nilgun Tanyas

- That there is a museum in Istanbul dedicated to celebrating 700 years of tolerance between Muslims and Jews.

- That the man dressed as Osman Bey at the Ottoman section of the Paths of Anatolia exhibit is William Hainworth, an actor who works at the historic-themed restaurant, Medieval Times.

For these and other first-hand insights into the food and history of Anatolia come to the festival on Saturday and/ or Sunday.

Anatolian Festival Gets off to a Great Start

October 6^th, 2011 - Los Angeles, CA/ -- The Third Anatolian Cultures and Food Festival had a strong start today despite recent rain slowing down last minute preparations. The festival is scheduled to run through Sunday Oct. 9 at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.

“The rain affected our construction schedule,” said Ibrahim Barlas, President of the Pacifica Institute, the Los Angeles-based organization that sponsored the event. “But our team worked around the clock the final two days to get everything ready and we are very relieved we made it.”

The team included 30 construction workers from Turkey and 400 volunteers and employees from California and elsewhere. They spent the last ten days putting up the many exhibits and sets representing the various civilizations that settled in Anatolia going back thousands of years.

The festival is spread over 500,000 square meters of land at the historic Orange County Fairgrounds, situated 60 kilometers south of Los Angeles. The exhibits include interactive replicas of important landmarks like the Topkapi Palace, the Maidenʼs Tower and the Sehzadebasi Mosque in Istanbul, the Aspendos ruins in Antalya, Rumiʼs Museum in Konya and the Akhdamar Church in Van.

For the next four days the festival will inform and entertain visitors with a series of concerts and performances ranging from dances by a 35-member folk group to the pop singer Ferhat Atli. New this year is a lecture series by prominent journalists and academics who will look at a range of topics from Turkish-Israeli relations to Turkish Pastas. “There are a lot more attractions and additions to the festival this year,” said Mr. Barlas, “The lectures will add an intellectual dimension.”

Local media organizations like the OC Register and ABC7 News were there to cover the first day. There were also journalists from around the world on hand, including a group of 50 Turkish media representatives.

Among the first to walk through the impressive Gates of Civilizations pathway were students from Kindergarden to 12th grade from schools in California. More than 4700 students have registered to attend the festival and take advantage of the organizersʼ offer of free or discounted field trips.

“The food is really good,” said Vincenzo, a tenth grader at the School. “I also learned how people lived back then.” “I like walking around and seeing all the different cultures,” added Billy, also a tenth-grader at the school. The boys and their classmates ate a lunch of manti, doner sandwiches and the famous Maras sticky ice-cream.

The traditional ice-cream stand was again one of the main attractions with Erol Kozoglu, the crafty ice-cream maker entertaining the crowds with his skills at manipulating the stretchy confection. He estimated he sold more than 200 portions during the first day. Other hotspots among the 120 food and craft stands include the makers of manti or Turkish dumplings who are ready to dish out some 450 kilograms of the homemade mantis until Sunday.

The gozleme ladies, Sidika On and Hatice Muslu were also at their stand, ready to make hundreds of the savory pastries by rolling out paper thin sheets of dough. They predicted they might break their own record by rolling out an average of 250 gozlemes per day.

Also working hard were the many performers who traveled to the event from Turkey. Returning for his third year is the singer Yusuf Sahik from the city of Van, who is accompanied by a team of veteran folk dancers from the region. Sahik was confident that their lively turkus will get festival-goers of all ages on their feet and dancing throughout the festival.

The Van group also features four-year-old Semo, the cat with the distinctive blue and green eyes. Semo did not seem to mind the attention from visitors but one of his minders, Metin Barlik, an assistant professor at the University of Van said that this rare breed likes to stay at home and eat fish.

“This kind of festival brings us closer to another culture and we have a chance to see their customs and their history,” said Cece Sloane of Orange County, who came to the festival to find out more about Turkey. “Learning about peopleʼs history first hand is very important.”

According to weather reports, the festival will enjoy four days of Californiaʼs trademark sunny skies.

Pacifica Institute Presents Lecture Series at Anatolian Festival

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Pacifica Institute announced that Turkish-Israeli relations and other important issues facing Turkey today will be among a series of lectures at the Third Anatolian Cultures and Food Festival onOctober 6-9, 2011 at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.

Other topics are the legacy of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Islam in Turkey, Turkey and the Arab Spring, Jewish-Muslim history, and the significance of the Turkish religious leader, Fethullah Gulen. They will be presented by journalists and academics from Turkey and the U.S.

For a full schedule visit www.anatolianfestival.org/lectureseries.

The lectures are as follows:

"Islam in Turkey: An Exceptional Story"
and
"Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty"
by
Mustafa Akyol, columnist for the Turkish newspapers, Hurriyet Daily News and Star. Akyol's articles have also appeared in Foreign Affairs, Newsweek, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal and his book, "Islam without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty, an argument for "Muslim liberalism," was published by W.W. Norton in July 2011.

"Turkey and the Arab Spring: Turkey's role in the Muslim-Arab World's Democratization Efforts"
and
"Turkish-Israeli Relations: From Strategic Alliance to Downgrading of Relations"
by
Kerim Balci, Editor-in-Chief of the Turkish Review, a bimonthly journal published by Turkey's Zaman Media Group. Balci is also a columnist in Today's Zaman and a TV correspondent on the Middle East. He was the Jerusalem correspondent for Zaman for eight years.

"Cultural Legacy of Armenians in Anatolia and in the Ottoman Empire"
by
Edvin Minassian, an attorney and Chairman of the Organization of Istanbul Armenians; Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Armenian Bar Association and the Government Relations and Protocol Committee of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

"Turkish Pastas"
by
Charles Perry, a food writer and historian of Middle Eastern food, who served as staff writer for the Los Angeles Times Food Section from 1990-2008 and translated a 13th-Century Baghdad food book.

"Wrestling with Free Speech, Religious Freedom and Democracy in Turkey: The Political Trials and Times of Fethullah Gulen"
by James C. Harrington, a human rights attorney, and founder and director of the Texas Civil Rights Project, who has taught at the University of Texas School of Law for twenty-five years.

"The Scriptural Foundations of Muslim-Jewish Dialogue and Coexistence in Muslim and Jewish Sacred Texts
by Rabbi Reuven Firestone, professor of medieval Judaism and Islam at Hebrew Union College and founder and co-director of the Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement (www.usc.edu/cmje).

"Yes, I Would Love Another Glass of Tea"
by Katharine Branning, Vice-President of the French Institute Alliance Francaise in New York City and has a website,www.turkishhan.org, dedicated to Seljuk hans. She wrote a collection of essays on Turkey, published by Blue Dome Presse: "Yes, I Would love Another Glass of Tea".

For schedules and information email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call (310) 208 7290 . Interviews are available before and during the festival.

Pacifica Institute Invites K-12 Students to Anatolian Festival

School groups will receive free passes on October 6 and 7 to attend the festival, which complies with Board of Educations Standards.

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Pacifica Institute is inviting local students to its Third Anatolian Cultures and Food Festival to be held at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa from October 6 to 9, 2011. The festival offers children an interactive opportunity to learn about the diverse culture and history of the Anatolian people. It is organized by the Pacifica Institute and is one of the largest events of its kind.

Student groups along with their teachers can attend the Anatolian Cultures and Food Festival for free on Thursday, Oct. 6 and Friday, Oct. 7. (Regular admission for adults is $12 and for students $6). To register visit www.anatolianfestival.org/freeadmission.

The Anatolian Cultures and Food Festival is a hands-on learning experience, which complies with the objectives of the California State Board of Education Standards for History, Social Sciences and Visual and Performing Arts.

The festival takes place in a 15-acre area with large-scale recreations of five major Anatolian cities. There will also be an exhibit called "The Paths of Anatolia" showcasing the cultures that thrived in the region, including the Hittites, Trojans, Urartians, Phrigians, Lydians, Ionians, Commagenians, Persians, Romans, Byzantines, Seljuks, Ottomans, and Turks. Actors dressed in authentic costumes will greet visitors giving information and bringing the exhibits to life.

On display there will also be documents translated from historic manuscripts, as well as scaled up 3D models and photographs of original historic sites, like the Topkapi Palace and the Akhdamar Church. Visitors will also be able to observe and interact with various craftsmen demonstrating such skills as filigree and weaving.

The festival will also feature a playground for children with a variety of games and play structures. On a stage at the center of the festival there will be folk dancing performances and concerts throughout the day. At more than 120 booths representing Istanbul's Grand Bazaar festivalgoers will also be able to savor authentic foods and purchase handcrafts.

The Pacifica Institute is a non-profit organization based in Los Angeles whose mission is to encourage multi-cultural dialogue.

For more information please visit www.anatolianfestival.org/freeadmission email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call (310) 208 7290.

Anatolian Festival Set for OC Fairgrounds Oct. 6 to 9

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Anatolian Cultures and Food Festival (www.anatolianfestival.org) is gearing up for another celebration from Turkey's heartland.

The Pacifica Institute (www.pacificainstitute.org) will host the Third Anatolian Cultures and Food Festival at the Orange County Fairgrounds from October 6 to 9, 2011. Returning this year are popular cultural exhibits, foods, crafts, and performances highlighting the diverse history of the region, along with an array of new features.

"We are excited to be back," said Ibrahim Barlas, President of the Pacifica Institute. "As before, there is something for the whole family to enjoy and, of course, we have many wonderful new additions, too."

The festival will again showcase the best of Anatolia, with exhibits of the cities of Istanbul, Konya, Mardin and Van. This year, Antalya will be joined by the cities of Isparta and Burdur in the Western Mediterranean section. Others participating will be Corum, known for the roasted chickpea called Leblebi, and Hatay, home of the cheese desert, Kunefe.

Istanbul will once again house the breathtaking Topkapi Palace exhibit, where actors in costumes will offer a glimpse into life in the Sultan's court. Craftsmen at each exhibit will demonstrate traditional arts such as calligraphy, carving, weaving and pottery.

As ever, food will be one of the festival's main attractions. Traditional breads and pastries, spicy kebabs and mouthwatering desserts and many delicacies from this region's cuisine will be prepared by cooks at the festival. These will be on offer at the Grand Bazaar, with its 100 stalls along with other authentic goods.

This year, organizers have added a second traditional coffee house offering Turkish coffee and teas. Other ethnic refreshments will also be available at a replica of the Ahmet III Fountain in Istanbul's historic Uskudar district.

On the main stage, there will be an exciting line-up of live performances. Among them will be the popular Ottoman Marching Band and the Ankara Folk Ensemble, attending with 35 performers this year.

The Pacifica Institute is a non-profit organization whose mission is to encourage multi-cultural dialogue. The event is sponsored by the Los Angeles-based Pacifica Institute along with the California Turkish American Chamber of Commerce (CATA) and the West America Turkic Council (WATC).

For schedule and ticket information email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call (310) 208 7290.

SOURCE Pacifica Institute

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