Buket Sendemir with her son Niall. | Photo by Atila Ketene

The Vancouver Turks are celebrating this year’s children’s festival with unprecedented vigour. Organized by the Turkish Canadian Society of Vancouver, the celebrations will draw people from diverse cultural backgrounds to CBC Studio in downtown on April 26.

Turkish people are no stranger to celebrating this festival in Vancouver. It has been celebrated here for more than ten years, according to Tolga Tosun who, as the president of the Turkish Canadian Society of Vancouver (TCS), was heavily involved with the planning. “Vancouver sports several children’s festivals, but the Turkish one is the oldest,” says Tosun. “This is because it is an important tradition for Turkish people and we are keen to experience this part of our culture here. We are used to celebrating children’s festivals.”

A growing festival

Buket Sendemir, who helped with all aspects of the organization, sees this event as an opportunity to communicate elements of her culture to the locals. Sendemir came to Canada with her son in 2009, and she had a smooth transition. “Unlike many others, I had an easy time with finding a job and establishing a social circle. It was partly fate, partly me creating my own luck,” she cheerfully says. The celebrations also give her son and other Turkish children a chance to witness Turkish traditions. Sendemir takes her son Niall to the celebrations each year.

Sendemir emphasizes that people of various cultures and backgrounds attend the festival. “With all the shows and activities, it is a great festival for children of any culture,” she says. “There are attractions for adults without children too, like excellent dishes from Turkish cuisine.” This year’s program is especially strong, according to Sendemir. “The scope of our event has been growing. This year we have more sponsors than ever, and we expect many visitors,” she says. A play named “Stone Soup,” adapted and directed by Nural Sumpultepe and played by child actors — all based in Vancouver — is a highlight of the event. Other highlights include dance performances from around the world, several concerts, and a dog talent show. Stephanie Cadieux, BC’s Minister of Child and Family Development, will give a speech at the celebrations.

Ataturk’s vision

Both Sendemir and Tosun remember celebrating this festival as children in Turkey. Now they are quite happy to be able to appreciate it with kids of their own. For both of them, celebrating here is different. Here, the celebrations have additional facets, like the responsibility for intercultural communication. “We would like to get the message of this celebration across,” says Tosun.

According to Yeshare Sonay, an Event Coordinator for the TCS, that message is about the importance of children. Yeshare came to Canada in 2009, and quickly developed a love-and-hate relationship with Vancouver. “Then I realized that I find peace in this city,” she says. “I have been lucky in the sense that I ran into good people. Difficulties about integration are mostly about expectations, and expectations change with time. A good example is the never-ending rain in this city. When I first came here, it was my greatest challenge. Now I barely notice it.”

Yeshare thinks that this festival shows the extent of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s vision. April 23 is celebrated as the day of national sovereignty and children’s holiday in Turkey, and the date derives from the day the Turkish parliament held its first official meeting in 1920. For Yeshare, it is important that this festival is a children’s event and not only a national celebration: “It is rare that a revolutionary leader makes the founding date of a country a children’s festival. Moreover, he dedicated it not only to Turkish children, but to children of the world. This is an important gesture.”