Yunus Emre Turkish Cultural Centers in Mostar, Pristina, Sarajevo, Skopje and Zagreb held the Yunus Emre Poetry Night on April 21, 2021. An interview with Prof. Metin Izeti from the North Macedonia Totovo University about "Yunus Emre, Love and Sufism" was also organized at the event moderated by the Skopjan poet and writer Seyhan Yakupi Bağdat. Poems of Yunus Emre were read at the event.  Hymns composed of Yunus Emre's poems were performed by Bosnian artist Latif Mocevic and Croatian Matilda Pudich.

Yunus Emre Poetry Night was organized by the collaboration of Yunus Emre Turkish Cultural Centers in Zagreb, Sarajevo, Pristina, Mostar and Skopje.

At the event, which was organized online on April 21, 2021 through the social media accounts of the Cultural Centers, Turkish language course attendees of Yunus Emre Institute and young poets and authors from Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia read the poems of Yunus Emre in Turkish and in their own languages.

LET US INTERPRET THE WORLD FROM THE LANGUAGE AND HEART OF YUNUS  

The opening speech of the programme was delivered by the President of Yunus Emre Institute, Prof. Şeref Ateş, and he mentioned that the Institute was acting through compassion in every country of its operation and that Institute was bringing together the Turkish, the language of love and compassion, our culture and other cultures. Ateş said that the activities for the Year of Yunus Emre, which was declared by UNESCO and the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the 700th anniversary of Yunus Emre's death, were quite meaningful, and talked about the journey of Yunus Emre, who lived in a difficult period, to his own self and Yunus Emre's plain writings regarding the humanistic values he acquired throughout his journey. Prof. Ateş also said, "It is impossible for us to cope with current hardships in this Coronavirus pandemic, which took a hold of the entire world, through our ongoing habits, and thus, we must question and re-interpret the world we live in through the language and heart of Our Yunus." In his speech, Prof. Ateş said, "While we can nourish ourselves with the fruits of Yunus' deep philosophy, which is hundreds of years old, we also continue our activities as Yunus Emre Institute for the purposes of making the concepts of peace and fellowship permanent.". 

An interview with Prof. Metin Izeti from the North Macedonia Totovo University about "Yunus Emre, Love and Sufism" was also organized at the event moderated by the Skopjen poet and writer Seyhan Yakupi Bağdat.

SUFISM INFLUENCES ALL PEOPLES IN THE BALKANS

"Yunus Emre is a spiritual personality; he transformed Turkish into a language that can comprehend deep issues at a difficult time" said Izeti, and stated that the love in Yunus Emre was the love of Allah. Izeti said, "When you mention love in Sufism, it means to live with Allah. This is beyond faith. In order to understand the love of Yunus Emre, it is necessary to know how to reach Allah through theoretical love.". Izeti argued that poetry was the best and most beautiful form of expressing love and that Sufis did not perform art for the sake of art, and expressed that the lovers would want to reach each other and love could not be maintained through distance. Izeti also stated, "Sufism has a very positive influence on the Muslims and non-Muslims of the Balkans, and it is possible to see the influence of Sufism in poems, folk songs, songs, table manners and love for children.".

YUNUS EMRE IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL NAME THAT CAN BE GIVEN TO AN INSTITUTE

Izeti stated that the digital world should be seen as a means to carry out the mission of bringing people closer and together, and stressed that the realities of Sufism are also a means. Izeti said that it was possible to clearly see Yunus' words in the Balkan literature, especially in the poems of the Bosnian and Albanian literature and literary works after the World War II. He also expressed that it was quite important to name the Institute after Yunus Emre and the fact that the Institute spoke about the social peace, humanitarian love, beauties of live, love, and the faith that is the source of the human soul was an indicator of this.  

Hymns composed of Yunus Emre's poems were performed by Bosnian artist Latif Mocevic and Croatian Matilda Pudich.

THE YEAR OF YUNUS EMRE AND TURKISH LANGUAGE

The campaign called "Turkish: A World Language", which was organized both in Turkey and overseas, was declared by the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the purposes of commemorating 2021 as “the Year of Yunus Emre and Turkish Language" and emphasizing the importance of the Turkish language, the heritage of Yunus Emre. 2021 was declared by UNESCO as one of the commemoration and celebration years due to the fact that it is the 700th anniversary of Yunus Emre's death, one of the most important personalities of the Turkish language and culture.

You can watch the program at the link below.

Yunus Emre Poetry Night