Culture train to promote Mevlana and Turkey in Europe

Staff Report - Turkish Daily News - Ankara,Turkey
Friday, July 7, 2006

The Konya Performing Arts Center is waiting for approval from the Culture and Tourism Ministry for the 'Mevlana Love, Tolerance and Culture Train' project. If approved, the train will promote both Mevlana and Turkey via a museum, photographs and multimedia presentations accompanied by sema dances and concerts at European stations.

The Konya Performing Arts Center is preparing to implement a project titled “Mevlana Love, Tolerance and Culture Train” to mark UNESCO's declaration of 2007 as “The Year of Mevlana,” celebrating the 800th anniversary of Mevlana Jelaladdin Rumi's birth.

The project, which has been submitted to the Culture and Tourism Ministry for approval, anticipates a train of 14 carriages traveling through 17 countries and stopping in 11 of them, reported the Doğan News Agency.
Featured inside the carriages will be large Mevlana pictures and a Mevlana museum as well as promotional photographs of Turkey and the words reflecting Mevlana's philosophy in various languages. The carriages will also house Mevlevi cuisine, wax whirling dervish statues depicting the clothing of the period, paintings, miniatures of Mevlevi culture and a Turkish handcraft exhibition.

Sema dances, a spiritual and religious tradition of Sufism, will be performed at the stations and city centers where the train stops.

Konya Performing Arts Center project coordinator Hüseyin Ekinci said: “The $4 million project will be sponsored by Turkish companies. It was conceived to mark the 800th anniversary of Rumi's birth, and I believe the train that is scheduled to travel from Konya to Madrid will be an important step on the way to the Alliance of Civilizations.”

He said the “2007 Year of Mevlana” activities would kick of with the train's planned departure on Dec.17. “If the Culture and Tourism Ministry approves the project, one or two of the carriages will be secured for the ministry's use to promote Turkey. There will be brochures, books and CDs on Turkey in different languages that will be handed out in countries where the train stops. A multimedia room will be established in the last carriage with 10-minute multimedia presentations on Mevlana's life and philosophy.”

“Reed flute performances will also take place on board the train, lit with oil lamps, reflecting the atmosphere of that period,” he said, adding that mini sema dances would be performed during the day in the larger cities where the train stops and Sufism music concerts and sema rituals at night.

“We have a more comprehensive program for the capitals, where there will be promotional stands on Turkey and Mevlana. Whirling dervishes living in Europe will be invited to take part in sema performances with the aim of attracting media attention to the event. In this way we will send Mevlana's message, ‘It is those who share feelings who can understand each other, not speaking the same language.' We will begin our preparations if the ministry approves our project,” he added.