New York was a scene for an evening of poetry,
"On Peace and Woman"

by Light Millennium

(April 26, 2003- New York)  On the evening of April 24, The Light Millennium in Cooperation with the Federation of Turkish Association, organized in evening of poetry reading on Peace and Women. The event took place in the Turkish House Building across from the UN Building.

New York Turkish Consulate Mr. Omer Onhon

As part of the larger 22^nd New York Turkish Cultural Festivities, the event started with an opening statement by the Turkish Consulate Mr. Omer Onhon. He nicely surprised the gathering of 150 or so people, by reading a poem from Asik Veysel and another one by Ozdemir Asaf .

The main theme of the evening was that “ women are objecting to War and that unless women participated in the social life of socities on an equal basis, peace was not going to be achieved. Individuals that participated in feelings around this theme were invited to read poems, this constituted the pain program of the night.

Yasin Uygunca	Bridget Robert & Gokalp Disiaçik

Among the poets lending their work to this unforgettable event were Nazim Hikmet, Melih Cevdet Anday and many other World famous or Turkish poets. Some participants read their own work. Most of the poetry was accompanied with simultaneous Turkish folk Music played by Gokalp Disisacik and Bridget Robert, both members of the group Sukunet, Tayyar Akdeniz, saz player and the famous Turkish Folk Dance and Culture teacher for 15 years in New York,. Music was also performed by Pianist Yasin Uygunca, “Nihavent Taksim & Once Again This Year“ , and also by Burak Akten played his own composition “The Storm” on the Piano, and both were applauded very strongly. Ali Kahya read a poem by Cemal Surreya and accompanied himself with the piano.

Ugur Ugural & Tayyar Akdeniz	Ali Kahya	Burak Akten	Mehmet Uca & Gokalp Disiacik

The event took more than three hours. Thirtytwo  readers read 40 poems from 35 poets.

This was the third Poetry Evening organized by Light Millennium in cooperation with FTAA. The first was on “ A Poetry Breeze from the Shores of Turkey ( 2001), The Second was a year ago, dedicated the the 100^th Birthday of the famous Turkish Poet Nazim Hikmet, and was named “ To Many Millennia Dear Nazim”.

A group photo of the poetry readers:
From left to right (first row): Mehmet Uca, Husamettin Unsal, Ali Kahya, Kamile Yesiltepe, Bircan Unver
Beyhan Karahan, Ugur Ugural, Batur Tuzcuoglu.
Second row (from right to left): Buket Sahin, Elif Ozmenek, Feray Girgin, Bahar Yücel, Güngor Mimaroglu.
Omer Onhon (second row from center to left), Zeynep Kunt, Taskin Atilgan, Ahmet Yesiltepe, Robby Thompson.
Last row from center to right: Selin Senol, Erhan Berber, Marco Aponte

Following the first poem of Asik Veysel by the Turkish Consulate Onhon, Bircan  Unver, Ugur Ugural, Selin Senol, Buket Sahin, Zeynep Kunt, Ilhan  Mimaroglu,  Gungor Mimaroglu, Robby  Thompson, Sule Ulgen,  Ali Aslan Kiliç, Feray  Girgin, Farah Yurdaozu Gore, Taskin Atilgan, Erhan  Berber, Ceren Arslanbas, Burak Tansug, Handan Hizmetli, Ibrahim Yazici, Batur Tuzcuoglu, Ulku Unsoy, Elif Ozmenek, Gonca Timuray,  Mehmet N. Uca, Beyhan Karahan, Bahar Yucel, Kamile Yesiltepe, Husamettin Unsal, Ahmet Yesiltepe,  Elcin Launer Oflaz ve Marco Aponte read their chosen poems.

 

Ilhan Mimaroglu	Gungor Mimaroglu	Erhan Berber	Sule Ulgen

In order of appearance beside the before mentioned three poets ( Hikmet, Veysel and Anday) poets whose work was read are Necip Fazil Kisakürek, Asik Veysel, Attila Ilhan, Ozdemir Asaf,  Melih Ziya Sezer, Ilhan Mimaroglu, Ahmet Oktay, Aisha Fawaad, Cahit Kulebi,  Cahit Sitki Taranci, Ataol Behramoglu, Cemal  Süreyya, David Krieger, Emily Dickens, Fâruk Hazar, Ilhami Bekir Tez, Huseyin Hasan Korkmazgil, Omer Hayyam, Refik Durbas, Sunay Akin, Turgut Uyar, Turkan Ildeniz, Sennur Sezer, Gulten Akin, Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi ve Pablo Neruda. Ayrica, Selin Senol, Sule Ulgen, Burak Tansug, Elif Ozmenek, Ulku Unsoy, Mehmet N. Uca ve Ugur Ugural da kendi siirleriyle katildilar.

Husamettin Ünsal	Zeynep Kunt	Taskin Atilgan	Ceren Arslanbas

Selin Senol	Buket Sahin & Marco Aponte	Elif Ozmenek	Batur Tuzcuoglu

Farah Yurdaozu Gore	Robby Thompson	Zeynep Kunt	Bircan Ünver

== Photos by ==
Pinar Senveli, Emine Tuzcuoglu, Bora Yasar and Emrah Ülker

Special thanks to Evren Ay for his help in making this evening a reality .

For Program of the event