ACTIVITIES 2011-2012

Civil Society Education For Doms 18/01/2011

There have been a NGO training based on needs for members of Dom Tribes Association For Solidarity, Cooperation and Research with participation of Civil Society İmprovement Center in Antakya (STGM).

The association was established last year to introduce Dom culture to young Doms and to open communication channels among Dom individuals. Administration of the association organized many activities for this purpose and they also organized a football team for young Doms in the course of time. It's announced that there will a meeting to introduce activities organized last year by the association at the end of January. The association, in which too many Dom women participate the activities organized as members and administrators, will do much more for Dom Gypsies in collaboration with STGM.

Doms are one of the ancient Gypsy groups of Middle East. It's possible to see Dom settlements all over Middle East. Tradional occupations of Dom Gypsies are sieve-making, blacksmithing, silversmithing, tatoo making, fortune telling and folk medicine. However, Doms living in Antakya have a different tradional occupation: dentistry. They have provided some services like pulling tooth or making dental plates to settled agriculturalist and nomadic herders in exchange of food.

Source: STGM

There Will Be A Special Broadcast For Ederlezi On Çingeneyiz TV 13/04/2011

There will be a special broadcast for Ederlezi in 2011, 5th May between 20.00-24.00 on Çingeneyiz TV. Tv programs about mean of Ederlezi, Ederlezi traditions, ancient Ederlezi celebrations, Ederlezi in Turkey and in the world will be prepared for the night by Çingeneyiz TV Team. Video clips of Roma musicians will also be published on the Tv at the night. It's also possible to prepare some extra programs according to offers of our audiences for the night.

Ederlezi which is a very common celebration among Balkan and western Anatolian cultures is largely celebrated by Roma Gypsies. Our ancestors, whose subsistence way was commercial nomadism, used to start a long journey with the coming of spring to client societies after a long inactivity in winter. Ederlezi is accepted as the starting point of this long journey. Roma Gypsies in Balkans and Anatolia celebrated Ederlezi with similar traditions to herald the coming of spring. The program of Çingeneyiz TV will made an adding to Ederlezi to be understood better.

Source: STGM

ÇİNGENEYİZ TV Special Broadcast For Ederlez-Programme 04/05/2011

Programme of ÇİNGENEYİZ TV Special Broadcast For Ederlez (2011, May 5th 20.00-01.00) is announced. There will be a special part in the broadcast which audiences could demand related video clips with Ederlez to be published on the TV. Our audiences will have a chance to make conversation among themselves in our chat channel while they are watching ÇİNGENEYİZ TV Special Broadcast For Ederlez.

Programme

20.00-21.30 Video Clips About Ederlez 1

21.30-22.30 Free Demand Time

22.30-22-35 Ali Mezarcıoğlu About Hıdrellez

22.35-23.40 Video Clips About Ederlez 2

23.40-01.00 Funniest Scenes of Yeşilçam Movies

Our TV could only be watched on www.cingeneyiz.org

Ederlez Celebrated Everywhere 09/05/2011

Ederlezi celebrations all over the country drew intense interest. Celebrations brought people from different social and cultural groups together with the enthusiasm of spring this year as every year.

Ederlezi celebration organized in Edirne by the municipality and local organizations was magnificent as it was in previous years. Edirne governor Gökhan Sözer, Edirne Mayor Hamdi Sedefçi and director Osman Sınav participated to the celebration this year in Edirne. Beside local residents too many tourists from surrounding cities and foreign countries participated to the Kakava-Ederlez activities.

There was traditional Ederlez celebrations in most of Gypsy settlements of Istanbul. On the other hand, local organizations organized gathered activities to celebrate Ederlez in Ahırkapı and Zeytinburnu Çırpıcı. Citizens from surrounding districts joined to the activities. District Security Director Sühendan İzgi, Alderman İlkay Biber and representetives of various political parties participated to the celebration organized by Zeytinburnu Roma Association.

Ederlez celebrated with an activity organized in historical Kamberler Park in Bursa. The festival, which is held for the third time this year, is being organized with addings of local Roma organization. Metropolis Roma Orkestar Musician School, Pianist Göksel and Popstar Sevda took the stage in the celebration.

Ederlezi celebrations drew intense interest in Izmir as in every year. Citizens had a picnic around the fuar area. Old Konak Mayor Ahmet Sarışın evaluated Ederlez celebrations with those words: "Ederlez is an important day for our Roma citizens. We have to had better relations with them. We shouldn't ignore them."

Ederlezi celebrated with an activity organized by Western Thracian Roma Association in Lüleburgaz. People went to Lüleburgaz brook to do the tradition named "Babafingo'yu Çıkarmak" after fireworks. People complained about the brook to be too dirty to swim because of factory waste.

Ederlezi celebration organized by Aydın Rumelian Roma Association in Aydın. President of the association Metin Çakır, aldermans Salih Bankoğlu, Ahmet Turan Özdemir and Mayor Mümin Kamacı participated to the activities. There was a slayt show explaining the mean of Ederlez. Dance group of the association made a show in the activity for audiences.

Tarık Mengüç and various Roma dance groups participated to celebrations organized with addings of municipality in Kuşadası. There was a great enthusiasm in the activity in which almost 6000 people participated. 5000 people joined activities organized by municipality and residents of İsabey Neighbourhood in Söke. Local music groups Grup Melodi took the stage in the activities.

Source: Collected from local press

Bozlaks Will Be Sung In İstanbul 04/01/2011

Bozlaks which are the best examples of Abdal music will be singed in the concert of İstanbul Public Chorus of Folk Music In Zeytinburnu Culture and Art Center. There will be some other folk songs in the concert program besides Bozlaks which were inherited from generation to generation by great Abdal minstrels like Muharrrem Ertaş, Neşet Ertaş, Hacı Taşan.

The concert will start at 20.00 o'clock in January 26th, 2012 in Zeytinburnu Culture and Art Center. İstanbul Public Chorus of Folk Music will make a contribution to the promotion of Abdal culture in the concert named as "Voice of the Step: Our Abdals".

Abdals who have a considerable population among peoples identified as Gypsy by surrounding communities in Anatolia have had an important influence on surviving of Bozlak culture for centuries. Abdal community who are believed to be originated from central Asia have sung central Asian songs like Bozlaks in Anatolia for centuries.

Source: Zeytinburnu Municipality

5th Netzwerken Workshop Will Be Held In 2012 April 02/10/2012

5th Netzwerken Workshop which is organized every year by Forum Tsiganologische Forschung will be held in 2012 April 13-15 this year. The subject of the workshop is "Persecution and Flight Of Roma / Gypsies". It's also important that Forum Tsiganologische Forschung organize the meeting with this subject in a period that racist terror and anti-ziganism is clearly raising.

It's emphasized that Gypsies still face persecution in different parts of the world because of economic, racial, politic or religional pretences in the invitation text of the workshop. Participants who will make presentation are being expected to evaluate the issues like which forms of persecutions can be found in the present and in the history of Gypsies or is it possible to define flight as a reaction. Participants have to sent abstracts of their presentations to the email netzwerken5@gmx.de until 2012 March 1th. The ones who want to get detailed information about the workshop could visit the web page of Forum Tsiganologische Forschung (www.tsiganologie.de/).

Forum Tsiganologische Forschung which was organized with contributions of Prof Bernhard Streck, director of the Institute for Ethnology at the University of Leipzig, "are not dealing with Romanies/Gypsies as a homogenous ethnic group but" they "are approaching the multitude of groups existing in an interactive relationship with their social environment under the paradigm of a tsiganological relationism.". Bernhard Streck who have similar approaches with our web page's Gypsy Universal Community hypothesis gave an interview to us before.

The Concert: Yasemin Göksu, From Caucasian To Balkans 04/04/2012

Yasemin Göksu will meet the audience in the concert she will give in the Clinic Live Music Club. The concert in which Yasemin Göksu will sing folk songs from various geographies will start on April 6, 2012 , 21.30. There is some of the best examples of Balkan songs in the last album of Yasemin Göksu named "Rumeli Hatırası-Rumeli Memories".

Yasemin Göksu, who became so popular with the songs she sang in the famous tv serial named "Elveda Rumeli-Good Bye Rumelia" in where the incidents and migrations existed in the dispersement period of the ottoman empire, will give a concert in Clinic Live Music Club.