Flowers and children - a common wealth of nations

 

 

Arts and handicrafts represent and promote a nation’s culture. Already the Ottoman Turks loved to say it with flowers. Whether it was on tiles or vases, on carpets or kilims, as embroideries or stamped on coins, in verses or songs, in the deliberately arranged garden of the Sultan’s Palace or in the simple flowerpot of an Anatolian house - the flower has been part of the Turks’ life since centuries.

 

The best-known examples are certainly the splendid clothing and tiles from the Ottoman period. But also the folk people used and use flowers as a tool for talking without words.

 

Among the wide choice of wild and cultivated flowers the rose seems to be the number one when it comes to frequency and appearance. The Turkish word “gül” is of Persian origin and there is a theory that both words, rose and gül, derive from the same Indo-European root word. In Ottoman poetry the rose denotes the beloved and the village women of Anatolia use still today the rose lace for the bridal veil.

 

Even if the carnation is very frequently used as embroidery or decorative ornaments on tiles and vases, this flower is interestingly absently in poetry. The explication is probably that the Turkish word “karanfil” can be used also describing a wound.

 

And there is one more flower sharing the love of the east and the west equally.  It came in 1594 from Turkey to the Netherlands and immediately won the European hearts. It is the tulip, which was found originally in Asia Minor and has become not only a favourite in Turkey’s decorative gardens but also is also a mainstay in the embroidery of clothing and on tiles or vases.

In the Turkish language this delicate flower is called “lale”, but the word “tulip” also originates from a Turkish word. It seems to have found its way by a simple matter of misunderstanding when a Turkish interpreter compared the flower to a “tülbent”, a “turban” and thus it made its way as “tulp” to the Netherlands. 

 

Oya  - a kind of edging crochet of coloured threads in the shape of flowers or leafs – is one of the most typical regional handicrafts. Like this the Anatolian girls and women reflect their emotions in colourful oya embroidery on their traditional scarves or also in natural motives of the hand-woven regional carpets of Döþemealtý.

 

Flowers are in Turkey not only wide spread in arts and handicrafts. Turkey is also worldwide one of the few countries where an extremely rich number of endemic plants can be found. According to present state of investigations about 30% of the cultivated plants still playing an important role for the food market today are originally from Anatolia.

 

From 9,160 botanical species growing in Turkey about 3,300 are endemic. 630 of these 3,300 plants grow only at the Mediterranean Sea and 500 of those only grow in the province of Antalya.

 

Since decades the Turkish children celebrate every year on the 23rd of April the "Sovereignty and Children's Day" as a national holiday. Schools participate in weeklong preparations marked by performances in all fields in large stadiums watched by the entire nation. Among the activities on this day, the children send their representatives to replace state officials in their offices. The President, the Prime Minister, the Cabinet Ministers, and provincial governors - all turn over their positions to children's representatives. These children, in turn, sign executive orders relating to educational and environmental policies. On this day, the children also replace the parliamentarians in the Grand National Assembly and hold a special session to discuss matters concerning children's issues.

Over the last decades, the Turkish officials have been working hard to internationalize this important day. Their efforts resulted in large number of world states' sending groups of children to Turkey to participate in the above stated festivities. During their stay in Turkey, the foreign children are housed in Turkish homes and find an important opportunity to interact with the Turkish kids and learn about each other's countries and cultures. The foreign children groups also participate in the special session of the Grand National Assembly. This results in a truly international Assembly where children pledge their commitment to international peace and brotherhood.

 

This festival will also take place among the Expo Antalya events. In addition to this during a six months period at least 20,000 social and cultural activities which will be held in the framework of the organization and the BIE General Assembly AIPH is also being planned to be held in Antalya.

In order to organize a horticultural Expo at Antalya first steps have been taken. The first visit was to the Chiang Mai Expo , which was held between the 20th – 24th October 2008.  There, a 2,000 m2 Turkish garden was exposed. Later Mr Vicente Gonzalez Loscertales, the General Secretary of BIE (Bureau International des Expositions), was invited to Antalya and talks were carried out about the Antalya Expo.

In February 2009 a visit was made to the Netherlands. During this visit the Floriade 2012 exhibition space was investigated and Floriade and AIPH (International Association of Horticultural Producers) officials were interviewed. Subsequently, there was an AIPH Meeting held in Taiwan in March 2009 and its members shared their ideas about the Antalya Expo. At the same time the locality for the Taipei Expo 2010 were visited and observations were made.

In addition, the government of the Republic of Turkey, Mr. Abdullah Gül, President, and Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, were informed about the project by an EXPO Antalya delegation formed under the chairmanship of the President of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, M. Ali Þahin.

In the meantime an Executive Committee concisting of 33 local and non-governmental organizations was formed. Antalya Expo will be held with the reliable resources to be transferred from budgets of local governments and businesses.

Participation Categories

  • Plant Production and Application
  • Ecological & Organic Agriculture
  • Insect and Animal Breeding
  • Cut Flowers
  • Irrigation Systems
  • Fruit & Vegetables
  • Bio Energy

 

General Area

  • International Gardens
  • Local Company Gardens
  • Sponsor Company Gardens
  • Recreation Areas
  • Amfitheaters
  • Restaurants and Sales Areas
  • Congress Centers
  • Agriculture and Environment Museum

 

 

 

Expo Activities

  • Country Days and Exhibitions
  • Local Exhibitions
  • International Symposiums
  • Urban Transformation and Landscape
  • The Ecological and Organic Life in the Future
  • Bio Energy
  • Endemic Plants
  • Droughts and Water
  • Agricultural Development

 

Programme

  • Opening and closing Ceremonies
  • Exhibitions for 180 days
  • Concerts and festivals
  • Cultural Exhibitions of the Participating Contries
  • Light and Sound Shows
  • Special Plant and Flower Expositions

 

A target of a total of eight million people is expected to visit Expo Antalya during a period of 6 months. In this figure, 5 million foreigners will explore Antalya Expo and of those 2 million will very likely come to Antalya just to visit Antalya Expo. In addition to this, it is expected that there will be 3 million domestic visitors and of those 500,000 will come to Expo with regard to developing the region.  

With its 640-km long coastline, its rich history and incredible natural beauty, Antalya has much to offer to its discerning visitor. Aspendos, Termessos, Phaselis, St. Nicholas, Perge, alongside the ruins of the ancient city of Patara and approximately  300 antique sites to visit, the excellent combination of the sea and sun, beaches, breathtaking waterfalls and authentic localities such as Olympos or the Taurus Mountains make Antalya virtually a wonderland.

With its strong economy and the enormous tourism potential, 500,000 beds capacity and 240 five stars hotels, and its addressing 2 billion people by four hour flight distance, Antalya is one of the ideal geographical locations for Expo.

The contributions of Prime Ministry State Planning Organization and eengineers’, architects in the other governmental organizations will be taken for the planning.

Once the area will be decided,  100 countries and 30 large organizations, which are taking part come into question. As the principal parts Expo Hill, Expo Forest, Expo Pond and Expo Tower are planned. Flowers and child themes, which will rise over the project in question within the international scale to many organizations, will be signed, panel discussions, meetings, seminars, performing arts events, concerts and most importantly children congresses will be held. The current development level of the landscape activities which are arranged by the municipalities and tourism sector is a positive and encouragement position for Antalya.