The Turkish oral arts, which are as old as the emergence of the Turkish language, are one of the only tools, even the most important one, that enables the transmission of the period, space, environment, people, all the elements that make the human imagination rich, seen and unseen, to the descendants by inheriting them from the ancestors in all the geographies where they are located. To see the world through poetry, the greatest of poetic arts, is to speak the language of society. Each artist trained in Turkish oral arts is a unique social architect who embellishes this historical language with art in the period to which it belongs. From Aprınçur Tigin, the first Turkish poet whose name we learn from written sources, to Yunus Emre, the purest poet of Sufism; from Dedem Korkut, who passed on the mythic world of steppe life and nomadism to us through lineage, to Âşık Veysel, one of the greatest minstrels of Turkey’s Turkish, the masters of the Turkish language have been the great sages and companions of the Turkish people in their periods.

Due to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declaring 2023 as the “Year of Âşık Veysel” in honor of the 50th anniversary of his death and our President Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan taking the events to be held within this framework under his auspices, as Ankara Music and Fine Arts University, in cooperation with the Turkish Beyazay Association, we are organizing a symposium titled “I. International Symposium on Minstrelsy in Science, Art and Society Aşık Veysel”. The symposium aims to contribute to social unity and solidarity in line with the scientific and social visions of our university and the Beyazay Association of Turkey, to bring together the world of human meaning with art, to contribute to the studies of minstrelsy in the light of scientific research, to help transform the perception of disability by addressing the unity of art through the concept of disability, and to draw attention to artists and their productions in all fields of art who use Âşık Veysel’s understanding of art as “yeast” (i.e. inspiration).

Keeping culture alive and transmitting it is as important as producing it. Our symposium event is disseminated and reproduced by repeating it in other areas together with the digital book. On the occasion of this event, we will not only commemorate Âşık Veysel, but also ensure the continuation of production with other scientific or artistic activities to be carried out for him.

We invite you, valuable researchers, to our symposium with the poetry of Âşık Veysel;

“The homeland is our country, our hands are ours
Be assured that every working arm is ours.
The star and crescent flag is ours, our property is ours
Tell me, Veysel, with pride and praise…”

We would be honoured to have you on our scientific board.

Symposium organizing committee on behalf of
Ankara Music and Fine Arts University, Yunus Emre Institute and Turkish Beyazay Association