Kaleiçi Old Town Festival, which brings the representatives old towns together, took place between the dates of 10-13 October for the fourth time in 2019. 48 old town representatives from 24 countries participated in the festival. Ukraine with 9 participating cities was the guest of honour of the festival.
As every year, the festival began with a traditional cortege led by Plancia Magna, a tribute to the native of Perge lived in Roman era, who is believed to be the first woman mayor of history, along with delegations from 48 participating cities. After the cortege, the Ukrainian group “Kazka” took the stage as a part of the Ukrainian night events.
Festival events The 4th Kaleiçi Old Town Festival, during four days, involved concerts, dance and street art shows, live sculpture performances, street exhibitions, workshops and Keleiçi excursions with profesional tourist guides. As part of the Festival, 236 events were held in 39 locations. Kazka, who has become an important pop figure in Ukraine over the past few years, performed. Reinterpreting Pop and electronic music with ethnic music, the band's song 'plate', consisting of Oleksandra zaritska, Dmytro Mazuriak and Mykyta Budash, rocked the world music charts, has been viewed more than 270 million times on youtube.
The festival also held talks on the preservation of historic cities and the history of Kaleiçi. Tens of thousands of people attended the events, which included amateur musicians, street artists, and dancers from various parts of the world. The most original dishes from Turkey and world cuisine were introduced to the guests. Fashion shows were organized where local clothes were introduced.
Forum: The Living Old Towns On the second day of the festival, the forum named after "The Living Old Towns" took place in Türkan Şoray Culture Centre. The context of the forum was the history of the living old towns. Within the scope of the festival, the representatives of old towns made presentations regarding the history of their cities. By means of the forum, participating cities seized a chance to promote the history, traditions and customs of their living old towns.
In addition, at the meeting held within the scope of the forum, the common problems of the living old towns, the importance of them in terms of the historical heritage, and cooperation opportunities were briefly discussed by among the representatives of old towns.
The Old Town magazine, published under the leadership of Muratpaşa Municipality, in order to convey the common mind and information formed during the forum to wider audiences was introduced to the guests.
The magazine, which was published with the aim of creating lasting ties among living old towns, sharing experiences and raising awareness, includes the history of some of the cities participating in the Kaleiçi Old Town Festival. Furthermore, the magazine features academic articles entitled "how to plan heritage site management?", "a future for our past".
Mr. Ümit Uysal, Mayor of Muratpaşa, called on all participants to make this magazine reach more people and to be published periodically. He asked for participating cities' support in publishing and distributing of the magazine.
A declaration was presented to the participants in the Old Town Forum-2019 organized within the scope of the 4th Kaleiçi Old Town Festival. The declaration, which was unanimously adopted by 42 cities from 22 countries, includes these matters as follows:
Countries and Cities Signed the Declaration:- Germany - Muggenstrum
- Azerbaijan - Nizami, Merdekan, Kepez, Berde
- Bosnia and Herzegovina – Konjic
- Bulgaria - Asenovgrad
- Algeria – Casbah
- Czechia – Prag, Pribor
- France – Lormont
- Georgia – Kutaisi
- Crotia - Biograd Na Moru, Lepoglava, Svetvinčenat
- Italy - Gradara , Noto, Raccuja, Paterno, Fermignano
- Cyprus – Nicosia, Kyrenia
- Kosovo – Prizren, Peja
- Lithuania – Silute
- Hungary – Kaposvar
- Pakistan – Karachi
- Poland - Kobyłka, Zamość
- Russia – Rostov-on-don
- Serbia – Nis
- Slovakia – Levoča
- Transdniester – Bender
- Tunis - La Goulette
- Ukraina - Khmelnytskyi, Dnipro, Bolgrad, Mykolaiv, Kamyanets - Podilsky, Lutsk, Lviv, Ternopil
Mr. Ümit Uysal, Mayor of Muratpaşa, who met with the guests on the last day of the festival, presented his feelings of gratitude to everyone attending the 4
th Kaleiçi Old Town Festival.
Mr. Uysal said: “This festival, organized to strengthen the feelings of peace and brotherhood, brought together ancient cities living all over the world. Thanks to this festival, we will strengthen the relations we have established.”
He finished his speech with the following verses of worldfamous poet Nazım Hikmet:
"To live like a tree alone and free
and in brotherhood like the forests."
5th Kaleiçi Old Town Festival held online. 2020 was definitely a tough year, and it brought many challenges to all of us. We changed our social life, activities and working conditions due to pandemic. However, even these unpredictable conditions could not prevent us from working to keep the festival spirit alive. Thus, the 5th Kaleiçi Old Town Festival took place in 2020, albeit with limited participation due to technical possibilities and duration of the event.
A live meeting was held with the cities of pribor and Prague 6 from Czech Republic, Lepoglava from Croatia, Gradara from Italy, Kyrenia from TRNC, Rostov on Don from Russia, Levoca from Slovakia and Lviv from Ukraine on the night held at Türkan Şoray Cultural Center. 8 cities from Georgia, including Slovakia, Tunisia, Russia and Ukraine participated in the festival with video messages. The Festival ended with the Trio Patara concert, founded by three women artists, in order to promote Patara ancient city and contribute to tourism in order to be the Year of Patara.
