The Bluestar Intercultural Centre organised the first ever Turkish Bazaar during the annual National Multicultural Festival in ACT. The Bazaar was held on the 13th of  February at the Canberra Centre.

The Turkish bazaar showcased aspects of Turkish art and culture through a variety of Turkish performing arts, demonstrations of Turkish artworks and sale of sumptuous Turkish food. For the first time in the history of National Multi-Cultural Festival, attendees were treated to host of Turkish cultural performances which filled the stage segment of the event.

Amongst the performances were the Ottoman military (mehter) band which is the oldest variety of military marching band in the world which played to traditional Ottoman military music and produced a variety of unique sounds produced by traditional musical instruments.

The Australian Sufi Ensemble choir brought the audience to the world of Sufi music which is manifestation of the process of attaining spiritual ecstasy aimed at bringing men closer to God. The performance segment ended with the Turkish kolbasti  dance. Loosely translated as busted by the police, the dance was believed to have be developed by drunks who were caught by the police who then composed a dance with the now famous lyrics, They came, they caught us, they beat us.

The Honourable Senator Kate Lundy, the Secretary for Prime Minister and Cabinet as well as Secretary for Immigration and Citizenship were amongst those who visited the BIC booth. She spend some time joining the BIC members for Turkish coffee and gozleme (a type of Turkish pastry) and exchanging views on a range of topics with them.

The event was a major success with more than 140, 000 Australians attending the festival over a span of three days. Joy Burch, the ACT Minister for Multicultural Affairs who graced the event made a special mention of BIC in her speech. She congratulated the BIC for its inaugural participation of the Turkish community and for introducing Turkish culture to the event. She noted that this was a manifestation of the growing affluence of the Turkish community and the success of multiculturalism which saw more communities being added to the larger Australian family. BIC was glad to be part of the event where it added an extra colour to the social fabric of Australia through the promotion of Turkish culture. BIC will endeavour to support such important events which build bridges between the diverse communities in Australia and strengthen the social cohesion in the country.