In the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi passed a literary evening “in the footsteps of literature: a meeting of Turkish and Georgian poets”, organized during the cooperation of the Tbilisi Institute of Yunus Emre and the House of Writers of Georgia.
According to the Tbilisi Institute of Yunus Emre, the event was held in the building of the House of Writers. It was attended by Turkish ambassador to Tbilisi Ali Kaan Orbai, coordinator of the Institute Zekeria Gultekin, director of the House of Writers Ketevan Dumbadze, as well as poets from Turkey and Georgia.
“What you write is the key to our fateful moments,” the Ambassador of Orbai noted, emphasizing the significance of poetry.
He noted the expressiveness of the Turkish and Georgian languages and compared a poetic translation with decoding.
According to him, the cultural similarities between Turkey and Georgia are reflected in the literature.
“This general inspiration becomes even deeper due to poetry. For me, a great joy to be part of such an atmosphere,” he added.
Ketevan Dumbadze in her speech expressed admiration for the literary activity of both parties.
“Let the language in which we speak will be the language of love and poetry, not war,” she said, adding that she happily perceived the news of the publication of the poems of Georgian poets in Turkish literary magazines.
The coordinator of the Zekeria Gultekin event, in turn, emphasized the unifying power of poetry.
“Yunus Emre said:” I did not come for a quarrel, my business is love. “We also organized this meeting for the same purpose – to reach out to hearts, to strengthen the bridges of friendship,” he said.
GULTEKS also noted that the House of Writers is not just a historical building, but a living literary memory.
“The consonance of Turkish and Georgian poetry in these walls inspires us,” he said.
As part of the event, poets translated their poems to each other, conducted creative master classes and shared literary experience. The jointly translated works will be included in bilingual anthology, which will be published in the near future.
Among the participants in the meeting were Turkish poets Baki Aikhan Asyltyurk, Hairiy Yunal, Mehmet Jan Dujan, Mehmet S. Fidanji, Omer Erdem, as well as Georgian poets Ninia Sadgobelashvili, Irma Beridze, Georgy Balakashvili, Shota Vektang Vakhtangadze and Gio Zedvakeli.