Romania-turkeyconnected

By Ana Dorofteand

Georgiana Tarlungeanu

Just a short introduction!

İyi Günler! As it may be known to many of you, the Turkish and Romanian people's destinies have been intertwined throughout history. This is best shown in the many common cultural points which the two nationalities share, such as the language similarities, and how could one forget the delicious traditional cuisine in which one can encounter delectable concurrences?

Shall we dance? Approximately 32.596

Turkish people live in Romania, most of them residing in the southeastern part, which is called Dobrogea. But these are just mere facts. It will prove more interesting for our readers to find out that this community does not forget about their Turkish origins and celebrate them together with their Romanian friends, in a celebration called Hîdîrlez, whose purpose was to promote specific Turkish tradition to the representatives of our youth. Therefore, traditional Turkish songs and dances were performed, in order to mark the beginning of summer.

Mosque Esmahan Sultan, Mangalia Built by the daughter of the Sultan Selim the second, the mosque is surrounded by a Muslim cemitery. The ritual fountain's construction was made out of stones taken from an old roman cemitery. When the time comes for the two Islam celebrations- 'Idul Fitr and 'Idul Adha- the mosque suddenly becomes too small for the great mass of people who come to attend the celebration.

Also, it will not seem in the least bit peculiar to say that this is:

The oldest mosque in Romania, since its year of creation dates back from 1575.

We both have them!

It might not come across as a surprise that the Romanian heritage of thesaurus has common points with the Turkish ones. Some good instances would be found in the Romanian words:

liliac, buzdugan, rachiu, cazma.

Our common past reflects even upon our

traditional food: chiftea, and its turkish

equivalent kofte, and also

sarmale: sarma.

…Rediscover ourselves, our

nations! As a conclusion, I would like to present the reader a

quote: ''In order to stave off covetouness, greed, and spite, citizens world over must be educated ''.Mustafa Kemal Ataturk believed in the power of arduously educating oneself in order to better understand the world.We, as a part of it, must open our eyes and attentively observe our similarities, as well as our differences, in order to realize that, maybe, our ideals resemble each other more than we might have expected.

Waiting forword to start our

journey together!

Your friends,

Romanians.