At the historical crossroads between Eastern and Western cultures and home to great civilisations, Turkey continues to play an essential role as an intermediate space between the European and the Islamic.
From the waters of the Bosphorus you can see on one bank of Istanbul the minarets and domes that recall the presence of Islam although its culture and society are also permeated by the West, as seen in its multicultural neighbourhoods with multiple shopping malls, restaurants and hotels, interspersed with a multitude of modern mosques and Koranic schools. It is not a difference between the West and the East, or even between tradition and progress, but a combination of the two cultures.
If we delve into the cultural field, we can see that it has produced great and renowned artists and creators in all fields: literature, plastic arts, cinema, music...
In poetry, one of his most acclaimed references is the Sufi poet Yunus Emre (1240-1321). In his works Risalet-ün Nushiyye (The Book of Advice) and Divan, he expounds the philosophy of tasawwuf or Islamic mysticism, which prescribes the equality of all human beings, the condemnation of pride, ambitions for power and wealth, the criticism of religious fanaticism and the study of science, among other precepts. His poems, written in the tradition of Anatolian folk literature, express a deep mysticism.
This year, 2021, marks the 700th anniversary of his death and has therefore been recognised by UNESCO as the Year of Yunus Emre.
The Yunus Emre Institute, the entity that offers us this cultural sample of this beautiful and emblematic country, was created in 2007 with the aim of promoting Turkish language and culture internationally.
Programme
Monday 25 October, 20.00 h.
Sinan Ayyıldız & Tolgahan Çoğulu in concert. Music and rhythms of Turkey
Cinema: Turkey through the camera
Tuesday, 5 October, 20.30 h.
The last card. Özhan Eren. Turkey, 2015, 122 min.
Tuesday, 19 October, 20.30 h.
My father and my son. Çağan Irmak. Turkey, 2005, 108 min.
Tuesday, 26 October, 20.30 h.
The bandit. Yavuz Turgul. Turkey, 1996, 121 min.
In collaboration with
Spanish 
English 
French 
Portuguese