This September, Pendik Municipality in Turkey and the Research Center for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA), Istanbul jointly organized the lovely Pendik International Festival for Artisans –At-Work which took place in Pendik, Istanbul on 20-28 September 2014. The Festival gathered participation of Artisans from 52 Countries who hailed from different geographical places of the World. The festival aimed to gather innovators and artisans in pavilions forming a traditional heritage international Craft village where they displayed their works, tools, and techniques applied.
The Inauguration Ceremony were opened by Dr. Kenan Sahin, Chairman of the Pendik Municipality, Dr. Halit Eren, Director General of IRCICA, Ak Parti Grup Baskanvekili ve Istanbul Milletvekili Mihrimah Belma Satir, Ak Parti Istanbul Milletvekili Erol Kaya, Pendik Kaymakami Osman Tunc, and Ak Parti Istanbul Milletvekili Osman Boyra.
The first two days witnessed the arrival of thousands of visitors who were keen to buy such wonderful pieces of handicrafts and to know more about the artisans of different places of the world. Most of the artisans were surprised with the size of big sales they made during the first two days. The interaction and the exchange of friendship, techniques, designs of various artisans from different places of the world along with the interaction also made with the visitors who came from differnet places of Turkey were one of themain output of this international event. Artisans were hailed from the following countries:
Albania, Algeria, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mali, Morocco, Pakistan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tajikistan, Tataristan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Argentina, Bulgaria, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Costa Rica, Estonia, Georgia, Honduras, Hungary, Kenya, Kirim, Macedonia, Mexico, North Cyprus, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, South Korea, Tahiti, Thailand and Ukraine.
