The Turkish Foreign Trade Minister, Kursat Tuzmen, was one of the many who visited the 9th Annual Yoruk Festival held at the mountain village of Bogalar on 6 August.

Yoruks are nomadic people who have inhabited Turkey for hundreds of years. They and their families move with their livestock between mountain pastures and the coastal strips as the seasons dictate. Today the number of people living this life style has dwindled, but their way of life is celebrated and publicised in an effort to protect it in the rapidly developing modern Turkey.

This, the 9th annual festival, was organised in association with the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry. Articles of Yoruk culture were displayed in a traditional tent along with books and leaflets explaining the history of the people. The highlight of the festival was a 'real' wedding parade with all the pomp and ceremony including a highly decorated camel that carried the brides dowry, the bride on horseback and traditional dancers.