When Ali Haydar Bozkurt told a group of guests in 2014 that he was unsure about the future of the Adana Orange Blossom Carnival as it was difficult to attract sponsors and official support, no one was certain of its 2015 edition. However, relentless promotion and lobbying and above all its belief that it could be done transformed what, with all the positivity, would best be described as a rather local business nine years ago into a serious mega-event of international recognition and renown.
To put this development into perspective: Four years later, when the proud citizens of Adana were invited for the sixth edition of the carnival in 2018, Bozkurt, then in his role as “Nisan’da Adana’da” (In April, in Adana) The chairman of the Orange Blossom Carnival Committee, happily told us that the carnival is now among the top 20 such activities in the world, internationally ranked as a large-scale public festival. This would already compare favorably to the German Octoberfest!
Then disaster struck, like everywhere in the world: a public health emergency of unexpected magnitude prevented the holding of street festivals. But the people of Adana are not ones to give up easily, so they decided to maintain at least one form of their beloved carnival. While the 2020 festival has become a “balcony carnival”, its 2021 follow-up has gone entirely virtual to keep the momentum going. But one thing was clear: the moment public gatherings of such magnitude were permitted again, the Orange Blossom Carnival would return to its former glory.
Fast forward to the week of March 23-27, 2022, and that’s exactly what happened.
The new normal is equal to the old normal
With over 100 art exhibitions, concerts, photography events, food stalls, food tastings, outdoor chess, boat trips, horse racing, tennis tournament and many more activities, calling the event a simple carnival could be somewhat misleading. It has indeed become a five-day festival. Admittedly, the time everyone is waiting for is when the parade starts and crosses the city center. Here we can speak seriously of the carnivalesque dimension. With the use of tractors and trailers, participants are driven through the city so they can wave to onlookers while displaying their colorful, often orange-themed costumes. Schools, universities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), individuals, associations, foundations, local police, bikers, marching bands… the list goes on. Each group was cheered on by the thousands of spectators knowing full well that their 2022 carnival was something extraordinary.
For locals, it was the long-awaited return to normalcy – with Turkey having so successfully and proactively handled the pandemic, watching this parade demonstrated that “it was over” for good. You have seen the smiles on the faces of the parents, only pale in comparison when looking at the faces of their children. It was a family event in the truest sense of the word. Old, young, alone or in a group of friends, by the side of the road or watching from their balconies above if they reside along the parade route… television crews and countless other media organizations mix and mingle with the crowd.
The international dimension
From the start, the team behind the carnival intended to add the word “international” to its title. The master plan had been to start locally, grow regionally and become a nationally recognized event to eventually add the European and finally global dimension. This year emphasized that it can be done. Not only was Turkey waiting for an end to health-related restrictions, but so was the world. Adana has hosted participants from the Philippines, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Vietnam, Malaysia, Hungary and Latvia, to name a few and in no specific order. Other nations have sent cultural delegations, such as Japan. Others have simply flown in to be part of this great company, including many other European countries.
Emphasizing that the international dimension should not minimize the fact that very naturally the vast majority of participants come from all over Turkey. It is simply a reflection of the great success of the Adana Orange Blossom Carnival. This shows Turkey’s attractiveness as a host country for all kinds and types of events, including “big” mass gatherings. It paves the way for other similar undertakings, including sports, concerts, exhibitions, symposiums, etc.
Moreover, the carnival also boosts the tourist reputation of Adana and Turkey on a more general level.
Local businesses benefit greatly
The festival, which brings five days of fun to Adana and its people, also has an entrepreneurial touch intertwined with it. Adana has a vibrant scene of restaurants, hotels and hotels. Its business community is mostly made up of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which represent 99% of the country’s businesses. Putting their city on the map of visitors from here and elsewhere could just as well attract future investors. A city that can accommodate hundreds of thousands of guests at a single point must be doing something right. It has a current and future turnover-related ripple effect, so to speak.
Adana is often referred to as the agricultural center of Turkey and has seen great transformations over the past decade. Recently introduced citrus fruits and other agricultural products have allowed the region to move with the times. Oranges have become the primary symbol of this development. The carnival tries to demonstrate that oranges are not old-fashioned. You can of course eat them and make juice, but there is so much more to the fruit. You could almost call it a “new orange cuisine” – including orange cakes, biscuits, sauces, meat and fish dishes.
No politics but again…
The carnival is the symbol of three other problems. First, Adana has become synonymous with how a multicultural civil society can and should work. The key word is tolerance. Secondly, the event highlights the positive international dimension of the city and the country. What must be described as inward-looking, almost isolationist foreign affairs over the past millennium has long since evolved into proactive, regional and global international relations, a 360-degree foreign policy. Third, and last but not least, Adana could become the driving force behind the modernization of the customs union between Turkey and the European Union since agricultural products are not yet part of it (nor services, for example).
More than a carnival? It all depends on what angle you approach the subject. Certainly a gem in the country’s ever-growing calendar of large-scale public events, a kind of textbook business that others can learn from because no one would claim that running an event as difficult as this is easy. . Ali Haydar Bozkurt would in all likelihood agree that imitators are welcome – and why not?
But to end this contribution, we must pay tribute where it belongs: it all started right here in Adana.
