"Whirling dervish performance by the Konya Metropolitan Municipality team in Tunisia."

25.06.2025 23:02

The Konya Metropolitan Municipality Turkish Sufi Music and Sema Community organized a Sema performance in Tunisia. The event was attended by foreign mission representatives in the country, artists, Turks living in Tunisia, and art enthusiasts.

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The Konya Metropolitan Municipality Turkish Sufi Music and Sema Community held a sema performance in Tunisia.

Under the auspices of the Turkish Embassy in Tunisia, the event organized by the Tourism and Culture Ministry's Tunis Attaché and the Yunus Emre Institute (YEE) was attended by foreign mission representatives in the country, artists, Turks living in Tunisia, and art enthusiasts.

The Turkish Ambassador to Tunisia, Ahmet Misbah Demircan, stated in an interview with AA regarding the event, "If you ask who best represents Turkish culture and Islamic thought, we would probably say Hazrat Mevlana, Yunus Emre, and Hacı Bektaş. The world perceives us this way. Hazrat Mevlana, who best expresses our outlook on life, our feelings, and our thoughts, is one of our most important figures that is sought to be seen, discovered, and understood better all over the world. There are tens of thousands in Tunisia who want to understand the Şeb-i Aruz, Hazrat Mevlana's Masnavi, and the philosophy of the Sufis."

Expressing their happiness about the sema performance meeting with the Tunisians, Demircan continued his remarks as follows: "Tunisians are extremely pleased with this activity. In these Muslim lands, we will convey our Turkish-Islamic thought, our tolerance, and our humanitarian aspect through Hazrat Mevlana's philosophy in an environment where there is war and tears in many parts of the world. We are very grateful to Konya Metropolitan Mayor Uğur İbrahim Altay and his team for their dedication and for organizing this performance."

Mustafa Uzbaş, Deputy Chairman of the Konya Metropolitan Municipality Council, who participated in the program with the members of the Turkish Sufi Music and Sema Community, expressed their hope to convey Hazrat Mevlana's teachings "even if just a little" in Tunisia.

Uzbaş stated that they brought greetings from all Tunisians from the "Seljuk city" of Konya, and continued: "With the invitation of our esteemed Ambassador, we want to present the tolerance, humanism, and Islamic teachings of Hazrat Mevlana in the best way possible to our Tunisian brothers through the sema ritual. Here, especially with our esteemed Ambassador, our Tunisian brothers really made us feel at home. We perform the sema ritual in many places around the world. There is a serious interest in the sema ritual. Last week we were in Osaka, Japan, today we are in Tunisia, and tomorrow, God willing, we will be at the Colosseum in Rome. As the Konya Metropolitan Municipality, we are doing our best to convey the Turkish-Islamic teachings and culture to the whole world."

Musa Kazım Tığlıoğlu, the General Art Director of the Konya Metropolitan Municipality Turkish Sufi Music and Sema Community, explained that despite the group being established about a year ago, they have had the opportunity to perform in many countries in a very short time.