Newsletters
The Culture Route Festival opened Saturday in Mardin, a city in southeastern Türkiye near the Syrian border, and runs through Oct. 25.
The Culture and Tourism Ministry is organizing 172 events at nine venues, including concerts, exhibitions, theater performances, workshops and culinary programs.
Mardin is the 23rd stop on the ministry’s nationwide festival program and is hosting the event for the second time. Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister Gokhan Yazgi said the program began in one city in 2021 and now covers 26 cities across Türkiye’s seven geographical regions.
The opening ceremony took place at the Sakip Sabanci Mardin City Museum in the Artuklu district. Afterward, officials toured the Living Heritage: Mardin exhibition and a group exhibition linked to the Bolu Nilgun Tanrikulu Art Center, both on display at the museum’s Dilek Sabanci Art Gallery.
The program includes exhibitions on Ottoman sacred relics and traditional crafts, along with Living Heritage Workshops that teach traditional art forms.
A Children’s Village offers art and creative activities, while other youth events take place at July 15 Democracy and Martyrs Park, the Provincial Public Library and the Mardin Museum.
Free concerts at the Artuklu Fairground feature nine Turkish performers, including Demet Akalin, Ceza, Simge and Kirac. Streets, squares, historic inns and courtyards also host performances, film screenings and discussions.
The festival gives a separate place to local food. Yazgi named kaburga dolmasi, a stuffed lamb rib dish, and sembusek, a savory pastry, among regional specialties. Under the ministry’s Taste Stops project, more than 30 restaurants are presenting local dishes. Michelin-starred chefs are due to join sessions on Mardin’s culinary heritage hosted by entrepreneur Gamze Cizreli.
Mardin Governor Tuncay Akkoyun said the city received more than 3 million visitors in 2025, a 29% year-over-year increase and a record. By the end of September, domestic and international visitor numbers were up about 15% from the same period of 2025, while foreign visitors rose 41%, he said.
Mardin is known for its stonework and for mosques, churches and monasteries that reflect the presence of different religious communities. Several of its heritage sites are on UNESCO’s Tentative List of World Heritage.
AK Party Mardin lawmaker Faruk Kilic said the city’s appeal also lies in the coexistence of different languages, faiths and cultures, and that hosting the festival would raise its profile at home and abroad.
Yazgi and Akkoyun both linked the festival and tourism growth to regional stability, referring to the government’s “Terror-Free Türkiye” initiative. Yazgi also said visitors could benefit local businesses and that the free events widen public access to cultural activities.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
3 min read
