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Trabzon, one of the Black Sea region's best-known cultural and tourism destinations, will host the Türkiye Culture Route Festival from June 6 to 14, bringing together concerts, exhibitions, gastronomy events, theater performances and children's programs across the city.
The festival, which will be held in Trabzon for the fourth time, aims to highlight the city's layered identity, from historic landmarks and traditional crafts to its food culture and natural scenery.
Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said the festival would help bring out Trabzon's distinctive cultural character while also strengthening its role in cultural tourism.
"With its strong heritage extending from the Sumela Monastery to the Trabzon Hagia Sophia Mosque, from historic bazaars to unique natural beauties, Trabzon will host different disciplines of art throughout the festival," Ersoy said.
He added that the program would bring together concerts, exhibitions, theater and gastronomy, while also presenting the city's Black Sea cuisine through selected "Taste Point" venues and special events.
The festival's exhibition program will invite visitors into a wide-ranging cultural journey, covering Islamic arts, traditional crafts, sacred Ottoman relics and local heritage.
The "Living Heritage Trabzon Exhibition" will focus on the city's long-standing craft traditions, while "Four Corners, One Treasure: Bundle Exhibition" will explore regional handicrafts and the cultural tradition of the bohca, a cloth bundle historically used to carry or present personal and household items.
At the Trabzon Fine Arts Gallery, the "Hane" exhibition will interpret family, home and intergenerational ties through the aesthetic language of Islamic arts. At the Ethnography Hall of Trabzon Museum, the "Sacred Relics of the Ottoman Empire" exhibition will present valuable works that have survived from the Ottoman period to the present day.
Beyond visual arts, the festival will also focus on traditional production methods and craft knowledge passed down through generations.
At the Trabzon Museum, visitors will be able to follow the stories of crafts that have shaped local and national cultural memory. The "Living Heritage Short Film Screenings" will present the work of 25 artists and craftspeople, covering fields such as Canakkale ceramics, Iznik tiles, kemenche making, and kazaziye, a delicate wirework craft closely associated with Trabzon.
The screenings will underline that cultural heritage is not only a value inherited from the past, but also a living practice that continues today.
Trabzon's knife-making tradition, listed among the city's intangible cultural heritage elements, will also be discussed in a special talk titled "Living Heritage Talk: Knife-making." The session will focus on the craft's history, production techniques and the transfer of knowledge from master to apprentice.
Visitors will also be able to take part in workshops on ebru, quilting, kazaziye, filigree, kaytan weaving, traditional nefir, cimon and knife-making. Ebru refers to Turkish paper marbling, while nefir is a traditional wind instrument.
Gastronomy will be one of the central parts of the festival, with Trabzon's food culture introduced through the "Taste Point" selection.
Known for seafood, regional pastries and a rich Black Sea culinary tradition, Trabzon will offer visitors a chance to try local dishes such as hamsi, a small anchovy strongly associated with the Black Sea; kuymak, a cornmeal, butter and cheese dish; Akcaabat meatballs; and Trabzon pide.
The Taste Point selection includes 39 restaurants spread across Ortahisar, Akcaabat, Macka, Surmene, Yomra, Vakfikebir and Arakli. Chosen by an advisory board of chefs and opinion leaders, the list brings together long-standing local restaurants and venues offering contemporary takes on regional products.
The gastronomy program will also feature host chef Ersan Yilmaz, along with guest chefs Emre Murat and Omur Akkor.
The theater program will bring "Insanciklar," adapted from stories by Russian writer Anton Chekhov, to audiences in Trabzon.
Adapted by Ozdemir Nutku from seven different Chekhov stories, the play focuses on ordinary people caught up in daily life, exploring their hopes, disappointments, contradictions and human weaknesses.
With its structure of independent short plays, the production brings together humor and sadness while carrying Chekhov's sharp observations to the stage. "Insanciklar" will be performed at the Trabzon State Theater's Atapark Haluk Ongan Stage.
Music will continue throughout the nine-day festival, with open-air concerts at Papara Park Parking Area.
Bengu, Ferhat Gocer, Resul Dindar, Buray, Kirac, Haluk Levent, Sefo, Bayhan and Murat Boz will perform during the festival.
The music program will also include a special performance by the 3rd Army Regional Band Command. The Trabzon Maarif Orchestra, made up of 50 music teachers, will perform at the historic Kizlar Monastery, bringing the festival's music program into one of the city's atmospheric heritage sites.
FotoMaraton Trabzon and FotoMaraton Children will bring photography enthusiasts together at Ataturk Statue Square.
Participants will photograph Trabzon's historic streets, Black Sea landscapes, cultural heritage and festival atmosphere throughout the event. Open to different age groups, the program will turn the festival into a visual record of the city while offering participants a chance to rediscover Trabzon through their own lenses.
The festival will also include a wide program for children, combining art, games, literature and cultural heritage.
The Children's Village, to be set up at the Akcaabat Yaylacik Cimeni, will host inflatable play areas, digital games, fair tents, creative workshops, traditional competitions, a Karagoz shadow play workshop and a VR balloon tour.
The "Culture Guardians" event will introduce children to the value of historical and cultural assets, aiming to raise awareness of heritage protection from an early age.
Muhibbi Literature Museum Library will serve as the children's literature stop of the festival, with poetry, storytelling and creative activities. Events will include "Trabzon Poems Through Children's Voices," a storytelling session with Ozgul Komurcu, and workshops led by children's author Bahriye Kefelioglu Bektas, combining fairy tales, painting and music.
An "Interactive Fairy Tale Experience Workshop" will also be held for children and young people with special needs, led by storyteller Merve Genel.
The festival will further introduce children to Trabzon's pide tradition through the "Little Hands Pide Workshop," organized by Pekunlu Merkez Pide. Children will learn how Black Sea pide is made and prepare their own pide during the workshop.
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