Ibn Haldun University is Turkey's higher education institution with the highest number of students from abroad. As such, colorful students from different cultures experience the pleasure of studying together. This experience, which is a tutorial in itself, becomes even more meaningful with specific activities. The "Arab Night" event organized by the Department of Health, Culture and Sports was a good example of this reality.
Maghreb countries (Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Mauritania), Gulf countries (Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Iran and Oman), Damascus (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine) Egypt and students from Yemen had the opportunity to talk about their country's cultures at the Arabian Night. In this context, some students took the stage and made presentations about their regions. But this promotion did not only consist of a verbal and visual expression on the stage in the classical sense. The participants had the opportunity to taste the local food and drinks offered at the opened stands, to examine and even wear the local clothes on display. Thus, an experimental and interactive expression took place in the friendly atmosphere created in the foyer area. While the participants tasted famous Arabic dishes such as Falâfel and Müceddere, they sipped Yemeni coffee with its unique flavor. On the other hand, the participants, who started to examine the local clothes and accessories, tried the local henna “henna” and incense was burned. The event, which turned into a small cultural feast, was truly entertaining and instructive.
At the Arabian Night event, not only students made presentations. Haktan Tursun, Deputy Coordinator of the School of Foreign Languages, told the adventure of Şehrazat from The Thousand and One Nights in English. Haktan Hodja, who took the stage with a fez on his head and a large handkerchief wrapped around his neck, reminded our meddahs, who were famous one-man folk theater actors in the Ottoman period. With this successful presentation, both The Thousand and One Nights, which are the common value of Turkish, Persian and Arabic literature, and meddah, which is one of the important values of Turkish Culture, were represented.
The Arabian Night event, which started with the recitation of the Holy Quran, ended with the Kahoot game. This event, which ended with smiles on faces, reminded us of the lines "Come, let's meet, Let's make things easy, Let's love, let's be loved, The world will not belong to anyone". Because as we got to know each other, we understood once again that we would love each other more.
In the program, we asked Psychology Department Student El Mehdi Idrissi Guenouni, who made a presentation about the Maghreb countries, about his feelings and thoughts about the event. Al Mahdi emphasized that there are many Arab Countries, but none of them have the same culture, each has different values, but ultimately, each is part of a whole, namely the Islamic-Arab Geography.
