Minister objects to dervish moving eye

KONYA - Doğan News Agency

Culture Minister Ertuğrul Günay asked the removal of the LED screen. He also came together with children during the opening ceremony of the festival. DHA photo

Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay objected to an LED dervish and demanded its removal at the opening ceremony of the Garanti Mini Bank ninth Children’s Films Festival April 5.

During his visit to the Mevlana Museum in the central Anatolian province of Konya, Günay criticized an LED screen showing a simulated dervish that follows people in the newly restored rooms called “Dervish Cells” with his eyes. “Remove this before I leave the museum,” he said to officials.

The ministry’s Cultural Artifacts and Museums General Director Osman Murat Süslü said the dervish would greet visitors by bowing his head. “However the program has not been finished yet; this is why he only follows with his eyes at the moment.”

Günay rejected the explanation, saying, “Why do you show me something that is not working? Remove this before I leave the museum.”

While Günay was visiting the other dervish cells, museum officials attempted to remove the screen but since it was mounted on the wall, they turned off the screen.

Before the opening ceremony of the festival, Ertuğrul Günay posed with children.

He said they organized festivals for children every year in two cities, and this year Konya and Aksaray had been chosen. “I think Hatay and Adana will be the cities next year. The goal here is to bring children together with arts and culture at an early age.”

Günay also said the April 23 Children’s Day festival would be organized in Konya and there would also be four other events for children in the city.

The film festival was organized by Garanti Bank at the Mevlana Culture Center.