Turkish Day Parade in New York

Activities started with the raising of the Turkish flag at Wall Street and continued with activities in Brooklyn and the traditional parade next day. The first activity of this year’s festival took place at Bowling Green Park on Wall Street on May 20. 

Turkish Consul-General in New York Ertan Yalçın, Turkish U.N. Military Attaché Colonel Metin Adıyaman, New Jersey Turkish Hearth Association head Mehmet Yar, and Atatürk Culture and Education Foundation (AKDEV) head Gül Karyıldız participated in the event, as well as artists Hülya Polat and Selim Bölükbaşı, who flew to New York especially for the festival. 

Several other representatives of the Turkish community in the United States and a large crowd including tourists and New Yorkers watched the raising of the Turkish flag while the Turkish national anthem played. 

Activist İbrahim Kurtuluş, who was closely involved in organizing this year’s event, said their aim was to “introduce and promote Turkish culture and values to American society.” 

The second activity of the festival took place at the Brooklyn Municipality. Brooklyn Mayor Eric Adams and Turkish Consul-General Yalçın delivered speeches at the municipality, which was decorated with Turkish and American flags and where national anthems were played and Turkish food was offered to guests. Lütfü Savaş, the mayor of Hatay, a Mediterranean city on Turkey’s troubled border with Syria, was also present. 

This annual celebration continued on the morning of May 21 with a parade starting at Madison Avenue and 56th Street. The colorful parade headed out to 47th Street and then east to Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, between First and Second Avenues, where the festival continued until the afternoon with a concert.