The general art director of the Fire of Anatolia, a Turkish dance group consisting of 120 dancers, said they want to present new performances by combining the culture of refugees in Turkey and Anatolian culture in order to attract attention to the tragedy of these refugees, to contribute to their harmony with Turkish society and to reveal their creativity, and he added they are planning some projects about it.

Having met more than 40 million art lovers with 4,000 shows in 97 countries since 2002, The Fire of Anatolia takes the stage at Antalya Aspendos Arena for two days in a week.

The Fire of Anatolia, whose basic concept is "the meeting of civilizations," presents a cultural festival to the world at modern standards by synthesizing folk dances with modern dances and other disciplines of the dance. Taking its source from the thousands of years old mythological and cultural history of Anatolia, the dance group contains 3,000 folk dance figures and folk music.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), General Art Director Erdoğan said they want to introduce the fire of the cultural and historical mosaic of Anatolia, which is blended with peace, to the whole world.

Mentioning that as "The Fire of Anatolia" they have been performing twice a week at Antalya Aspendos Arena for nine years, Erdoğan said their programs start in April every year and continue until November.

'We try to make Troy wind blow in the World'

Explaining that they will make an authentic project in order to promote their project titled "Troy" to the world, Erdoğan said, "We have been keeping in touch with the governorship of Çanakkale and with Çanakkale deputies in order to do our part. In the next month, a schedule about our future plans will be announced. The Trojan horse that we use on the stage stays at the Antalya International Terminal. By increasing the numbers of the Trojan horses that we have brought to Germany, Mexico and Belgium before, we try to make the Troy wind blow everywhere. The Fire of Anatolia is a project that continuously renews itself on the stage. It has turned into a Turkish classic. I know it will continue for many years but we have also new projects. One of them is the 'Silk Road' and the other is 'Aden, the Fetile Crescent.' As a team, we all work on the choreography, music, costume designs and all the parts, which are in the writing process."

Erdoğan also added that they see the same enthusiasm everywhere in the world.

Implying that the Turkish society treats them as if they are a national team, Erdoğan said, "Turkish people are proud of us. The shows in Turkey are really enthusiastic. Abroad, especially in Europe tours, we see our Turkish friends who bring their foreign guests to the shows. They say proudly to their friends 'We have a culture like that.' We try be deserving of this honor. If we give an example to the reaction of foreign spectators, I can say the Russian minister of Foreign Affairs has watched us at the Kremlin Palace. He congratulated us by coming backstage. Then, he came to Turkey for a visit. It was his first visit to Turkey and he said to the press at Esenboğa Airport in Ankara that he knows Turkey thanks to the performance of The Fire of Anatolia. We can see similar examples all around the world. There are some people who come to Turkey just to watch The Fire of Anatolia."

Erdoğan added they had some difficulties to make people believe that all the people in their group are Turkish and continued, "We had no foreign dancer in the beginning. We accepted 10 foreign dancers later since they had wanted to join us so much. Besides, we performed at many places that have no idea about the location of Turkey on a map."