When Ali Haydar Bozkurt told a group of guests back in the year 2014 that he was unsure about the future of Adana’s Orange Blossom Carnival because it is difficult to attract sponsors and official support, no one was certain about its 2015 edition. However, relentless promotion and lobbying and above all else his conviction that it could be done transformed what with all positivity would best be described as a rather local undertaking nine years ago into a serious mega-event of international recognition and fame.
To put this development into perspective: Four years later, when the proud citizens of Adana were invited for the sixth carnival edition in 2018, Bozkurt, by then in his role as "Nisan'da Adana'da" (In April, In Adana) Orange Blossom Carnival committee chairperson, happily told us that the carnival is now among the world’s 20 largest activities of its kind, internationally classified as a large-scale public festival event. It would already compare favorably with Germany’s Octoberfest!
Then catastrophe struck, as it did all around the globe: A public health emergency of never expected proportions meant street festivals could no longer be held. But the people of Adana are not the kind to easily give up, so they decided to keep at least some form of their beloved carnival going. While the 2020 festival became a "balcony carnival," its 2021 follow-up was held completely virtually to keep the momentum going. But one thing was crystal clear: From the very moment public gatherings of a size like this one were allowed again, the Orange Blossom Carnival would return to its former splendor.
Fast forward to the week of March 23-27, 2022, and exactly that happened.
With over 100 art exhibitions, concerts, photography events, food stalls, food tastings, open-air chess, boat trips, horse racing, a tennis tournament and many further activities, labeling the event a simple carnival might be somewhat misleading. It has grown into a five-day festival indeed. Granted, the hour everyone is waiting for is when the parade kicks off and proceeds through the city center. Here we can talk about the carnival dimension in earnest. With the use of tractors and trailers, participants are driven through town so that they can greet onlookers while displaying their colorful, often orange-themed costumes. Schools, universities, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), individuals, associations, foundations, the local police, bikers, brass bands... the list goes on and on. Every group was cheered on by the thousands of bystanders in the full knowledge that their 2022 carnival was something extraordinary.
For locals it was the much sought-after return to normal – with Turkey having so successfully and proactively dealt with the pandemic, watching this parade demonstrated that "it was over" for good. You saw the smiles on parents' faces, only paling in comparison when looking at their children’s faces. It was a family event in the truest sense of the word. Old, young, alone or in a group of friends, roadside or watching from their balcony high above should they happen to reside along the parade’s route... television crews and countless other media organizations mixing and mingling with the crowds.
From the very beginning, the team behind the carnival had intended to add the word "international" to its title. The master plan had been to start locally, grow regionally, and become a nationally recognized event to eventually add the European and finally, global dimension. This year underlined that it can be done. Not only was Turkey waiting for an end to health-related restrictions but the world was, too. Adana welcomed participants from the Philippines, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Vietnam, Malaysia, Hungary and Latvia, to name a few and in no specific order. Some further nations dispatched cultural delegations, such as Japan. Others just flew in to become part and parcel of this fine venture, including many fellow European countries.
Stressing that the international dimension should not belittle the fact that most naturally the vast majority of attendees hail from all four corners of Turkey. It is simply a reflection of the great success story behind Adana’s Orange Blossom Carnival. It shows the attractiveness of Turkey as a host nation for all types and kinds of events, including seriously "big" mass gatherings. It paves the way for other similar undertakings including sports, concerts, exhibitions, symposia and so on.
What’s more, the carnival boosts Adana’s and Turkey's tourism reputation on a more general level, too.
The festival, which brings five fun-filled days to Adana and its people, has an intertwined entrepreneurial twist as well. Adana has a vibrant restaurant, hotel and hospitality scene. Its business community is mostly composed of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which make up 99% of the companies in the country. Putting their city on the map of visitors from both near and far might just as well attract future investors. A city that can host hundreds of thousands of guests at one single point must be doing something right. It has a current and future turnover-related spin-off effect, so to speak.
Adana is often referred to as Turkey's agricultural hub and has witnessed great transformations over the past decade or so. Citrus fruits and other recently introduced agricultural produce allowed the region to go along with the times. Oranges have become the overarching symbol for this development. The carnival tries to demonstrate that oranges are nothing old-fashioned. You can for sure eat them and make juice, but there is so much more to the fruit. One could almost call it a "nouvelle orange cuisine" – including cakes, cookies, sauces, orange flavored meat and fish dishes.
The carnival is a symbol for three further issues. First, Adana has become synonymous with how a multicultural civil society can and should operate. The keyword is tolerance. Second, the event underlines the positive international dimension of the city and country. What must be described as inward-looking, almost isolationist foreign affairs in the past millennium have since long turned into pro-active, regional and global international relations, a 360-degree foreign policy. Third, and last but not least, Adana might become the engine behind modernizing the customs union between Turkey and the European Union as agricultural products are not yet part of it (nor are services, for example).
More than a carnival? It all depends on which angle one approaches the topic. Most definitely a gem in the nation’s ever-growing calendar of large-scale public events, a kind of textbook venture from which others can learn as no one would argue that managing an event as challenging as this one is easy. Ali Haydar Bozkurt would in all likelihood agree that copycats are welcome – and why not?
But in order to end this contribution, we must give credit where credit is due: It all started right here in Adana.
