On March 6, 2024, 'Turks who made the land their home' conference was held in our faculty. Culture volunteer and Turkish World traveler Mr. Aşkın Kuray Çakır was the guest of the conference. The conference, which was hosted by Aşkın Kuray Çakır, was coordinated by our students under the management of the Open Route Tourism Guides Community and moderated by the community advisor, Head of the Department of Tourism Guidance, Dr. Lecturer. The conference was moderated by Prof. Dr. Isa Bayhan.

Isa Bayhan, who started by explaining the purpose of the conference, its contribution to the participants and its impact on the professional expertise of our students, explained the geography where the Turks first lived, their social characteristics, their social life, the culture of nomadic life in Central Asia, Turkish tribes, tamgas, the historical progress of the Turks, their traditions, the beliefs they had in the historical process, the dominance of Turks in Anatolia, the main Turkish epics and the differences between pre-Islamic and post-Islamic Turkish epics. Afterwards, he invited Mr. Aşkın Kuray Çakır to the podium to give the floor to the conference speaker.

The conference speaker Aşkın Kuray Çakır briefly introduced himself and explained the beginning of his interest in Turkish culture, history and geography, examples of the cultural heritage of the Turks in Europe and Asia, the status of the Turkish population in the world, the countries of the Turkic World, the social characteristics of these countries such as population, form of government, independence. Continuing the conference with visuals and videos from his many trips to Turkic Republics in different continents, the speaker explained the status of the Orkhon Monuments in Mongolia, the current state of the Ötüken Forest, the food of Uzbekistan, the Turkish cultural heritage in Kazakhstan, the culture and traditions in the Turkic Republics, the attitudes and behaviors prevailing in the Central Asian peoples, and the language similarities to our students with pictures and videos. He discussed the beliefs that the Turkic world hosts, how Turks have lived their beliefs throughout history, and how these beliefs are reflected in their cultural and artistic elements. Similarly, during the conference, he shared with our students the deep-rooted traditions kept alive in the Turkic world, examples of these traditions that have survived to the present day, equestrian shows and sports, traditional clothes of the Turkic world, wedding ceremonies, and various traditions such as holiday celebrations, accompanied by videos. The participants were informed with interesting examples about the importance of traditions in Turkish history and how they are today.

The Turks Who Made the Land Home conference was an enjoyable and informative event organized to introduce the cultural heritage and diversity of Turkish history. The participating students stated that they would like to reorganize the event to share the unaddressed issues related to Turkish history, countries and cultures of the Turkic World and to listen to Aşkın Kuray Çakır again. At the end of the event, which was completed with a question and answer session, moderator Dr. Lecturer. Prof. Dr. Isa Bayhan and the speaker Mr. Aşkın Kuray Çakır emphasized the importance of cultural knowledge and awareness of tourist guides and gave advice to students who want to specialize in the region and wished the participants well.