Balıkesir Sındırgı Municipality held 21st International Sındırgı Yağcıbedir Carpet, Culture and Art Days, hosted nearly 150 thousand visitors in the festival.
An extraordinary festival in Balıkesir’s Sındırgı district was held. This year, the 21st International Sındırgı Yagcıbedir Carpet, Culture and Art Days has been the scene of events in many different fields from hand-crafts, local games, horse sports wrestling and javelin to Yağcıbedir carpet. Ekrem Yavaş, the mayor of Sındırgı, said they introduced Yağcıbedir carpets, which gave their name to the art days, to the world in this festival and selected the best Yağcıbedir carpets and 10 countries and 12 provinces showed their folk dances and hosted nearly 150 thousand visitors.
Dear Mayor, can we first get to know you?
I was born in 1970 in Sındırgı. I did my primary, secondary and high school education in Sındırgı. Then, I graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Language, History and Geography. I worked as a Geography Teacher in Diyarbakır Anatolian High School, Sındırgı Dutyunculer Primary School and Cumhuriyet Primary School. In 2004-2009, Mayor of Sındırgı and in 2011 General Elections, I worked as the 7th candidate from Balıkesir AK Party. I am currently serving as Mayor of Sındırgı.
How did you do and do you work in Sındırgı?
After being elected in 2004, we made our strategic plans as a municipality. Before the Istanbul-Izmir road was built, those who traveled between these two cities would pass through Sındırgı. After the construction of the new road in order to avoid losing the importance of Sindirgi in 2006, we made studies related to tourism and we got efficiency. Thanks to the thermal facility we have opened, 3000 houses have been warmed up with that hot water brought from a distance of 24 kilometers. That’s why we were registered as an environmentalist municipality.
By encouraging people living outside the center to irrigated agriculture, we encourage farmers to produce products to be consumed in centers. We convinced ourselves first, then our staff, then public institutions and then our people. We are confident that we will bring this district to better places with this belief. In addition to this, there was a visitor that exceeded the expectations for the festival this year. Our citizens wanted to host visitors in their homes. They are the fruit of this belief. As a result, the inhabitants understood what tourism means. This is the most important point for us.
We carried this festival to an international dimension. 120 stands are opened and 70 of these stands are opened by Sındırgı people. So this district has enough products to make a festival on its own. I believe it is necessary to produce local natural products and I wish everyone to benefit from it.
We are carpet domain. We have crowned the Yağcıbedir monument which we made at the entrance of the city. People think that matter will make them happy, but in fact, what makes a man happy is meaning. When the body is not covered with spirit, it cannot do anything. We are trying to do things that will live the tradition and culture that will reveal the spirit structure of the people. If the people you see here don’t like us, they won’t come here. It is because people come where they feel comfortable.
How did you meet the carpet?
When I was in university, I made money selling carpets. This is our father’s profession for us. We used to collect carpets from here and then sell them to our teachers in the teachers’ room. Later on, I started to sell carpets to wholesalers. At that time, Cemil Çiçek was the Minister of Family and Social Policies. They gave us a scholarship during his time. Only after 8 months they gave it in bulk. I bought the carpet with all of this money and my trading life started like this. In 1992, we opened our shop here.
What does Yağcıbedir Carpet mean to you as a carpet?
“If the flying carpet was real in the dreams of Yuruk girl, who weaved the life like weaving carpet noose to noose, that carpet would be Yağcıbedir”.
This statement actually explains the importance of Yağcıbedir. The carpet is just an ID card. Yağcıbedir is a culture for me. This name comes from Yaycıbey principality. At that time, this principality paid the state tax by making a bow. Currently, this principality has 18 people. 8 of them live in Dikili, 4 in Bergama, 5 in Sindirgi and one in Bigadiç. In our new project, we will work with the university and relevant people. As a result of this culture this culture will live again. Together with the presidents of these four districts, we brought this together for the first time this year. After that we will make it continuous. Examples of this project we have done that, be conducted in different parts of Turkey, and we desire to be useful so that the cultural inventory of our country.
In short, we must increase the number of our common values. They have limited us administratively. We have to take our memories back 3,000 years ago and eliminate these boundaries. As a district, cultural and individual sports branches and crafts live here, the center is to turn Sındırgı.
