One of Turkish Cypriot Literatures important poets, Şirin Zaferyıldızı, meets with students at CIU

Cyprus International University (CIU) Faculty of Education, Department of Turkish and Social Sciences Education, organized a seminar titled “The Love for Poetry and Mother Tongue in Turkish Teaching”.

At the event organized at the CIU Çevik Uraz Center Conference Hall, educator and poet Şirin Zaferyıldızı explained the importance of societies taking ownership of their culture, language, and values.

Reminding that when people travel abroad, they tend to visit historical sites in order to gain information, Zaferyıldızı noted that they make inferences about that region via these visited locations.

Zaferyıldızı expressed that prior to traveling abroad, the novels and poems of that country should be looked at first, and went on to say, “If there is poverty in that country, you will not find a poet who writes about happiness, if the children in that country are dying, you cannot write a poem about love”.

Giving advice to the youth in her speech, Zaferyıldızı stated that the basis of a number of areas, should they be researchers, evaluate what is written, or question life, lies in owning their own language. She emphasized the importance of the mother tongue in becoming aware of one's inner self

Explaining the necessity in establishing effective communication, Zaferyıldızı continued, “Communication begins with your mother tongue. If you are unable to explain your love or your feelings to the person in front of you, those feelings of yours are incomplete. You might lose the person you were to spend the rest of your life with, just because you weren’t able to use your language properly”.

Reciting her poem “My Woman Nicosia” to the students after her speech, Zaferyıldızı answered the students’ questions at the last part of the event.