Yeşil Yayla Culture, Art and Ecology Festival

Yeşil Yayla Culture, Art and Ecology Festival

Turkey's Eastern Black Sea Region; while one of the rich eco-system of the world where magnificent foggy mountains, cold spring waters, wild sea, thousand shades of green; with its natural habitat; its local values such as music, handicrafts, language, architecture are also danger of extinction. 

Yeşil Yayla Culture, Art and Ecology Festival is an effort to draw the attention of the national and international public to all these problems and to increase their sensitivity. 

Festival initiative was actualized by  Birol Topaloğlu, known with his works about Laz music, world  music researcher Kutay Derin Kuğay and musician and tourism professional Sevilay Refika Kadıoğlu. The work, which continued for ten years under the umbrella of Gola Culture, Art and Ecology Association, was continued with the support of many relevant people and institutions.

The festival was held with the taste of village festivals; It is aimed to revitalize these festivals, to realize projects on culture, art and environment in the region, to introduce local cultures to each other through staging, and to contribute to regional tourism and rural development.

Why “Yayla” (Highland) Festival?

While transhumance is an important part of life for the local people, the changing living conditions in recent years have caused transhumance to be largely abandoned. By naming the festival the Yeşil Yayla; it is aimed to understand the culture of transhumance, to strengthen the relationship of people with nature and earth, and to introduce cultural activities such as dance and music that come to life in the transhumance tradition. There is no plateau named “Yeşil Yayla”; by combining the concepts of "Green" and "Highland"; It has been emphasized that the earth is the home of all living things, and it has been brought to life in about twenty villages with a mobile study. 

Yeşil Yayla Festivals by year and themes:

Eko-Turizme Giriş (2006-Ardeşen, Çamlıhemşin/Rize)

Doğu Karadeniz Kırsal Mimari (2007-Fındıklı, Hemşin, Pazar/Rize))

Dereler (2008-Fındıklı-Hemşin/Rize)

Şifalı Bitkiler (2009-Fındıklı, Pazar-Rize ile Hopa/Artvin)

Taşlar (2010-Fındıklı/Rize ile Arhavi/Artvin)

İnekler ve Geleneksel Hayvancılık (2011-Arhavi/Artvin)

Geleneksel Meyveler ve Meyve Mirası (2012-Arhavi/Artvin)

Arılar ve Geleneksel Arıcılık (2013-Arhavi, Hopa/Artvin)

Geri Dönüşüm (2014-Ardeşen, Çamlıhemşin/Rize)

İmece (2015-Ardeşen/Rize)

Project Photos