Ataşehir in Turkey

Shortly before personal encounters became impossible due to COVID-19, in February 2020, musicians from the Atasehir music school met with the intercultural ensemble “Pangea” from the Monheim music school. Together, they played oriental music pieces, arranged by the musical director Koray Sari. The musicians will continue their intercultural musical collaboration, including joint performances. Further cooperation projects between the two music schools are already in the pipeline.

Ever since the “Monheim Art School” in Atasehir was inaugurated in September 2018, many joint projects have been carried out. Workshops on traditional jewelry making with instructors from Atasehir took place in Monheim am Rhein, and instructors from Monheim am Rhein traveled to Atasehir for sewing classes and multimedia design workshops. In a joint sewing project, children from both cities crafted bags and pillows to express their friendship – this is how art brings together children, young people and adults. Further cooperation projects are planned.

At the end of June 2019, Sojus 7 organized the second “Musik frei machen” festival, which aims to pull down borders in music by offering as diverse a program as possible. Six bands were invited, including two from our twin towns of Ataşehir and Malbork. The audience were impressed! A musical exchange with Ümit Taskiran’s band is already in the pipeline.

For several years, students from the Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium’s folklore dance group have been attending the annual Children’s Day celebrations in Istanbul with their trainer and guide, Engin Altinova. The last trip was in April 2019. They performed together with many young dance groups from all over the world and stayed with host families in Ataşehir.

In March 2019, the dancers from SG Monheim invited groups from all our twin towns to take part in their dance gala. Three dance groups from Delitzsch, Malbork and a municipal group of young adult dancers from Ataşehir accepted the invitation. The crowd first went wild for a joint performance by all of the visiting groups, before our guests from Ataşehir showed off their skills by performing various dances in traditional costume, accompanied by live music. The audience were utterly impressed by the standard of their dancing.

In late 2017 and early 2018, the school orchestra from the Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium (OHG) and the Ataşehir youth orchestra performed classical concerts in Monheim am Rhein as well as in Ataşehir. Oliver Drechsel, head of the OHG orchestra, and Umut Kahraman, head of the Ataşehir youth orchestra, created a joint repertoire for the young musicians. This successful cooperation between the orchestras continued in fall 2019, with a performance on September 22.

In July 2017, Monheim am Rhein invited young people from all our twin towns to compete against our local clubs in the Monheim Friendship Cup, an international youth soccer tournament. It was difficult for the Turkish girls and boys to get here, but they eventually arrived in Monheim and even went on to win the cup.

As a symbol of our partnership, in May 2017 we inaugurated our Ataşehir Park in the district of Baumberg. The event was attended by the Mayor of Ataşehir, Battal Ilgezdi, and his delegation. The vibrant celebration attracted plenty of guests, who enjoyed the music, dance and delicious food.