Turkish Cultural Center Queens (TCCQ) held a morning event with Irish people to taste the Turkish breakfast and to get to know each other. The purpose of the program was to learn more about each other’s institution and share different cultures and backgrounds. First, the program started by introducing each other while having a Turkish breakfast. Second, videos about both institutions were presented to learn, understand and share two different cultures. Third, the president of Irish center and the president of Turkish Cultural Center Queens were invited to give a speech about their own organization and culture. This event was just a beginning to strengthen relations between TCCQ and The New York Irish Center.
During the event, Turkish Cultural Center offered a Turkish breakfast, which consisted Turkish tea, cheese, borek, olive, cooked egg with onion and tomatoes, sweet jelly and etc… Having a breakfast with Irish people from a different culture and background was a great opportunity and experience to learn about each other’s cultures, where everyone also had a chance to talk individually. For instance, people had a chance to discuss about foods, music, politics, religion and social life of both Turkish and Irish cultures.
The Executive director of New York Irish Center, Paul Finnegan, mentioned that the Irish center is a non-profit organization and their vision is to establish an easily identified an Irish place that is accessible from everywhere and to make it as an information center. The New York Irish Center believes that Irish Center is real community, and true community consists of sense of Solidarity, significance and security.
The video of the New York Irish center presents the mission, activities and goals for the community within the Irish culture, such as; Irish dance, music, cooking, and Irish language classes and etc… within its historical legends. The New York Irish Center is also a popular meeting place for Irish organizations.
This program was just a beginning to understand between each other’s culture and institution. Turkish Cultural Center Queens believes that in order to maintain strong relationship among institutions, there should always be different kinds of programs to share ideas, cultures and history.
