The festival "Shirokaya Maslenitsa" in Ankara, co-organized by the Committee for external relations of St. Petersburg, was held in the capital of Turkey on March 9 - 10 this year at the site of one of the largest shopping and entertainment centers. The organizers are the Association of Russian culture of Ankara with the support of the Russian Embassy in Turkey and Rossotrudnichestvo representative office in Turkey.
During the opening ceremony of the Maslenitsa festivities on March 10, the guests of the festival were greeted by the Chairman of the Committee for external relations of St. Petersburg Evgeny Grigoriev: "It is gratifying that the 100,000 – strong Diaspora of Russian compatriots living in Turkey maintains ties with the Motherland and remembers the traditions of their ancestors," the greeting said. "And since Maslenitsa is a reflection of the intangible heritage of the Russian people, I am sure that this holiday will help all other residents of Turkey to learn more about Russian culture."
The audience was also congratulated by Ambassador extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Turkey Alexei erkhov and Chairman of the Association of Russian culture in Ankara Larisa Lutkova-Turkan.
Musicians, singers and ballet dancers of the St. Petersburg state theatre of song and dance "Moroshka" performed Russian folk songs, dances and folk games on the stage specially built for the holiday. The orchestra of the theater "Cloudberry "prepared for the concert the number" Turkish March " of Mozart. The guests of the Maslenitsa festivities were about 600 people.
Guests of Maslenitsa were also introduced to the native Russian sport - the game of "Gorodki". During the festival, trial competitions in urban sports and training sessions were held. The rules of the game were explained by Evgeny Artamonov, President of the St. Petersburg city sports Federation, and Sergey Oblogin, Vice President of the Federation.
In addition, during the event, the Committee for external relations of St. Petersburg handed over to the Association of Russian culture of Ankara and the Association of Russian-speaking youth educational, methodical and fiction in Russian.
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In 2018, the Committee for external relations of St. Petersburg announced the traditional collection of applications from organizations of Russian compatriots living abroad for the implementation of the project "Celebrate Maslenitsa together with St. Petersburg" in 2019. Organizations from eight countries of the near and far abroad showed interest in holding joint events dedicated to Maslenitsa. The winner of the contest was the Association of Russian culture of Ankara.