Users interested in Turkic languages from the Turkic world and various countries of the world came together at Turkic Wikimedia Conference 2023. What happened at the conference held in Istanbul, Türkiye between 20-22 October? Here is TWC 2023 Istanbul in all its details!
Before the conference
The TWC 2023 organization team has prepared a conference organization where participants can get maximum efficiency with great dedication.
The presentations submitted for the conference were carefully examined and a program was created. Later, the Turkic Wikimedia Conference brand was created with great care to meet all needs over the years.
Statistics
Turkic Wikimedia Conference 2023 Istanbul was held in 3 days; 90+ participants from 10 countries attended, more than 30 presentations were made in 3 languages (English, Turkish and Russian), 2 separate conference rooms, hundreds of photographs were taken and fun events were organized to give the participants a beautiful memory. Also, Wikidata’s 11th anniversary was celebrated!
Participating countries and communities
Azerbaijani Community of Iran, Azerbaijani Wikimedians UG, Cyprus Turkish Community, Kyrgyz Community, Sakha Community, Tuva Community, Wikimedia Community of Kazakh language UG, Wikimedia Community of Tatar language UG, Wikimedia CUG Georgia, Wikimedia CUG Turkey, Wikimédia Magyarország, Wikimedians of Bashkortostan UG, Wikimedians of the Uzbek language UG, 8 invited guests, 3 WMF staff, and 11 self funded participants.
Social events
At the conference, participants who had come together at various conferences in the past years were happy to see each other again, while those who attended the conference for the first time were excited to meet new participants.
We took the participants on a Bosphorus cruise, which we believe is one of the best ways to introduce Istanbul. Thus, they went on a unique historical tour across the Bosphorus.
Additionally, at the end of the first day, a game was played with various questions about Wikimedia projects, Wikimedians of Turkic Languages User Group, and Istanbul, to leave a fun and beautiful memory for the participants. Various souvenir gifts related to Istanbul were presented to the winners of the game.
Then we celebrated Wikidata’s 11th anniversary with a cake!
What do participants think?
We asked conference attendees for their thoughts on how they found the conference:
“What makes the Turkic Wikimedia Conference unique and interesting is that this gathering brought together people from many different countries and cultures who share a connection to Turkic languages, spoken from the Bosphorus in Türkiye to the vast regions of Xinjiang in China.”
User: Mardetanha
“We spent three very productive days at the 2023 Turkic Conference. Participants came from many countries and made informative presentations. I would like to thank everyone who contributed to this wonderful organization.”
User: Kadı
“I can say that the TWC showed me the best of Wikimedia, the same sense of common interest for free knowledge and understanding that I experiencd in Wikimania, and that’s not easy to achieve.”
User: OrbiliusMagister
Where is the next Turkic Wikimedia Conference?
The country that will host the Turkic Wikimedia Conference to be held in 2025 has been announced. To celebrate the conference, which was decided to be held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, a flag handover ceremony was held at the closing ceremony.
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