The 5th Children's Painting Festival, organized on April 23, funded by the joint fund of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the European Union's Humanitarian Aid Agency (ECHO) and run by the German Institute for International Cooperation (GIZ). Afghan Refugee Solidarity and Association (ARSA) within the scope of the “Community-Based Local Initiatives Project (CLIP 2)” harmonization movement project carried out with the cooperation of Kayseri Provincial Migration Administration, Red Crescent Community Center and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

It was carried out with the cooperation of Kayseri Provincial Migration Administration, Red Crescent Community Center and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Representative of the Red Crescent Community Center, Head of Anatolian and Local Administrations Association, Representatives of non-governmental organizations, held with the intense participation of local people and refugees.

The program started with the opening speech, ARSA President Dr. Zakira Hekmat said, "I believe that we are all full of enthusiasm today, we are experiencing the enthusiasm of National Sovereignty and Children's Day, as the Association, we attach importance to national days and holidays."

Dr. Hekmat stated that the main goal of the festival is to reveal the artistic talents of children for the future, to encourage creativity and to share artistic experiences, to motivate and draw attention to the value of children and the importance of art in society in order to support social cohesion.

Every year, we celebrate April 23 Children's Day with different activities, and this year we organized the 5th Painting Festival across Turkey. In this program 437 children participated with their works with the Ages 7-11 and ages 12-14 were organized in two different categories. The pictures we have received were anonymized by our team and shared with our juries using the code system. The juries chose without knowing any information about the owner of the picture, and the winners were determined accordingly.


The winning cities are: Yalova, Trabzon, Uşak, Şanlıurfa, Eskişehir and Kayseri. All of the children participating in the festival are very valuable to us, we wish them success in their future lives.

Kayseri Provincial Immigration Administration Harmony and Communication Working Group Chairman Oğuz BAYRAM: The founder of the Republic of Turkey, the great leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk gifted the 23 April National Sovereignty and Children's Day to all children of the world and entrusted the future to children and youth.

Oğuz BAYRAM, Head of the Kayseri Provincial Immigration Administration Harmonization and Communication Working Group:

The founder of the Republic of Turkey, the great leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, presented the 23 April National Sovereignty and Children's Day to all children of the world and entrusted the future to children and youth.

The representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Burcu Toksabay, congratulated the 23 April World Children's Day and stated that today's children are the leaders of the future and the importance of this day.

Yahya Orhan, Turkish Red Crescent Kayseri Community Center Beneficiary relations and communication officer: Because of the importance of the day and the best interests of children, he explained that if there is to be peace and tranquility in the world, the way to this can be through a life oriented vision.

After the protocol speeches, the program continued with beautiful shows, magic and intelligence cube shows, concerts and theater performances prepared by the children.

Balloons and various gifts were distributed to the children by the association and the program ended with a visit to the painting exhibition.