Dear Esteemed AKOB Members,
As we bid farewell to 2025, when we look back at the time behind us, we feel that we are not simply closing out a single year or individual events, but pausing at the present point of a journey that has spanned more than seventeen years. We recall the connections we have built together, the ways we have stood side by side, the relationships woven through collective effort, and one shared truth we rediscover each time: that AKOB is not only a space for “doing work,” but equally a space for creating meaning.
AKOB’s presence in the field of art and culture has, from the very first day, sought to move forward by growing, diversifying, and expanding its sphere of influence together with you. This progress has been a process shaped by work, patience, and togetherness. As our city and the society we live in observe our activities, we increasingly see how necessary this field truly is. Encouragingly, this awareness is not limited to observers alone; it also fosters the formation of a growing community that contributes, takes responsibility, and multiplies its impact.
Programs, Gatherings, and Activities
Through its work, AKOB continues to position itself as a structure that responds to the contemporary, free, and growth-oriented artistic aspirations of young people; to the cultural needs of the city; and to the indispensable role of art in public life.
The seminars, competitions, recitals, publications, and talks we organized during the 2024–2025 period represented different facets of this approach. Seminar series focused on cultural policies, our National Chamber Music Competitions—the only ones of their kind in the country—and the Young Recitals were not merely events, but parts of an ongoing practice of thinking and sharing with continuity.
Through these programs, AKOB advanced along a path that considers music not only as a field of performance, but as something intertwined with solidarity and a vision for the future. As can also be seen in our social media content, our choice was not rapid visibility, but rather to make the process itself—content creation and value production—visible.
Building Relationships with the City: A Community That Takes Responsibility
This year and last, AKOB’s connection with the city has further expanded and begun to deepen. Our roles within the Executive Board of the Mersin City Council evolved beyond individual representation into a structure that amplifies collective wisdom and includes our members as well. AKOB representatives who actively took responsibility across all councils, working groups, and commissions within the City Council became a concrete demonstration of our understanding of participation not as a method, but as a value.
Likewise, the UNDP Civic Engagement Task Force activities—funded by the European Union and carried out under the leadership of the United Nations Development Programme—to which we have contributed for many years, have gradually become not just a project area, but a lasting partnership in our city that opens up space to collectively reflect on the language, methods, and sense of responsibility of civil society. Our contributions within platforms of different scales, such as the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), also constituted one of the links AKOB has built between the local and the national level.
Volunteering and Continuity
The greatest strength of civil structures like AKOB lies in being built upon sincere volunteerism guided by collective reason. General evaluations show that the direction followed and the content prioritized to date—alongside shortcomings and future tasks—are aligned with the aims of our association. This state of togetherness also forms the foundation of AKOB’s social resonance.
Everyone who, over the years, stepped away from their roles for various reasons, took on new responsibilities, or continued to contribute through voluntary effort has left a mark on where AKOB stands today. This continuity is one of our association’s most valuable pillars.
Toward 2026: New Plans, New Connections, New Steps
We concluded 2025 with an unforgettable performance and special recital by our young star artist Doğaç Bezdüz. The joy of that recital evening still resonates in our hearts and ears.
We begin the first program of 2026 with a Members’ Gathering on January Our Young Recitals program, which has now reached its 17th edition, will continue later in January with a special commemorative event dedicated to Nevit Kodallı.
In the coming year, we plan to hold the ninth edition of our organization, which remains the only sustainably ongoing national chamber music competition in our country. In 2026, we aim to approach this competition with new arrangements that will increase young people’s engagement with the city and with one another, opening space in Mersin for more encounters and more youthful hope. We attach great importance not only to the competition as an evaluation process, but also to the interaction it will generate in our city as a call that brings together conservatories and young musicians from across the country.
At the same time, we are working on a new program line that approaches art as a whole. This program aims to create a ground where our members can also engage with artistic fields beyond music, and where environments of production and sharing can multiply. Art is a field that nourishes all of us, deepening and expanding our relationship with life. We know that all art forms are not separate from one another, but parts of an interdependent whole; with this understanding, we plan to open space for new encounters that bring different disciplines together.
Our Shared Responsibility
The sustainability of our association requires not only intellectual, but also financial and organizational solidarity. The contributions offered by our members during this period have been among the main pillars enabling AKOB to continue its work without interruption. Learning, teaching, writing, sharing; supporting a student through a scholarship or enabling a new member to become acquainted with this structure—each of these has been a part of AKOB’s story of collective growth. We sincerely thank all our members for their contributions.
Looking Toward the New Year
As we enter 2026, we have more questions than ready-made answers. How can we be more inclusive? How can we be more accessible? How can we deepen the relationships we build with young people, the city, and different fields of art? How can we share production and thought more widely? We will continue to seek the answers to these questions together at every opportunity.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to all our members who have contributed to AKOB, supported it, and held onto this journey from one point or another; and we wish that the new year brings peace, health, and joy for all of us—and many more opportunities to be together.
Demet Şaman Tarlakazan
Chair of the Board