GALVESTON — Crossing the threshold into the San Luis Hotel on Saturday was to be transported by sound and smell to Istanbul.
About 1,000 people, born in the Republic of Turkey or into other Turkic cultures, who now reside in Texas or surrounding states, descended upon the hotel for an annual convention sponsored by Houston-based Raindrop Turkish House.
Women in headscarves visited with each other in the halls speaking English, Turkish, Arabic or Spanish as children darted between tables set up as a Turkish market for sweets and drinks. Men caught up with old friends, drank tea, discussed current events or read through some of the Turkish-language philosophy and literature books available for sale.
Attendees loaded their plates from a lunchtime buffet of kofte — a type of meatball — rice, potato salad and cut fruit. The spiced smells of the food was a mingle of Mediterranean, European and Asian heritages, just as the country itself.
The annual conference is an opportunity for the Turkic community to congregate and highlight their culture, Raindrop board President Mehmet Okumus.
This is the group’s first time to meet in Galveston, but families from the organization’s 14 branches in six states make an effort every year to bring their children for the weekend of immersion in Turkish culture, one of the group’s main annual events.
Children, some of whom were born in the United States, can attend Turkish language, history and cultural classes. They also get a chance to play games and spend time with other kids who share a common heritage, said Dr. Osman Ganioglu, a professor at the University of Houston and a volunteer with Raindrop.
Houston is home to the largest such community in the state, with about 20,000 of the state’s 100,000 Turkic people, Ganioglu said.
Conference coordinators often set up guest speakers, allow time for silent reading and encourage discussion among those who attend to make the event an educational one.
But they also are very aware of the real social benefits that come from networking with others from across the state and country.
Ganioglu recalled moving to the Houston area and not having the renter’s history to get a place to live and not knowing how to buy a car here.
Events like the one Saturday give recent arrivals to the United States the opportunity to get the help of established residents and gain a foothold in their new home.
Most people who are immigrating to the area from Turkey are highly educated and are here for graduate school and educational opportunities, Okumus and Ganioglu said.
Many also are very active in social causes.
At one set of tables at the conference was a stack of books offered by the Gulen Institute, located at the University of Houston.
The institute is a nonprofit organization that emphasizes the life and works of Turkish Muslim scholar and civic leader Fethullah Gulen.
Institute President Ali Candir said the group tries to promote stable peace, social justice and social harmony by focusing on the themes of education, volunteerism and civic initiatives.
Every year, the group organizes dialogues on social issues featuring distinguished guests commentators.
Okumus said organizations like the Gulen Institute and other efforts to mediate for social harmony are “in the blood.”
No culture is as simple as one style of food, dress or dialect, but Turkic cultures always have straddled a gulf of different cultures that rarely agreed with each other.
The country lies mostly on the Asian continent but has a piece that sits on the European continent.
It is the bridge from the European to the Middle Eastern world, Okumus said.
Perhaps out of necessity, what resulted was a wide order of acceptance, he said.
“History, love and tolerance are our basic values,” Okumus said.
