Talk and Discussion: Shared Symbols: Faruk Pekin

Wednesday, July 3rd 2019, 19:00

As part of the “Shared Sacred Sites” exhibition program, Faruk Pekin, writer, travel guide and the founder of FEST Travel, will make a presentation. While addressing questions such as how and when the symbols and thought systems around them emerged, Pekin will specifically focus on the symbols shared by three monotheistic religions.

We come across with symbols everywhere: At archeological sites and museums, on buildings, tiles and grave stones, as well as on everyday objects, carpets, clothes, jewelery and in sinagogues, churches and mosques.

The most significant characteristic of symbols is that they are polysemic. Therefore, symbols are closely associated with every step in learning processes, with various sciences and particularly with linguistics, psychology, with philosophy and history of religion, with religious beliefs, myths and mythologies. They are the corner stones in the history of religious faith which goes back thousands of years.

The talk will be in Turkish.

Faruk Pekin is born in Menemen, Izmir in 1947. After Izmir Atatürk High School, he graduated from Robert College in 1969. For many years he worked as a journalist and at trade unions. Professional travel guide. In 1985 he founded FEST Travel. In the last thirty years he guided thousands of travellers at cultural tours in Turkey and abroad. He carried out seminars on “History of Religions”, “Hinduism”, “Budism” , “Turks and Budism” and “Symbols” organised by Cultural Awareness Foundation where he has served as the chairman for six years. Since 1985 he is the director of FEST Travel which has a leading role in cultural tourism in Turkey and which has designed and created 200 authentic routes in Istanbul and 180 routes in Turkey.