Turkey: Falun Dafa Popular at Orange Blossom Festival

(Minghui.org) The annual Orange Blossom Festival was held in Adana, Turkey from March 25 – 27, 2022. Several hundred thousand people attended the popular event. Orange trees that cover the sides of the streets usually bloom in early April, and the Orange Blossom Carnival is inspired by the scent of the orange blossoms. The festivities consist of a large organized event, along with a spontaneous street celebration by the people.

Falun Dafa practitioners took part in the festival this year. During the three-day festival, practitioners introduced Falun Dafa by participating in a parade, demonstrating the exercises on stage and setting up an information booth. They also taught people how to make folded paper lotus flowers and collected signatures on a petition to end the persecution in China.

Practitioners introduce Falun Dafa during the Orange Blossom festival in Adana, Turkey.

Practitioners teach festivalgoers the exercise movements.

Festival attendees learn the exercises.

School students learn the exercises.

Practitioners gave exercise demonstrations during the festival.

Children learn to make paper lotus flowers.

People sign the petition calling for an end to the persecution in China.

Many people were interested in finding out more about Falun Dafa and learned the exercise movements. They were shocked to hear about the Chinese Communist Party’s brutal suppression in China, especially the regime’s state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting which targets Falun Dafa practitioners. They signed the petition calling for an end to the atrocities.

Practitioners also had an information booth at Merkez Park. Many festival attendees came to the booth to learn the exercises. Practitioners held workshops to teach people to make paper lotus flowers. Many children participated.

Mr. Caner, a member of AFAD (Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency), wanted to learn the exercises and he also took many brochures. He was shocked when he was told about the brutal persecution in China. He immediately signed the petition.

Another man said after learning of the brutalities, “This is a persecution of kind hearted people in the world.” He also signed the petition.

Five-year-old Emre learns the Falun Dafa exercises.

Emre is 5 this year. He came to the Falun Dafa information booth for two days and earnestly learned the five sets of exercises. He also took a lotus flower as well as a brochure and gave them to his mother. He returned subsequently to ask for more brochures to give to his other family members.

Falun Gong practitioners had a float in the Orange Blossom Festival parade.

On Saturday March 26 a parade was held as part of the festival. The practitioners’ colorful float was praised by spectators who reached out to get more information about Falun Dafa.

Practitioners were also given an opportunity to demonstrate the exercises on the festival stage. A woman said she felt a warm current flow through her body while she watched the exercise demonstrations. The pain in her spine suddenly vanished.

A woman (left) said she felt a warm current flow through her body as she watched practitioners demonstrate the exercises on stage. She said the pain in her spine immediately went away.

Ayþe hn (right) is a translator. She watched the practitioners demonstrate the exercises on stage and took many photos. She approached afterwards to learn more about Falun Dafa. She was very sad when practitioners told her about the suppression in China. She said, “The CCP is absolutely wrong to torture so many people.” She also said her son is keen to learn the exercises and she will find out more about it online.

Practitioners gave out several thousand brochures during the festival and plan to start a practice site in Adana. The local TV station, Koza TV, came to the Falun Dafa information booth to interview practitioners.

Background: What Is Falun Dafa?

Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) was first introduced to the public by Mr. Li Hongzhi in Changchun, China in 1992. The spiritual discipline is now practiced in over 100 countries and regions worldwide. Millions of people who have embraced the teachings, which are based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, and learned the five gentle exercises, have experienced uplifted health and well-being.

Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), perceived the spiritual discipline’s growing popularity as a threat to the CCP's atheistic ideology and on July 20, 1999, issued an order to ban the practice.

Under Jiang’s personal direction, the CCP established the 610 Office, an extralegal security organization with the power to override the police and judicial systems and whose sole function is to carry out the persecution of Falun Dafa.

Minghui.org has confirmed the deaths of thousands of practitioners as a result of the persecution over the past 22 years, though due to the difficulty in getting information out of China, the actual number is believed to be much higher. Many more have been imprisoned and tortured for their faith.

There is concrete evidence that the CCP sanctions the harvesting of organs from detained practitioners, who are murdered to supply the organ transplant industry.