President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan issued a circular regarding the celebration of 2021 as the ‘Ahi Evran Year’.
In the circular published in the Official Gazette, President Erdoğan stated that Ahi Evran, a sophisticated scientist and intellectual who was regarded as the founder of the Ahi organization and the leader of the artisans and craftsmen group in Anatolia, guided the social, economic and political life with the ahi-order organization, reiterated that he played an important role in making Anatolia homeland, the establishment of the Ottoman Empire and its being a world state, and that he was a profound scholar in the fields of tafsir, hadith, fiqh, theology and medicine, and a high-ranking guardian on the path of Sufism.
Pointing out that the ahi-order organization based on brotherhood, generosity, bravery, sacrifice, morality, wisdom, science and art, qualified production and fair sharing, constituted the foundation of unity, solidarity and fraternity in Anatolia, President Erdoğan noted, Ahi people assumed very significant roles in the development of trade and arts and the establishment of peace and tranquility in Anatolia, with the understanding ‘To serve Allah, is to serve the people’ for many years.
Stating that the Ahi organization has had a great part in the formation and shaping of many social and economic institutions at present, as well as channelling social and economic life in the past, President Erdoğan noted the following:
“It has been decided to organize events at home and abroad throughout 2021, the 850th birth anniversary of Ahi Evran that has been included among the anniversaries of commemoration and celebration by UNESCO, thus Ahi Evran as well as all our tradesmen and craftsmen who have sustained the Ahi tradition on this territory for hundreds of years will be remembered with mercy, the Ahi community, where knowledge meets wisdom and trade with morality will be explained to the nations of the world in the most accurate way and this sacred trust will be conveyed to the next generations. The activities to be held in this context will be carried out with the relevant public institutions and organizations under the coordination of the Ministry of Trade. Among the mentioned events, those determined by the Presidency can be held under the auspices of the Presidency. Logos, posters, announcements, invitations, bulletins and similar papers and visual documents related to the events will be determined by the afore-mentioned Ministry together with the relevant institutions and will be used pursuant to the corporate identity. The expenses of the projects and activities to be realized will be covered by the relevant public institutions and organizations. Within this framework, I submit this for the information of and necessary action by all public institutions and organisations in order to provide all kinds of support, assistance, and ease that will be needed to carry out the activities in the best possible manner throughout the year without delay and as a priority.”