Support from TİKA to Niger’s Traditional Festival

Cure Salée is one of Niger’s biggest traditional festivals organized annually. The 75th Cure Salée was celebrated this year in Agadez with the support of Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA).

The festival symbolizes the migration of nomadic societies, who live in the savannas and steppes close to the Sahara Desert in Aïr, the biggest region in Niger, to greener and saltier regions with the end of the rainy season. This festival has been celebrated under the auspices of Nigerien government for 75 years.

During the festival, which brings together Tuareg, Arabic and Fulani tribes, hundreds of people of all ages gather in the district of In-Gall in Agadez, the capital of the Aïr region, and display their skills in traditional handicraft, dance, and riding.

In addition to the participants coming from different regions in Niger, thousands of participants from neighbouring countries attend the festival, too. The guests stay in tents and natural soil houses used by the Sultane of Aïr as guesthouses.

This year, TİKA provided the guesthouses with accommodation supplies such as beds, sheets, water reservoirs and other equipment. Previously several local and international guests stayed in the guesthouses supported by TİKA in the past, too.  

The supplies were presented to the people in charge at a ceremony in the Sultan of Agadez, Oumarou Ibrahim Oumarou’s (Ibrahim II) house in the Aïr Sultanate. TİKA’S Deputy Coordinator, Tanju Polat participated in the ceremony.  

Sultan Ibrahim II made a statement about the project and said they always feel TİKA’s and Türkiye’s support. He stated that this second support given by TİKA to the guesthouses of the Sultanate will improve the accommodation conditions. He said they are grateful to TİKA and Turkish people for all the support they have provided up to now.

TİKA’s Deputy Coordinator, Polat said they are pleased that they share the same values just as their ancestors did centuries ago. He stated that they are very happy for sharing the enthusiasm of Aïr people, as well. Polat added that TİKA is willing and determined to further improve the Turkish-Nigerien cooperation dating to hundreds of years ago.  

The members of the Aïr Sultanate, which has existed since the early 15th century, say their race can be traced back to Prince Yunus, sent by the Ottoman State to Aïr to administer the region, and they, thus, define themselves as “Istanbulewa”.