Iowa State will again be experiencing Turkish Night, a festival that features traditional Turkish dances, food and costumes.

The event will be held Sunday at 6 p.m. in the Memorial Union.

Hayati Koknaroglu, vice president of the Turkish Student Association, said Turkish Night has become a tradition in the international community.

“I feel that every year, the TSA executive committee feels obligated to improve the Turkish Night and represent it at its best,” said Koknaroglu, graduate student in animal science.

He said he hopes Turkish Night will attract people “who are not familiar with Turkish culture.”

This year’s Turkish Night celebration will feature two kinds of activities.

“First, we are going to give some general information and show some slides about Turkey, and we will introduce Turkish music to the audience,” he said. “In the second part, we are going to have fashion show and Turkish folk dances.”

There will be traditional Turkish food prepared by Memorial Union Catering Services, he said. TSA will provide the desserts.

“The food is so delicious, you might end up eating your fingers,” he said.

TSA President Altug Kozikoglu said for the event this year, the organization printed 240 tickets that will be required for food and drinks.

However, “everybody is invited to watch the live music and dance performances,” said Kozikoglu, sophomore in pre-civil engineering.

The celebration also will include a special show called Henna Night, a dance in which TSA members will imitate the traditional Turkish wedding ceremony, Koknaroglu said.

Kaya Tolon, sophomore in industrial engineering, said the TSA members volunteered to learn and practice folk dances for the special presentation.

“There are total of eight dancers, three of whom are not from Turkey,” Tolon said.

Kozikoglu said the tickets are $8 and are available in the TSA office, located in the East Student Office Space of the Memorial Union.

“We increased the amount and the variety of the food, which could cover 280 people instead of 240,” he said.

Kozikoglu said TSA has worked hard to make Turkish Night entertaining.

“With dance and music shows, Turkish cuisine, slides and even with the tickets, we are trying to show our roots and our traditions to the people of Ames,” he said.

Turkish Night is being funded by TSA, the Government of the Student Body and the International Student Council.