“It was my saddest and ironically my best moment in Korea. As the news has been reported about the Sewol ferry tragedy in all through the days and nights, I wanted to help bereaved families. Since my friends and I wanted to do something for them in person, we decided to try to feed them, as we guessed they were probably sick and tired of having the same food every day,” said Enes Kaya, a Turkish actor, and Graduate of the Department of Informational Technology Management at Hanyang University(HYU). Kaya has attracted the public’s attention since April 24 when he began his charitable work for the families of the Sewol accident. He appeared to be genuinely concerned and his affection for Korea was demonstrated by his generous provision of food to the families of the victims, in the form of kebab, a traditional food of Turkey. Kaya and his friends also delivered a message to the families of those missing people with a banner which said, “We pray for the repose of the deceased. We wish for the missing people’s safe return.”

  Despite their sincere volunteer work, however, Kaya and his friends were sent away. This was because officials of Jindo-gun believed that a process of cooking kebab, such as roasting meat was not appropriate for the mood at the site. “I felt slighted and awkward at first. When I came back home, many Koreans acknowledged that our volunteer work had been from good intentions. Even though there was a small dispute in Jindo-gun, I was proud of what we did,” Kaya said.

  Since he first came to Korea in 2002, Kaya has been interested in promoting cultural exchanges between Korea and Turkey. “As a teacher, I introduced Turkey to Korean students through the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO) programs,” Kaya said. Now, he continues to promote cultural exchanges as a translator as well as a movie actor. After his volunteer work in Jindo-gun was reported in the news, his acting in the movie “Haunters” came under the spotlight. His reason for taking part in the entertainment business is also to introduce Turkey and its culture.

  Kaya expressed his strong desire to promote more cultural exchanges between Turkey and Korea saying, “Thanks to the great attention drawn by our volunteer work in Jindo-gun, more and more people have come to know that Korea and Turkey are brothers. I will make more efforts to increase this image of our fraternity. I hope that the relationship between our two nations gets closer and closer.”