The Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan carries out an important work of uniting and ensuring interaction among different ethnical and cultural centers. Last spring we participated in a large number of wonderful festivals "Friendship Wreath" conducted by different ethnical centers in Almaty.

The festival tradition was continued this year. On April 21 the Almaty Greek Society, "Elefteriya" organized a festival of Greek culture "We are Kazakhstanis". Korean, Jewish, Armenian, Azeri, and Tatar ethnical centers and Russian singing group ‘Gzhel" were invited as guests at the event. There is a place near Almaty, Tabaksovkhoz, where Greeks live since deportation, it was the venue for the Festival.

Spring is a time of many holidays. In spring Greece celebrates Independence Day and the Great Victory Day is coming soon. We congratulated all veterans of the Greek community with the Victory Day and thanked them for their heroic deeds. May 1st is a Unity Day of the People of Kazakhstan. There were representatives of different ethnical groups living in Kazakhstan. On behalf of the Greek community, Director of Greek Society "Elefteriya" Georgiy Iordanidi welcomed the guests.

It was a wonderful holiday. All ethnical centers showed their art performances on the stage. Jewish ensemble Ionati danced "Aviv", which translated from Hebrew means "spring". The singing ensemble "Anukhnukhan" sang the holiday song "Lehaim". Our two ensembles had success with the audience. "Elefteriya" awarded the Jewish Community Center Rimon with a gratitude certificate for active participation in the Greek community life and a valuable gift - a DVD player. The Republican Fund of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan credited with a letter of gratitude the manager of our dancing ensemble, Choreographer Irina Fokina, while children receive award certificates.

It was a wonderful event held in a Greek restaurant "Ellada". Our friends were very hospitable. We had a lot of fun, sang many songs together. The atmosphere was warm and friendly. Everybody was in a spring mood.

Lyudmila Starodubova