The story of women producers in the heart of the Aegean

Organised by the Datça Ahi Women's Enterprise Production and Management Cooperative together with the Karya Healthy Living and Active Ageing Association, in collaboration with the Anatolian Ahi Women's Enterprise Cooperative Union, the International Meet Datça Fest takes place on 16-17-18 August 2026 in the village of Palamutbükü, Datça. Built around the theme FASHION · MUSIC · CUISINE, the three-day festival places women producers at its centre with talks, workshops, a stand area, recitals and a runway show. The festival is open to the public and free of charge.

The festival is realised in project partnership with Muğla Metropolitan Municipality, Datça Municipality, the Journalists' Association, the Türkiye Press Photographers' Association, the Muğla Metropolitan Journalists' Association and the Muğla Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with the support of the Datça District Governorship.

Rooted in the ancient health and cultural heritage of the Carian civilisation, the festival aims to bring Datça's local production shaped by women's labour together with modern branding processes, to strengthen local producers through global collaborations and mentorship networks, and to diversify the district's tourism potential around nature, culture and gastronomy — a sustainable, regional-development-focused model of promotion.

The festival's motto frames the programme as well: “Not just a festival; a network of mentorship, motivation and global solidarity.” Spread over three days, the programme of 24 sessions brings together 21 speakers, chefs, designers and cooperative representatives; guests from Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Northern Cyprus contribute with stands and music performances, while local participants from Muğla and its districts lead workshops and recitals. Throughout the festival, talks, mentorship and workshops for cooperatives, women entrepreneurs and local producers are joined by briefings on Ministry of Trade and South Aegean Development Agency incentives and grants; the Meet Datça Fest is positioned as the first step of a sustainable “Regional Promotion Drive” set to spread across the whole Muğla basin.

The opening day belongs to the international guests. Taz Khan MBE, a Le Cordon Bleu trained chef and founder of London's Community Kitchen, and Suzy Jakeman BEM, co-founder of Project 2nd Chance, travel from the United Kingdom to lead talks and a workshop on food sustainability and women's empowerment. Following a talk by Chef Tamer Özkan, founding president of ANFED – the Anatolian Chefs Federation, Robert Blomsteel and Susanne Schild — with more than 25 years in the international fruit and vegetable trade — discuss connecting local producers with the European market. In the afternoon, Mercedes Roggen — 2023 champion of the Dutch competition Heel Holland Bakt, who has baked for the Dutch Royal Family — leads a pastry workshop. The day closes with an opening cocktail featuring world-music performances from the guest countries.

The second day is devoted to women's labour and cooperativism. Ayten Esra Pınar of the Ministry of Trade presents state support schemes and branding processes for women's cooperatives, while Gülcan Şimşek Çavuş, President of the Anatolian Ahi Women's Cooperative Union, Çiğdem Karaca of the Lycia Women's Cooperative and Nazan Türkmen of the Ortaca El Ele Women's Cooperative share their own cooperatives' stories. The same day, Ahmet Pehlivan, founding chef of Michelin Bib Gourmand 2026 listed Casius Antioch Kitchen, leads kitchen workshops. The day ends with talks by Datça's renowned women chefs.

For the festival finale, the ancient city of Knidos hosts a first. The evening opens with the Dore Mimi Talent and Education Foundation's performance “Women Scented with Verse”, tracing women poets through the ages. After a gathering where designers share the stories behind their work, “Palimpsest: Datça's Living Archive” — curated by Aydan Uzun and Merve Kahveci — takes the stage. Born of the festival's TORTU fashion programme and themed “From the Local to the City”, the two-chapter collection of 16 looks reinterprets hand-woven kilims and bürümcük and dastar cloths through upcycling; in the second chapter, textiles from local families' chests are redesigned with a zero-waste approach, and each look walks the runway bearing the name of the owner of the chest it came from. The show's motto reads like a summary of the collection: “Everything is layered not to be seen, but to be able to exist together.”

The main festival grounds are at Palamutbükü, about a 25-minute drive from Datça centre, with Knidos some 20 minutes from the grounds. The current programme, participant list and visitor guide are published at meetfestivalleri.com. The story of women producers in the heart of the Aegean awaits.