The Dernegi is perhaps best known for its public events. Annually, they organize commemoration ceremonies that function as secular rituals. These events often take place at the gravesites of prominent poets or in cultural centers across Istanbul and Ankara.
In 2024, the association announced an ambitious collaboration with Spotify and UNESCO to release a "Definitive Anthology of the Immortal Bards." Using AI voice restoration (approved by families), they are reconstructing how bards like might have sounded, based on the oral transmission styles specific to the 18th century. Olu Ozanlar Dernegi
Many old cönks (miscellaneous manuscript notebooks containing folk poems) sit rotting in village attics. The association has a volunteer squad that travels to rural areas, digitally scans these manuscripts, and returns them to the families with acid-free protective covers. To date, they have rescued over 5,000 individual poems that were not present in national archives. The Dernegi is perhaps best known for its public events
“I joined the Olu Ozanlar Dernegi after my grandfather died. He used to sing Dadaloğlu while milking the goats. When I sang those same lines at the association’s gathering, I felt my grandfather come back to life. That is not metaphor. That is what ‘Olu’ means.” — , Member since 2012 To date, they have rescued over 5,000 individual
"Carpe Diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary."