Hello Day

In commemoration of Halikarnas Balıkçısı’s birthday, 17 April was officially declared “Hello Day” in 2022 by Ahmet Aras, then Mayor of Bodrum. In 2023, the “International Hello Day Logo Competition” was organized, and in 2024 the awards were presented to their recipients. In 2025, preparations began for the first official celebration of Hello Day. Through this initiative, the Bodrum Maritime Museum, affiliated with the Municipality of Bodrum, continues to preserve and promote the cultural legacy of Halikarnas Balıkçısı through his special collection and archive.

The spirit of “hello” embodied by Halikarnas Balıkçısı — reflecting his deeply humanistic attitude toward people, animals, plants, and all living beings — deserves to be more widely known, remembered, felt, and kept alive. With this vision in mind, and under the leadership of the Bodrum Maritime Museum, 17 April, the writer’s birthday, is celebrated as “Hello Day” with the aim of carrying his greeting and humanistic worldview to broader audiences.

Celebrated worldwide every year on 21 November since 1973, “World Hello Day” was in fact one of the life mottos that Halikarnas Balıkçısı had embraced and championed long before then. Although World Hello Day has been observed independently of his mission and vision, it may well have been a product of his international connections; while there is not yet concrete evidence to confirm this, the fact that World Hello Day began to be celebrated in the year of his death presents an intriguing irony.

As part of the Hello Day celebrations, events will also continue at Maison Magi on 25–26 April. We warmly invite everyone to take part in this meaningful gathering, and to join us in feeling, sharing, and keeping alive Balıkçı’s “hello.”