Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said that cultural center projects are being implemented one by one in Turkey.
Minister Ersoy visited the Balikesir Kuvayimilliye Museum. Minister Ersoy, who received information about the Atatürk Chamber and the Kuvayimilliye Hall from the Museum Director Aytekin Yılmaz, visited Balıkesir Governor Hasan Şıldak, Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Yücel Yılmaz, AK Party Deputies and the former Balıkesir High School. Minister Ersoy then visited the AK Party Provincial Presidency and the Metropolitan Municipality. Minister Ersoy also met with the champion national wrestler Yasemin Adar from Balıkesir, who won the bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, as part of the Balıkesir program.
Minister Ersoy, who also attended the opening ceremony of Hasan Can Cultural Center built by the Altıeylül Municipality, said that it is their primary duty to enrich and diversify Turkey's cultural and artistic life, to increase the number of events from exhibitions to festivals, from concerts to representations, and to increase the number of people they reach.
Emphasizing that in order to achieve this goal, they have to save culture and art from the boundaries of certain periods and certain places, and ensure that they are an integral part of life in a way that it is possible to interact at any moment, Minister Ersoy stated that cultural centers are the foremost service area for this.
Minister Ersoy stated that cultural centers are important for citizens to spend quality time and personal development, and said:
“The distance covered in culture and art since 2002 is at an enormous level. When we took over this service race in 2018, we continued our journey without slowing down, planning what we could add to it. From İzmir to Tekirdağ, from Sivas to Van, from Mersin to Burdur and Çanakkale, we implemented our cultural center projects one by one. We opened our new Presidential Symphony Orchestra building, which is a unique work of art, in Ankara. In Istanbul, the construction of the Atatürk Cultural Center (AKM) is rapidly coming to an end, befitting the splendor of art and the Beyoğlu Cultural Road Project. The number of cultural centers brought to our country by our ministry by the end of 2018 will be increased to 9, with 2021 cultural centers that have been put into service since 122 and brought to the stage of opening. Hopefully, in 2022, we will continue on our way with Balıkesir Bandırma, Ordu Ünye and Giresun cultural centers.”
Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said that they provided funding support to 60 different projects during his ministry, and Hasan Can Cultural Center, built by Altıeylül Municipality, is one of them.
Providing information about the cultural center, Minister Ersoy said, “This center, which has a construction area of 2 square meters, has a hall for 210 people and includes a 440 square meter youth center, an exhibition hall and a prayer room. I expect our municipality to provide good and intensive services to our people in this center. I also ask our people to keep your interest and always put forward your wishes and expectations.” he said.
Minister Ersoy also added that they will support the staging of many plays performed in the State Theaters in the theater hall in Hasan Can Cultural Center.
Hasan Can, whose name is given to the cultural center and who served as the Mayor of Ümraniye for three terms, also attended the ceremony.
Balikesir, Europe's Outstanding Destination Award Presented
Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy congratulated those who contributed to Balıkesir's European Elite Tourist Destination (EDEN) and Aeneas Route to receive the “Council of Europe Cultural Routes Certificate”.
Minister Ersoy participated in the program held at the Courtyard Congress and Culture Center, as Balikesir was deemed worthy of an award in the field of Health and Well-being Tourism in the EDEN project and received the "Aeneas Route" European Council Cultural Route Certificate.
In his speech here, Minister Ersoy said that the European Destinations of Excellence Project is a study that aims to draw attention to the common and different characteristics of European tourist destinations, as well as the values they contain, and to promote economic development by ensuring the social, cultural and environmental sustainability of tourism.
Minister Ersoy stated that in this context, the European Commission opens a program every year by determining a new theme, the national destinations selected by the eligible countries are given the "European Outstanding Tourist Destination Award" and promotional activities are carried out throughout Europe.
Stating that as a Ministry, they included 2016 national and 2017 finalist destinations in this program between 2008-2019, excluding 7 and 25, Minister Ersoy said:
“Within the framework of the determined themes, 'Gaziantep Province', 'Taraklı District of Sakarya Province', 'Ankara Altındağ- Hamamönü Urban Design and Rehabilitation Destination', 'Bitlis-Nemrut Crater Lake', 'Kars Kuyucuk Lake Wildlife Development Area' and 'Edirne-History Kırkpınar Events' has been chosen as a national destination. The national destination of 2019 was Balıkesir with the theme of 'Health and Well-being Tourism'. As a second and again a very important success, the 'Aeneas Route' was awarded the Council of Europe Cultural Route Certificate. This international route departs from Troy in Turkey, sails from Edremit Antandros and continues over Greece, Albania, Tunisia and Italy. Aeneas is also of great value as it is the first archaeological route of the Council of Europe Cultural Routes program. This route connects the archaeological sites, archaeological sites and rural and natural areas of the five countries in question, which are on the UNESCO World Heritage List.”
Minister of Culture and Tourism Ersoy pointed out that the number of certified cultural routes passing through Turkey increased to seven after Balıkesir's Aeneas Route received the Council of Europe Cultural Routes Certificate and said, “European Jewish Heritage Route, Olive Tree Route, European Thermal Cities Route, Iron Curtain. Cycling Route, European Industrial Heritage Route and European Ceramic Route are our other certified routes.” said.
Minister Ersoy reminded that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism initiated the "Provincial Promotion and Development Program" within the body of the General Directorate of Promotion and the Turkish Tourism Promotion and Development Agency in order to promote more effectively the provinces and sub-destinations in the national and international arena.
“Within the scope of this work aimed at developing a sustainable cooperation model, we aim to establish a Provincial Promotion and Development Board structure in all of our 81 provinces. We started working with 7 selected pilot provinces. Balıkesir has been chosen as one of our pilot provinces, considering its structure prone to the board and cooperation model. We, in all regions of Turkey rich in local, original and natural values, bear the traces of significant cultural interaction; We aim to protect and promote these values by creating routes covering historical structures, ancient roads and settlements. Silk Road, St. Paul's Way, walking and cycling routes covering ancient civilizations such as Lycia, Pisidia, Caria and Phrygia; Cultural routes such as Evliya Çelebi and Mimar Sinan can be given as examples.”
Noting that they aim to respond to alternative tourism approaches that have developed after the epidemic with routes developed around different themes from gastronomy to faith, Minister Ersoy emphasized that they give priority to routes that will support local development, different types of tourism and regions, and said:
“When we look at it today, we have nearly 100 routes in four different regions in cycling. These routes are divided according to the types of bicycles in the regions and pass through historical values and natural beauties. In addition, they are preparing to contribute to gastronomic tourism and cultural tourism. Our gastronomic routes have been created to include the cuisines of local cultures in different regions, as well as natural and geographically marked products. We present dozens of different gastronomic values, which they can recognize in a short distance, as a route. We have dozens of hiking routes from all regions of Turkey. All of them are available on the GoTürkiye.com platform ready to use.”
Noting that they have created 30 faith routes in seven regions of Turkey, Ersoy concluded his words as follows:
“We introduce these routes, which connect places of worship and holy places belonging to many different faiths that have left their mark on our land, in a way that visitors can visit and see within a certain theme. Apart from these, we have routes that are accepted by international organizations such as UNESCO and the European Cyclists' Federation. We are also included in UNESCO's European Cultural Routes Network. I congratulate everyone who has contributed to the work, both for the 'European Distinguished Tourist Destination Award' and for the Aeneas Route to receive the Council of Europe Cultural Routes Certificate.”
After the speech, Minister Ersoy presented the award to Balıkesir Governor Hasan Şıldak.
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