Turkish Cultural Week to be held in Tanzania

İstanbul Today's Zaman The first ever Turkish Cultural Week in the African nation of Tanzania is set to take place from Oct. 28 to Nov. 6, says Turkish Ambassador to Tanzania Şander Gürbüz. Noting that Tanzania sees Turkey as a model country, Gürbüz told the Anatolia news agency that the country attaches great importance to its bilateral relations with Turkey.



"Tanzania is virtually a door to eastern Africa. The Tanzanian people have taken a strong liking to Turkey. We can largely attribute this to our promotional activities," he said. The cultural week will take place at the city's only five-star hotel, Kempinski Kilimanjaro, and will feature Turkish music and art. "As part of the events, five artists from the İstanbul State Turkish Music Ensemble, one ebru [paper marbling] artist and one hat [calligraphy] artist will come to Dar es Salaam. In this way, during Turkish Cultural Week, Turkish music and our traditional arts will be introduced to Tanzanians for the first time. Also as part of the events, a photography exhibition featuring images of İstanbul by Orhan Durgut will be on display for Tanzanians," he explained. In addition to artistic events, the finest examples of Turkish cuisine prepared by Turkish chefs will be presented at the hotel during the week. "I am greatly pleased that our cuisine, an important indicator of the richness of our history, will be introduced to Tanzanians," the ambassador noted. "I believe that Turkish Cultural Week will greatly contribute to increasing the visibility of our country in Tanzania. We aim to make this a regularly held event," Gürbüz added. The ambassador further said that important developments have taken place to boost the relations between the two countries, recalling high-level visits between the two nations as well as Turkish Airlines' (THY) recent launching of a flight between İstanbul and Dar es Salaam. CIHAN