First lady Emine Erdoğan attended the "Medicinal and Aromatic Plants" exhibition hosted by the Western Mediterranean Development Agency during the 15th Annual Meeting of the Regulatory Cooperation Network for Herbal Medicines (IRCH) and the Workshop on Guidelines and Strategy Development for Traditional and Complementary Medicine Practices, which was hosted by the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) in Istanbul.

In her opening speech for the workshop, Erdoğan said: "For centuries, physicians have studied nature and read everything created line by line with the view of wisdom to protect people's health, which is considered sacred, and to develop treatment methods for this purpose, as a manifestation of the verse 'We have created man in the most beautiful form.'"

''One of the most ancient sources of healing is undoubtedly the plant kingdom, which still contains countless undiscovered species. Today, treatment with plants, known as phytotherapy, has become an evidence-based treatment method with scientific validity," she said.

"Anatolian lands are in an important position in terms of ancient medical resources," she added.

After the opening speeches, Erdoğan visited the exhibition areas of the event with Health Minister Fahrettin Koca and the accompanying delegation and visited the "Medicinal and Aromatic Plants" exhibition organized by the Western Mediterranean Development Agency (BAKA).

Erdoğan, who also listened to the informative presentation on the plants grown in Antalya, Burdur and Isparta provinces by BAKA experts, said: "Anatolian lands maintain an exceptional place in the field of treatment, with 12,000 plant species, 3,000 of which are endemic."

"Anatolian lands are important in terms of ancient medical resources, not only in terms of plant diversity but also because many important physicians and scientists have lived in them. From Razi to Ibn Sina, from Hippocrates to Galen, the discoveries of countless scholars and the works they wrote are still waiting to be explored by our scientists," she added.

Erdoğan and the accompanying delegation also visited the "History of Medicine in Anatolia" exhibition prepared by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The exhibition introduces books and plants containing traditional medicine methods.

Speaking about the event, BAKA expert Yücel Yıldırım said: "Within the scope of these workshops themed Traditional, Complementary and Functional Medicine Applications, we held our exhibition where we introduced 20 different plants, especially plants such as lavender, oil rose and fennel, which are widely cultivated in our regional provinces.

"Within the scope of this exhibition, we informed Mrs. Emine Erdoğan and Minister of Health Dr. Fahrettin Koca about the medicinal and aromatic plant assets of our region. Informative documents prepared by our agency on medicinal and aromatic plants were also distributed to the workshop participants during the four-day event."

Yıldırım also noted that BAKA will continue its branding and promotion processes on medicinal and aromatic plants in Antalya, Burdur and Isparta provinces.