500TH anniversary of world map by Piri Reis marked in brussels

An exhibition was opened by the Yunus Emre Institute in cooperation with Bilkent and Gent Universities in Brussels on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the World Map drawn by Piri Reis in 1513. The exhibition at the famous Library of Solvay brought together many politicians, diplomats, EU officials and art lovers from Turkey and Belgium. A panel was also organized prior to the opening of the exhibition, in which leading academics and experts discussed cartography of the 16th century and its legacy under the moderation of Alain Servantie, former European Commission Chief of Turkey Desk. Speaking at the opening of the exhibition, Director of Yunus Emre Institute Professor Hayati Develi said that they would continue to contribute to the promotion of Turkish culture and language with a total of 35 cultural centers in 25 countries and that people and countries should get to know and trust each other and make friends. For his part, Co-chair of the Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Commission Afif Demirkiran said that the cultural and art activities aimed at increasing the recognition level of Turkey within the EU were vitally important. Demirkiran added that such activities would also contribute to Turkey's EU membership bid.