Culture and Tourism Minister Celik travels to beijing

Culture and Tourism Minister Omer Celik and his Chinese counterpart Cai Wu attended on Thursday an opening ceremony in Beijing which was organized to mark the 2013 Turkey Cultural Year in China. During the meeting, Celik recalled that the opening ceremony coincided with the Nowruz Festival, adding, "We will be giving out messages all along the historical Silk road with all activities to mark 2013 Turkish Cultural Year." Stating that the two countries have historical documents about one another, Çelik said, "We unfortunately learn our history from the West. We should be writing our common past together." For his part, Cai said that they were willing to further develop the cultural relations between the two countries and that Turkey and China shared a comprehensive history and culture. Cai added that he considered Turkey as the best holiday destination and the development of cultural relations would make positive contributions to the strategic cooperation.