Turkey, the Netherlands look towards 400th anniversary of bilateral ties in 2012

Turkey and the Netherlands believe that the integration process of Dutch Turks will gain important momentum in 2012, when the two countries celebrate the 400th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two. 2012 "will help Turks living here to cement their existence and to show their contributions to the society they are living in as well as their importance for the Turkish-Dutch ties, and also will help guide us on developing these relations for the future," said Ambassador to the Netherlands Ugur Dogan. Nearly 400,000 Turks live in the Netherlands. Dutch businessmen have been some of the top foreign investors in Turkey since the early 1980s, with nearly €20 billion of investment in Turkey to date. Last week saw high-level meetings between officials from both countries to speed up preparations for the 2012 celebrations. In The Hague last week Necil Ulgen, the head of the Turkish delegation, told Turkish reporters, "We recently had similar projects with Japan and France. Breaking from earlier experiences, we want the 2012 project with the Netherlands to have a lasting effect. That is, we shouldn't just say how nice it is to celebrate 400 years of ties, but instead should consider how this project could produce something for the future." Moreover, the project shouldn't focus merely on Istanbul, he said, but should also include Kayseri, Izmir, Antalya and other cities. The project, which will include numerous cultural events, exhibitions and conferences, will also visit many Dutch cities.