Turkish season activities set to start in France

YAYINLAMA
GÜNCELLEME

France is preparing to host the Season of Turkish Culture activities, which is set to start this July and last through March 2010. Among the planned activities as part of the event are the screening of award-winning Turkish movies, dance, and theater performances, and photo and art exhibits. The season will start with a performance by Turkey's famous dance group Fire of Anatolia at Paris' renowned Trocodero square. Two of the most important planned exhibits are an Ottoman Caftans exhibit at the well-known Louvre museum of Paris and an exhibit called Istanbul through the Ages at Grand Palais. The latter will be jointly inaugurated by President Abdullah Gul and French President Nicolas Sarkozy in July, which highlights the great importance placed by Turkey and France on the season. Paris Mayor Betrand Delanoe yesterday announced that to mark the beginning of the season, golden keys of Paris would be presented to three world renowned Turkish artists in July: 2006 Nobel literature prize winner Orhan Pamuk, famous photographer Ara Guler, and Nuri Bilge Ceylan, the last year's best director award winner of the Cannes Film Festival. The Season of Turkish Culture activities will seek to make Turkish culture better known across France and to encourage cooperation projects between the two countries. More than 400 artistic, educational, economic and cultural activities will take place in French cities such as Lyon, Marseille, Strasbourg and Paris as part of the season. The event aims to promote modern Turkey in France with its dynamism, differences, culture and heritage, and improve political, economic and cultural relations between the two countries. Forty-two exhibitions will be held in France during the season, giving the French people the opportunity to learn about Turkish movie, literature, music and culture.