Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy stated, “If you own a work belonging to Turkey anywhere in the world, they now know that ‘Turkey will come to take it from you.’ As a result of our determined pursuit, the owners of the works have begun to return what belongs to us. Since taking office, we have brought approximately 8,000 works to our country, to their rightful lands.”

The launch of the book “Cultural Mobilization of Turkey in the 21st Century” and the opening of the “No Escape” exhibition were held at the Atatürk Cultural Center organized by the Presidential Communications Directorate.

Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy and Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun toured the exhibition and received information about the works before the program. “We HAVE BROUGHT 8,000 WORKS TO OUR COUNTRY” Speaking there, Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy emphasized that the works belonging to Turkey located anywhere in the world have been reclaimed, saying, “Since my colleagues and I took office in 2018, we are implementing determined steps towards preserving, developing, and promoting our cultural heritage.

With the projects we carry out at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, we are not only protecting our cultural heritage but also working to make it more visible on the international stage.

We are bringing works belonging to these ancient lands wherever they may be in the world… If you own a work belonging to Turkey anywhere in the world, they now know that ‘Turkey will come to take it from you.’ As a result of our determined pursuit, the owners of the works have started returning what belongs to us.

Since taking office, we have brought approximately 8,000 works to our country, to their rightful lands.” he said. “REGISTERING OUR COUNTRY’S CULTURAL HERITAGE ON THE UNESCO TEMPORARY HERITAGE LIST” Minister Ersoy pointed out that we are the 2nd country with the most listed elements, stating, “Our Ministry’s other major topic is libraries. We have opened a total of 524 libraries since 2018, including 204 brand new libraries built from scratch in places that had no libraries.

This year, the number of libraries serving under our Ministry has reached 1,296. We are also pleased to have increased the number of our mobile libraries and baby libraries.

The Rami Library is one of the leading libraries we have recently opened. When we look at the number of visitors to this library, which also serves as a culture and arts center, we can see once again how right of a step we have taken. Let me remind you briefly of what we have done. We are registering our country’s cultural heritage on the UNESCO Temporary Heritage list.

Fortunately, our efforts, including in 2018, have resulted in the inclusion of 4 areas on the list. As a result of our country’s efforts, we have become the 2nd country with the most listed elements in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists, with 30 cultural values.

To facilitate our people’s access to culture and art, we have initiated the Turkey Culture Road Festivals. We aimed to bring the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of our cities together with all our visitors.

This excitement, which started with the first steps taken in a city four years ago, has since grown by taking root in seven regions and 16 cities today. Next year, we will continue our journey by adding Malatya, Manisa, Mardin, and Kayseri to the Turkey Culture Road Festivals route.” he concluded.