By News Center

From September 16 to October 23, a large-scale project called "Turkiye Culture Route Festivals" covering five cities of the country will be implemented under the organization of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The project, which was founded for the first time in 2021 with the "Beyo?lu Culture Route Festival" in Istanbul, and held in Ankara, Çanakkale, Diyarbak?r, Konya and Nev?ehir in 2022, was organized in a particularly large format this year on the occasion of the 100th year of the Republic of Turkiye.

The aim of the project is to more fully introduce and promote Turkiye's rich cultural heritage, art, unique cuisine in each region, historical monuments - in short, colorful cultural and tourism palette to the world. This time, "Turkiye Culture Route Festivals" is expanding covering five cities, including Istanbul, Ankara, Çanakkale, Konya and Diyarbak?r, and hundreds of events are planned to be held as well.

In fact, this year, the route plan of the "Turkiye Culture Route Festivals" should have covered a total of 11 cities-provinces, including Gaziantep, which is known for its rich culinary culture and has been included in the UNESCO list. However, the country-wide consequences of the earthquake and disaster that occurred on February 6 and caused great loss and destruction in Gaziantep province changed the project's routes and time-space program. And events were organized within the framework of the project in several previously planned cities (including Trabzon and Nev?ehir in August).

The program of the "Turkiye Culture Route Festivals", which will cover five cities from September 16 to October 23, is unprecedented in the country's history.

Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy gave detailed information about this at the press conference dedicated to the launch of the project.

Stating that festivals where culture and art meet are organized along unique routes, the minister said that this time they will present a unique cultural and artistic experience with a series of events in 5 cities and provinces. During the "Turkiye Culture Route Festivals" days, from art to cinema, from literature to dance, from music to digital art, a total of 15,000 artists will participate in more than 3,000 events. Along with developing the cultural routes of our cities, we make culture and art accessible to everyone with the "Turkiye Culture Route Festivals" organized to showcase the cultural heritage of our country to the world," said Mehmet Nuri Ersoy.

This time the route of the "Turkiye Culture Route Festivals" will start from Çanakkale. The Troy Culture Route Festival, which will be held in Çanakkale on September 16-25, will include more than 100 events including exhibitions, concerts, talks and seminars in 40 venues.

The next address of the project will be Konya, the meeting point of mystical music in the world. A series of events will be held here from September 22 to 30. The 19th International Konya Mystical Music Festival is also included in this series. This year, musicians from Turkiye, Azerbaijan, Spain, Egypt, Germany, Uzbekistan, India and Iran will perform at the festival dedicated to the 815th anniversary of the birth of Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi.

The excitement of the festivals will continue at the same time - from October 1 to 23 in Istanbul and Ankara. More than 6,000 artists will meet art lovers at more than 1,000 events in 46 different venues at the Beyo?lu Culture Route Festival in Istanbul. In the Ulus district of Ankara, more than 500 events are expected to be held in 70 different locations with the participation of about 5,000 artists.

More than 2,000 artists and more than 500 events will spread the richness of Turkiye's culture and art from this region to the world at the Sur Culture Road Festival in Diyarbakir on October 8-16.

Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy also pointed out that these events will be attended by cultural and artistic figures from different countries, as well as members of the media. In 2021, we hosted members of the media from 29 countries, and in 2022, from 31 countries. This year, their range will be wider. This profit we got with "Turkiye Culture Route Festivals" is priceless..."

The minister said that the cities of Izmir and Adana will also participate in these festivals next year: "We are determined to continue expanding the Turkish Culture Route Festivals every year and make it traditional."