President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a speech at the opening of the 3rd Yeditepe Biennial in Istanbul

 

President Erdoğan said: “The Yeditepe Biennial is a very precious step that combines the classical Turkish arts, which harbor the spirit of this geography, with the climate of contemporary culture and arts. The cultural and artistic treasures, which inspire this event, are one of the most beautiful signs of who we are, where we have come from and what kind of a past we have inherited. We are a nation that speaks through tiles, explains through calligraphy, prays through marbling, and pictures patience through ornamentation. There is no conceit, or especially ostentation in our cultural understanding.”

Stating that today Türkiye brings to minds not only its political borders, but also a vast geography of affection and culture, President Erdoğan noted: “Our governmental agencies, foundations, unions and many other institutions reinforces each passing day our solidarity with our friends and brothers and sisters in the geographies dear to us. The foundation on which our language, culture, ideals, traditional arts, shortly our civilizational values are placed is strengthened each passing day through these activities. And, since we took office, we have provided strong support to these works, which had been neglected and pushed aside for decades. We have endeavored to firmly protect our roots via many projects and programmes we have carried out in the Balkans, Africa, Asia, Europe, Hijaz and the Caucasus alike. We have built new bridges between us and our brothers and sisters in the geographies dear to us.”