‘Art, culture prevail even if state weakens’

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

President Abdullah Gül poses with the recipients of this year’s Culture and Tourism Ministry’s Culture and Arts Grand Awards at a ceremony.

The gradual increase of Turkey’s stability and strength in recent years has helped productivity and success in the fields of art and culture, President Abdullah Gül said Jan. 30, citing Orhan Pamuk being awarded a Nobel Prize as an example of such success during this period.

“Now we are a country that faces problems faced by every country, while in the past, we were facing more abnormal domestic and external shocks. No doubt, revival of art and cultural life and presentation of very beautiful gifts to humanity is inevitable in such a country,” Gül said in a speech delivered at a ceremony granting the “Culture and Arts Grand Awards.”

The awards were presented this year to İslam Seçen, Fatma Çiçek Derman, Salih Balakbabalar, Hüseyin Öksüz, Alparslan Babaoğlu and Cahide Keskiner, who represent Turkey in the field of traditional Turkish arts. 

“Looking to the past, we see that roles of a lot of states and a lot of nations in history weakened, while some of them were even lost, but works of art and culture entrusted to the history of humanity are now part of the inventory of humanity,” Gül said. “Moreover, even when states weaken, activities of art and culture survive.”

Gül also congratulated newly appointed Culture and Tourism Minister Ömer Çelik, who also attended the ceremony, and wished him success.