Southeastern Turkish city gets a new culture center

GAZİANTEP - Anatolia News Agency

The new culture center project will reveal all the tourist and historical treasures in the area, according to Gaziantep Governor Erdal Ata. AA photo

Officials in the southwestern province of Gaziantep have broken ground on a new cultural center that is expected to become the centerpiece of a tourism master plan for the area.

“The newly developing project will reveal all the tourist and historical treasures in the area,” Gaziantep Gov. Erdal Ata said at the opening ceremony for the Belkıs Zeugma Cultural Center on Dec. 24.

The tourism master plan, which is being conducted in cooperation with the neighboring province of Şanlıurfa, is aimed at converting all of the Euphrates River Basin into a tourism center.

The project, which has been dubbed “Zeugma’s dance with the 21st century,” was designed by the Nizip
District Governor’s Office and is being supported by the İpekyolu Development Agency.

The area is very important in terms of its history and has been home to numerous civilizations throughout the centuries, the governor said, adding that tourism would develop over time as artifacts are revealed.

Such a growth in tourism will also result in increased regional investment, he added.