Turkey, Palestine sign culture agreement

RAMALLAH

Turkey and Palestine signed an agreement over cultural cooperation during a visit by Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Nabi Avcı on Feb. 8. 

Avcı held talks with Palestinian Culture Minister Ehab Bessaiso in Ramallah in West Bank. 

Avcı told members of the press after the signing ceremony that he hoped the agreement would enable bilateral relations to develop further.  

The two countries are in plans to conduct joint events, where they aim to tell the world more about each other. 

These organizations would include the appreciation of the two countries’ literature, cinema, theaters, libraries, archives and media sectors, he said, adding that workshops would also be organized for Turkish and Palestinian youth in order to get them to know each other better. 

Avcı invited Bessaiso to the first Palestine Culture Week that is slated to take place in Turkey. 

Upon a question whether Turkey would open up a culture center in Ramallah, Avcı said Turkey was planning to open a culture center in Jerusalem and another one would in Ramallah. 

“Thereby, we will open two culture centers in Palestine,” Avcı said. 

Avcı also held talks with Palestinian Tourism Minister Rula Maya later in the day. 

His visit to Palestine came as part of a recent rapprochement between Turkey and Israel. After deciding to ease the six-year-long tense relations in mid-2016, Avcı had become the first minister to pay a visit to Israel since relations came to halt on May 31, 2010, when Israeli commandoes raided a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, the Mavi Marmara, and killed 10 Turkish citizens.