Qatar cultural days start in Ankara

The Qatari Embassy in the Turkish capital of Ankara organized "Qatar Cultural Days", a variety of exhibitions aiming to promote interest in Qatari culture and arts in Turkey. The exhibitions, ranging from handicraft arts and local cuisine to dance and sword shows, will remain on display through May 11 in Turkish capital's Cer Modern Arts Center. Ozgur Ozarslan, undersecretary for Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Mubarak Bin Nasser al-Khalifa, secretary general of Qatari Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage, Abdul Razaq Abdul Jalil Abdul Ghani al-Abdul Ghani, Qatar's ambassador to Turkey, as well as ambassadors and diplomats visited the exhibition stands and attended the opening ceremony of the event. In his address to the gathering at the ceremony, Ambassador Al-Abdul Ghani said he was honored to have the opportunity to organize the cultural days that they had been waiting for years to host. "For our Turkish brothers to have the chance to get acquainted with Qatari culture, I would like to express my desire to continue holding cultural days at least every two years in other Turkish cities such as Istanbul, Izmir and Antalya," Al-Abdul Ghani said. The ambassador said he hoped the cultural activities would help further enhance relations between Qatar and Turkey, already on friendly terms. Also addressing the gathering, Ozarslan said the cultural days would be a great occasion to bring the two countries closer. "Cultural dialogue is one of the best ways to bolster peace, tolerance and understanding between societies," Ozarslan said. "Our cultural relations with Qatar, thanks to strong historical ties, are based not upon mere partnership, but upon feelings of kinship and brotherhood."