Concert at new congress center
AYDIN - Anatolia News Agency
Culture Minister Ertuğrul Günay performs onstage at a concert by the Anatolian Philharmonic Orchestra, with artists Bedia Akartürk and Elif Güreşçi. AA photo
Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay attended on Jan. 19 a concert by the Anatolian Philharmonic Orchestra that was organized at the Ephesus Congress Center, which will open in March at a ceremony to be attended by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.Günay has closely followed the construction process of the Ephesus Congress Center in the Aegean province of Aydın’s Kuşadası district. He said the center would serve world tourism as well as Turkish tourism, adding that the center had a capacity of 10,000 people. The goal of the new center is to enrich Turkish tourism, he said.
“Since congress tourism is a leading tourism type that brings together opinion leaders from around the world, it is very important to get high revenues. We have made a few centers in Istanbul and now we are trying to construct congress centers in other places like Antalya and Ankara. But the Ephesus Congress Center will serve İzmir, Aydın and the entire Aegean region,” he said.
When asked if the congress center would contribute to tourism and bed capacity, Günay said a boutique hotel would also be opened in Kuşadası simultaneously with the congress center.
Speaking about the Anatolia Philharmonic Orchestra, which is affiliated with the Culture
and Tourism Ministry, the minister said they formed the orchestra in 2012.
He said cultural tourism was not only limited to structures but that buildings should be filled with art.
“We have made a new trial and formed an orchestra that brings together traditional Turkish songs with universal forms in İzmir. We perform both Western songs and songs from our heart. We try to march from the local to the national and from the national to the global. Most of the performers in the orchestra are in the permanent staff, but they are volunteers. They visited Aegean villages by bus this past summer carrying the soul of the art.”
The Anatolian Philharmonic Orchestra performed a concert accompanied by Turkish folk song artist Bedia Akartürk and TRT artist Elif Güreşçi after the minister’s speech.
