ISTANBUL 2010 INTRODUCED IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture activities were introduced by press meetings, panels, receptions and visual art exhibitions organized in the European Parliament in Brussels.

Minister for EU Affairs and the Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis who participated in the activities, reminded the words of Spanish philosopher Jose Ortage Y. Gasset saying that "Spain is the problem, Europe is the solution" and said: "The situation has changed. From now on, Europe is the problem and Istanbul is the solution".

Bagis stated that the announcement of Istanbul, which was once the capital of Constantinople and the Ottoman Empire, as the capital of culture was quite natural. He said that Turkey's EU membership was quite natural as well.

Bagis pointed out the fact that Istanbul's most significant feature was its multicultural structure and he said that from different windows of his office in Ortakoy, one could see the minarets of the mosques, the bells of the churches and the domes of the synagogues.

Bagis stated that Istanbul hosted many people from different cultures, different nations, different religions and different languages and tastes. Reminding the minaret referendum in Switzerland, Bagis emphasized that what Europe, which has a Muslim population of 30 million, needed most was the culture of living together.

Bagis reminded that the young Muslim population who were involved in terror activities or rebellions were born and grown up there. He stated that Turkey's EU membership would be the best message to be given to both the Muslims living in Europe and to the minaret referendum.

Egemen Bagis stated that with the initiatives that the government started lately in Turkey, it was trying to establish a dialogue with different ethnical and religious groups and added that it was a "European method".

Source: AA