Bursa Values ​​in Serbia Showcase

Bursa, which was chosen as the Cultural Capital of the Turkish World, was introduced with all its values ​​in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, which received the title of European Capital of Culture with the city of Novi Sad this year. Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Alinur Aktaş, who spoke at the event held to strengthen the relations between the two cultural capitals, said that the steps to be taken in this direction will further strengthen the ties between the two countries.

The Metropolitan Municipality continues its efforts to bring Bursa, which was selected as the Cultural Capital of the Turkic World in 2022 by the International Organization of Turkic Culture (TÜRKSOY), to the fore in the international arena. The last stop of the Metropolitan Municipality, which has carried out many international promotional activities in order for Bursa to get a greater share from tourism, was Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, which received the title of European Capital of Culture with the city of Novi Sad this year. Bursa Publicity Day event held in Belgrade was attended by Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Alinur Aktaş, Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Ahmet Misbah Demircan, Bursa Deputy Mustafa Esgin, TURKSOY Secretary General Düsen Kaseinov, Gürsu Mayor Mustafa Işık, Bursa Provincial Culture and Tourism Director. Kamil Özer, Bursa Commodity Exchange Chairman Özer Matlı, BTSO Board Member Alparslan Şenocak and tourism professionals from Bursa. Mayor Aktaş and the accompanying delegation, within the scope of their Belgrade contacts, firstly, Belgrade Mayor Prof. Dr. Visited Zoran Radojičić. During the visit, economic, commercial, social and cultural relations between the two countries were discussed.

Bursa introduced

Bursa photographs, tile and Bursa silk exhibitions held in the foyer area of ​​Belgrade Crown Plaza Hotel and the practice of obtaining silk thread from the cocoon by the traditional method attracted great attention from the participants. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Bursa Promotion Day event, where Bursa was introduced with all its aspects, Metropolitan Mayor Alinur Aktaş said that they wanted to increase the mutual interaction between Bursa, which was declared the 2022 Turkish World Cultural Capital, and Novi Sad, which was selected as the European Capital of Culture. Expressing that Bursa is a city with an 8500-year history that shapes the history, Mayor Aktaş said, “What we can tell here with movie screenings, exhibitions and speeches is just a brief summary of Bursa. Bursa is really a very special city. We have many values, from gastronomy to historical and cultural heritage and natural riches. We already have relations with the city of Novi Pazar. Last month, we hosted 60 students from Serbia in our Bursa. We also have tourism professionals here. I believe that with the bilateral meetings held, the relations between the two countries will continue to increase," he said.

“We feel at home”

Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Ahmet Misbah Demircan said that Bursa is one of the cities that best describes Anatolia and Turkish-Islamic culture. Underlining that they were in Serbia for the promotion of Bursa, Demircan said, “I came to Belgrade for the first time and I liked it very much. While looking at the whole Balkan geography, we feel at home 'for cultural closeness'. Of course, the close cooperation of our presidents has spread to the entire base in the recent period. If developments in the economy, culture and tourism are happening very quickly, this is due to the close dialogue of our presidents. We are grateful to them. They gave us this ground and we will continue to walk and develop relations on this ground," he said.

TURKSOY Secretary General Dusen Kaseinov reminded that they have made significant efforts in recent years to increase the interaction between the Turkic World Capitals of Culture and the European Capitals of Culture and emphasized that the cooperation agreement signed in this context is very valuable.

Bursa Commodity Exchange Chairman Özer Matlı also reminded that Serbia, which has the largest market among Balkan countries after Romania and Greece, has a potential of approximately 1.3 billion people.

Belgrade Mayor Prof. Dr. Zoran Radojičić also noted that he had the opportunity to see Bursa before and liked it very much.

Within the scope of Bursa Promotion Day event, tourism professionals from Bursa evaluated tourism opportunities between the two cities by holding bilateral meetings with Serbian tourism professionals.