SFA-AGR-304-08

AMBASSADOR GUINOMLA JOINS TRIPS TO EASTERN AND
WESTERN REGIONS OF TURKEY

05 May 2008—As part of their familiarization tours of various regions in Turkey, Ankara-based diplomats visited Kars in eastern Turkey close to the Georgian and Armenian borders and Manisa and Edremit in the western parts of the country.

Philippine Ambassador to Turkey Bahnarim A. Guinomla, who joined the trip, said "such activities promote the relations between the foreign missions in the capital and the local officials and residents of the cities visited. Moreover, the visits acquaint the diplomats with local histories and cultures and enhance their understanding and appreciation of the country and its people."  The Ambassador added that the visits also afforded an opportunity for the diplomats to inform their hosts about their respective countries.

In Kars, Mayor Alif Alibeyoglu organized several activities such as skiing, horse sports, drilling into a frozen lake, tour around the city which is dotted with Soviet style buildings and in the ancient city of Ani which still has well preserved Armenian churches and a Seljuk mosque, said to be the first in Anatolia.  Cultural presentations that featured dances and songs of the south Caucasus area as well as local performances and music impressed the guests.  The Mayor danced the traditional Turkish Halay dance with Berly Guinomla, wife of the Ambassador.

In Manisa in western Turkey, diplomats were invited to the 468th International Mesir Macunu Festival that featured the re-enactment of the issuance of a decree by the Ottoman Sultan (Suleiman the Magnificent) to distribute herbal candies made from 41 herbs to the local people. This candy, according to story, cured the Sultan's mother who was ill at the time which started the centuries-old festival. The city is also described as the training ground for future sultans.

The candy festival was attended by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who threw the first sticks of candies to a large throng to signal the candy-distribution ceremony.

Following the distribution of the candies, candy throwers assigned in high structures including the minarets of the original 16th century mosque where the tradition all started literally rained candies to the crowd below who scrambled for them to see who could catch the most number of the herbal sweets which are supposed to restore youth, health and potency.  Local officials and members of the Parliament also took part in the festival.

In Edremit, a city between Izmir in the Aegean and Troy and Canakkale in the west, diplomats and their spouses were early this month shown Mount Ida in Gure which was mentioned in Homer's Iliad and the Odyssey. They also met Mayor Yunus Bozbey who welcomed them at the city's ethnographic museum.

Locals say the place has the best oxygen next only to the Alps. The area, they further claim, hosted the first beauty contest in ancient times.

The region which supplies much of Turkey's olive produce is also famous for its spas. END

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