Newsletters
Türkiye reached record-high figures in culture and arts in 2025, marking the strongest performance in the Republic's history, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said.
He also outlined major projects for 2026 and announced this year's Türkiye Culture Route Festival calendar.
Speaking at a press conference held at the Ataturk Cultural Center (AKM) in Istanbul, Ersoy said the expansion covered a wide spectrum, from museums and performing arts to libraries and archaeology.
Ersoy said the Türkiye Culture Route Festival, launched in 2021 with 80 venues and just over 2,000 artists, has steadily been scaled up each year.
He noted that the festival has been a member of the European Festivals Association since 2023.
Recalling last year, he said the festival ran for eight months across 20 cities, featuring over 9,600 events at over 1,000 locations and bringing together more than 50,000 artists.
Ersoy said the ministry has intensified efforts to register Türkiye's living traditions with UNESCO through its General Directorate for Living Heritage and Cultural Activities.
He said Türkiye now has 32 elements listed under UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage framework, ranking second globally.
He also said 102 master practitioners have been officially recognized as Living Human Treasures, a designation aimed at safeguarding traditional skills and passing them on to future generations.
Addressing performing arts, Ersoy said the 2025-2026 season is being rolled out under the slogan Art Everywhere. He linked growing audience figures directly to the increase in stage capacity.
He said State Theaters expanded from 28 stages in 2002 to 59 today, with a target of 64 stages in the upcoming season. Audience numbers, he said, rose from just over 1 million in 2002-2003 to nearly 2.3 million last season, intending to exceed 2.5 million this year.
Ersoy also said domestic productions continue to grow, noting that 99 local plays were staged during the previous season.
Ersoy said libraries play a central role in the Türkiye Century vision. He said the country now has more than 1,300 libraries, with seating capacity expanded to 150,000 and total usage space reaching 789,000 square meters.
He added that the Turkish Manuscripts Institution inventory reached 776,700 works, with 455,000 manuscripts made digitally accessible to researchers through yek.gov.tr.
Ersoy said 13,449 cultural artifacts were repatriated to Türkiye between 2002 and 2026, with 9,134 of them returned over the past eight years. He cited the return of a Marcus Aurelius statue as a symbol of Türkiye's determination.
Under "Heritage for the Future" initiative, he said 255 excavation sites are now included in year-round archaeological work. In 2025 alone, more than 1,200 specialists and 3,000 workers were employed, and over 15,000 archaeological finds were recorded.
He also said the Night Museums program has expanded to 27 museums and archaeological sites, with extended visiting hours at major landmarks such as Ephesus, Side and the Galata Tower.
Ersoy said a protocol signed in August 2024 with the state railways will see the historic Haydarpasa and Sirkeci stations preserved and reintegrated into urban life. He said the two sites are being transformed into Istanbul's new culture and arts island.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
3 min read
