I would like to thank the Turkish Foreign Ministry to have given us the opportunity to open such an exhibition in this august hall. The exhibition is a special one in many respects.
- Firstly - it is already the second Austrian exhibition which we are able to show here, the first having been shown in November last year on the Austrian school in Istanbul.
- Secondly - it is a joint venture, an Austrian-Turkish joint venture and thus the expression of the so manifold and fruitful cultural influence between our two countries: the tulip around which the Austrian part of the exhibition was developed was brought to Austria and Europe from Turkey, the Ottoman Empire. Today we are witness of an Austrian artist, Mrs. Bandera, who excels in the typical Turkish/Ottoman Iznik painting to such an extent that she is considered to be a Turkish Iznik painter and is called master by Turkish students.
- Thirdly - the exhibition has also a political side as both artists represent their countries in one or the other way also "politically". Mr. Öztas is working in the Turkish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and is thus one more of the so many artists you have in your ministry, Mrs. Bandera is the wife of the Austrian trade representative in Ankara.
- Fourthly - the exhibition is also an Austrian-Turkish-French co-operation, a co-operation that historically could not be seen too often - but apparently love has made it possible. I am personally very happy to show to the public in Ankara such types of exhibitions.
- Fifth - the exhibition combines different genres of arts - painting, ceramics, lyrics - a nice combination that shows the multitude of artistic expression.
I wish you all a nice evening and hope to see you on similar occasions in the future.
