Batyam and Edirne: Now Twin Cities

A Turkish delegation of nineteen people headed by Edirne Mayor Recep Gurkan arrived at Israel on the 26th of March and were welcomed by The Union of Jews from Turkey in Israel, (UJTI), and officials from the Turkish Consulate in Tel Aviv.

On their first day of their visit the guests attended a lecture on “Agriculture in Israel” by world renowned professor Shlomo Navaro, himself being a Turkish Jew born in Izmir.

On Sunday the 27th Mayors of Batyam and Edirne, Messrs. Tsvika Brot and Recep Gurkan signed the protocol declaring the two cities as “twin cities”. It was also decided that delegations from the two cities would start working on mutual development projects concerning education, tourism and bilateral business.

After the exchange of souvenirs by both Mayors, Messrs. Ovi Roditi Gulersen, President of UJTI, and Silvyo Ovadya, President of the 500 Years Foundation, emphasized in their speeches the important contribution of these visits to the normalization process between the two countries.

The day was ended by a cocktail party hosted by the UJTI at their premises in Batyam. Again, as usual, gifts were exchanged between the visitors and the hosts.

A touching documentary movie by Aydemir Ay was screened where the two floor, old, wooden childhood home in Edirne of Mrs Adato, Vice President of the Union was one of the highlights.

On that same night Messrs Gulersen, S. Ovadya, Niso Kaneti (Past President of UJTI) and M.Sekerci,(Turkish official of the Tel Aviv