Turkish vice president attends Nevruz celebration

Turkey's Vice President Fuat Oktay on Friday participated in the Nevruz celebrations organized by the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB) and Anadolu University in the central province of Eskişehir.

The celebration hosted students from Turkic world and started with the concert of Ottoman janissary team in the Turkish World Science, Culture and Art Center.

"There are Turkish-speaking communities all over the world. We are obliged to establish warm and sincere relationship with these communities," Abdullah Eren, the president of YTB said, noting that Nevruz is a common cultural heritage of the Turkic world.

"Nevruz means reinvigoration. It symbolizes the day when flowers bloom after a long winter. It also reminds us of the afterlife," Eren added.

The Nevruz festival, which also symbolizes brotherhood and peace, is celebrated mainly in Iran, Afghanistan, India, Turkic republics such as Azerbaijan, across the Caucasus and in Albania and Macedonia.

Also accepted as an UN-recognized international cultural day, Nevruz marks the start of a New Year and is considered as a forerunner of spring.

Established in 2010, the YTB is responsible for coordinating the activities of Turks living abroad and developing relations through economic, social and cultural activities.