Turkish minister inaugurates cultural center in Sudan

Culture Minister Numan Kurtulmuş inaugurated a Turkish cultural center in Sudan on Thursday.

Kurtulmuş is in Sudan for the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO)'s 10th culture ministers' conference.

The ISESCO conference is being organized within the framework of the 2017 Capital of Islamic Culture celebrations currently underway in Sudan's Sinnar province.

Speaking at an inauguration ceremony of the center in Sudanese capital Khartoum, Kurtulmuş said: "We will continue to be with the Sudanese people with [the support of] all our institutions and organizations."

Turkey's Yunus Emre Institute and the Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) built the center.

He said "colonization has never occurred to our minds while we maintained our ties with African countries for centuries".

Kurtulmuş said the restoration of the palace of Sultan Ali Dinar in Darfur in western Sudan -- a World Heritage Site listed by UNESCO last May -- would be completed next year by TIKA, and the construction of Al Kabir Mosque in Khartoum would also end.

Sudanese Culture Minister Hasab Al-Rasoul Ahmed El Shikh Badar, Turkey's Ambassador to Khartoum İrfan Neziroğlu, Yunus Emre Institute head Şeref Ateş and TIKA Sudan Coordinator Celalettin Güngenci also attended the ceremony.