As the Term President of Global Public Diplomacy Network (GPDNet), Yunus Emre Institute hosted GPDNet’s 4th General Board Meeting in Istanbul between 19-22 October 2017. Seven active GPDNet members - Balassi Institute, Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, Korea Foundation, National Commission for Culture and The Art, National Institute for Cultural Orientation, Singapore International Foundation and Yunus Emre Enstitüsü - were present at the meeting alongside candidate members such as “Cultural Village Foundation (KATARA)” representing Qatar; “Comunidade Academica para o Desenvolvimento (CADE)” representing Mozambique and “Institute of the Lithuanian Language” representing Lithuania.

During one of their sessions the General Board discussed the accession of KATARA, CADE and Insitute of the Lithuanian Language to the GPDNet and unanimously agreed to give full membership to KATARA and associate memberships to CADE and Institute of the Lithuanian Language. The two day General Board Meeting had also provided the opportunity to make some very important discussions and decisions about the functioning of the Network. Recent enlargement increased the number of GPDNet’s member to 13 while allowing the organisation to run its activities on a larger geography.

Furthermore, “Belarusian Society of Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries” for Belarus and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan partook in the sessions as an observer.

Culteral Interaction at GPDNet’s 4th General Board Meeting

GPDNet’s 4th General Board meeting which was held in Istanbul between 19-22 October 2017 hosted social and cultural programs to spice up the Board’s agenda already busy with many brainstorming sessions as well as to enhance cultural interaction between member and candidate institutions. First, during one of the breaks, our guests Prof. Kai-Hsien Chen from the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at National Taiwan University and his wife Tung Shen (representing Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation/CCKF) delivered a seminar on the Oolong Tea Culture which we will not forget anytime soon. Their presentation on tea production and trade which actually has been making a major contribution to the economy of Taipei for hundreds of years offered the audience detailed information on history, society and culture. Stressing that not only the taste but the smell of the tea was just as important, our guests’ presentation continued with delicious rounds of Oolong tea service.

Secondly, after very tiring but equally intensive meeting of the 4th General Board, representatives were taken to a zestful adventure of Turkish food from the Ottoman to modern Turkish cuisine. They learnt much about the Turkish cuisine from its past and present!

Finally, representatives of all institutions participating the 4th General Board Meeting listened to Tuluyhan Uğurlu, one of Turkey’s most prominent pianists, at his public performance at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul on 22 October 2017, which had been a real feast of music for everybody. Historical visuals accompanying Tuluyhan Uğurlu’s piano recital titled “Mustafa Kemal and Soldiers of the Sun” in honour of October 29, the Republic Day, marking the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey, had offered a real walk in the history of Turkey for all members of the Network.