Turkey’s presidential library donates books to 56 countries

The presidential library, or as it is officially known, the Turkish Presidency Nation’s Library, gives back to the countries that helped it collect books. Since its inauguration in 2020, the library has donated books to 56 out of the 108 countries that contributed to the massive complex, the biggest of its kind in Turkey.

The library, located in the Presidential Complex in the capital Ankara and open to public, has sought books from abroad for its Cihannuma (World Atlas) Hall, furnished with more than 200,000 books in 140 languages. Books poured in, and now the library seeks to respond to the generosity of other countries by donating books about Turkish history, culture and literature published by Turkish public agencies.

The library’s director, Ayhan Tuğlu, told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Thursday that they started collecting books for the library in 2017 and cooperated with a culture department of the Foreign Ministry for access to books. “Every embassy and consulate abroad were notified and they in turn asked for book donations from relevant agencies in the countries they are located. More than 10,000 books arrived from 108 countries, and we expect more. For instance, we hosted the Mexican ambassador in Ankara here and Mexico pledged to give books. Later this month, Brazil will donate books,” he said. “We asked them to donate books on history, culture and literature, and we are sending books in the same fields,” he added.

So far, books have been sent to Oman, China, South Korea, Algeria, Venezuela, Kazakhstan, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Singapore, Azerbaijan, Jordan, Russia, Spain, Germany, Greece, Belarus and Albania, among others. Donations include books about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, Seljuk and Ottoman architecture, Anatolian civilizations, ancient cities of Turkey, Ottoman history, Turkish cuisine, Turkish dictionaries, ancient Turkic inscriptions, calligraphy, as well as the Diwan Lughat al-Turk, the first known comprehensive dictionary on Turkic languages compiled by renowned scholar Kaşgarlı Mahmud, also known as Mahmud Kashgari, in the 11th century.

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