Madame Governor,
Director Nys,
(Dear Colleagues), the representatives of the Consular Corps;
Distinguished guests; members of the press,
Ladies and Gentleman,

Today, I feel privileged to address you in the impressive environment of Antwerps Sterckshaf Zilver Museum which houses numerous examples of excellent silverware.

To be exhibited in their collection, it gives me great pleasure to present this museum a Turkish Coffee and tea sets, illustrating the hundreds of years of traditions and crafts of Anatolian silversmiths,

The style of this craft is Silver filigree (Telkari) which requires immense patience and expertise to capture the harmony of silver with its form.

I would like to acknowledge the kind contribution of Madame Kenzi Çulhaoğlu, Cultural and Tourism Counsellor of the Embassy, as well as the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

I hope the exhibition of the Telkari/ Filigree silverwares will also shed a light and or evoke a further interest in the culture and art of the Turkish community.

Let me draw your attention to a correlation between this beautiful handcrafts and the hardworking forefathers of the Turkish community who came to Belgium 45 years ago.

You may wonder how? The Turkish migrants, in their effort and struggle to make a living in their new host country always shared a cup of Turkish coffee or tea to socialize with one another or simply to shed their homesickness.

Gone are the days of those difficulties but the significance