More dialogue with Turkey
This year Deutsche Welle aims to intensify the dialogue with Turkey by strengthening its multimedia offerings in Turkish, producing a series of German language courses for Turkish users, conducting workshops with musicians and cultural journalists from Turkey and partnering with the Beethovenfest Bonn for the festival's activities in Istanbul.
"With this initiative, Deutsche Welle demonstrates the significance that Turkey holds for Germany," said DW Director General Erik Bettermann. Turkey plays a special role politically, economically and culturally for us and is an important target region for Germany's international broadcaster. For five decades, DW's offerings in Turkish have "offered an important interface in the two countries' bilateral relationship," Bettermann added.
Deutsche Welle's Turkish Department provides Turkish users with a multimedia news platform. On social networks like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, DW fosters a dialogue with its audiences in Turkey, who can also look forward to a planned expansion of video offerings and the start of a weekly TV magazine on Europe for partner stations in Turkey. Additionally, DW broadcasts 45 minutes of Turkish programming daily via radio.
Commissioned work by a Turkish composer
With a concert program under the motto "Encounter with Beethoven," Deutsche Welle is working together with the Beethovenfest Bonn and enhancing its cultural exchange with Turkey - this year's partner country for the Orchestra Campus, a project co-sponsored by the Beethovenfest and Deutsche Welle.
The Turkish National Youth Philharmonic Orchestra is this year's Orchestra Campus guest, and, accordingly, DW has commissioned a work from Turkish composer Mehmet Erhan Tanman. His piece titled "Traffic" will have its debut on September 19 at the Beethovenfest Bonn under Cem Mansur, the youth orchestra's conductor and artistic director.
At a Beethovenfest press conference, conductor Mansur praised DW for looking toward the future of music in Turkey by offering the commission to the 21-year-old Tanman.
DW will accompany the premiere with extensive reporting via TV, radio and the Internet. The concert will also be broadcast by partner stations in Turkey.
As part of this year's Orchestra Campus, discussion forums on the role of culture and education in the German-Turkish relationship will be held along with workshops for Turkish cultural journalists hosted by the DW Akademie. Media partners from Turkey include NTV, the newspaper "Radikal" and the radio broadcaster Acik Radyo 94.9 in Istanbul.
Coming up: German-Turkish online language courses
In the second half of the year, DW will begin producing a new series of German language courses tailored to Turkish users. The series titled "Harry - gefangen in der Zeit" (Harry - Trapped in Time) presents lively stories in 100 audio-visual episodes. Interactive features and the use of social media platforms provide language learners with a truly multimedia experience. By way of its new language course, DW intends to take up the topic of integration and what it means in light of the close relationship between Germany and Turkey.
Deutsche Welle offers German courses in Turkish and in 29 further languages. Those courses receive more than six million hits per month under the www.dw.de website.
DW as cultural mediator
As a mediator of culture, DW works closely with partners in Germany and in its target regions. For this year's joint Turkish-German cultural projects, renowned education and cultural institutions like Istanbul University, Istanbul Bilgi University and the Istanbul Music Festival agreed to take part. From the German side, the Federal Foreign Office, the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin (DSO) and the Goethe Institute in Istanbul have also pitched in.