Turkey: MP calls 2020 to be 'Ishak Pasha Palace Year'

By Muhammet Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA (AA) - A prominent Turkish lawmaker on Wednesday called on the government to announce 2020 as "Ishak Pasha Palace Year."

"We call on everyone to make Agri province, the city of Noah, survive and not to associate the region with terrorism but with tourism," Ekrem Celebi, a lawmaker from eastern Agri province, told the journalists in the parliament.

Celebi noted that they would continue their work on introducing their region.

"I call for 2020 as Ishak Pasha Palace Year," he noted.

Ishak Pasha Palace in Turkey's eastern Agri province has become the focus of interest for domestic and foreign tourists.

The palace, located in Dogubeyazit district, was accepted into the UNESCO Tentative List of World Heritage on Feb. 2, 2000.

The story of the Great Flood and Noah’s Ark has been mentioned in all Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

In the Quran, it is mentioned that Allah informed Noah about an impending flood that would engulf the entire Earth, saved him and all those who were with him in his ark. Noah then proceeded to build his vessel in which he kept members of his family along with pairs of all animals.

The search for Noah's Ark has been made for centuries, but so far no physical proof has ever been found.