World's biggest book fair to display Turkish classics

By Saliha Ozdemir

ISTANBUL (AA) – Turkish literary classics from a range of famous figures and translated into seven languages are set to go on display at the world’s biggest book and media fair.

The five-day Frankfurt Book Fair is to open on Wednesday. The selection of Turkish literature is made up of 64 books which include selected writings from figures as diverse as Sufi mystic Mevlana Jalal ad-Din Rumi and modern Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Munir Ustun, founder of the Mavi Agac Publishing House, told Anadolu Agency works by other figures such as Mehmet Akif Ersoy -- a prominent Turkish poet who wrote the national anthem -- would also go on display.

Ustun said the aim of the project -- supported by the Turkish Prime Ministry's Promotion Fund -- was to introduce the country’s culture.

He said the project would see the selection of Turkish classics translated into English, French, Spanish, Russian, German, Bosnian and Korean and be distributed to fair visitors free of charge.

The Turkish classics will also go on display in November in Guadalajara International Book Fair in Mexico and in April 2017 at the Sarajevo Book Fair in Bosnia and Herzegovina, he added.