When Rudyard Kipling said “East is east and the west is west and never the twain shall meet” he might as well have been referring to modern day Turkey, where available resources, attitudes and lifestyles in the west and the east are so different that they indeed seem as if they shall never meet. 

Anadolu Kültür is the non-profit institution established for enabling culture and arts to provide the medium for the twine to meet: A civil initiative founded in 2002, Anadolu Kültür strives to generate dialogue that transcends geographic and political divides by sharing and diffusing cultural programs and supporting artistic production.

 Anadolu Kültür believes that individuals of different backgrounds, identities and belief systems can communicate through artistic forms of expression and that cultural exchange can lead to mutual understanding and empathy.

 Anadolu Kültür actively works to disseminate to Anatolian cities cultural programs which, like economic resources, are concentrated in the west of the country, so that the sharing of ideas and the relationships formed will further discussion on notions of citizenship and identity and provide platforms for social cohesion to flourish.

 By investing in arts and culture, Anadolu Kültür is investing in the means for Turkey’s east and west to engage not only with one another but also with Europe and the wider world.