H.E. Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, Sayın Bakanım,

Mr. Piet Hein Donner, Chairman of the Carnegie Endowment,

H.E. Marcin Czepelak, Secretary-General of the PCA,

Deputy Minister Heleen Bakker,

Deputy Minister Barbera Wolfensberger,

Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Dear Colleagues,

When the Peace Palace began to be built in 1907, countries were asked to contribute to its furnishing. The Ottoman Empire who participated in The Hague Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1907 had donated a gift to show its support to peace.

It was two of my predecessors Ambassadors Misak Efendi and Aristarchi Bey who had worked respectively to deliver the Hereke carpet by order of Sultan Abdulhamid II. Hereke carpet is one of the most valuable pieces of the magnificent Turkish cultural heritage. It is the biggest Turkish carpet outside Türkiye.

This carpet, besides representing a rich cultural heritage, was not only a support to the Peace Palace to show the aspiration for universal peace, but also was a visionary symbol for the historic ties between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Ottoman Empire. Official correspondence between the Ottoman Ambassadors and the Carnegie Foundation in this process sheds light on a very unique chapter of our history of diplomacy. Even during those most difficult times for the Ottoman Empire, that was a big effort to display support to peace

Our relations of almost five centuries date back to 16th century, but officially established with the arrival of the first Dutch Ambassador to Istanbul in 1612. The descendants of one of the last Dutch Ambassadors to the Ottoman Empire are also with us today.

Hereke carpet, which witnessed a lot of meetings in the Japanese Room, was naturally restored in Türkiye, in its place of origin, using sciencetific and traditional craftsmanship methods together.

For that we are thankful to our Ministry of Culture and Tourism, in particular our Minister H.E. Mehmet Nuri Ersoy. It was our Minister who had always monitored the process and made it possible to be concluded before the expected time.

The restoration was completed in one year in 2024 which coincided with the 100th Anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship between Türkiye and the Netherlands of 1924. It is also a good coincidence that the carpet has been delivered back in this year where our Embassy has restored the grave of Aristarchi Bey who had passed away herein the
Hague in 1914, after he delivered the carpet on 19 August 1911.

Ministry of Energy and of course the Municipality of Sultanhanı also participated in this process where the restoration work was carried by a highly professional team led by Mrs. Hatice Temur Yıldız. We sincerely thank all our institutions and everyone who contributed to the process.

I believe this carpet will continue to be a symbol of special relations between the two European countries from here to eternity and will continue to witness many diplomatic negotiations in the future.

Thank you.