Dutch Ambassador to Türkiye Joep Wijnands has hailed Ankara-Amsterdam bilateral relations as a "great partnership."
His comment came as the Netherlands embassy organised a concert at the Hierapolis ancient theatre in Türkiye's western Denizli province on Sunday. The event marks the 100th anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship between the Republic of Türkiye and the Netherlands.
Speaking to Anadolu, Ambassador Wijnands said the joint concert illustrates that "we have such a great partnership."
On bringing together the two orchestras for a joint concert in a special year, the Dutch ambassador said: "I think it illustrates the fact that we have a great partnership. Not only do we do business or work in the political field together, we also make music together."
Orhun Orhon, the conductor of Orkestra Akademik Baskent, described the concert in Denizli as "historical" and underlined that the bilateral friendship will be celebrated through the concert.
Another orchestra member, Spanish violinist Anna Albero, was very excited about the event and said concerts and music bring people together.
'Diplomatic ties for over 400 years'
The Dutch ambassador said they have also undertaken a project to translate books by Dutch children's author Annie M.G. Schmidt's works into Turkish.
Wijnands underlined that this year, the Netherlands was undertaking activities to help the reconstruction efforts in southern Türkiye, which was devastated by the February 6, 2023 earthquakes.
"We have invited students from the Netherlands to Türkiye to work on solutions for the reconstruction process," he said.
He pointed out that the Netherlands and Türkiye have maintained diplomatic ties for over 400 years, stretching back to the Ottoman Empire, and that there is a great friendship and partnership between them even today. He also underlined the importance of their relations as NATO allies.
On economic relations, the Dutch ambassador in Ankara lauded the strong and growing trade volume between Türkiye and the Netherlands.
"The Netherlands is proud to be the biggest foreign direct investor in Türkiye. We have more than 3,000 Dutch companies represented in Türkiye," he said.
He highlighted the presence of a large and successful Turkish community in the Netherlands, noting that second-generation Turkish Dutch citizens, whose parents had migrated to the Netherlands in the 1960s, are now successful entrepreneurs who invest in Türkiye from the Netherlands.
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