April 12th, 2007, Thursday
Inauguration Ceremony & Gala Dinner
in the presence of His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister of Turkey
Çırağan Palace
Program
Departure from the hotels : 19:00
Cocktail : 19:30
Performance "A Lyrical History " : 20:00 - 20: 50
Gala Dinner : 21:00 - 22:15
Return to the hotels : 22:30 - 23:00
On the first day of the Summit, the Mayor of Metropolitan İstanbul Mr. Kadir Topbas cordially invites the participants to attend the Opening Ceremony and Gala Dinner to be held in Çırağan Palace.
Çırağan Palace
The palace, built by Sultan Abdulaziz, was designed by the ethnically-Armenian palace architect Nigoğayos Balyan and constructed by Sarkis and Hagop Balyan between 1863 and 1867. This was a period in which all Ottoman sultans used to build their own palaces rather than using those of their ancestors. Çırağan Palace is the last example of this period. The inner walls and the roof were made of wood, the outer walls of colorful marble. The palace was connected by a beautiful marble bridge to the Yıldız Palace on the hill behind. A very high garden wall protected the palace from the outer world.
The completion and the interior decoration of the palace continued until 1872. After taking residence however, Sultan Abdülaziz was not able to live long in his magnificent palace. He was found dead in the palace on May 30th, 1876, shortly after he was dethroned. His successor, his nephew Sultan Murad V, moved into Çırağan Palace, but reigned 93 days only. Deposed by his brother Abdülhamid II due to declared mental illness, he lived here under house arrest until his death on August 29th, 1904.
During the Second Constitutional Monarchy, Sultan Mehmet V Reşat allowed the parliament to hold their meetings in this building. Only two months later, on January 19th, 1910, a great fire destroyed the palace, leaving only the outer walls intact. Called "Şeref Stadı", the place served for many years as a football stadium for the club Beşiktaş J.K..
In 1991 , the ruined palace was restored, and a modern hotel complex was built next to it in its garden. Today, the building serves as luxury suites for the hotel, along with two restaurants that cater to guests.
Performance “The Lyrical Mosaic of Anatolia”
Overused, but true: Turkey is a country where continents meet. Each and everyone to pass through this gigantic gate connecting East and West, North and South, left something of their own at the doorway.
These remains have intermingled and blended with each other, and the result has been a mosaic –once again, overused, but true. Deciphering the mosaic and building a four-dimensional 'map' can be achieved with music, which is a wonderful device to see through time and culture.
Pentatonic, natural melodies came from antique Hellenic and Ionic civilizations to Byzantium, and were transformed into Greek, Armenian and Jewish religious music. Beats that Turks brought from Asia met with the rhythmic patterns of Africa, which arrived here by way of Arabia. All these have merged with each other again to reappear as Ottoman, Islamic music.
And, as early as the sixteenth century, polyphonic music was heard in Turkey. Each element re-affected the other ad infinitum…
April 13th, 2007, Friday
Host City Reception
Grand Bazaar / with musical performance
Program
Departure from the hotels : 19:50
Dinner&Performance : 20:30 -23:00
Return to the hotels : 23:00 - 23:30
İstanbul Grand Bazaar (Kapalı Çarşı , or Covered Market)
The Grand Bazaar (Kapalıçarşı- Covered Bazaar- in Turkish) in İstanbul is one of the largest covered markets in the world with more than 58 streets and 4000 shops, and has 250,000-400,000 visitors daily. Many of the stalls in the bazaar are grouped according to type of merchandise, with areas for leather coats, gold jewelry and the like. The bazaar contains two bedestans or domed masonry structures built for storage and safe keeping, the first of which was constructed in 1464 by order of Mehmed II. In 1894, it underwent major restoration after an earthquake.
Today the Grand Bazaar, being the biggest bazaar in Turkey, offers excellent shopping, beautiful Turkish carpets, glazed tiles and pottery, copper and brassware, leather garments, cotton and wool, pipes, alabaster bookends and a huge variety of other items.
“Coexistence” Concert
Only in İstanbul, prayers rising to the sky in different languages from the sanctuaries of 3 divine religions, reach excellency with common musical notes.
Diverse languages, religions and ethnicities coexisting in İstanbul creates a work of art coveted by the whole world: “İstanbul”, just like different notes turning into a melody caressing the soul…
This concert is composed of groups, conducted by Art Director and Conductor Taşkın Savaş along with Conductors Nişan Çalgıcıyan and Selim Hubeş.
Performance by Fatih Erkoç
Fatih Erkoç, one of the most gifted composer-singers in Turkey, is well known for his versatility in music, from jazz to pop, in a musical career spanning 30 years. His success lies in his mastery of various instruments, his vocals and his unique talent as a composer. His wife is the inspiration for most of his compositions. After graduating from İstanbul Municipality Conservatory, he was trained in Norway and took part in several orchestras in various Scandinavian countries and in jazz festivals in Italy, France, Finland, The Netherlands and the United States.
April 14th, 2007, Saturday
Farewell Dinner
"Bosphorus by Night"
Program
Departure from the hotels : 19:30
Bosphorus Trip : 20:00 - 22:00
Return to the hotels : 22:30
On the final day of the Summit, İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality would like to take all delegations on a Bosphorus trip by night with music.
The Bosphorus’ shores offer a delightful mixture of past and present, splendor and simple beauty, modern hotels, wooden mansions, marble palaces, rustic stone fortresses, elegant compounds and small fishing villages.
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