BRUSSELS

Turkey's Yunus Emre Institute (YEE) and the Archers Foundation organized an event Sunday to promote traditional Turkish archery in the Belgian capital Brussels.

The Kemankes (Archer) Project was launched jointly by the two organizations to strengthen friendship and cultural relations between the Turkish and European peoples.

Hungarian-born Viktoria Angel, who learned Turkish at the Budapest Yunus Emre Institute, introduced traditional and modern Turkish archery to the participants and provided training.

“I learned traditional Turkish archery three years ago for the Kemankes Project. I am giving traditional archery lessons in Hungary,” said Angel, speaking to Anadolu Agency.

The event, where information about the place of archery in Turkish history and culture was given, attracted people of all ages.

At the end of the event, where most of the participants had their first experience of shooting arrows, sets of bows and arrows were presented to those who were successful in the competition.

- Event brings Turkey and EU closer

Laura Batalla Adam, secretary general of the European Parliament’s Turkey Forum, said she tried to shoot an arrow while attending the event for her personal interest.

“It was difficult, but I enjoyed it,” she said.

Pointing out that such events are important for building bridges between the Turkish and European peoples, bringing Turkey and the European Union closer and improving cultural relations, Adam said “it is good to see that there has been an increase in organizations recently that we can call 'soft diplomacy.'"

Noting that it is important in this context that YEE offers Turkish lessons in Brussels, she said she also took lessons to learn Turkish before.