10 November 2015 - The Philippine Embassy in Ankara, led by Ambassador Maria Rowena Mendoza Sanchez, visited Konya, a city in the central Anatolian region in Turkey, from October 03 to 04.

Professor Clarita R. Carlos of the University of the Philippines, ASEAN expert, and former President of the National Defense College of the Philippines, joined the Embassy team’s excursion to Konya.

The delegation was hosted for lunch by the Necmettin Erbakan University at the university cafeteria showcasing Turkish cuisine.

While in Konya, the Philippine delegation immersed themselves in the history and culture of Konya and into the life of the renowned mystical poet and philosopher Jalalud’din Rumi or Mevlana whose teachings on the subject of ‘love’, ‘tolerance’, etcetera  have transcended ethnicities and religious sects.

The group explored the city’s commercial district before entering the mausoleum of Rumi (Mevlana Museum), then attended a Sema Ceremony (the so-called ‘Whirling Dervishes’) at the Mevlana Cultural Center in Konya.

The group also visited the old village of Sille which was inhabited by the Orthodox Greeks in the past whose peaceful coexistence with the Turks in Konya was ordered by Rumi himself. An old Orthodox Christian Monastery and church (Aya Elena) still stood in the village and is now one of the highly visited tourist spots in Konya. END