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Minister of State Pieper awards the 2012 Tarabya Translation Prize
Minister of State Cornelia Pieper is to present the Tarabya Translation Prize on Saturday (17 November) together with the Turkish European Affairs Minister, Egemen Bǎgiş, in the German Consulate-General in Istanbul.
Translation prizes and newcomer achievement prizes are awarded for outstanding translations of both Turkish and German literature into the other language. This year, the translation prizes are being presented to Cornelius Bischoff and Ahmet Arpad. Ayça Sabuncuoğlu and Johannes Neuner are to receive the newcomer achievement prizes. Sabir Yücesoy is to be awarded a working scholarship in the Literary Colloquium Berlin.
Before departing for Istanbul, Minister of State Cornelia Pieper issued the following statement:
I am delighted to have the opportunity again this year to present the German-Turkish translation prize to outstanding literary translators. On the one hand, our aim is to promote intellectual and cultural exchange between Germany and Turkey. On the other hand, we want with this prize to pay tribute to the important role played by literary translators as bridge-builders between cultures. With their translations, they give the readers a key with which they can open the door to another world. They play an active role in increasing international mutual understanding in the best sense of the term.
The Tarabya Translation Prize, launched by the Federal Foreign Office, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey, the Goethe-Institut in Istanbul, the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the S. Fischer Foundation, is now being presented for the third time as a joint German-Turkish project under the auspices of the Ernst Reuter Initiative for Intercultural Dialogue and Understanding.
At the end of her stay in Istanbul, Minister of State Cornelia Pieper is to visit the 2012 International Istanbul Book Fair on Monday (19 November). Before doing so, Minister of State Cornelia Pieper will meet with scholars from the Tarabya Cultural Academy. There will be a press briefing after the meeting.