ANKARA: Cultural goods exports of Turkey, which mainly consists of the exports of handicrafts, has increased by 120 percent in the past five years, reports said on Wednesday.
The exports value of cultural goods has amounted to 17.8 billion Turkish liras ($5.06 billion) in 2015, compared to 8.2 billion liras ($2.33 billion).
Cultural goods exports comprised 4.6 percent of the total goods exports of Turkey in 2015, compared to 3.6 percent in 2011.
The data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) indicates that handicrafts accounted for 70 percent of the total cultural goods exports, followed by the exports of audio visual medias exports with 26.4 percent, and the exports of books and printed medias with 3 percent.
Visual arts, performance arts, architectural design products, cultural heritage, archives and libraries were other export items contributing to Turkish cultural goods exports.
On the other hand, cultural goods imports of Turkey amounted to 14.78 billion liras in 2015, up from 8.43 billion liras in 2011 with a rise of 66 percent.
Audio visual media imports comprised more than half of the total cultural goods imports (55.4 percent) in 2015, followed by books and printed medias with 23.6 percent, and handicrafts with 15 percent.
