The Korean Cultural Center of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea on Saturday held the Turkey final of the 2016 K-POP World Festival in Ankara, in which 15 performers who passed pre-selection competed in song and dance categories to join the final of the worldwide contest that is being held for the sixth time.Talking with Daily Sabah, the counselor of the South Korean Embassy, Dong-Woo Cho, said that the event was actually planned to take place two weeks ago, but was postponed due to the July 15 coup attempt. Cho said that next year will be "Turkey year" in Korea and "Korea year" in Turkey, as 2017 will mark the 60th year of the Korean-Turkish relations. The Turkey final of the K-POP contest will be held in Istanbul in 2017. Cho further said the cultural activities of the embassy will continue, adding that next year's contest will include a Korean language contest as well as other new ones. The counselor also said the embassy will be working on bringing popular K-POP bands to Turkey as part of the 60th year celebrations upon heavy demand from Turkish fans.In the contest, Perihan Aslan won first place, Asel Hallaç was second and the TIGRIS dance group was third, followed by Sima Baytorun in fourth and Sinem Kadıoğlu in fifth place. First place was awarded TL 3,000 ($1,000), the second TL 2,000, the third TL 1,000, the fourth TL 700 and the fifth TL 500 worth of gift cards from LG. The winner of song category, Aslan, and TIGRIS in the dance category, were both announced to represent Turkey in the world final of the 2016 K-POP World Festival to be held in September in Changwon, South Korea.The jury evaluating the performances included Cho; director of Gazi University Turkish Music State Conservatory, Professor Dr. Gülçin Yahya Kaçar; the general director of the Directorate of Ankara Ballet of State Opera and Ballet, Serhat Elifer; the Korean Tourism Organization assistant branch manager Jang, Von Kim; and the founder of Lovely329 Entertainment, Dong Sik Kim.At the event, albums of famous K-POP bands and Korean cuisine were on hand, and attendees had the chance to have their photos taken in traditional Korean clothes.