The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), the country's leading aid body, announced Saturday evening it provided equipment support to a nongovernmental organization (NGO) that carries out activities for children, youth and women in the Algerian southern city of Timimoun.
All the training and workshop needs of the Tigurarin Association, one of the well-established associations in Timimoun, in the Great Sahara Desert were met by TIKA.
Türkiye's Ambassador to Algeria Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş and TIKA's Algeria coordinator Gökçen Kalkan attended the delivery ceremony held at the Tigurarin Association in Timimoun.
"This support to the Tigurarin Association has made us very happy because this association is trying to revive the traditional art of carpet weaving, which lasted until the 1940s and then faded into oblivion,'' Ambassador Göktaş said while speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA).
Pointing out that especially the women of the region who are trained in traditional carpet weaving by the association contribute to their families economically, Göktaş stated that with the support provided by TIKA, ''many women will be able to receive training on how to make traditional rugs and will have the opportunity to work from their homes."
TIKA's Algeria Coordinator Kalkan on the other hand said that they created a class within the association in order to provide theoretical training to young people on carpet production. He said that they supplied looms to this association operating in Timimoun, noting that many idle looms already existing at the center passed through the process of repairment as well.
"Efforts to revive traditional carpet production, which has been neglected for many years, are present in significant measure in recent years. This association is leading the way to regain lost motifs and production techniques," Kalkan also noted.
Stating that Timimoun is a city that began to develop in terms of desert tourism, Kalkan also pointed out that the activities undertaken by the association will help to contribute to rising economic opportunities for women there.
