Shafaq News- Ankara

A senior Kurdistan Region delegation joined Van’s World Breakfast Festival on Sunday, turning the Turkish city’s Guinness-famous food event into a platform for tourism, trade, and cross-border ties.

The delegation included Erbil Governor Omed Khoshnaw, Duhok Governor Ali Tatar, and Soran Independent Administration Supervisor Halkurd Sheikh Najib.

Khoshnaw said the delegation reached Van through the Zet border crossing, which opened in 2023 and has shortened travel between the Kurdistan Region and eastern Turkiye. Officials in Van welcomed the visit, saying it would strengthen friendship, expand commercial exchange, and support tourism between the Kurdistan Region and eastern Turkiye.

The Kurdish officials are expected to hold meetings with Van officials on the sidelines of the festival to discuss cooperation across several sectors.

Held on the first Sunday of June each year, the festival celebrates Van’s breakfast culture, one of the city’s most recognizable cultural and tourism brands.

Van gained international attention in 2014 after setting the Guinness World Record for the largest full breakfast attendance, with 51,793 people taking part at Ataturk Kultur Park. The city’s breakfast table is known for natural local products, including herbed cheese, honey, cream, butter, murtuga, kavut, cacik, fresh bread, and Turkish tea.

Van officials and tourism promoters have linked the breakfast tradition to the city’s dairy production, mountain herbs, plateau grazing, and location on historic trade routes.