The official start of the 13^th Winter European Youth Olympic Festival in Erzurum will take place on next Sunday, February 12.

The official Opening Ceremony will take place at the Kazım Karabekir Stadium, which also hosted 2011 Winter Universiade’s Opening Ceremony, and will be open to public and free of charge.

The ceremony, which starts at 19:30, will include various events and surprises and it. Doors will be open to spectators from 17:00.

Then it’ll be a week of splendid competitions, with Europe’s best young winter sports athletes competing for medals in nine different sports until 18 February.

With only a few days left to the event, the Ministry of Sports and Youth has also invited some foreign Ambassadors to visit Erzurum and witness the level of preparations.

Serbian Ambassador to Turkey Danilo Vucetic is one of the guests and he said that he was very impressed with the city.

Vucetic said that he has been working in Turkey for three years but this is his first time in Erzurum and added: “I want to visit here again soon, at least for a weekend. It’s a modern city. I think that Erzurum has a chance improve its winter tourism.”

Vucetic visited the venues that will host the 2017 Winter EYOF and he said that he was very impressed. “We visited all venues and I’m very impressed with them. I’m sure that all the athletes will perform well with such good conditions. These venues are also important for winter tourism. It’s not just a compliment, I’m really impressed.”

The Delegate from the Finnish Embassy in Turkey, Jussi Soini, also stated that he’s very impressed with Erzurum, Finland being one of most successful countries in winter sports . He added: “It’s a nice city, especially for winter sports. There are lots of opportunities for winter sports here in Erzurum. I realise that these are really important especially for children.”