ISTANBUL, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Istanbul's Beyoglu district has been hosting Ramadan dinners everyday at the city's well-known Taksim Square during the holy Muslim month with a view to reviving the culture of neighborliness.
"It is very apparent that after last year's failed coup attempt and several terror attacks that hit the country, we need more unity and a sense of brotherhood," Ahmet Misbah Demircan, the district's mayor, told reporters on Wednesday during his visit to the soup kitchen.
He said the holy Ramadan provides the opportunity to consolidate unity and solidarity in society.
Meals were being made for a total of 5,000 people in the kitchen and would be delivered to the dinner tables set up in the square and several other neighborhoods for fasting break that starts at sunset.
A total of 20 people, including chefs and packaging service personnel, are working at the kitchen.
"The chefs begin working at 7 o'clock local time in the morning to prepare high-quality meals and make them ready for the fasting-break time," an official told Xinhua.
The mayor praised the kitchen personnel for their "excellent work," saying "Our staff in our municipal kitchen are cooking the meals with great care, obeying all the rules of hygiene."
During the month-long Ramadan that ends on June 24, Muslims in Turkey and other countries go through annual fasting from sunrise until sunset.
