Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest in Eastern Thrace and Western Asia), Turkey takes part in lots of Westerner organisations including their NATO membership in 1952 and associate membership in the European Economic Community in 1959. Test transmissions started on TRT 1 on 31 January 1968. A full national television schedule, which at that time linked the areas in and around Ankara, Istanbul, and Izmir, started in December 1971. TRT renewed its membership in the European Broadcasting Union (having been a founding member previously offering only radio) starting on 26 August 1972 with Turkey's first Eurovision Network event, a football match (Turkey vs. Italy), on 13
Thrace Foundation June 2009, a large team from the Thrace Foundation and Russia’s State Museum of Eastern Art presented an exhibition titled "The Salvaged Treasures of Ancient Thrace" in Moscow, which featured elements from the Vassil Bojkov Collection. The exhibition was part of "Тhe Year of Bulgaria in Russia" initiative and was held under the patronage of Russia’s and Bulgaria’s Ministries of Culture. This exhibition was the first public event of the new Bulgarian Union of Private Collectors. The organisation was established in March 2010, with Professor Valeri Stefanov as its chair. Sofia’s National Gallery of Foreign Art unveiled the exhibition on