Out and About: Poetry and politics at institute opens

une 21st, 2015 7:00 am| by Jenna Kleinwort

Kurdish writer and journalist Jan Pêt Khorto, who is originally from Aleppo in Syria, was among the many in attendance at the opening ceremony of the Syrian Cultural Institute at Global Copenhagen in Nørrebro on Tuesday May 26.

Khorto, who came to Denmark as a political refugee in 2008, took to the stage to recite poems that recalled his time in a political prison in Syria and the frightening crossing of the Mediterranean sea in a boat filled with refugees.

Also among the speakers was Professor Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen (right) from the University of Copenhagen, who is an expert in Middle Eastern studies and has been confirmed as the first leader of the institute. The institute will try to assist newly-arrived Syrians settling in Denmark – last year 5,401 Syrian refugees moved to Denmark compared to 1,760 in 2013 – mainly by putting them in touch with already-established, well-educated Syrians living here.