"The President Cordially Invites..."

ankara 10
Newly-elected President Abdullah Gül has given his first reception at Cankaya Palace in Ankara. Representatives of NGOs, the media and the business world were invited.
Invited were representatives of the Turkish Union of Chambers and Stock Exchanges (TOBB), the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF), the Ziraat and Halk banks, the Association of Turkish Industrialists and Business People (TÜSIAD), the Independent Association of Industrialists and Business People (MÜSIAD), the Turkish Assembly of Exporters (TIM), the Confederation of Revolutionary Workers' Syndicates (DISK), the HAK-Is trade union, the Turkish Society of Journalists (TGC), the Turkish Trade Union of Journalists (TGS), the Association of Modern Journalists (CGD) and the Anatolia Agency.
Important names of the business world were joined by religious representatives: The Armenian Patriarch Mesrop Mutafyan, Turkey's Chief Rabbi Ishak Haleva, the President of the Alevi Cem Foundation Izzettin Dogan were all invited.
The media was represented by Vakit, Yeni Asya, Samanyolu TV and the Cihan News Agency, Reuters, AP and El Cezire TV.
There were delegates from the Young Civil Movement, the Human Rights Foundation (IHD), the Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TIHV), the Flying Broom, the Capital City Platform, and the Association for the Support and Education of Women Candidates (Ka-Der).
The Young Civil Movement representative gave Gül a present of a pair of red Converse shoes, which represent the movement. Gül said, "You got my shoe size right. I wear 43."
Gül introduced members of the movement to other guests by saying, "Do you know these young people? They write very witty articles. They practice opposition with beautiful irony. They are working for democracy."

Zeynep Piyade, the president of the Capital City Platform, the first headscarved woman to be invited to the Palace in the last seven years, asked Gül why his wife, Hayrünnisa Gül, was not present. She said: "She should not stay in the shadows." Gül answered, "She is not the kind of woman to stay in the shadows."
Halime Güner of the Flying Broom said, "At one point I hesitated about coming because one woman [meaning Hayrünnisa Gül] is locked up next door or upstairs." Gül answered, "She is a very powerful person. She will surmount this difficulty. There will be days when I will be together with Ms Gül. Believe me, that will be soon." (NZ/AG)