Annual Turkish American Legislative Friendship Dinner in Sacramento was held in the walking distance to the Capitol Building.
Thanks to the proximity, braving the intense summer heat and humidity in the capital city of California was not a huge challenge for the legislators, three current members of the Turkish parliament and one former member along with the members of the city police department.
Dozens of guests chatted with each other at the reception, then entered the area where the cultural performances of water marbling, calligraphy and folk dances were displayed.
After the welcoming speech by Pacifica Institute and West America Turkic Council, American and Turkish legislators stood on the platform side by side to express the importance of Turkish American friendship, cooperation and partnership.
The two deputies from Istanbul Gülay Dalyan and Sevim Savaşer were accompanied by the Yozgat deputy Yusuf Baser and former member of the parliament Mehmet Şahin who expressed their appreciation of the event which emphasized the importance of bilateral relations with mutual visits.
In midway through the event Dr Ahmet Kuru from San Diego State University summarized his tour to Qatar, Egypt, Kazakhistan, Turkey and Tunisia and offered his perspective about the Middle East.
After the final remarks, guests were invited to sip Turkish coffee and taste the delicacies of the cuisine.
The invitees watched the Bay Area Kids folk dance performance and the artists display the Ebru- water marbling (simply put painting on water) and the calligraphy in Latin letters.
Near the end of the night, the invitees were offered to bring back home the paintings of water marbling and their printed names by the Turkish calligrapher.
