More than 60 people, including the Secretary of the District of Columbia, current and former ambassadors, attended Turkic American Alliance’s last Iftar Dinner of this year’s Ramadan at TAA’s Corporate Headquarters on Friday, August 2nd.
TAA hosted the Iftar Dinner for community leaders and distinguished participants of the 2013 Turkic American Convention that occurred earlier in March. Among honorable guests were Secretary of the District of Columbia Cynthia Brock-Smith, former State Department Special Representative Reta Jo Lewis, Ambassador of Albania to the United States H.E. Gilbert Galanxhi, and former Ambassador of the of Pakistan to Brazil, Spain, and Japan H.E. Touqir Hussain.
As a host, Dr. Faruk Taban, thanked all the guests for their participation and asked Secretary Brock-Smith to come to the stage and give a keynote speech. She thanked TAA for being so active with the Office of the Secretary of the District of Columbia and also for hosting DC Mayor Vincent Gray last year during his presentation about the major DC projects to leading Turkish Businessmen. Then, former special representative for global intergovernmental affairs under the Secretary Clinton, Reta Jo Lewis, was invited to the stage. She also thanked the organization for hosting this type of events every year and wished to be an active voice of all Turkic and Balkan communities represented throughout the nation. She also briefly discussed her trip to Turkey with Georgia Governor Nathan Neal. The next speaker was Honorable Ambassador Mr. Galanxhi. On his behalf, he expressed his appreciation for inviting him to this wonderful program and wished that the friendly relations between TAA and the Embassy of Albania will continue to grow. Finally, Dr. Fevzi Bilgin of Rethink Institute gave his closing remarks of the night, thanking participants of the 2013 TAC, and mentioning the upcoming Convention next year.
The program was followed by a live recitation of the Call to Prayer, or Ezan, which also meant the time to break the daylong fast. Then, the guests enjoyed their meals and socialized amongst themselves.
