TAA President Faruk Taban attended to Federation of Balkan American Association (FEBA)’s Road Map 2012 event on the evening of September 25th at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. Theme of the 2012 Road Map leadership conference was “Women Shaping Society” and thus, there were several distinguished women at the event in order to talk the role of women in shaping the society.
Being at the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton’s reception in the same hotel, Foreign Minister of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoglu and his wife Dr. Sare Davutoglu attended to the FEBA’s event. Dr. Sare Davutoglu spoken in English and encouraged Balkan women to be active at the all walks of life including in politics and business world alongside of in education and family life.
By considering her family also as a Balkan family Dr. Sera Davutoglu emphasized her happiness during her visits to Balkans. Underlining the importance of Balkan women to overcome sorrows and destructions in the recent history, Mrs. Davutoglu said she is also hopeful for the future of Balkans. She extended Emine Erdogan’s warm hello to the Balkan women.
Foreign Minister Davutoglu stated “Balkan nations have been speaking from heart to heart since hundreds of years and this is a language of love, affection and tolerance” by underlining he is happy what he sees during his visits to Bosnia.
By emphasizing the importance of Bosnian women, Davutoglu said “if Bosnians survived at the war, that is because of the Bosnian women. They protected their country and families. They never gave up. Bosnians never gave up. If you have a strong mother that keeps together your family that culture could be transferred smoothly to the next generation. If there is no such mothers, men could not protect such a culture”.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) received also her Leadership award at the FEBA Reception.
There were also New York Consul General of Turkey, Levent Bilgen with his wife Ayse Bilgen, Ambassador Namik Tan’s wife Fugen Tan as well as many guests from Turkic American and Balkan American communities.
FEBA administrators and prominent women representatives of the Balkan American community emphasized the importance of women at the all walks of life at their speeches.
FEBA administrators gave a plaquette to Dr. Sera Davutoglu and asked from her to give Emine Erdogan’s Road Map 2012 award.
In the end, Balkan women were taken a picture with Mrs. Davutoglu.
