President Barack Obama and Mrs. Obama hosted a Holiday reception at the White House on Wednesday, December 12, 2012. Among those invited was Mr. Kemal Oksuz, President of the Turquoise Council. During the reception Mr. Yildiz had the opportunity to chat with the President and the First Lady and conveyed to them warm and sincere greetings from the Turkish American community. The President said that he is aware of all the hard and enthusiastic work done by Turkish Americans during the campaign, and talked about their engagement.
The President and Mrs. Obama were exceptionally gracious hosts, engaging in conversation with their guests and discussing a variety of issues and concerns. They gave very warm and witty speeches and joked with their guests, asking them to be careful with their classes as they were a couple of hundred years old antiques. Mrs. Obama added that she already broke two of them. The First Lady mentioned that that they have been hosting holiday receptions, almost daily since right after Thanksgiving. Said Ms. Obama, “The President and I are at every holiday party. And we shake almost every hand or take a picture, and we usually do it twice a day.”
