TAA President Faruk Taban attended Holiday Season celebration at Vice-President Joe Biden’s residence. Teamwork at TAA had produced significant achievements in the field of outreach and the promotion of cultural understanding.
According to Dr. Taban, there were about 100 distinguished guests at the reception, but he and Mr. Yeneroğlu were the only ethnic minority guests in attendance. Vice President Biden and Dr. Jill Biden were exceptionally gracious hosts, engaging in conversation with each of their guests and discussing a variety of issues and concerns. Dr. Taban invited Vice President Biden to be an honored guest at the traditional TAA gala next year. In accordance with Turkish tradition they also presented their hosts a gift, a glass plate with the painting of the Bosphorous on it. Vice President Biden thanked them for the gift and then they discussed issues related to Turkey and the challenges facing the Turkic American community. Later Dr. Taban introduced the TAA activities to some of the other guests.
Vice President Biden thanked Turkish businessman Mr. Yeneroğlu for the hard and genuine work of the “Turkish Americans for Obama” group during the campaign, and talked about their engagement to his guests. Mr. Yeneroğlu also experienced a pleasant surprise when an academic approached him and she asked him whether it was them that served the Turkish baklava on election night (it was). Then she introduced Mr. Yeneroğlu to the Democratic National Committee Chief Financial Officer, Jane Stetson, by remarking “Mr. Stetson, I know Mr. Yeneroğlu very closely”.
