Posted on 06/30/2004 9:50:43 PM PDT by a_Turk
TDN- I have never wished for the end of a meeting as much as I wished for the end of this one. We have been nervous for days.
Would a serious incident occur? Would a bomb explode? Would the protests get out of hand?
Actually, we were right to be afraid. No matter how successful an event one organizes is, no matter how good the consequences are, a single incident can ruin it. All the successes of the Istanbul summit would have been forgotten if a single incident had tainted it. Whenever someone mentioned the summit, such an incident would have been the only thing they remembered.
But nothing happened. The protests were expected anyway, but nobody was bothered by them. No bombs exploded and we did not have to face a disaster.
That's why I am saying, "Thank god, we all left safe and sound."
Those living in certain parts of Ankara and Istanbul may have faced some difficulties, but eventually it was Turkey that benefitted.
Congratulations. It was a very successful summit
We are a nation hungry for success. We are usually very critical of everything. We hardly ever like anything. However, we have no reasons to complain now.
Those who organized the proceedings and worked on the details should all be congratulated. A few small errors might have been made but this is not important. Anyway, if any serious mistakes had been made, we would have learned of them by now.
There were no electricity blackouts, nor was a single phone out of order. The entire media was very happy.
Buses departed on time and worked until the very late hours. Nice looking young people assisted guests everywhere. Escorts departed on time and there were no delays to the program.
The only mistake was that the cafeteria service for the thousands of accredited journalists did not go beyond providing doner sandwiches. I have attended hundreds of summits, but never have I seen such poor food service for journalists.
However, in general, everything was so nice (even the weather got better) that we ignored these minor problems by saying that nobody was perfect.
Congratulations.
It was a wonderful night
On Monday night the leaders of 26 countries, high level ministers, diplomats and the secretary-general all gathered at the Topkapi Palace. I have never had a more enjoyable night in my life.
It was one of those rarely pleasant nights in Istanbul. The weather was mild and we all enjoyed the breath-taking atmosphere of the Topkapi Palace. Just place British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. President George W. Bush within this setting; and right behind you are U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld who are laughing together. I saw French President Jacques Chirac and German Prime Minister Gerhard Shroeder telling jokes to each other.
While all this was happening, we were watching the Lyrical History show on the stage. Can there be a greater joy?
We were sitting with the General Manager of Isbank Ozince. His bank sponsored the summit. I could not help myself and told him: "I don't know how much you spent on the group, but every cent of it was worth it."
The show was directed and designed by Yekta Kara and Ali Taygun, with Serdar Yalcin the musical director. It brought tears to my eyes. If you haven't seen it yet, definitely do so.
The Ottoman Military Band, Beethoven's ninth symphony, Mozart's Turkish March, the performance of the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, the Mevlevi group, the Ozanler Traditional Music group, Fatif Erkoc and his friends, the Tarkin Production Group, the Gokkusagi Traditional Dance Group, etc. etc.
You could see that some of the guests went blank during the performances. They failed to understand the show that featured the color and the richness of Turkey. On the other hand, President Bush enjoyed the Black Sea Folklore Group the most. German Foreign Minister Joskha Fisher and Colin Powell joined the choir during the ninth symphony.
French President Chirac and the Austrians were very interested in the Ottoman Marching Band. When we saw the band, some of us jokingly said: "Alas, our membership prospects are ruined. I bet when they see this band, they are frightened."
Turkish prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to the event, hand-in-hand with his wife Emine. Afterwards, everyone moved to the 60 tables set up in the gardens of Topkapi Palace and the dreamy night continued.
Everything was wonderful. I was both proud and happy to be there.
ping..
Yup. I was worried too. It was a great success! Thank God.
Well done Turkey!!
It's so nice to hear a journalist brimming with pride in their nation, unashamed to show patriotism.
Wished I'd been there. I would have done nothing but argue politics with Turkish leftists over endless plates of food and bottles of raki, would have been unable to have bought a single drink, and would have finished the night toasting Ataturk, Sezen Aksu, Candan Ercetin, Yildiz Tilbe, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Zulfu Livaneli, Aziz Nesin, and Walt Whitman.
Glad it went so well. Was this Turkey's first summit?
Not it's first, but by far it's biggest.
Kudos to the Turks. Good job
Congratulations to the Turks on a job well done. I only wish I could have been there!
A sentiment shared by many here on FR.
All in all, it was a lovely summit.
I especially liked the part where President Bush stood up for Turkish EU membership, and Chirac got hot under the collar.
Heh heh.
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