Turkish Cultural Center New Hampshire Turkish Cultural Center New Hampshire
Testimonial
of
New Hampshire State General Court
Representative
Wyman E. Shuler, III, Ph.D.
Please accept my sincere thank you for hosting my wife and me on the social, business, and cultural trip to Turkey and Azerbaijan. We traveled to Baku, Azerbaijan, Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey between 23 and 30 May. The trip and the educational insight it provided into the dynamic dimensions of the history, economy, and culture of the Turkic region and its people were phenomenal!
Thanks to this trip we got to know about the mission of the Council of Turkic American Associations and The Turkish Cultural Center of New Hampshire. Sincerely, we are proud of our new friendships with Mr. Saim Cagirici, Program Director, Council of Turkic American Association and Mr. Eyup Sener, President, Turkish Cultural Center New Hampshire. Saim and Eyup helped promote mutual respect between us and the Turkic people by introducing us to elected city and national officials, business leaders, trade chambers, business associations, civic organizations, university and grade school organizations, as well as media organizations in Turkey and Azerbaijan. In Ankara we had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Furkan Kosar, President, CTAA during our visit to the Turkish Parliament. I now appreciate and fully support the efforts of the TCC and CTAA to promote harmony and lasting friendships between the people of the United States and Turkey by fostering
Our trip to Azerbaijan and Turkey was a grand adventure! I had only a cursory knowledge of Azerbaijan before this trip. I thoroughly enjoyed the SOCAR “Welcome Dinner”, the Baku architectureand infrastructure that was underdevelopment as well as the Chrystal Hall and Eurovision Song Contest. Among the many high lights of the trip to Ankara the luncheon with Deputies Idris Bal and Ahmet Oksuzkaya at Parliament was most memorable. That is saying a lot considering the once in a life time visit we made to the splendid Anatolian Civilizations Museum.
Simply put Istanbul is one of my most favorite cities in the world! I first experienced the city and its people for a few short days in the mid-1990s. In this trip I got to meet the members of the Chamber of Commerce and learn a little about opportunities to do business with Turkish firms. We, Turkey and New Hampshire, need to develop our opportunities to trade together. In this trip I was able to visit the Ataturk Mausoleum and learn more about the Founder of Turkey and Kamalism. There is so much to see in Istanbul from the Bosporus to the Blue Mosque and we did it all. The visits to the Grand Bazaar and Spice Market were fun but as an educator I learned the most about Turkey from visiting an elementary school.
In summary, I would again like to thank you for including Elaine and I on this most enlightening trip. You can learn a lot about a people by sharing a meal together—-we did that and the food and friends we made in Azerbaijan and Turkey are unforgettable. In this trip I saw that as people our differences are small and our opportunities to grow as friends are great!
Most sincerely,
Wyman E. Shuler, III, Ph.D.
Representative, New Hampshire General Court