2006 "29 Ekim" Reception
Riverfront Community Center, Leavenworth, Kansas
Sunday, October 22, 2006

Dear All:

As was the case last year, we had a great reception last Sunday celebrating the 83rd anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkey. Let us first congratulate the hosts Col. Faruk Gönül and Maj. Özgur Özkurt for their excellent presentation. Their families, Evay & Ecem Gönül and Neslihan Özkurt, with the help of Oezlem Aleyna of Fort Leavenworth, prepared exquisite dishes and desserts for the guests to enjoy. We are happy and honored to have been with them at this special night.

We prepared for the night our usual offerings: döner kabob, dolma, hummus, piyaz, and baklava. Lale Broderson's hard work and dedication deserve special recognition. She made the piyaz and baklava with help from Ramazan Başata, Barış Şahin, and Lale Özer. Her practical hand was indispensable during on-site food preparations, set-up and clean-up. She also brought in a great collection of Turkish artifacts, and made a very beautiful display corner.

Also deserving of recognition is Ramazan; he cooked döner and prepared hummus on-site, and hauled most everything to the reception site early in the day. He was in the kitchen cooking and cleaning most of the time.

Barış Şahin, Yavuz Kalafat and Kerim Yurtbay set up and manned the bars, and helped with the clean up. Kerim also helped cook döner. They received help from Cihan Kocadere and Lale Özer manning the bars.

In preparing dolmas, Bengi and I received great help from Altan Kodanaz and Sumer Maas. Altan also made delicious revani for the night.

Nebiye Ersoy of Lawrence was there early with her family and friends; they all helped us immensely from set-up to tear-down. Also present at the event were several distinguished guests from Lawrence. We are all very pleased with their participation.

Turkish folk music and dances were part of the presentation as well, thanks to Emru Erten's leadership. Cihan Kocadere and Emru gave a short live sampler of the sounds of bağlama and davul. Cihan, Serdar Tunçten, Henry Temchin, Barış Şahin, Lale Özer, Bengi Oğuz, and Yasemin Ersoy presented three dances mesmerizing the guests.

In closing, I would like to thank the hosts for making us a part of this special night. Thanks also go to all TAA-KC members and friends of Turkey who were with us; Mehmet and Nur Rende came from as far away as from Tulsa, OK. We look forward to seeing more of you with us in our upcoming events and functions.

Thank you all for your continued support and participation.

Sincerely,

Nihat C. Oğuz
President