79th Anniversary of the Turkish Celebrated at the State Capitol in Hartford, CT
By Bulent Dogruyol, President, SNE-TACA - Southern New England Turkish American Cultural Association (SNE-TACA) proudly celebrated the 79th Anniversary of the Turkish Republic at a ceremony held at the State Capitol in Hartford, CT. Our community was recognized and addressed, in what must be one of the most successful events of this kind, by the

Honorable Eddie Perez, Mayor of Hartford, CT
Honorable John DeStefano, Jr., Mayor of New Haven, CT
Honorable Patrick Henry Hays, Mayor of N. Little Rock, AK

Honorable Omer Onhon, Consul General of Turkish Republic at New York City
Honorable Resat Caglar, Representative to the UN, Turkish Republic of Cyprus

Major General William Cugno, Adjutant General, Connecticut National Guard

Dr. Albert deVidas, President, American Association of Jewish Friends of Turkey

Representatives:

Honorable Rob Simmons, US Congressman, 2nd District, CT
Honorable John Rowland, Governor, State of CT
Honorable Tony Guglielmo, State Senator, 35th District, CT

Hikmet Aslan, Student Representative, University of Hartford, CT
Ebru Caba, President, Turkish Student Assoc., University of Connecticut

SNE-TACA presented its prestigious Ataturk Peace Award to:

Honorable Patrick Henry Hays, Mayor of N. Little Rock, AK
Honorable John DeStefano, Jr., Mayor of New Haven, CT

This annual award serves as an excellent catalyst that brings together the Turkish American community with leaders of the general American community.

Representatives of the Connecticut Department of Economic & Community Development Office were on hand to discuss business opportunities in Connecticut. Many of our members made inquiries with them. This is another initiative by SNE-TACA.

I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to everyone who made the effort to attend this meaningful event. This event was covered by the mainstream U.S. press as well.