Mardin September 2005

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CHARTERING of SI MARDIN, TURKEY
September 2005

Zuhal Karamehmet of SI Içel , Turkey sent photos and wrote:

"On September 10, 2005 a new club joined the SI/E Turkish Union. Now we have 36 clubs in Turkey. The charter of SI Mardin was given by SI/E Federation President Heidrun Konrad. There were 60 Soroptimists from other Turkish clubs, 10 Soroptimists from Germany and 2 from Italy."

Audience at the Charter Ceremony

Candle Lighting Ceremony

Candle Lighting at the Charter Ceremony.
From left : Güzin Poffet, a President of the previous Turkish Union; Heidrun Konrad, SI/E Federation President; Nilgün Özler, Turkish Union President and Berna Ak Bingöl, SI Mardin club President.

Mardin Soroptimist Club members

Heidrun Konrad with Turkish Soroptimists at Mardin Women's Center.
Here Mardin Club is sponsoring carpet weaving courses for local women, especially young girls.

Chatliners Gülriz Özyildirim and Zuhal Karamehmet with Heidrun Konrad.
The member standing behind is Corinna Zimmermann, SI Lübeck.

When Zuhal realised that she and Gwenda Webster had been sitting next to each other at the Chartering Ceremony, she sent this photo as well:

Gwendolen Webster, Zuhal Karamehmet, Ülkü Ongun

"From left: Sibylle Lindenberg, SI Glueckstadt, past Vice-President of the German Union and now a governor; Gwendolen Webster; Zuhal Karamehmet;
Ülkü Ongun, founding president of my club; and at the back you can see Chatliner Gülriz Özyldirim"

[Thanks to Gwendolen Webster for identifying some of the German Soroptimists on these photos sent by Zuhal. HCF]

Gwendolen Webster writes:

"Dear Hendre and Zuhal,

I am home so seldom at the moment that I normally only have time to check Chatline mails very briefly, but wanted to thank you both for making the photos of the Mardin charter available.

I attended with my daughter and a small group of members from the German Union, and for me it was one of the most memorable SI charters ever. We were all impressed by the excellent organisation, the splendid welcome we received, the unstinting kindness and generosity of our Turkish members and most importantly, the moving charter ceremony with the high-powered group of young ladies who now make up SI Mardin. I know everyone appreciated the presence of SI/E President Heidrun, who in spite of her busy schedule managed to be with us the whole time - Mardin is not the easiest place to get to. This was my first visit to Turkey but certainly won't be the last."

Gwendolen also sent a few photos:

Candle Lighting at the Charter Ceremony. "Fourth from left is the SI Mardin Club President and to her right is Hatice Cubukcu, from SI Adana (Educational Coordinator of the Turkish Union) who acted as our translator; she did a splendid job with great charm and humour in the face of a sometimes mind-boggling task."

SI Mardin's carpet weaving project

SI Mardin's carpet weaving project

On left:"Abraham's birthplace and on the right: the exceptionally greedy carp in the pond there."

"Full of Eastern promise - a visit to the Ataturk dam in eastern Anatolia"

"The 8th wonder of the world - we climb Nemrud Dag to see the sunset"

Photos sent by Gulriz Ozyildirim

Breakfast with the Mayor of county Kabala

"President Heidi together with the Mayor of county Kabala, his wife during the breakfast they hosted in their summer house garden"

Pres Heidi with Turkish Soroptimists on Monastery steps

"President Heidi with us on the stairs of a Monastery"

In garden of the mayor's summer home

"Members of SI/Bosphorus in the garden of the mayor's summer home"

"Three Soroptimists at Hasankeyf, a city situated in northern Mesopotamia during antiquity, a cave age civilisation with over 4000 caves"

This web site is created and maintained by Hendré Falkson