Ankara will be hosting the leaders of 51 countries and officials from eight international organizations during President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s inauguration ceremony on Aug. 28, while the leaders of Israel and Egypt, two countries Turkey is at odds with, are not among those invited to participate in the ceremony.
A number of foreign leaders have been invited by Turkey to the inauguration ceremony of Erdoğan following his win in the nation’s first presidential election by popular vote, which took place on Aug. 10.
US President Barack Obama is not attending the ceremony, but a US delegation will be there to represent him, the Turkish press reported on Sunday. It is not clear what the level of representation of the US delegation will be. China will also be sending a special representative.
Russia, Germany and the Netherlands will be sending ministers as representatives to the ceremony.
Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad has not been invited to the ceremony either as Turkey does not recognize him as the legitimate leader of Syria, but the president of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, Hadi al-Bahra, is among those invited.
According to the reports, a number of guests have confirmed their attendance. Among the confirmed are Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, Beninese President Thomas Boni Yayi, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Togolese President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe, President of the Libyan Council of Deputies Aguila Saleh Issa Quaider, Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev, Moldovan President Nicolae Timofti, Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov, Albanian President Bujor Nishani, Somali President Hasan Mahmud, Kosovar President Atifete Jahjaga, Gambian Vice President Isatau Nije Saidy, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) President Derviş Eroğlu, Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome Wirtu and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Chairman of the Presidency Bakir Izetbegovic.
Azerbaijani Parliament Speaker Ogtay Asadov, Ivory Coast Parliament Speaker Guillaume Kigbafori Soro and Ghanaian Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur will also be among the participants.
Moroccan Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane, Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta, Belarusian Prime Minister Mikhail V. Myasnikovich, Gabonese Prime Minister Daniel Ona Ondo, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, Tajik Prime Minister Qohir Rasulzoda and Nigerian Prime Minister Brigi Rafini have also confirmed that they will be attending Erdoğan’s inauguration ceremony.
From Germany, Interior Minister Karl Ernst Thomas de Maiziere will be attending the ceremony. Another group of attendees will include Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Shahriar Alam, Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Burkinabe Foreign Minister Djibril Bassole, Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf Bin Alawi, South Sudanese Foreign and International Cooperation Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin, Mexican Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Meade Kuribrena, Hungarian Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Tibor Navracsics, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Nizar bin Obaid Madani, Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Khafizovich Kamilov, Tunisian Presidency Spokesman Adnen Manser, Maldivian Islamic Affairs Minister Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, Venezuelan Transportation Minister Haiman El Troudi, Djiboutian Education Minister Djama Elmi Okieh and Indonesian State Minister Dipo Alam.
International organizations
Representatives from a number of international organizations will also attend Erdoğan’s inauguration ceremony.
Black Sea Economic Cooperation Parliamentary Assembly (KEİPA) Secretary-General Kyrylo Tretiak, Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Secretary-General Dmitry Fyodorovich Mezentsev, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Secretary-General Lamberto Zannier, Developing 8 countries for Economic Cooperation (D-8) Secretary-General Seyed Ali Mohammad Mousavi, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Secretary-General Jose Angel Gurria, Economic Cooperation Organization Secretary-General Shamil Aleskerov, Turkic Council Secretary-General Halil Akıncı, and Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) Executive Director Gong Jianwei have confirmed their attendance.
A delegation of three from the Mongolian Ministry of Defense will also be attending the ceremony.
The inauguration ceremony will be held on Aug. 28 in Ankara. Erdoğan won 51.8 percent of the popular vote on Aug. 10.
Erdoğan’s swearing-in ceremony at Parliament will be “one of a kind,” with many foreign leaders around the world having been invited. Previously, presidents have been elected by Parliament, and the swearing-in ceremony had been a formality and not considered a special event.
Source: http://www.todayszaman.com
