Over one hundred heads of state and governments and international organisations are expected to attend as the President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdoğan takes over the office of president from the outgoing President His Excellency Abdullah Gül today.
In the same vein, the Gambian leader His Excellency President Sheikh Prof Dr Alhaji Yahya AJJ Jammeh, Nasiru Deen, Babili Mansa has dispatched the Vice President and Minister of Women’s Affairs, Her Excellency Aja Dr Isatou Njie-Saidy to represent him at Erdogan’s swearing-in ceremony.
The Gambian number two left for Ankara in the early hours of Wednesday August 28 and was seen off at the airport by the Turkish ambassador to The Gambia, His Excellency, and Ambassador Ergin Soner.
Accompanying the Vice President is the new Minister of Foreign Affairs Honourable Balla Garba Jahumpa – which means the Gambian top diplomat will be paying his first official visit, as a foreign minister, abroad to Turkey.
This ceremony will be a unique one in the sense that many leaders and representatives will be in attendance. Previously, presidents were elected by the Turkish parliament, and the swearing-in ceremony had been a formality and not considered a special event.
His Excellency Erdoğan will be the 12th president of Turkey. More significantly, he is the first president who has been directly elected to the office by a popular vote.
President-elect Erdoğan has steered the affairs of the country for the past 12 years in the capacity of prime minister.
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