ISTANBUL - U.S. President George Bush marched on Monday like a Janissary during dinner hosted by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul on occasion of the NATO Istanbul Summit.
Heads of state and government of NATO member countries and their spouses watched the sunset before the dinner, viewing the Istanbul Strait.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder drew attention of the other leaders to the magnificent view.
U.S. President Bush, arm in arm with Prime Minister Erdogan, told Turkish Prime Minister that he was amazed by the Topkapi Palace and suggested that this palace should be used as an office for the prime minister. Erdogan laughed at this joke of U.S. President George Bush.
Leaders and their spouses watched the show named ``Turkey: Harmony of Differences`` before the dinner. The show started with Carl Orff`s Carmina Burana and then continued with the Janissary music.
While the Janissary band was walking between the scene and the place where leaders were sitting, U.S. President George Bush tried to repeat the paces of the Janissaries.
All leaders applauded the show for minutes.
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and his wife Emine Erdogan shared a table during dinner with U.S. President Bush and his wife Laura Bush, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and his wife, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife, French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Schroeder, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and European Union (EU) Term President Ireland`s Prime Minister Bertie Ahern.
Meanwhile, Bush reminded the time to Schroeder as the German Chancellor was late for the dinner. Schroeder, as a response, showed Erdogan`s wife Emine Erdogan and told Bush to ask her husband where they were. Everybody at the table laughed at Schroeder`s response.
Leaders tasted traditional Turkish cuisine and wine at the dinner.
Around 800 guests attended the dinner at the Topkapi Palace.
NATO Heads of State and Government Summit opened on Monday. It will close later on Tuesday.
Istanbul is the only city in the world built on two continents which Ottoman Emperor Fatih Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror took in 1453. It stands on the shores of the uniquely beautiful Istanbul Strait where the waters of the Black Sea combine with those of The Sea of Marmara and the Golden Horn.
It is one of the richest cities in historical background, as well as one of the most beautiful, enchanting and vivacious cities of the world. The old palaces, the great mosques with soaring minarets, ancient churches, museums, bazaars, Bosporus or the Istanbul Strait and others are wonderful sites worth seeing.
Topkapi Palace is the great palace of the Ottoman sultans between the 15th and 19th centuries. The palace and its grounds occupy about 700,000 square meters of land on one of Istanbul`s seven hills. For nearly four centuries, Topkapi was both the residence of the sultans and the seat of the government. The Topkapi Dagger and the Spoonmaker`s Diamond are treasures worth seeing at the Palace. The Secret Garden, Topkapi Palace Harem, is also another place of the Palace attracting tourists. The word harem originates from the Arabic harim, meaning secrecy, inviolability and sacrosanctness that pervade the very walls of this place and marked life here over the centuries that it was a closed book to strangers.
(BRC-ULG) 29.06.2004