During the period from 18 to 21 June, 2010, two Turkish Navy frigates were in a friendly visit to Neum Bay in official NATO capacity. We had the honor to visit the flagship TCG KEMALREIS where we were personally greeted by the captain and his first officer who arranged a tour for us around the whole ship. During the two hour tour and meeting at the captain's quarters we presented our hosts with a symbolic present and expressed our welcome into B&H waters.
In accordance to Turkish tradition we were served with excellent traditional Turkish tea which we sipped during a very interesting and meaningful conversation characteristic of Turkish people. Our esteemed hosts expressed great interest in our work and promised to help us in establishing connections with associations in Turkey similar to ours.
Apart from this initial visit to the ship, the same day when the ships sailed into the Neum bay, we were also invited to attend the official reception and lunch which was scheduled for the last day of visit where we again met our new friends. We have to admit that we felt certain sadness as we watched the ships sail out of the bay on Monday afternoon.
Still, we are left in hope that we shall meet again someday, either in B&H or in Turkey. We would like to thank the whole crew of TCG Kemal Reis for their hospitality, and would like to give our special thanks to the Military Attaché of Turkish Embassy in B&H, Mr. Fedaj Unsal, and to our friend Mirsad Dedić who helped making this visit so pleasant and such an unforgettable experience.
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