Haziran ayı başlarında ABD’nin Georgia eyaletinde yapılan G-8 Zirvesi’ne katılan AKP Genel Başkanı ve Başbakan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’ın eşi Emine Erdoğan’a "ikinci sınıf" ağırlama yapıldığı ortaya çıktı. Amerikalı güvenlik yetkilileri, Emine Erdoğan’ı çevrede gezdirmek için yoldan çevirdikleri bir kızı rehber olarak kullanmışlar.

Ayrıntılar şöyle:

Connie Herndon, Georgia’da yapılan zirve sırasında gönüllü olarak çalışmak için başvurmuş ve kabul edilmiş.

Görevli olduğu bölümdeki işini bitiren Herndon, Zirve’nin yapıldığı binanın çevresinde dolaşırken, gizli servis yetkililerinden biri yanına yaklaşmış ve Georgia ve çevresini iyi tanıyıp tanımadığını sormuş.

Herndon, rehberlik tecrübesi olmamasına rağmen, bu soruya "biraz" yanıtını vermiş ve bunun üzerine Emine Erdoğan ve kızları Esra ve Sümeyye’yi çevreyi gezdirmekle görevlendirilmiş.

Üniversite’de tarih öğrenimi yaptığını belirten Connie Herndon, o günkü gelişmeleri bir gazeteye şöyle anlattı:

"Yapacak bir işim yoktu. Avare avare dolaşıyordum ve birden gizli servis elamanlarının ’çevreyi bilip bilmediğime’ ilişkin sorularıyla karşılaştım. Sonra Emine Erdoğan ve kızlarını gezdirmekle görevlendirildim. Güzel bir gün geçirdim ve onları çok rahat buldum."

Öte yandan zirveye katılan G-8 üyesi ülke liderlerinin eşlerine ise birinci sınıf profesyonel rehberlerin eşlik ettiği öğrenildi.

AKP Genel Başkanı ve Başbakan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’ın da aralarında bulunduğu bazı ülke liderlerine yapılan karşılama töreni sırasında da, G-8 üyesi ülke liderlerinin gelişinde serili olan kırmızı halı kaldırılmıştı.
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HABERİN ORJİNAL METNİ İSE ŞÖYLE:

Inside view is payoff

Mon, Jun 14, 2004

By JACK MORSE

The Brunswick News

Most of the volunteers working with the Group of 8 Sea Island Summit didn’t get to meet the president. Or any of the other world leaders associated with the three-day meeting, for that matter.

Still, they rubbed shoulders with Secret Service agents, they got a look at what goes on behind the scenes at such a momentous event, and they had the thrill of being able to pass through security gates from which the rest of the world was barred.

They don’t just live in the area where the G-8 was held. They were part of it.

"I think we all feel like this is a once-in-a-lifetime deal," said Ron Hazen, a St. Simons Island resident who, along with his wife, Jan, volunteered to help with the summit. "It won’t happen again. Maybe the biggest thing in the past (for the area) was the great big snow we had here years ago."

Yeah, the snow was nice. But somehow it didn’t provide the same sense of awe and anticipation. Perhaps it was the lack of security. It was, after all, a little lax back then.

And the Hazens didn’t have to fend off calls from friends and family members begging to hear a story about the big snow on the island or the frost that killed their plants.

But phone calls from envious friends (along with the snazzy blue golf shirts worn by volunteers) are just some of the perks — or drawbacks, depending on one’s point of view — of G-8 service.

"Our kids are in North Carolina and Atlanta, and each night they wanted us to call them and tell them what’s happening," Mr. Hazen said. "It’s definitely a big thing."

Kathy Young, another local volunteer, has also spent a good deal of time on the phone.

"Friends call every afternoon and want to know what we did," she said.

And so maybe, for starters, she’ll tell them about being in a meeting with Iraq’s interim president, Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawar. She didn’t actually meet with him, of course; she was just in the room where the meeting was taking place. But still. That’s probably more than her neighbor can say.

"I, being a lowly volunteer, worked in the corner and did not speak to anyone or meet anyone," she said. "But that was pretty awesome — being in the room with the president of Iraq."

For Connie Herndon, a volunteer who worked at The Lodge, the big moment began when she found herself with a little free time. She wandered into the lobby to see if the concierge needed any help and, as it turned out, the Secret Service had just called, looking for someone to take Emine Erdogan, wife of Turkey’s prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, on a tour of the island.

"Do you know the island?" the concierge wanted to know.

Mrs. Herndon, who majored in history and has a personal interest in the area, said she did. And so she got into a car with Mrs. Erdogan, her daughters and her Secret Service agents and showed them around.

"We just had a lovely time. They’re very lovely people," Mrs. Herndon said. "They seemed casual and relaxed and glad to be that way."

Aside from specific instances, many volunteers just enjoyed the overall atmosphere associated with the summit.

"Seeing all these people and hearing the different languages was really neat," said Mrs. Hazen, who was assigned to the Jekyll Island Club Hotel. "It’s very, very exciting to be a part of all that’s going on. It’s history in the making."

But as any middle school student can tell you, history, at times, can be a little dull. And though Mr. Hazen welcomed the opportunity to volunteer for the G-8, he admitted the hours passed a bit slowly sometimes.

"It was the most boring day of my life," he said Thursday, shortly after his six-hour afternoon shift at Embassy Suites had ended. "The first day was not very busy. We had a few crises we settled. The second day was about half that busy. And today was zilch."

But don’t get him wrong. He’s not complaining.

"It was an experience I would go through again," he said. "And had things gone wrong, had a bridge been bombed or a delegate shot or something, we would have been busy as heck."

And he still has plenty of stories to tell his kids.