First lady Emine Erdoğan joined the president on Sunday as they left for New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly this week. Emine Erdoğan will join fellow first ladies in the United States for several events, where she will also promote her own initiatives to promote Türkiye, including her groundbreaking “zero waste” project.
The first lady will also hold talks with professor Jeffrey Sachs, president of the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and will join a meeting hosted by Türkiye’s Ministry of Family and Social Services on the margins of the assembly. The meeting will bring together family ministers and senior officials from several countries to discuss stronger family bonds and building resilient societies with a strong demographic structure.
Elsewhere, she will host an exhibition entitled “In Anatolia: Treasures Behind Doors” at Turkish House in New York. She will host fellow first ladies there and introduce them to the exhibition, which is organized under three chapters focusing on the prosperity of the soil, cuisine and handicrafts. Select dishes from Anatolian cuisine will be served to first ladies, providing them with first-hand access to centuries-old traditions in Turkish lands. This includes the use of natural materials for handicrafts, traditional food preservation and cooking techniques that prevent food waste.
Emine Erdoğan will also attend the “Zero Waste Blue” exhibition jointly organized by the Ministry of Environment, Urban Planning and Climate Change, and the Zero Waste Foundation. The exhibition aims to promote Türkiye’s efforts for the protection of bodies of water against pollution, highlighting its brand “zero waste blue” and the tangible results it has achieved for environmental protection. The first lady spearheaded a “zero waste” project initiated in 2017, spreading recycling habits across Türkiye. Zero Waste Blue is an extension of this project.
The first lady will also address an event organized by Uzbekistan, the World Health Organization and St. Jude Research Hospital to raise awareness about children’s cancer.
