CONSTANTA, Romania -- The Black Sea Area Support Team (BSAST) ministry is continuing its efforts to strengthen the ties between Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base and the local Romanian community.
On July 13, Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Joseph A. Burton, senior chaplain for the BSAST, and other members of his ministry team met with members of the Democratic Union of Muslim Turkish Tatars from Romania (DUMTTR), to discuss ways the two organizations could come together and mutually support the community.
Last month, Burton and other officials from MK Airbase met with the mayor of Mihail Kogalniceanu to discuss partnership ideas, as well as community events for both groups to enjoy.
Among the topics discussed were teaching English to the Tatar children, donating food and clothing to local children's homes and engaging in fellowship and learning about each other's culture.
"I have studied your history," said Gelil Eserghep, President of the DUMTTR. "I like your soldiers, and I want our teenagers to be around them and learn from them."
Burton agreed that sharing and learning about each other's culture was important.
"I want us to learn about your culture," he said. "You take pride in your culture and there is much we can learn."
The Americans were introduced to the DUMTTR during a celebration on July 9 to celebrate the end of Ramadan. American soldiers are in Romania as part of Atlantic Resolve, a U.S. led effort in Eastern Europe that demonstrates U.S. commitment to the collective security of NATO and enduring peace and stability in the region.
"Everything was great," said Burton, speaking of the celebration. "I must have gained 10 pounds from all of the food." Along with traditional Tatar food, the celebration, called a Tepres, also included traditional Tatar wrestling and dancing.
The two groups will meet later this month to discuss further opportunities to work together, as well as plan a historical tour of Constanta and the local area for the Americans to partake in.
The Romanian Tatars are a Turkic-speaking ethnic group, originally from Crimea. The majority of the approximately 20,000 Romanian Tatars live in Constanta County. The Tatars came to Romania in the mid-13th century during the height of Genghis Kahn's expansion into Europe. Today, they are the main practitioners of Islam in Romania.
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