26 August 2009 / TODAY'S ZAMAN, ANKARA
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday traveled to a shantytown in the capital's Bağcılar neighborhood to break his Ramadan fast with an impoverished elderly couple.
The prime minister broke his Ramadan fast on Monday evening at the home of 70-year-old Çöllo Olgun and his wife, Ayşe Olgun. Residents of the shantytown complained to the prime minister about the lack of pavement in the neighborhood; Erdoğan told them that he would look into the issue to see if the area fell within the boundaries of the urban municipality and advised them to go to the Çankaya Municipality with their complaints if it did not.Erdoğan was a guest at the Olgun home for the fast-breaking dinner, and Ayşe Olgun told press after the prime minister's visit that the couple had enjoyed a long conversation with the politician. Olgun, noting that her husband was paralyzed, said the prime minister donated TL 1,500 and food supplies to the elderly couple. Another person who was able to meet the prime minister that evening was area resident and construction worker Rafet Arslan (52), who said he was surprised when the prime minister came knocking on the door to visit him and his five children.
