Frightening but invaluable, Çankaya internships provide work experience and a stellar resume

When talking about their first days of internship at Çankaya, almost every single one of these students used the same expression to describe their initial feelings: “I was so nervous; it was a place I had only dreamed about before!” These same students also noted just how valuable the Çankaya internship had been in terms of providing them with specific experience and training they could never expect to get anywhere else. Interns are aware that the best place for them to experience the rules of protocol up close are at the palace. They all also noted that President Gül is extremely pleasant and easygoing, and that his wife, Hayrünnisa, pays close attention to detail.

Queen Elizabeth at the Palace

Tugay Avşar is a student in his final year at the Çankaya İMKB Anadolu Vocational School for Hotel Management and Tourism. He was one of the students chosen to do his internship at Çankaya. Avşar recalls that on the first day, he felt as though he had entered a dream when he walked through the doors of Çankaya. He had always thought that the presidential palace basically consisted of just one building, but was surprised to find himself in a whole different world instead when he started his job. Avşar’s internship started off with a certain amount of speed and intensity, as it was only on the second day of his internship at Çankaya that British Queen Elizabeth paid a visit to Ankara. He recalled, “Even while walking around, we had to take care, as we might encounter her highness at any moment.” He also remembers how memorable it was when on one of the days of his internship President Gül nodded at him. “That day was a turning point for me. I can never forget that day.” Avşar adds that in the two separate periods of internship he has done at Çankaya, he never once saw President Gül appear unhappy or angry. He also says, smiling, that his family “still doesn’t believe” that he is really doing his internship at Çankaya. As for Avşar, the time he spent there has become the main subject of his dreams at night, to the extent that one time, he even had a dream he was playing football in the main reception hall of the presidential palace.

Emre Argun is another student who did his internship at Çankaya. He says that his first working days there were full of fear and worry for him and that he even had nightmares about the experience in the beginning. Argun talks about the personal sense of pride he felt working in the same place as President Gül, recalling that Gül even spent 15 minutes or so talking to him and his co-interns one time after a group photograph had been taken. “He could have just brushed us off by saying, ‘These are just some interns,’ but he spent time with us, showed us that he valued us.”

Another student, Seyfullah Soysaldı, describes his memorable experiences at Çankaya, “Because of a small mistake I had made, I was worried I would be thrown out of the fifth Nizamiye doors.” Soysaldı says that his time working at the palace made him feel as though he was in a different country, or even on a different planet. To describe the discipline and general order that reign there he says even the house flies buzz around according to special coordinates.

Final year hotel and tourism student Özmen Dağdelen says he even considered staying behind a year in school in order to do another round of internship at Çankaya. And Beşevler Ankara Anadolu Vocational School for Hotel Management and Tourism student Mahmut Şahin recalls the time he was stuck in an elevator at Çankaya, and how deeply scared he was. “That was really when I most frightened. I was in Turkey’s most well-protected spot, and should have felt very relaxed, but instead I was so terrified.”

As for student Metin Çataloğlu, he simply points out how disciplined a place Çankaya really is, and how careful interns have to be while working there.

A group of female hotel and tourism students who did their internships at Çankaya also recall very exciting, sometimes difficult, but ultimately extremely memorable moments at the Ankara presidential palace. Student Gözde Ilhan says that Hayrünnisa Gül’s personal attention to detail means extra work for interns at meals and receptions to make sure everything is in order. Another female student, Büşra Murat, recalls how she thought teachers were joking when they told her she had been selected for the Çankaya program. And student Eda Alphan recalls that working at one of the most important state buildings was so unique that “at one time, I even thought about running away and simply saying ‘I can’t work here.’ I was going to abandon my internship. But then I decided to stay on and really take advantage of the opportunities I was being provided.” Alphan recalls the one time she came face-to-face with President Gül: “It is really an important thing to come face-to-face with the Turkish president. I was extremely nervous.”

Speechlees in front of President

Çiğdem Özden has an interesting perspective on her time as an intern at Çankaya, noting that her short height has always been a relative disadvantage for her in life, but that at Çankaya, it offered her the following benefit: “We were preparing to have a group photograph taken. Everyone was gathered. Since I am short, I was in front. Right then, President Gül arrived, and turned to ask me how my internship was going. I was so nervous I couldn’t answer. He smiled at me. My friends wound up answering for me. It was the first time I was pleased at being so short!”