The 37th Ahi Week, celebrated between September 23-29, has begun. Protocol members and Ahi members gathered in front of the November 25 stadium and greeted the tradesmen and people on Saraçlar Street accompanied by the Edirne Municipality Band and walked to the Atatürk Monument. The ceremony began with Kemal Cingöz, President of the Edirne Tradesmen and Craftsmen Chambers Union, laying a wreath at the monument, followed by a moment of silence and the national anthem. The fact that two Ahi members, one male and one female, were elected in Edirne for the first time this year was greatly appreciated. Şükran Çetin, who was elected as the first female Ahi of Edirne, stated that she has been practicing her profession for 51 years and said, “I am 72 years old. I am married. I have 2 sons and 4 grandchildren. I am still at the beginning of my profession and I am still working. I have trained hundreds of male and female hairdressers and masters at the Apprenticeship Training Centers and Public Education Centers for many years. Being selected in such a year and being the first female Ahi of the year made me very happy. Today is a proud and honorable day for me. I thank everyone very much.” He said. Male Ahi of the Year Halil Bıyık, who later spoke, said, “I was born in 1952 in Maçka Kaynıcaköy, Trabzon. I started this profession at the age of 13 and I have been doing this profession for 60 years. I have 4 children. I have 2 daughters and 2 sons. I have trained many apprentices but our quilting profession is about to end. They should not use pillows made of fiber material, which is the most used in recent years, as head pillows. Fiber causes headaches. Fiber does not absorb the sweat from your hair and then you get headaches. Use woolen and cotton for pillows. I thank everyone very much for selecting me as an Ahi this year. My sister and I will carry out this duty together this year.” He said, “WE ELECTED A FEMALE AHI FOR THE FIRST TIME IN EDİRNE” Edirne Provincial Director of Trade Mahmut Altun, who later spoke, said; “We elected women Ahi for the first time in Edirne. We have around 17,500 tradesmen in Edirne. Since 21% of these tradesmen are women, we said, “If half of an apple is male, the other half is female.” Based on the saying, we elected our women Ahi this year. As you know, when Ahi Evran founded the Ahi organization in the 13th century, Ahi Evran’s wife Fatma also founded the women’s organization. We said let’s start something like this for the first time in Edirne. Hopefully, it will continue from now on. They will also elect a woman Ahi to represent our women tradesmen. We will have our Shed-wearing ceremony at the Keyif Wedding Hall in the Small Industrial Site Social Facilities at 11:00 on Thursday. There will be a Mevlid program before the prayer at the Üç Şerefeli Mosque on Friday. Afterwards, rice will be served.” WE HAVE EXPERIENCED A UNIQUE FIRST IN TURKEY Then, Edirne Tradesmen and Craftsmen Chambers Union President Kemal Cingöz spoke; “These Ahi Organization celebrations have been held for 37 years. This year, we realized perhaps a first in Turkey in Edirne. We elected both a male and a female Ahi. This was also a first in Edirne. The number of women entrepreneurs in our Edirne is above the average in Turkey. I hope that the Ahi ceremonies to be held will be auspicious for all our tradesmen.”