MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
January 2020
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TCA President Travels to Stockholm
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TCA's President
G. Lincoln McCurdy
participated in the 19th Trilateral Strategy Group Meeting of the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) with the co-sponsorship of the Turkish Industry & Business Association (TUSIAD), Koc Holding, and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Sweden in Stockholm, Sweden, January 22-24. The theme of the meeting was the "Age of Anxiety." Over 50 representatives of American, European, and Turkish NGOs, think tanks, and academia attended. McCurdy briefed participants on TCA's activities, the Turkish American community, and the political scene in Washington.
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McCurdy with officials from the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs
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Meetings with Members of Congress
TCA’s Washington team met with the following Members of Congress on Capitol Hill during the month of January—Representatives Steve Cohen (D-TN/9th), Virginia Foxx (R-NC-5th), and Ann Kuster (D-NH/2nd). Discussions ranged from current foreign and domestic issues affecting Turkish Americans to the upcoming centennial celebration of the Turkish National Assembly this April.
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TCA Hosts Webinar
Featuring Women Candidates
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On January 20
th
, TCA hosted its first event for 2020 with a webinar for the Turkish American Women’s Leadership Initiative. The webinar featured the three women from the Turkish American community who are currently running for elected office in 2020—
Leah Ersoylu
, trustee in the Newport Mesa United School District in Orange County, CA;
Ceylan Rowe
, state representative in the Massachusetts legislature; and
Aycha Sawa
, comptroller in Milwaukee, WI. Discussions centered around the candidates' platforms, their interest in public service, and the challenges they are facing while running their respective campaigns.*
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Turkish Studies Project Kicks Off the New Year with Website Launch and Conference
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In January, the
Turkish Studies Project
at the University of Utah kicked off the new year with the launching of its website and hosting a conference. The
Turkish Studies Project
is under the direction of
Dr. Hakan Yavuz
and sponsored by the Turkish Coalition of America (TCA).
The project's
website
showcases its past and current programs, publications, and op-eds. Topics cover a broad range: Memory, Identity, History, and Nationalism: Socio-Economic and Political Origins and Contemporary Challenges of Turkish Peoples in Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia, Including Relations with Modern Turkey ("Origins and Contemporary Challenge of Turkic Peoples"). Further, the project supports the study of Orientalism and the dehumanization of the Turks in the Balkans and the Caucasus with a particular focus on Russia's role.
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TCA Welcomes New Program Director
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On January 13th,
Lawrence Cenk Laws
took over as TCA’s new Program Director. Laws had previously worked as one of TCA’s Program Coordinators for the 2019 Turkish American Annual Youth Leadership Congress. He is a licensed Turkish American attorney from Virginia whose areas of expertise center around international human rights, minority rights and humanitarian issues. Laws is a TCA Youth Congress alumnus and was a TCA summer intern for Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA/8th). He received his B.S. in International Politics from Georgetown University, J.D. from The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law and most recently his L.L.M. in Public International Law from Koc University in Istanbul.
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Laws pictured here with Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA/8th) during his TCA Summer Internship last year.
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*Please note: as a 501(c)3 charitable organization, TCA is prohibited by law from engaging in activities that could be construed as political campaigning. TCA cannot and does not donate funds to a political action committee or support any political candidate or group of candidates. With this initiative, TCA is not endorsing or supporting any candidate for any office.
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