TCA was invited to participate in the delegation accompanying Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey, on his official visit to the United States. TCA Vice President Guler Koknar participated in the visit on May 14-18. TCA Chairman Dr. Yalcin Ayasli and Mrs. Koknar represented TCA at the official lunch hosted for the Prime Minister and his delegation by Vice President Joseph Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry.

May 19, 1919 marks the beginning of the Turkish War of National Liberation on which day Mustafa Kemal, later to be known as Ataturk (father of all Turks) arrived in Samsun to embark on a journey that would ultimately create the Republic of Turkey and a new nation state. The Turkish War of Liberation lasted four years and culminated in the international recognition of Turkey's borders through the treaty of Lausanne July 24, 1923 and the founding of the Republic of Turkey on October 29, 1923. Ataturk later declared May 19 as a national holiday dedicated to Turkish youth and sports. The holiday continues to be celebrated today in Turkey as Ataturk Remembrance, Youth and Sports Day. For more information, please click here.

On April 17, TCA President Lincoln G. Lincoln McCurdy attended a gala dinner featuring Ali Babacan, Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey Responsible for the Economy, and an accompanying delegation of Turkish Business Leaders. The event was organized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Union of Chambers and Commodities Exchanges of Turkey.

On April 30, the second annual International Jazz Day was celebrated in Istanbul, Turkey with a series of official celebrations, concerts, exhibitions and educational programs throughout the city. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) officially designated April 30 as “International Jazz Day” in 2011. Highlighting the role that the United States played in the origins of jazz, Congressman John Conyers introduced HRes.179 recognizing International Jazz Day. The Resolution also pays tribute to Ahmet Ertegun, the Turkish American founder of Atlantic Records, and his brother Nesuhi. The two brothers organized the first-ever racially integrated jazz concerts at the Turkish Embassy when Washington, DC was still segregated. TCA President G. Lincoln McCurdy accompanied a congressional delegation visiting Turkey on the occasion and TCA hosted a reception for the delegation in Istanbul.

On April 26, TCA welcomed Egemen Bagis, Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator, Ambassador Haluk Ilıcak, Undersecretary of Ministry for EU Affairs, and Ekim Alptekin, President of the Turkish American Business Association (TABA/AmCham), to its Washington office for a discussion on TCA's leadership in engaging the Turkish American community. For more information on the meeting please click here.

On April 16, TCA Vice President and Turkey Representative Basak Kizildemir and Guler Koknar met with key leaders of the Turkish business community in Istanbul upon the invitation of Zafer Caglayan, Minister of Economy of Turkey to discuss the prospects of the U.S.-EU free trade agreement and Turkey's role in the process.

Sevin Elekdag, TCA Research Fellow and Onur Isci, Lecturer at History Department of Georgetown University published an article in the Eurasia Review on April 25 entitled “Overcoming Conflict: How the Battle of Gallipoli Sparked a New Friendship”. To read article in full, please click here.

In response to the President's annual statement on Armenian Remembrance Day, G. Lincoln McCurdy, President of the TCA issued a comment expressing deep disappointment in President Obama's one-sided and historically inaccurate pronouncement on April 24th designed to appease certain single-issue Armenian groups. TCA will again send a package of books and documents to the White House in the hope that they will be read and that the office of the Presidency is not used again for such dissemination of half-truths concerning the forced relocation of the Armenian population from the Eastern front to the southern part of the Ottoman Empire during WW1. Please click here for full statement of TCA President G. Lincoln McCurdy.

American Minority Students who received TCA Study Abroad scholarships in April come from universities in New York, Texas, Georgia and Washington. With the awards disseminated in April, the number of TCA Study Abroad in Turkey Scholarships awarded to African American, Hispanic American and Native American students has reached 23 in 2013, bringing the total number of recipients to 272 since the program's inception in 2008.

TCA has approved two grants to support students traveling to Turkey in June and August, 2013. The TCA grant to the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) will support 'Art, Culture and Literature in Istanbul' course that is planned to take place in Turkey from June 15-30, 2013. The TCA grant to VCU will help subsidize participation costs for 5 students. The TCA study tour grant to George Washington University (GWU) will enable up to 12 students to participate in a week-long 'Engaging the Greater Middle East and North Africa' program in Turkey that will commence on August 11, 2013. TCA grants to VCU and GWU bring the total number of TCA Study Tour grants in 2013 to four. Since the inception of its Study Tour Grant program in 2011, TCA grants have supported 12 study tours to Turkey and have helped raise Turkey's profile as a destination for US college study tours.