Turkey and the US unites through love of countries
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Kristen Stevens
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Haziran 27, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - Even when looking over her shoulder at the Bosphorus from the Ritz Carlton, it isn’t farfetched for Mona Tekin Diamond to talk about connecting with housewives in Anatolian villages. ’I’m not talking about upsetting husbands or women’s ways of doing things,’but we can help make more of their skills through development,’ she says.
Since operating as the quiet force behind the first international women’s leadership summit in Istanbul this month, Atlanta resident Mona Tekin Diamond has been meeting with people daily from Izmir to Ankara. As head of the American Turkish Friendship Council (ATFC), she shared news of the group’s projects Tuesday with Turkey’s Chief EU negotiator Egemen Bağıs in Istanbul.
An uncommon independent in Turkey’s polarizing political landscape, Diamond calls Bağıs "a friend from New York". Signaling a well-rounded circle, she also counts among her friends one of Turkey’s top journalists Mehmet Ali Birand and women from the country’s most progressive corners. She met Wednesday with Ömer Koç to discuss bringing an art exhibition to Atlanta. A member of the Emory University president’s international board, her request for a free flow of expertise from Emory to Koç University’s new medical school was recently granted.
Last summer Diamond brought her idea for an Istanbul women’s summit to KAGIDER, Turkey’s most visible group of female entrepreneurs. Since then, she and her ATFC team of five worked tirelessly to bring many of the summit’s formidable female speakers to Istanbul. Melanne Verveer, President Barack Obama's ambassador-at-large for global women's issues, agreed to attend after a series of exchanges with Diamond.
Verveer told Diamond that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had been "very impressed with Turkey and the women of Turkey" during her spring visit, Diamond said. Extending her hand to Turkey’s women beyond the summit, Verveer invited Diamond to meet with her in Washington D.C. in July.
Shortly after her appointment as honorary consul general for Georgia four years ago, Diamond organized the American Turkish Friendship Council, enabling her to raise the funds for several projects such as endowing a Turkish lecture series at Emory University, awarding scholarships for young women from poor families in Turkey, establishing a Turkish language program at Georgia State University and providing shipment of medical supplies to Turkey through the services of Atlanta-based humanitarian group Medshare International.
The nitty gritty
In 2010 and 2011, she and ATFC will organize another summit in either Atlanta or Washington with the focus firmly on connecting Turkish and American women from businesses large and small. "I mean, let’s get down to the nitty gritty and help some people," she said. Americans and Europeans often have the wrong impression of Turkish women, considering them to be less active in civic and business affairs than their Western counterparts, she said. "The best thing to do is have them meet and show them otherwise."
Unlike the Istanbul summit hosted by KAGIDER, the ATFC-hosted gathering will not focus as much on developing the personal successes of female entrepreneurs. The summit will set up a networking center to build upon itself as a product of the summit Ğ the ultimate goodie bag for a group fueled by business connections. "I don’t want people to come to a summit, then it’s over; I want it to create something for these women."
Diamond noted that to do this she will draw on good relations with officials and some eight Turkish professional organizations she named off the top of her head, including the Ministry of Trade and the country’s top business association, TUSIAD.
The close relations ATFC has formed with such groups are the result of how Diamond relates to people. Sometimes her enthusiasm for Turkey is so unreserved that it can come under a microscope.
While meeting to offer ATFC’s partnership on a project with the professional women’s group of İzmir, İZIKAD, one member asked Diamond to state upfront any personal political aspirations. Her gentle, jovial spirit radiating in her blue eyes, Diamond said she told the woman that her actions on behalf of Turkey were driven by "the love of my own three children who bear Turkish names and the love I have for this country."
Following meetings with other women in recent weeks, she said talking with these groups allows her to unite with them "and hopefully we’ll all be stronger in what we’re trying to do." Before a meeting with the Professional American Women of Istanbul (PAWI) she expected to encounter mostly wives of Turkish men. To her pleasant surprise, she found that the group was made up of many American women choosing to live and work in Turkey, many of them single.
Fatma Şahin, who heads the women’s caucus for the ruling AKP, invited Diamond to meet her and told her to come again after meeting with Verveer to discuss specifics about setting up programs and strategies to support women.
While in the Aegean city of İzmir, Diamond met with the Crisler Library in Ephesos, an American nonprofit research library to explore partnering with them to offer American university students internships at the library and site. She also discussed book exchange with an İzmir school and getting more American kids to come to the city’s international Space Camp.
She visited the Aegean Free Zone in İzmir and hopes to help American companies make the most of Turkey’s tax incentives. "This is very important for us," she said.
Sharing the load
Among ATFC’s work Diamond is most proud of these days is last month’s shipment of medical supplies to Turkey’s Red Cross equivalent Kızılay in Ankara. The Atlanta-based group raised the $20,000 necessary to fill the container with supplies worth more than $120,000 through Medshare, an aid organization sending unused, discarded medical equipment to countries around the world.
Kızılay was so thrilled about the quality of the shipment that they are planning to pay for six more shipments themselves. Kızılay asked Diamond if Medshare would send a container to Darfur as part of Kızılay’s ongoing work in Sudan's strife-torn region.
Taking a rare break last week, Diamond visited with 18 close Turkish friends in Çeşme. As they gathered to say goodbye she said she was near tears leaving such close friends.
Her sons grew up spending summers in Turkey and also feel at home in the culture. Toran Tekin sits on the ATFC board and is an entrepreneur; her oldest son Burak is a dentist in Atlanta; and the youngest Kamuran exports marble and travertine from Turkey. "When I look out the [plane] window and see Istanbul I feel that I’m coming home," she said.
For information about the American Turkish Friendship Council, visit www.theatfc.org.
An uncommon independent in Turkey’s polarizing political landscape, Diamond calls Bağıs "a friend from New York". Signaling a well-rounded circle, she also counts among her friends one of Turkey’s top journalists Mehmet Ali Birand and women from the country’s most progressive corners. She met Wednesday with Ömer Koç to discuss bringing an art exhibition to Atlanta. A member of the Emory University president’s international board, her request for a free flow of expertise from Emory to Koç University’s new medical school was recently granted.
Last summer Diamond brought her idea for an Istanbul women’s summit to KAGIDER, Turkey’s most visible group of female entrepreneurs. Since then, she and her ATFC team of five worked tirelessly to bring many of the summit’s formidable female speakers to Istanbul. Melanne Verveer, President Barack Obama's ambassador-at-large for global women's issues, agreed to attend after a series of exchanges with Diamond.
Verveer told Diamond that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had been "very impressed with Turkey and the women of Turkey" during her spring visit, Diamond said. Extending her hand to Turkey’s women beyond the summit, Verveer invited Diamond to meet with her in Washington D.C. in July.
Shortly after her appointment as honorary consul general for Georgia four years ago, Diamond organized the American Turkish Friendship Council, enabling her to raise the funds for several projects such as endowing a Turkish lecture series at Emory University, awarding scholarships for young women from poor families in Turkey, establishing a Turkish language program at Georgia State University and providing shipment of medical supplies to Turkey through the services of Atlanta-based humanitarian group Medshare International.
The nitty gritty
In 2010 and 2011, she and ATFC will organize another summit in either Atlanta or Washington with the focus firmly on connecting Turkish and American women from businesses large and small. "I mean, let’s get down to the nitty gritty and help some people," she said. Americans and Europeans often have the wrong impression of Turkish women, considering them to be less active in civic and business affairs than their Western counterparts, she said. "The best thing to do is have them meet and show them otherwise."
Unlike the Istanbul summit hosted by KAGIDER, the ATFC-hosted gathering will not focus as much on developing the personal successes of female entrepreneurs. The summit will set up a networking center to build upon itself as a product of the summit Ğ the ultimate goodie bag for a group fueled by business connections. "I don’t want people to come to a summit, then it’s over; I want it to create something for these women."
Diamond noted that to do this she will draw on good relations with officials and some eight Turkish professional organizations she named off the top of her head, including the Ministry of Trade and the country’s top business association, TUSIAD.
The close relations ATFC has formed with such groups are the result of how Diamond relates to people. Sometimes her enthusiasm for Turkey is so unreserved that it can come under a microscope.
While meeting to offer ATFC’s partnership on a project with the professional women’s group of İzmir, İZIKAD, one member asked Diamond to state upfront any personal political aspirations. Her gentle, jovial spirit radiating in her blue eyes, Diamond said she told the woman that her actions on behalf of Turkey were driven by "the love of my own three children who bear Turkish names and the love I have for this country."
Following meetings with other women in recent weeks, she said talking with these groups allows her to unite with them "and hopefully we’ll all be stronger in what we’re trying to do." Before a meeting with the Professional American Women of Istanbul (PAWI) she expected to encounter mostly wives of Turkish men. To her pleasant surprise, she found that the group was made up of many American women choosing to live and work in Turkey, many of them single.
Fatma Şahin, who heads the women’s caucus for the ruling AKP, invited Diamond to meet her and told her to come again after meeting with Verveer to discuss specifics about setting up programs and strategies to support women.
While in the Aegean city of İzmir, Diamond met with the Crisler Library in Ephesos, an American nonprofit research library to explore partnering with them to offer American university students internships at the library and site. She also discussed book exchange with an İzmir school and getting more American kids to come to the city’s international Space Camp.
She visited the Aegean Free Zone in İzmir and hopes to help American companies make the most of Turkey’s tax incentives. "This is very important for us," she said.
Sharing the load
Among ATFC’s work Diamond is most proud of these days is last month’s shipment of medical supplies to Turkey’s Red Cross equivalent Kızılay in Ankara. The Atlanta-based group raised the $20,000 necessary to fill the container with supplies worth more than $120,000 through Medshare, an aid organization sending unused, discarded medical equipment to countries around the world.
Kızılay was so thrilled about the quality of the shipment that they are planning to pay for six more shipments themselves. Kızılay asked Diamond if Medshare would send a container to Darfur as part of Kızılay’s ongoing work in Sudan's strife-torn region.
Taking a rare break last week, Diamond visited with 18 close Turkish friends in Çeşme. As they gathered to say goodbye she said she was near tears leaving such close friends.
Her sons grew up spending summers in Turkey and also feel at home in the culture. Toran Tekin sits on the ATFC board and is an entrepreneur; her oldest son Burak is a dentist in Atlanta; and the youngest Kamuran exports marble and travertine from Turkey. "When I look out the [plane] window and see Istanbul I feel that I’m coming home," she said.
For information about the American Turkish Friendship Council, visit www.theatfc.org.