Dear Sir/Madam:

On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly, making a criminal offense “the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as defined in Article 211-1 of the French Penal Code, as listed in Article 23 of the 1881 Law on the Freedom of the Press as amended.” The means of expression listed in Article 23 include “speeches, shouting, threats made in public places or during public meetings, written or printed statements, drawings, engraved images or any other medium used for writing, words or images sold or distributed in public places or during public meetings, placards or posters exposed to the public view, or any public means of electronic communication.” The maximum penalty is one year of imprisonment and/or a €45,000 fine (about US$58,000). In response to a request from a group of members of the French General Assembly and Senate, the French Constitutional Council agreed to review and determine the constitutionality of the law.

While debating the law, French senators focused extensively on a specific event, which France had officially recognized as “genocide” in 2001: the massacre of Armenian citizens of the Ottoman Empire in 1915 during World War I in the Empire’s eastern provinces. The Ottoman Government had made the decision to relocate the Armenian population in the area bordering the Russian Empire in order to stop the indigenous Armenian militia from helping the attacking Russian forces. Large numbers of the Armenians perished during the relocation; historians and human rights experts are yet to concur if this was a deliberate action of the Ottoman Government to annihilate an ethnic population.

As the controversy surrounding the so-called “Armenian Genocide” continues for almost a century, the French have added a new dimension to it: curtailing freedom of expression and hence violating human rights by declaring that verbalizing any disagreement with the alleged genocide is a crime! This decision of the Parliament mainly represents a response to the 500,000 people of Armenian origin living in France lobbying the French politicians, even though the European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly held that freedom of expression applies not only to inoffensive ideas, “but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population”. In the United States, where the Armenian lobby is also active, the First Amendment of the Constitution that protects the freedom of speech would disallow the United States Congress to pass such a law.

American citizens should request that their Government and Congressional representatives inform their counterparts in the Republic of France that implementation of a law that establishes the denial of genocide as a crime is in violation of its international human rights obligations and detrimental to their relationships as NATO partners.

Sincerely yours,

Sumer Pek, MD

The current uproar involves the Republic of France recognizing the denial of genocide as a “crime” punishable by imprisonment and/or monetary fines. In 2001, France has formally recognized the massacres of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide. In 2006, the French National Assembly (the lower house) adopted a bill making it a crime to deny that Armenians suffered genocide in 1915 at the hands of the Ottoman Turks; however, the bill did not move forward to become law. In December 2011, the National Assembly passed a draft law to penalize those who deny genocide. The draft law does not specifically refer to the alleged Armenian genocide; however, since the event was recognized by France as genocide in 2001, the law includes it. The French Senate approved the law in January 2012; it will become final upon approval by the President (pending).

As reviewed extensively in the following Wikipedia report (click here for link), the concept that genocide of the Armenian population has occurred in the Ottoman Empire has been approved by a large number of international organizations, autonomous nations and semi-autonomous ethnic groups. Further, several nations that have declared the Armenian massacre to be genocide have already laws in place recognizing denial of genocide a violation of the law. Indeed in 2007, in the truly impartial and neutral country Switzerland, a court found Dogu Perincek guilty for denying the alleged Armenian genocide, and the decision was upheld by the Swiss Supreme Court.

It makes sense to approach President of France Sarkozy to convince him not to approve the parliament’s decision, as the Government of Turkey and Turkish PAC are trying to do. However, at this stage, the effort is not to convince foreign countries and international organizations to reverse their decisions that the Ottoman Empire committed genocide of a specific ethnic group of its citizens. Rather, the issue is whether or not denying the occurrence of genocide should be considered a crime in the Republic of France (obviously applicable only to people in France). Thus, the main argument will have to be that such a law is in violation of human rights in freedom of speech. The legal issue is discussed from an academic perspective in the attached document (Holocaust Denial). In the United States, the First Amendment of the Constitution addresses the freedom of speech issue, and the US Supreme Court would declare such a denial law as unconstitutional (indeed, groups in the French Senate have declared that the passed law would also be unconstitutional in France). In my view, the Turkish Americans in the United States (and obviously TACAM) should inform the American public that, not only a genocide has not occurred, but the current decision of France is a violation of human rights and the freedom of speech, and is inconsistent with the libertarian/democratic principles of the American people, as defined by their Constitution. Unfortunately, the limitations in human rights, freedom of speech and integrity of the legal system in the Republic of Turkey will in a way weaken our arguments in this regard.

Additional reference from Peter R. Teachout: Click here for link

Author: Prof. Dr. Sumer Pek (TACAM Grassroots Advisor)

The Rick Perry Issue:

Perry’s erroneous comments were triggered by the interviewing reporter Bret Baier (Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier – see following link for the movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDBTut1nIrY ), who is known to use slurs against non-conservative people, minorities and certain ethnic or religious entities. In this instance, he brought up the following allegations against Turkey, before Perry had anything to say:

1.  Islamist-oriented party took over Turkey” referring to Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP),
2. murder rate of women increased by 1400% there,
3. press freedom has declined to the level of Russia,
4. prime minister of Turkey has embraced Hamas,
5. Turkey has threatened military force against both Israel and Cyprus
6. and given Turkey’s turn, do you believe Turkey still belongs in NATO?”

In other words, with his discriminatory and false accusations, Baier has set the stage for Perry, a politician known for his ignorance in political issues, to fumble and make confirmatory statements, since he was again ignorant on these issues. So, to set the matters straight, corrections on the six issues need to be directed not only to Rick Perry, but also to Bret Baier and the Fox News to which he belongs, requesting that they make statements accepting the errors they have made.

Below this message is a verbatim report (Perry About Turkey) on what Baier and Perry have said, and relevant comments made by others.

Here is our assessment of the validity of the six statements made by Baier and acknowledged by Perry:

1. “Islamist” means a Moslem with fundamentalist beliefs, including implementation of the Sharia law and aggression against disbelievers. AKP representatives may have religious background, but has no Islamist actions, well documented in its decisions and actions during the 10 years of its governmental power.
2. To make an issue about murder rate of women in Turkey is total nonsense. There are no credible statistics that there is a progressive rise in the so-called honor killing of women, which does happen among ignorant people in Eastern Turkey, but aggressively fought against by the Turkish Government.
3. Press freedom may not achieve the required level in Turkey, irrespective of the comparison with Russia. The planned major revisions in the Constitution will hopefully include rules to improve this.
4. Prime minister of Turkey has not embraced Hamas. Rather, he expressed repeatedly (including the confrontation with Perez at the Davos meeting 3 years ago) that the embargo of the Gaza Strip by Israel, regardless of the fact that its legally-elected government is run by Hamas, is a violation of international laws, and is causing major suffering of the people living there.
5. Turkey has never threatened Israel with violence; on the contrary, it demanded an apology from Israel for its violent action against a Turkish ship bringing humanitarian aid to people in Gaza, military commandos of Israel attacking the ship in international waters and killing 9 people on board.
6. Turkey is a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaties Organization (NATO), has consistently abided with the rules of the Treaty, and participated with the actions of the Organization to secure peace in the world.

Perry About Turkey:

BAIER: Governor Perry, since the Islamist-oriented party took over in Turkey, the murder rate of women has increased 1,400 percent there. Press freedom has declined to the level of Russia. The prime minister of Turkey has embraced Hamas and Turkey has threatened military force against both Israel and Cypress. Given Turkey’s turn, do you believe Turkey still belongs in NATO?

PERRY: Well, obviously when you have a country that is being ruled by, what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists, when you start seeing that type of activity against their own citizens, then yes. Not only is it time for us to have a conversation about whether or not they belong to be in NATO, but it’s time for the United States, when we look at their foreign aid, to go to zero with it.

And you go to zero with foreign aid for all of those countries. And it doesn’t make any difference who they are. You go to zero with that foreign aid and then you have the conversation about, do they have America’s best interest in mind? And when you have countries like Turkey that are moving far away from the country that I lived in back in the 1970′s as a pilot in the United States Air Force that was our ally, that worked with us, but today we don’t see that. Our — our — our president, has a foreign policy that makes our allies very nervous and emboldens our enemies. And we have to have a president of the United States that clearly sends the message, whether it’s to Israel, our friend and there should be no space between the United States and Israel, period.

And we need to send a powerful message to countries like Iran, and Syria and Turkey that the United States is serious and that we’re going to have to be dealt with.

Not surprisingly, this didn’t go over very well in Turkey itself:

Turkey’s foreign ministry condemned Texas Gov. Rick Perry Tuesday for saying that Turkey was a “country that is being ruled by what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists.”

Perry made the statement during a spirited debated between Republican presidential candidates in South Carolina Monday night.

Most of Turkey was fast asleep during the live broadcast, and Turkish newspapers had already gone to print by the time Perry declared that Turkey had moved “far away from the country I lived in back in the 1970s United States Air Force. That was our ally that worked with us, but today we don’t see that.”

The Texas governor also argued that it was time for Washington to cut foreign aid to Ankara.

A spokesman for Turkey’s foreign ministry fired back Tuesday, accusing Perry of making “baseless and improper claims.”

In a statement e-mailed to CNN, Selcuk Unal said presidential candidates should “be more informed about the world and be more careful their statements.”

“The unfortunate views of Perry are not shared in any case by Republican party supporters, considering the weak support he has received in public polls and primary elections,” Unal concluded.

Top Turkish government officials were unavailable for comment Tuesday, with many of them in Northern Cyprus for the funeral of veteran Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktas, but the country’s largely-tabloid press wasted no time in responding to the comments on websites early Tuesday morning.

“The debate that the Republican candidate Rick Perry attended on American Fox TV turned into a scandal that contained very ugly statements about Turkey,” announced TRT state television.

“Rick Perry: what an idiot,” tweeted Mustafa Akyol, a columnist with the English-language Hurriyet Daily news. The Hurriyet newspaper also posted a video on its website of Perry drawing a blank in the middle of a prior debate, forgetting in mid-sentence which was the third of three government departments he would cut if elected president.

Perhaps this is why the Perry campaign quickly began trying to backpedal on Perry’s comments after the debate

Victoria Coates, foreign policy advisor to Perry, further explained the governor’s remarks, saying that some view the leaders of Turkey as Islamic terrorists due to their support of Hamas and the flotilla against Israel.

“The governor was responding to the questioners references to violence against women and to association with Hamas, I think both of which are things that many people do associate as he said with Islamic terrorists,” Coates told reporters in the spin room. “He was referring to those things, and while he would welcome the opportunity to work with Turkey on regional issues like Syria or Iraq, this kind of behavior on the part of that country is disturbing and I think we should concerned about it.”

Asked if the leaders of Turkey have performed any actions which place them in the category of Islamic terrorists, Coates responded: What he said was that many people associate that kind of behavior with that of Islamic terrorists. I think also their support for the flotilla against Israel this fall. It’s deeply concerning, and I think it’s something any future American president needs to be aware of.”

It’s certainly true that Turkey’s new government has raised some concerns in the West to the extent it has drifted away from the traditional secularism of the Turkish State, but to suggest that the country is ruled by terrorists is the kind of simplistic idiocy one expects from someone who gets their news from Rush Limbaugh and World Net Daily, not someone running for President of the United States. Moreover, Perry’s comment completely overlooks the extent to which Ankara has been working with the United States on important regional issues:

Analysts said Mr. Perry’s musings were all the more curious since Washington and Ankara’s alliance has been bolstered in recent months by Turkey’s strong backing of pro-democracy movements during Arab Spring uprisings.

“Ankara and Washington are now walking in lockstep… The essence of the new relationship is one where Turkey is more empowered, and more crucial to the U.S. because of its leverage,” said Atilla Yesilada, of Istanbul Analytics, an Istanbul-based political risk consultancy.

Turkish and U.S. diplomats say they cannot remember a time when cooperation between Ankara and Washington was closer, citing that President Barack Obama called Turkey’s prime minister more than any other leader except Britain’s prime minister in 2011.

What analysts call an increasing symmetry of Washington and Ankara’s policies has formed after a period of significant strain in 2009-2010, when Turkey moved closer to Iran and tensions with Israel were at boiling point over the killing of seven Turkish nationals by Israeli commandos on the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara flotilla.

In a crucial shift, Turkey agreed last fall to host a North Atlantic Treaty Organization missile-defense system, which was designed by the U.S. to contain Iran.

I guess they left that out of Perry’s debate preparation. There’s one other thing they forgot to tell him, Turkey doesn’t get any foreign aid from the United States:

As for foreign aid, Turkey is a wealthy country that already gets virtually no foreign aid from the United States. The State Department this year made a request for about $5 million, which was earmarked for peace-keeping and security operations — not what one could consider traditional “foreign aid.”

“Turk-Amerikan Lobiciliginin Guclenmesi icin Aktif Yardiminiza Ihtiyac Var”

Dear TACAM Members, and Friends of Turkiye (Turkey):

As we close the 2011 calendar year, we have a deep sense of gratitude for your trust and continued support as we work further collectively to fulfill the vision and goals of the Turkish-American Community!

During this time of reflection, we intend to review the areas of accomplishment, and future opportunities to improve. With this thought in mind, please analyze the key strategies below and consider the ways you could support them as much as you can:

A. The 2012 TACAM Vision:

Our aim is to initiate programs and organize events to meet the overall and critical needs of the Turkish American community – based on the principles of Ataturk!  Therefore, we have organized two “Strategic Planning Workshops”, and sent out a survey questionnaire to get feedback from the Turkish American community. As a result, the following main strategic areas and projects were identified:

Strategies:

1. VOICE – Increase the voice of Turkish-Americans: in Michigan and in U.S. especially in key Turkiye and Turkish-American related matters (see www.turkishpac.com for example topics).
2. REACH OUT – Advocacy & Outreach: involvement within our community, reach to and collaborate with other Turkic-American organizations for the benefits of the Turkish-American Community, and to have “One-Voice”; cooperation with other ethnic groups; reach out to American media, policy makers, and others.
3. EDUCATION – Focus on educational activities (Involving our youth, members, media, and politicians, etc.): As a cultural association, specific programs discussing various aspects of the Turkish culture found to be desirable; to include educational presentations as much as possible in key events.
4. MEMBERSHIP – Engagement and development: To meet new people, enhancing social and professional networks for mutual benefits, as well as strengthening our bonds with current association friends and family to respond to their changing needs.

 Projects:

5. BUILDING:  TACAM property improvement, to achieve a quality the Turkish-American Community deserves!

B. Responding to the VISION -  Who we are & What we did for you in the past 2 years?

Since May 2010, we provided the following outcomes:

• Organized over 35 key events and/or activities with your support and met and/or exceeded all our planned targets (see link for details: www.tacam.org/?p=1868); more events are in the planning stage.
• Mentored/sponsored an American archaeology PhD student “Angela Commito” to attend a summer course in Selçuk, Turkey focusing on Ancient Cities in Turkiye (Angela will provide us a lecture about her experience.)
• Organized the biggest Republic Day Celebration in U.S. in 2011, with almost 300 guests and the only one where multiple congress people joined and delivered excellent PR speeches about Turkey and Ataturk; plus further consuls and key VIP people joined. Also, we received 6 proclamations from State of Michigan and other cities ref the Turkish Republic Day (see example link: http://www.turkishny.com/usa-news/87-american-english-news/71489-michiganda-turkiye-ve-ataturk-tantm).
• Proactively approached and partnered with different Turkic and Balkan ethnic groups and organized joint events in line with our strategies.
• With the leadership and expertise of Prof. Dr. Sumer Pek, launched a totally new TACAM by-laws after 30 years (see link: www.tacam.org/about/bylaws).
• New committees added to the existing ones: (1) Building Committee, and (2) Trade & Economy Development Committees. The building committee established an exclusive building fund and already managed to get $10K initial funds with the target of getting $100K+.
• Received substantial amounts of donations, much in excess of such contributions in previous years, and had $13K more income as initially budgeted, and more…

C. Your requested critical support to the Turkish-American Community?

To maintain this momentum, and to further implement our strategies, we NEED your support and kindly ask your assistance, as follows:

1. Please ask professionals and business people you are acquainted with to make donations to TACAM. Annually, TACAM needs approximately $13K for property maintenance (including property tax) and further significant event costs. The suggested amount for a donation could be at least $250; remind your friends that donations to TACAM are fully tax deductible.
2. Please pay your 2012 TACAM membership dues by January 31, 2012! If you have not done so already (see link for online payment www.tacam.org/membership).
3. Please pro-actively support one TACAM event or activity every year, such as supporting the organization of an event, joining an action committee, giving an educational lecture in the area of your expertise, sponsoring an event by a donation, bringing proactive ideas and contributing to their implementation, etc. For this purpose, please contact us at contact@tacam.org to review the details,
4. Please promote TACAM in your communities, and encourage 1 or 2 persons or families to become members in the Year 2012. We are targeting to increase %50 the current membership number by December 2012.

D. Why is it important that you became an active TACAM member?

1.  By supporting TACAM and its U.S. network, you become part of the advocacy organization with a truly national reach. Your support and involvement allows TACAM to have an impact on key opinion leaders and policymakers on issues of deep concern to all of us—from promoting positive Turkish sentiments and supporting Türkiye, to championing human rights and strengthening ties with other ethnic groups!
2. By only working proactively and together as an organization—the Board, Action Committees and Active Members—we can make a difference within the Turkish American Community to promote our heritage and culture and pass it to our new generations!  We owe this to ourselves, to the Turkish-American Community, and our new generations!
3. We need to act now to successfully and effectively implement our strategies listed above to become an assertive Turkish American Community.
4. Our role model is Atatürk and his principles. We want to prove that Michigan has many Atatürk templates who are actively/successfully working to create miracles, and work hard to implement them!
5. Your donation of funds and effort will benefit our current and next generations, to preserve the Turkish culture and language, to promote our rich Turkish heritage, and to further the education of our future leaders.
6. In the New Year, we will organize more “TACAM member only” activities and focus more on their needs, as we are a membership organization! Please do not miss the opportunity to be part of a big family!

Please let us know how you can contribute to implement our vision and contact us at contact@tacam.org or 313.204.8700 as needed.

We wish you happy holidays, merry Christmas and a prosperous new year!

On behalf of the TACAM Board Members and Committee Chairpersons

Feridun Bek                                                                  Tim Tucker

TACAM President                                                        TACAM VP

1. June 13, 2010 – TACAM VISION 2010+ Strategy Workshop (Event Manager: Feridun Bek): All Board members, committee leaders and Michigan Turkish Professors met to define the updated strategies and activities for TACAM for 2010/2011. Afterwards, a survey was sent to the TACAM network and approx. 80 people responded. The input was sorted out and used to finalize our event and action plan for 2010/2011.
2.  June 20, 2010 – Father Day’s Picnic with 100+ visitors (Event Manager: Tim Tucker): To enable membership engagement and networking, this event was organized with offering a delicious open-buffet. Over 100 people joint and approx. 20 people from the Ann Arbor Rotary Club.
3.  July 2-4, 2010 – TACAM Delegation Trip to Chicago (Event Manager: Feridun Bek): To review with the Turkish General Consul Kenan Ipek how to create synergies and implement the TACAM strategies. Also, a further synergy workshop was organized with the key leaders of all Turkish-American Associations in Chicago area, which enabled best-practice exchange.
4.  July 23, 2010 – Political Enlightenment Workshop at the Poolside with TSA Michigan (Event Manager: Berk Köprülü): TACAM partnered with Turkish-Student Association of Michigan (TSA) and Honorary Turkish Consul General in Michigan (Ms Nurten Ural). The focus of this educational workshop was the U.S. elections. With Students, approximately 70 people attended; TACAM sponsored the dinner.
5.  Aug 6-8, 2010 – TACAM Tent at Lebanese Festival (Event Manager Elif Cila & TACAM Board Mentor: Adnan Ateş): Elif set-up a committee of up to 10 volunteers and they presented Turkey, the Turkish Culture and Cuisine in this three-day festival. This event was important to promote Turkey and to further engage with the Lebanese-American Community.
6.  Aug 28, 2010 – Turkish Victory Day Celebration and Iftar Dinner (Event Managers: Tim Tucker & Ferid Ahmed): The very important Turkish Victory Day was celebrated with an educational and interactive presentation of the meaning of the day by Feridun Bek. Approximately 100 people join the event and iftar dinner.
7.  Sep 11, 2010 – Şeker Bayramı & Educational Movie Night (Event Managers: Adnan Ateş & Nilüfer Ateş): Approximately 100 people joined this traditional event with dinner. Adnan Ateş delivered an educational presentation of the meaning of the day.
8.  Sep 22, 2010 – TACAM Grassroots Visits/Meeting with Michigan State Representatives in Lansing (Activity Managers: Gökhan Özalp & Yenal Küçüker): In order to promote Turkey and educate the State representatives, our event leaders met with 20+ State Representatives, especially regarding the alleged Armenian Genocide. They provided educational brochure and books as well.
9.  Oct 15-17, 2010 – Representing Türkiye in the International Festival in Southfield, MI (Event Manager: Ümit Menemenci): Ümit Menemenci set-up a committee with eight volunteers presenting Turkey, the Turkish Culture and History during the three-day long festival. This event was important to promote Turkey and to further engage with various ethnic groups that we approached during the event. Prof. Dr. Sumer Pek delivered an educational presentation on the relationship between the country Turkey and the Thanksgiving bird turkey and the TACAM Folklore Group performed; up to 200+ Americans were in the audience.
10.  Nov 6, 2010 – Student Outreach Meeting with General Consul Fatih Yıldız (Event Manager: Berk Köprülü): Students are our biggest investment; for this purpose Student Outreach Chair Berk Köprülü organized an event with approx. 40 new students. Turkish General Consul Fatih Yıldız, Honorary Consul General Nurten Ural, Student Outreach Chairperson Berk Köprülü, and TACAM President Feridun Bek made speeches and listened to the needs of the students. (A further event with 200 students is planned by Q2 2011.)
11.  Nov 6, 2010 – Turkish Republic Ball (Event Managers: Özlem Falkiewicz & Asst. Prof. Mehmet Yaya): With the leadership of our Grassroots Committee, we received proclamations from the Governor of the State of Michigan and the Mayors of the cities of Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Wixom in Michigan. Our event was sold out 10 days before, and 150 people attended, more than the double the attendees in previous years. We had 8 Foreign Consuls joining us with the support of our Honorary Consul General Nurten Ural. We invited Demir Ceylan, a fabulous singer from Germany and gained $8,000 net donations to TACAM.
12.  Nov 7, 2010 – TACAM Mesut Ilgım Conference (Event Managers: Mickey Katz-Pek & Prof. Dr. Sumer Pek): This event was organized to approach to the Jewish-American Community and improve our relationship. With the leadership of Mickey Katz-Pek, we partnered with eight Jewish-American Federations, and TACAM was the lead. During this very informative conference, Mesut Ilgım reviewd the contribution of academisians  of Jewish origin exiled by Nazis to the Turkish University Reform of 1933; he and other speakers, including the Consul General Fatih Yıldız, impressed the 200 participants. TACAM paid all costs and received a grant from Turkish Coalition of America.
13.  Nov 19, 2010 – TACAM Property Development Fundraiser & Kurban Celebration Dinner with Live Music via Demir Ceylan (Event Managers: Adnan Ateş & Seckin Akgül): A perfect dinner with live music and over 130 guests was a success. We raised $3,500+ donations to fix the urgent TACAM property issues.
14. Dec 19, 2010 – TACAM Kids lecture “The Country Turkey and Thanksgiving the Thanksgiving Bird Turkey” (Event Managers: Prof. Dr. Sumer Pek, Mehmet Yaya and Feridun Bek): Specifically for families with kids we organized this informative lecture to entertain them and to educate about Turkey and the history of the Turks.
15.  Dec 30, 2010 – Joint Dinner with Lebanese Community Leaders (Event Managers: Ümit Menemenci and Nurten Ural): In order to engage with the Lebanese-American Community, TACAM sponsored an event with a dinner invitation. The Lebanese Consul, the President of the Lebanese Chamber of Commerce, and approx. 20 further leaders of that Community joined. TACAM leaders delivered speeches regarding Turkish-Lebanese relationship, and documents were distributed.
16. Jan 2011 – TACAM Property Improvement – Phase 1: We started to repair and renovate the TACAM property. Mr. Fatih Tanrısever (Owner: F. Tanrisever Construction Company, Inc.) donated 11 days of service, and Mr. İsmail Kırac 2 days of his time. Further renovations are in the planning stage.
17. Jan 16, 2011 – TACAM Vision and Strategy Workshop (Event Manager: Feridun Bek): The TACAM Board, committee leaders and volunteer members joined this interactive workshop to review the TACAM activities and committee development actions for 2011+.
18. Jan 22, 2011 – Lecture: Your Child’s Development: the Power of Play, Limit Setting and Discipline (Event Manager: Seyran Bek): This was a joint event with the Bulgarian Cultural Center of Detroit, and we partnered with Oakland County Family Services and Farmington Hills Mom’s Club. Bulgarian and Turkish families with children enjoyed the lecture from Kris Kasperski, M.Ed. (Fussy Baby Lead Infant and Family Specialist and Children’s Learning Center Early Childhood Specialist); TACAM sponsored the lunch and event.
19. Feb 12, 2011 – A lecture series on “Treasures of Turkey: From Ancient City Ephesus to Rumi’s Sufi Mysticism” including a Demonstration of “Sufi Meditation by a Whirling Dervish” (Event Manager: Feridun Bek & Dr. Sumer Pek): An excellent TACAM lecture with following speakers: Welcome speech by our event partners the City of Novi Mayor David B. Landry and City Manager Clay Pearson; Lecture regarding “The Treasures of Turkey” by Feridun Bek (TACAM President, who also studied archaeology in Turkey and is licensed as an educator in ancient Anatolian cities); The Crisler Library Education Vision by Janet V. Crisler (President of Crisler Library in Ephesus Ltd.); Lecture: Ephesus and Crisler Library Project by Mehmet Çuhadar (Archaeologist and Lecturer in Turkey); Brief Presentation on Mevlana Rumi by Dr. Sumer Pek & Sufi Whirling Dervish Performance by Salih Okten (Sufi and dancer in Istanbul over 20 years)
20. In this event we raised funds and mentored/sponsored an American archaeology PhD student “Angela Commito” to attend a summer course in Selçuk, Turkey focusing on Ancient Cities in Turkiye – Angela will provide us a lecture about her visit as well.
21. Feb 24, 2011 – Job Fair – TACAM is supporting its members/network with finding jobs: TACAM promoted the job fair “www.mijobhub.com and provided TACAM student membership resumes directly to partner companies who were hiring people. Also, with organizing interviews directly with the President of “Applied Automation Technologies, Inc.” (ATT) headquartered in Rochester Hills, MI.
22. March 1, 2011 – TACAM Co-sponsorship to the “Dilek Engin with Ad Libitum Chamber Ensemble Concert”: Dilek Engin, performed violin with the MSU College of Music. A night of fantastic music right at your doorstep with some of the best musicians from the State of Michigan.
23. March 5 & 19, 2011 – Turkish Cooking Demonstration (Event Manager: Cansu Tucker): A cooking lecture organized for American’s in Rochester Hills in partnership with Cansu Tucker (www.turkishcooking101.com) and TACAM.
24. March 11, 2011 – Turkey’s Cultural Presentation at the “Celebration of Diversity” Event at Workman Elementary School in Canton, MI (Event Manager: Asli Yashin): An excellent presentation that approximately 15 TACAM volunteers exclusively organized and decorated one classroom for Turkish Cultural Presentation; over 500 guests attended. Turkish decorations included: Traditional and cultural costumes, maps, fun giveaways, educational material, food and music etc.
25. March 26, 2011 – TACAM Co-sponsorship to the “Idil Ülgen and Daniel Foster Music Concert” (Event Manager: Mehmet Yaya & Beste Windes): An amazing concert at Eastern Michigan University. where well known TACAM Member Ms. Idil Ülgen performed an excellent piano recital featuring the works of Chopin, Liszt and Brahms. Ülgen also performed a collaborative work with Daniel Foster, EMU Professor of Violin.
26. April 23, 2011 – TACAM National Sovereignty and Children’s Day Celebration (Event Manager: Emin Durgun): Play time at PumpItUp in Wixom with snacks and juice. Children Presentation by Prof. Dr. Elif Persinger about the importance of the National Sovereignty, Children’s Day and Ataturk. TACAM thanks the Arslan, Duenyas, Durgun, Gür, Menemenci, Persinger and Poyraz families for sponsoring this event.
27. April 30, 2011 – Cultural Exchange Night with the Spanish association ADEMI and TACAM & Tapas and Meze Competition (Event Manager: Umit Menemenci): An unforgettable event with lots of Spanish and Turkish music, dance and food competition. Over 150 people joined to foster relationship with the Turkish-American and Spanish-American communities.
28. May 1, 2011 – TACAM Members’ General Assembly (Event Manager: Tim Tucker): In addition to the Board election in this meeting the new fully new written By-Laws for TACAM became effective. Also, a new Building Committee was established.
29. May 13, 2011 – Tango Turco Night (Event Manager: Elif Selin Cila): A dance evening for our young people part of membership engagement.
30. June 19, 2010 – Father Day’s Picnic with 120+ visitors (Event Manager: Melih Gunes): To enable membership engagement and networking, this event was organized with offering a delicious open-buffet.
31. July 27, 2011 – Farewell Party for Umit Menemenci (Event Manager: Feridun Bek): A dinner & party was organized for TACAM VP & Chair for the Grassroots Committee “Umit Menemenci” who relocated to New York as arranged by his employer. Umit worked very hard for the Turkish-American Community and his leadership, support and vision will always be missed.
32.  July 29, 2011 – TACAM Happy Hour (Event Managers: Serkan Ensoner & Ali Demir): TACAM Student Outreach Committee kicked off the first event of “Happy Hour” event series and held a party at an Irish Pub in Ann Arbor (Connor O’Neills). This event brought Turkish students and professionals together. The number of participants were about 30. With this event we started gathering detailed information about the Turkish students and created an online database.
33. Aug13, 2011 – TACAM’s Iftar Dinner (Event Manager: Cansu Tucker): With the leadership of Cansu, ladies of the Turkish-American Community cooked and donated delicious food for the visitor. We had over 100 people with education speeches via TACAM VP Tim Tucker and music afterwards.
34. Sep 11, 2011 – Turkish Victory Day and Ramadan Celebration & Commemoration of 9/11 (Event Manager: Adnan Ates): TACAM approached the Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Ahiska, Albanian and Bosnian communities and jointly celebrated the Turkish Victory Day and Ramadan and their leaders and/or association presidents joined the event as well. Food from Turkic countries were served with Bosnian Folklore, Bosnian/Turkish Live music and a Sufi Performance. Event Manager Adnan Ates provided an education PowerPoint presentation about Ramadan. TACAM President Feridun Bek delivered an educational presentation about the meaning of the Turkish Victory Day, and to commemorate the 10^th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the United States.
35. Sep 29, 2011 – TACAM Student Welcome Party (Event Managers: Serkan Ensoner & Ali Demir):: This event was targeted for Turkish students only, organized by TACAM Student Outreach committee, and were also the second event of the Happy Hour event series. We got a chance to meet many Turkish grad and undergrad students that we couldn’t meet in the first event. The event was held at a cafe in Ann-Arbor (Cafe Felix) and brought about 30 U of M students together.
36. Sep 29, 2011 – TACAM Student Welcome Guide Release (Author: Heather Littlefield – Coordinators Ali Demir & Serkan Ensoner):: The TACAM Student Outreach Team wrote a 20 page Student Guide for new coming students to Michigan, to find suitable housing, the US system, key information for student, immigration matters etc. which can be downloaded at www.tacam.org! A big thanks especially for Heather Littlefield!
37. November 5, 2011 - TACAM Student & Young Professionals Networking Event (Event Managers: Serkan Ensoner & Ali Demir): This event was actually a pre-event to TACAM Republic Day Ball held on the same day. Main purpose of this event was networking and it brought not only UM students, but also students from MSU and University of Windsor. There was also professional aspect to this event. Nurten Ural, Sevil Kutay, Recep Karadayi, Faruk Cingilli kindly contributed to this event.  as speaker. The number of participants was above 50.
38. November 5, 2011 – Turkish Republic Day Celebration (Event Managers: Ozen Durgun & Sulbiye Peters): TACAM organized the biggest Republic Day Celebration in U.S. in 2011, with almost 300 guests and the only one where multiple US Congress people joined and delivered excellent PR speeches about Turkey and Ataturk; plus further consuls and key VIP people joined. Also, we received 6 proclamations from State of Michigan and other cities ref the Turkish Republic Day (see example link: http://www.turkishny.com/usa-news/87-american-english-news/71489-michiganda-turkiye-ve-ataturk-tantm)
39. November 13, 2011 – TACAM sponsored DETROIT HEART and MINDS meet (Event Manager: Emine Zeren): Sponsored DETROIT HEART and MINDS event part of an Arabic-American youth outreach program.

Currently, we are working on further events, details of which will be emailed to you when complete.

Note: In order to get TACAM email invitations, you need to register your email address for the TACAM Newsletter and keep it updated (see www.tacam.org)!

Ozveriyle, sizler icin asagidaki linkte “2011 sene sonu mektubumuzu” hazirladik ve dikkatlice okumanizi onemle rica ediyoruz: http://tacam.org/2011/events/please-support-tacam-with-fully-tax-deductable-donations-in-2011/

Mektupta belirtildigi uzere (Bolum “A”) bizim “Ana Misyonumuz” Turk-Amerikan Toplumunun sesini yukseltmek ve Turkiye/Turk-Amerikan Toplumunun “Milli Menfatleri” icin yuce onderimiz Ataturk’un ilkeleriyle pro-aktif bir sekilde gerekli projeleri basariyla tamamlamak. Bu baglamda, Mayis 2010 tarihinden itibaren 35’in uzerinde etkinlik yaptik ve detaylari yandaki linkte gorebilirsiniz: http://tacam.org/2011/events/overview-of-tacam-event-and-activities-during-20102011-a-big-success-with-your-supports/ – bu bir rekor sayilabilir!

Bildiginiz gibi Amerika’da diger diasporalarin guclu bir ses cikarabilmesindeki en onemli etkenlerden biri, uye kesiminin sagladigi “maddi” ve “aktif” desteklerdir.

Bu baglamda, Michigan Turk-Amerikan Toplumu’nun kultur muhafazasi ve etkin lobiciligi icin calisanlari bagis yapmaya davet ediyoruz, soz gelimi $250 veya ustu!

Onemli ilave hususlar:

• 2011’de alinan bir kararla, “Tum” TACAM yonetim kurulu uyeleri hem haftada 5-10 saatini ayirmakta hem de her donem $250 dolar ile $5,000 arasinda TACAM’a ilaveten bagis yapmaktadir, uye aidatlar ve diger masraflar harictir.
• TACAM Binamiz cok uzucu bir durumda ve Turk Toplumuna yakismiyor – hem eski hem de cok bakima ihtiyaci var. Her yil 13-14 bin dolar olmak uzere sadece temel masraflari (vergi, sigorta vs.) oduyoruz ve uye aidatlarindan gelen paralar bu giderlerin 1/3’ini dahi karsilamiyor.
• Tum TACAM bagislarini tam olarak vergiden dusurebilirsiniz. $250 dolar ve uzeri bagislar icin makbuz gonderecegiz!
• Yandaki linkte PayPal uzeri online odeme yapilabilir (www.tacam.org/membership) ya da asagidaki adrese bir cek gonderebilirsiniz!

Aktif uye olmaniz ve Turk-Amerikan Toplumuna destek olmaniz size ne fayda saglayacak?

Cevabi: Yandaki linkte, bolum “D” kisminda: http://tacam.org/2011/events/please-support-tacam-with-fully-tax-deductable-donations-in-2011/

Eger “hep birlikte” kendi toplumumuza guclu bir sekilde sahip cikabilirsek, uzun vadede kendimiz ve Turk-Amerikan toplumu icin yasayabilecek guzel bir ortam olusturmus oluruz! Aksi takdirke www.turkishpac.com sayfasinda belirtilen konular bizleri ve yeni nesillerimizi ilerde daha da zor duruma sokacaktir!

Eger siz destek olursaniz, bu bize guc katacak ve ancak o zaman her birlikte hedeflerimize ulasabilecegiz!

2012’de daha basarili bir Turk-Toplumu diliyoruz!

Saygilarimizla,

TACAM Yonetim Kurulu adina

Feridun Bek

(Baskan)

You and your families are cordially invited to our casual ” TACAM 2012 New Year Brunch & Vision Update ” event as details are shown below:

• Date:                      Sunday, January 8^th, 2012 — 11:30am – 2:30pm
• Location:               Marhaba Restaurant, 28968 Orchard Lake Road, Farmington, MI  48334
• Price:                     Standard brunch menu $10 per person plus drinks & tip (to be paid at the restaurant)

We kindly ask you to RSVP at feridun.bek@gmail.com by Jan 6, 2012?

In addition, in this event we would like to provide you an overview regarding our TACAM Vision & Activities for 2012+ (see following link for details: http://tacam.org/2011/events/please-support-tacam-with-fully-tax-deductable-donations-in-2011/)

With your support, we organized over 35 events and/or activities since May 2010 (see link for details: http://tacam.org/2011/events/overview-of-tacam-event-and-activities-during-20102011-a-big-success-with-your-supports/).

This was only possible with your active involvement & many thanks for your support to make a difference!

May the new year be filled with peace and happiness for us as a community as well as to the entire mankind!

Best regards

TACAM Board

OPPOSE ETHNIC SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP’S ATTEMPT TO DERAIL US FOREIGN POLICY

 Click to send your Pax Turcica Capwiz letter in less than a minute

 http://capwiz.com/paxturcica/issues/alert/?alertid=52313501

Before the end of 2011, ethnic special interest groups in Congress are back again trying to target Turkey with their limited agenda. House Resolution 306 introduced by Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) earlier in the year, may be brought for a full House consideration on December 13, 2011 (TOMORROW). H.R. 306 claims that Turkey is destroying its ancient and modern Christian heritage and communities. Such allegations of cultural genocide are invalidated by the report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and the 2010 progress report of the European Union, both of which commend the freedom of religion in Turkey.

Join the Turkish- and Turkic-Americans to ask your representatives to oppose HR 306 if it comes up for a vote in Congress.

.Please, do not forget to select up to 5 local media targets from the list when sending the Capwiz letters and to forward the responses to institute@paxturcica.org

Click to send your Pax Turcica Capwiz letter in less than a minute

http://capwiz.com/paxturcica/issues/alert/?alertid=52313501

Date:                 December 10, 2011 (preferred) & December 11, 2011

Location:          BAC Center, 1451 E Big Beaver Road, Troy, MI 48083

Admission:      No cost

See link for event details: http://www.tasmich.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=133

During the program:

- You’ll have the opportunity to enjoy a wide selection of foods from Albanian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, and Turkish cuisines. Many uniquely cultural food items will be available for purchase.
- You’ll enjoy the arts and crafts displays and have an opportunity to contribute to the cause by purchasing some artifacts.
- There will be entertainment activities for children of all age such as face painting, clown show, Cotton Candy.

In addition, the program features:

SATURDAY
6:30 PM – Calligraphy Show by renowned Calligrapher Mr. Aydin Cayir
7:00 PM – Traditional Bosnian Dance Performance by KUD Behar
Traditional Dance Performance by Bulgarian Cultural Center Folk Group
7:30 PM – Live Ebru (Water Marbling) Show
8:30 PM – Live concert by Bosnian music band MEKAM (Entrance Fee for the concert: $5/person)

SUNDAY
1:00 PM – Presentation on the history and methods of the Art of Calligraphy by Mr. Aydin Cayir
3:00 PM – Live Classical Turkish Music concert
4:00 PM – Live Ebru (Water Marbling) Show

  Son BaŞvuru Tarihi: 14 Kasım 2011

2009 yılında 80 ülkeden 2000′i aŞkın katılımcıyla gerçekleŞtirilen “Dünya Türk GiriŞimciler Kurultayı”, bu yıl 18-19 Kasım 2011 tarihlerinde İstanbul Lütfi Kırdar Kongre ve Sergi Sarayı’nda gerçekleŞtirilecektir.  Kurultayla ilgili ayrıntılılı bilgiyi www.dtik.org.tr adresinden temin edebilirsiniz.

Kurultaya Türk Amerikan Dernekleri Kurulu (ATAA)’nu temsilen aŞağıdaki isimler katılacaklardır:

• Şeref BaŞkanı olarak Türkiye’den TABA BaŞkanı Sayın Uğur Terzioğlu ,
• ATAA ve TACAM Kurultay İcra Kurulu BaŞkanı ve ATAA Endüstri ve Ticari İliŞkiler Komitesi BaŞkanı olarak Sayın Feridun Bek,
• ATAA Orta Batı Bölgesi BaŞkan Yardımcısı olarak Sayın Faruk Cingilli.

ATAA’ ya bağlı dernekler ve üyeleri programa, ATAA Heyeti liderliğinde katılmaya davetlidirler!

BaŞvuru formunuzu  www.dtik.org.tr  web sitesinde doldurduktan sonra, formunuzu ve referans numaranızı Feridun Bek’e (feridun.bek@gmail.com) ulaŞtırabilirsiniz.

ATAA Heyetinine katılacaklar ATAA ile çalıŞan 5 farklı dernek üyeleriyle birlikte 20 kiŞi kadardır. Ayrıca sınırlı kontenjanımız mevcuttur.

Yeni dӧnemde DTIK Amerika Bölgesi BaŞkan Adayımız eski ATAA BaŞkanı Sayın Nurten Ural ‘dır.

Önemli Notlar:

• Kurultaya katılım baŞvuruları www.dtik.org.tr adresinden yapılmakta olup, son baŞvuru tarihi 10 Kasım 2011′dir. Lütfen baŞta program ücretini ödemeyiniz. Kısıtlı kontenjanla ATAA kurultay katılımcıları  için ödemeden muaf olabilme durumu mevcuttur.
• Özel Şahısların ATAA Heyetine katılımı için, önce ATAA üyesi olmasi gerekmektedir. Üyelik bilgilerini ataa.org/membership/individual.html adresinden temin edebilirsiniz.
• Bölgenizdeki Ticari MüŞavirliklerle bağlantıya geçip, yurt dıŞından katılanlar için konaklama konusunda destek programları hakkında bilgi alabilirsiniz.
• Türk Hava Yolları kurultay referans numaranızı sunduğunuz takdirde, indirim yapabilmektedir.

Program hakkında ayrıntılı bilgi için Sayın Murat Atik’e telefonla (011 90 212 339 50 68) veya e-posta ile  kurultay2011@deik.org.tr adresinden ulaŞabilirsiniz.