We organized over 45 TACAM Event/Activities – a Big Success with your Support!

Under the leadership of TACAM President Feridun Bek, since May 2010, the TACAM Board of Directors and Committee leaders successfully organized over 45 key events and/or activities as shown below with your support and met and/or exceeded all our planned targets; more events are in the planning stage:

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.
40. January 8, 2012 – TACAM Networking Brunch & Presenting 2012 TACAM Vision (Event Manager: Feridun Bek): Organized in Farmington, MI with over 100 people joined the event and President Feridun Bek presented an overview of the 2012 TACAM vision.
41. February 24, 2012 – Idil Ulgen’s Piano Recital “Baroque Splendour (Event Manager: Asli Yashin): TACAM co-sponsored this event where the famous Turkish pianist Idil Ulgen perform at a recital entitled, “Baroque Splendour”. Location: Flint Institute of Arts.
42. March 9, 2012 – Celebration of Diversity 2012 (Event Committee Chairman: Asli Yashin): A remarkable international cultural event where over 1,000 participated. In one class Turkish culture, food, information about Turkiye etc. were presented in an excellent way.
43. March 11, 2012 – TACAM Complimentary Networking Brunch & Building Committee Presentation (Event Committee Chairman: Prof. Dr. Mumtaz Usmen): The building committee leaders Prof. Dr. Mumtaz Usmen, Mr. Ilhan Berberoglu, Mr. Emin Durgun established a fund of $20K which is remarkable success and presented the Building vision and asked for further donations. Complimentary brunch were served.
44. March 24, 2012 – Nevruz Celebration with General Consul Hon. Fatih Yildiz (Event Managers: Feridun Bek & Tim Tucker): A joined event was organized with the Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Ahiska, Bosnian and Albanian communities, which was an excellent example how to explore synergies and be one voice. Each ethnic group performed folklore, live music, cultural speeches and a sufi performance was part of the event. The General Consul of Chicago in Turkiye and TACAM President Feridun Bek were awarded as the “Michigan Turks Leaders”. The Turkish Consulate of Chicago, ATAA and TACCI-Midwest were the event sponsors.
45. April 5, 2012 – Visiting Senator Debbie Stabenow Detroit Office to speak about the the Armenian issue & educate ref S.Res. 399: TACAM President Feridun Bek, Board Member Prof. Dr. Ece Yaprak and other leaders Özlem Falkiewicz and Prof. Dr. Attila Yaprak met the Detroit Office Director Alan Fosnacht. An educational presentation ref the Armenian issue and further documents were provided. The office indicated that they do not anticipate the that S.Red. 399 will pass.
46. April 28, 2012 – Turkish Children’s Day Celebration (Event Manager: Ozen Durgun): An only kids focused remarkable Children’s Day event at PumpitUp in Wixom, MI where up to 50 kids and their families joined. The entire event and food costs were sponsored via TACAM and Prof. Dr. Elif Persinger made an educational Ataturk speech for kids, while Ms. Mine Tasci performed live music.
47. May 6, 2012 – TACAM General Assembly

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)!