ATA-DC Teacher's Workshop 2002 - Great News Again!
Hulya Polat, ATA-DC President & Workshop Chair-ATA-DC has been offering free workshops for area elementary, middle and high school teachers and curriculum developers since 1980's. This has proved to be one of the most effective ways of informing the American public about Turkey, Turks and the Turkish culture. This year's event was on the 2nd of March. Thanks to His Excellency Ambassador Faruk Logoglu, Cultural Attache Cihad Erginay and Education Attache Emel Latifaoglu and all the Embassy staff, the workshop was again held at the new Embassy Building at 2525 Massachusetts Avenue, NW.

This year's topic was "Turkey: A Model for Democracy and Islam" and about fifty teachers from Virginia, DC and Maryland attended. We even had one teacher from New York who heard about it from a friend of hers! Ms.Latifaoglu gave a brief synopsis of the education system in Turkey and our own beloved

Treasurer Serap Rada of Maryland University briefed the guests on Turkish women and Islam and other current issues. As always she was asked a lot of questions and had a lot of explaining to do!

Professor Scott Redford of Georgetown University contributed to the program with a captivating slide show on "Archeology in Turkey: How to Live in an Open-Air Museum". Professor Redford who is also the Director of McGhee Center in Alanya put the guests on a magic carpet and took them to Turkey to show the archeological wonders there.

Ivan Barry, an education expert with ATC whose parents were founders of Talas Koleji in Turkey gave a brief history of America's educational presence in Turkey and the benefits of continued cultural exchange. Barry who was born in Mersin and lived in Turkey many years also responded to questions about safety and travel in Turkey.

Helena Kane Finn of the State Department who was stationed in Turkey a while ago, and is currently a visiting fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy talked about her experiences on being an American teacher and diplomat in Turkey. Her presentation was brilliant and captivating. We thank her for making time for ATA-DC in her hectic schedule.

During lunch break we had a wonderful mini recital by Ozlem and Serdar Keskin, a flute-guitar duo with samples of Turkish classical and pop music. The food prepared by our volunteers and Bistro Med of Georgetown was a great treat and everyone asked for recipes! We had cook books in the raffle and hope that it helped at least to some of the attendees.

The BIG WINNER of the FREE TRIP to Istanbul, Turkey (roundtrip ticket to Istanbul and a week's stay at a prestigious hotel) was RACHEL BOLLING of John F. Kennedy High School in Silver Spring, MD. Congratulations! Two years ago Jessica Matthews, an elementary school teacher from Fairfax County traveled to Turkey and had a great time there, last year's winner Charlotte Rice of Annandale High School will be going soon. (Last year's trip was donated by Abdullah Akyuz of, Head of the TUSIAD Bureau in Washington, DC. TUSIAD is the Turkish Businessmen and Industrialists' Association.)

The great raffle at the end of the program included gift certificates from several area restaurants; Meze, Kazan, Nizam, Cities and Melody Record Shop, books donated by the Turkish Embassy and a fabulous cook book and another on Istanbul donated by ATC's Lou Khan. We thank all for their donations.

As chair of the Teacher's Workshop, I'd like to thank everyone involved in this project. Without you ATA-DC couldn't have done this. I personally thank Guliz Imre, Committee Co-Chair for her dedication to this project and spending countless hours on it, Mukrime Postacioglu for her ideas on the topic and speakers, Feriha Istar for arranging the lunch and the folder preparation, Patsy Jones for inviting DC teachers and helping with the process, Asli Bener for gathering all the gift certificates, MC'ing the event and the raffle, Damla Zeybel with providing logistic support and taking pictures, Nuran Otts and Gunduz Saner for being there and Joanne Wasserman for designing the name tags for everyone again this year. Forgive me if I've left out any names, you know that ATA-DC appreciates your help. Many thanks to the teachers for attending the workshop. Most of them wanted us to organize two workshops in a year and to send them information about ATA-DC events so that they can attend. Some even became members! The feedback from all the teachers was so encouraging that we felt like mentioning some of them here. SEE YOU ALL AT THE NEXT ATA-DC TEACHER'S WORKSHOP!

ATC Hosts ASIRT "Turkish-American Road Safety Initiative"
The Turkish Times - At the upcoming ATC Conference ASIRT will be hosting a workshop on Sunday, March 17, 2002, 2-4pm, entitled "A Turkish-American Road Safety Initiative," organized by Laura Wexler and Rochelle Sobel.

Road safety is a national concern for Turkey as well as all countries.

Road safety affects all levels of Turkish society including corporate productivity and employee welfare. The global community is rich with road safety models, public awareness and educational programs. As an integral component of doing business as well as developing civil society, learn how road safety can become part of a corporate citizenship plan. Rotary Clubs of Turkey and the U.S.-based Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT) are embarking on an unique initiative that will mutually benefit business and civil society. An interesting, highly qualified panel will present a meaningful discussion.

The panel of speakers includes:
1. Rochelle Sobel - Founder & President of the Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT); Topic - the role of civil
society in road safety in Turkey and the Safe Communities project;
2. Judy Hammond -Office of State and Community Services at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA); Topic -Safe Communities and how it works in local communities;
3. Surreya Yucel Ozden - Former Turkish Undersecretary for Transportation; Topic - The state of road safety in Turkey and the importance of multi-sectoral road safety initiatives;
4. Umit Enginsoy - Washington Bureau Chief, NTV; Topic - the role and responsibility of the media toward road safety as a public health issue and the role of the media as part of a multi-sectoral road safety initiative.

For more info, please contact (301) 983-5252, e-mail: asirt@erols.com