The President of the Turkic American Alliance, Dr. Faruk Taban, spoke before the International Relations Standing Committee during the United States Conference of Mayors 82nd Annual Meeting, which was held this year in Dallas, Texas, from June 20th to June 23rd.
Along with Andrew O’Brien, Special Representative of Global Partnerships at the U.S. State Department, and Shelly Pitterman, Regional Representative for USA and the Caribbean and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Dr. Taban introduced the Turkic American Alliance to the committee, proposed various projects and initiatives with mayors, and discussed the enhancement of cross-cultural and bilateral relationships among the Turkic and Turkic American communities.
Throughout the course of the annual meeting, Dr. Taban had the opportunity to meet with various distinguished mayors. They included the Mayor of Sacramento, California, and USCM President Kevin Johnson; the Mayor of Baltimore, Maryland, and USCM Vice President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake; Mayor Mike Rawlings of Dallas, Texas; Mayor Vincent Gray of the District of Columbia; Mayor Annise Parker of Houston, Texas; Mayor Alex Finter of Mesa, Arizona; Mayor Betsy Price of Fort Worth, Texas; and many more.
The United States Conference of Mayors is the official non-partisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are 1,393 such cities in the country today. Each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor. The primary roles of The U.S. Conference of Mayors are to promote the development of effective national urban/suburban policy; strengthen federal-city relationships; ensure that federal policy meets urban needs; provide mayors with leadership and management tools; and create a forum in which mayors can share ideas and information.
The Turkic American Alliance congratulates USCM on their 82nd Annual Meeting and looks forward to working with USCM in the future.
