The Turkic American Alliance hosted a welcoming event for the winners of the annual essay competition organized by Gülen Institute and Rumi Forum. Nearly 30 students came from different parts of the world such as Far East Asia, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Western Africa, Arabic Peninsula, and Northern America to attend the ceremony.
Nearly 600 student essays were submitted by more than 40 different country participants and 30 US states. This year’s essay subject was immigration and evacuation, which is a very appropriate and timely topic in today’s fast changing world, where notions of borders and spaces are becoming more outdated.
The Turkic American Alliance (TAA) invited students to their office in Washington, DC for the dinner. Before that, students had a chance to listen to a presentation by Dr. Faruk Taban, President of the TAA, during which he introduced TAA’s mission and goals as a non-governmental, non-for-profit organization. During the presentation, where the parents of the students were also present, Dr. Taban briefly described TAA events and annual programs for a better cultural and social understanding of Turkic and American communities.
The Annual Turkic American Convention that was held nearly a month ago had a great interest among the very talented students. Students were curious about the congressmen who participated in convention and the overall attendance of officials from foreign countries.
Joe Constanzo, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Immigration Research, was the invited guest to talk about the contemporary immigration issues that we face around the world. He mentioned his rich experience about the related topic in Europe and how those immigration regulations can be applied in the US.
Later, Rumi Forum representatives, Emre Celik, President, and Jena Luedtke, Director for Interfaith and Intercultural Dialogue, congratulated winners and wished them to be active citizens for a better dialogue among different cultures in the world.
