Turkish American Solidarity at Capitol Hill

On Thursday, Feb 26, 2009 under the leadership of Turkish Coalition of America, ATAA joined forces with FTAA, TOBB and Ari Foundation representatives to represent our members at the Capitol Hill, to show solidarity and emphasize on the importance of the Turkish American relations at these critical times. The group separately attended meetings for Congressman Alcee Hastings (D-FL/23rd), the Chair of the Helsinki Commission and Congresswoman Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI/13th) and former Chair of the Black Caucus readdressed the issues that are threatening the Turkish American relations.   
 
The group, as a whole continued meetings at the Longworth and Rayburn House Office Buildings visiting Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL/19th) who just returned from Turkey after holding meetings with the top government officials and private sector executives.  His support of Turkey and Turkish Americans continue as Co-Chair of Turkish Caucus. The group had informative and supportive meetings with Chief of Staffs of both Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX/30th) and Congressman Alcee Hastings (D-FL/23rd) and visited Chris Van Hollen's (D-MD/8th) office briefly and held a meeting with one of his staff members on issues concerning the mutual interests of Turkey and the United States.  Both Chief of Staffs for Hastings and Johnson are Turkish Americans, and it is very important to give them support.
 
It is critical and necessary; We, as Turkish Americans should focus our collective energy and consciousness to support the Turkish Caucus and work in every way we can at the local level with our district representatives to bring the member count to 109.  As of today there are 73 members at the Turkish Caucus.
 
All Turkish American organizations' solidarity at these important events encourages the Turkish Americans to put their differences on the side and reunite under our irreplaceable Leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's message "Büyük iŞler, mühim teŞebbüsler ancak müŞterek mesai ile mümkündür." and show the world one more time the proactive power of Turkish people and Turkish Americans.