ATA-DC (Association of Turkish Americans living in Washington, DC area) organized this year's Washington, DC teacher training workshop on March 1st, 2008. The venue for the event was Turkish Embassy on Massachusettes Avenue in Washington, DC. Besides the workshop committee other participants and contributors to the event included the Embassy of Turkey, the Culture and Tourism Office of Turkish Embassy, Turkish Businessmen and Industrialists Association (TUSIAD), Turkish Cultural Foundation, teachers, speakers and volunteers.
The organizing committee put together a program which was well thought out with a good balance of presentations covering Istanbul 2010 (European Capital of Culture), Turkish cousine as well as US-Turkish relations and a presentation on the comparison of US-Turkish education systems. Kardelen Dance Ensemble provided this year's lunch hour performances while washington area school teachers enjoyed a selection of Turkish food. 
Most teachers in the audience were from schools in northern Virginia, however, teachers from Maryland's Prince Georges and Montgomery counties were also present as well as some teachers from schools in Washington, DC district. Following opening remarks by Ms. Demet Cabbar, president of ATA-DC, Mrs. Gulgun Sensoy, wife of Turkish Ambassador to US, welcomed teachers to a day long program aimed at providing a wealth of information on Turkey and US-Turkish relations. 
Three of the speakers focused their presentations on US-Turkish relations. The Deputy Chief of Mission Designate to US Embassy in Ankara, Mr. Douglas A. Silliman, gave an overview of US-Turkish relations from the US perspective. Turkish perspectives were presented by the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Turkish Embassy, Dr. Burak Akcapar, and by Mr. Gunay Evinc. Following their talks, in a Q&A session, Mr. Silliman and Dr. Akcapar provided answers to a range of questions on Kurdish, Cyprus, European Membership and Armenian issues faced by Turkey.
Other speakers of the event covered a number of different subjects in their presentations.
Ms. Elif Ertekin's slide presentation focussed on a review of Istanbul's promotional material in the context of European Capital of Culture in 2010. Ms. Ertekin also informed the audience about the official candidacy of Izmir, the third largest city in Turkey, to host the 'World Exhibition' in 2015. Izmir is racing with Milan, Italy to host the World Expo in 2015. A winner will be announced by the BIE (Bureau of International Exhibitions) at the end of March 2008. TUSIAD activities were briefly described by Ms. Didem Cakmakli. Ms. Esin Caglayan-Guner shared her experiences as a teacher in both Turkey and the US and provided a comparison of the education systems of both countries. The speaker for "A Peace Corps Volunteer's experiences in Turkey" was Mr. Malcolm Pfunder who spent 2 years in Turkey in 1960s. Mr. Pfunder shared his story of how he arrived at a small village in the north eastern part of Turkey and read small sections from his recently published book "Village in the meadows". The presentation by Ms. Sheila Kaufman was titled "The delight and (history) of Turkish Cuisine. Ms. Kaufman described her fascination with Turkish cuisine in her talk. Below are some quotes from speakers:
Ms. Sheila Kaufman:
"Turkey is a land of a timeless history, over 10000 years, which is best described as 'mosaic'.
"Anatolia, or Asia Minor, was making wine as early as 4000BC"
"The only city located in two continents is Istanbul which has been the capital of three empires: Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman for 2000 years"
"Turks introduced coffee to Europe and also gave the Dutch their tulip"
"Turkey provides 70% of world's hazelnut"
"Oral history of Turkish cuisine began in biblical times. According to legend Noah's Ark landed on mount Ararat in eastern Turkey and the last meal that was served aboard the vessel was a pudding consisting of nearly 20 ingredients"
"According to Turkish tradition a stranger in one's door is considered a guest from God and should be accommodated accordingly"
"Some of the recipes you would be eating in a Turkish restaurant would be 1400 years old and unchanged"
Mr. Douglas Silliman:
"Turkish government is helping to develop democracy in Iraq. I think it is very interesting what the Turks has done that no one else in the world has done. Over the course of past several years Turkish foreign ministry brought from Iraq to Turkey every major political party in Iraq: Sunni, Shiite, Christian, Secular, Religious, Kurdish. And, they brought them to Ankara. They had their meetings with lawyers on Turkish constitution, met ruling party, met opposition parties and talk about things like how do you develop political platforms, how do you gather support, how do you get people to polls, how does democracy actually work"
Photos and videos from 2008 ATA-DC Teacher Training Workshop in Washington, DC
Promotional videos for Izmir Expo 2015
Turkey, 'Home for Tolerance, Open for Everyone'
Turkish Festivals
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