Golden Thread Productions Announces Biennial Short Play Program

Golden Thread Productions, the first American theatre company devoted to the Middle East, is proud to present its biennial signature program: ReOrient 2017 Festival of Short Playsfeaturing plays and artists from Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Japan, Lebanon, Palestine, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the U.S. all on one stage. Think you know the Middle East? Think again. An Arab-American couple must choose a name for their unborn child. A troupe of actors rehearse a political play under the watchful eye of the government. A leftie Iranian-American and a Trump supporter find themselves together at a Thanksgiving dinner. These are just some of the stories of ReOrient 2017, which will turn San Francisco into a mecca for innovative, spirited, and thought-provoking theatre from or about the Middle East. ReOrient 2017 runs November 17-December 10, 2017 at Potrero Stage (formerly Thick House, 1695 18th Street, San Francisco) and performs Thursdays-Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 3pm. (No performance on Thanksgiving Thursday, November 23). Opening night is Monday, November 20, 2017 at 8pm. For tickets ($15-$36) and more information on the festival, please visit goldenthread.org.

US Cotton Sales Rise at Cotton USA Conference, Turkey

Cotton USA, which promotes US cotton fibre and manufactured cotton products worldwide, announced that US cotton sales were boosted at the recent Cotton USA quality conference, held from September 13 to 15, 2017, in Belek, Turkey. It helped strengthen the business relationships between the 127 attendees from Turkish textile mills and US cotton merchants. The 41 participating mills represented 74 per cent of 2016/17 US exports to Turkey, an estimated 1.1 million bales of US cotton. US exporters and textile mills reported sales of 113,528 bales of US cotton during the Cotton USA quality conference, valued at approximately $38.1 million. As a result of attending the event, textile mill buyers said they would likely purchase an additional 365,700 bales of US cotton during the next year, an estimated $122.9 million increase in sales.

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SEO Company webSURGE Digital Marketing Receives IMPACT Award for B2B App Development

webSURGE Digital Marketing, a company that specializes in SEO, received the prestigious IMPACT Award for App Development B2B in recognition of its App Development for CooperVision. The Internet Marketing Association’s annual awards celebration was held on Sept. 29, 2017, at the Enclave in Las Vegas. The mission of IMA, a global organization of professional partners, is to create a database of proven internet marketing strategies that provide a foundation of success for those in sales, marketing, business ownership, programming, and creative development. IMA created the IMPACT Award to reward those whose innovation, effort, or creativity made a dynamic improvement for their clients in their respective industry.

If Santa Is Buried in Turkey, Who Has Been Delivering the Presents?

Turkish archeologists announced this week that they may have discovered the bones of St. Nicholas, the saint better known to the world as Santa Claus. The remains were unearthed beneath a 4th-century structure in Demre (ancient Myra), the traditional location of Nicholas’ birth. The discovery of St. Nicholas raises a whole host of unpleasant bedtime questions. If Santa is buried in Turkey, who has been delivering the presents?  The discovery was made after digital analysis of the ground beneath the church. Archaeologists currently believe that the tomb has gone undisturbed since antiquity, but the mosaics on the floor make it difficult to excavate there. Cemril Karabayram, the head of Antalya’s Monument Authority, explained that specialists are unable to confirm the story until the floor of the church (which depicts scenes from the life of Nicholas of Myra) can be carefully removed.

Steel Exports up by 7pct in Jan-Sept 2017

According to the data published by Turkish Steel Exporters’ Association (CIB=Çelik İhracatçıları Birliği), Turkish steel exports increased by 7 pct YoY to 13.1 mln tons in the first nine months of 2017. Export value increased by 23.4 pct to USD 8.2 bln. In Jan-Sept 2017, EU remains the top destination for Turkish steel exports. Steel exports to EU were 4 mln tons, a considerable 53 pct increase against the same period last year. Turkish steel exports to Middle East were 3 mln tons and that of North Africa were 1.1 mln tons.

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A Man of Many Talents: Turkish Fashion Designer Goes Global

A fashion designer, painter, decorator and entrepreneur, Emre Ertürk is undoubtedly a diverse artist. For him, every form of art is somehow related to the other, and he loves doing it all. Daily Sabah sat with Ertürk in his lovely office to discuss his line, projects and his new website for online sales. We wanted to know what inspires him in general. Most people know Ertürk as a world-renowned fashion designer specializing in handbags, sunglasses, shirts, skirts and "mostly anything that adds style to people's daily lives," as he says himself. However, there is much more to him than that. "I am also a recognized painter and a professional decorator for home and hotel owners. After opening several art shows in Istanbul, Ankara, London and New York, my yearning to reach out to more people give me the drive to create my own fashion company," Ertürk said.

United States and Turkey Mutually Suspend Visa Services

Both the United States and Turkey have suspended all non-immigrant visa services for travel between the two countries, after last week's arrest of a US consulate employee in Istanbul.
With some exceptions, the move effectively blocks Turks from travel to the United States, and vice versa, indefinitely. "Recent events have forced the United States government to reassess the commitment of government of Turkey to the security of US mission and personnel," the statement by the US mission in Ankara said.

Orbital Space Mission UNOOSA Call for Interest

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) is partnering with the Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) to offer United Nations Member States the opportunity to participate in an orbital space mission utilizing SNC's Dream Chaser® space vehicle. The mission will be open to all Member States of the United Nations, and developing countries are particularly encouraged to participate. The mission will carry experiments, payloads, or satellites provided by institutions in the participating countries.

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Four New Members Join The American Turkish Society's Board Of Directors

The American Turkish Society selected four new members to its Board of Directors. Nevzat Aydin, founder and CEO of Yemeksepeti, Seval Oz, founder and CEO of Aurima.ai, William J. Parker, III, PhD, COO at The East West Institute and Andrew Littlejohn, Executive Director of Global Families Group at J.P. Morgan Private Bank are The Society's newest board members. Nevzat Aydin is the co-founder and CEO of Yemeksepeti, the leading online food delivery service in Turkey, which operates in 64 Turkish cities and in Cyprus, with more than 14,000 member restaurants, more than 7.6 million users, and 200,000 orders delivered to 400,000 people on a daily basis. An honoree of The Society's Annual Gala in 2017, Nevzat is a member of the Boards of Endeavor Turkey and TOBB (Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey) Young Entrepreneurs, a member of TUSİAD (Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association), a founding member of Galata Business Angels, Vice President of Trabzonspor Football Club, and a member of the Board of Trustees of Bogazici University.

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