ATAA President Kirlikovali Meets with Top Congressional Leadership

The Turkish American leadership met with NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions of Texas, Deputy Chairman Greg Walden of Oregon, and Turkey Caucus Co-Chair Representative Virginia Foxx.

The meeting was moderated by the President of the Turkish Coalition of America (TCA) Lincoln McCurdy and organized by Turkish American nonpartisan political action committees from California, New Jersey, Texas and Washington DC.  McCurdy expressed that the meeting with the Congressional leadership reflected the growing involvement of the Turkish American community in public affairs.  He concluded that as a result of this involvement, the Congressional Caucus on US-Turkey Relations and Turkish Americans has now reached 154.

ATAA President Kirlikovali expressed that the ATAA Turkish American Broad Advocacy Network (TABAN) successfully served to mobilize the necessary grassroots support to render the Turkish Caucus one of the most powerful legislative groups on Capitol Hill.

ATAA member organization, TABA, was well represented by its new president, Ekim Alptekin, who introduced a new US border entry program to assist Turkish business owners who do business in America.

TOBB-USA Counsel Gunay Evinch, who also serves on the ATAA Board of Directors as Past President, stated that the Turkish Union of Chambers represents over 365 Turkish chambers of commerce, industry and commodity exchanges and 1.3 million Turkish companies.  Evinch expressed that TOBB USA was facilitating direct access for Turkish companies to the American market and that Turkish American businesses were creating tens of thousands of jobs across America.