TCA President G. Lincoln McCurdy at the Viransehir refugee camp. TCA President G. Lincoln McCurdy visited refugee camps in Viransehir and Midyat, Turkey on June 1 and 2, 2015. Currently, Turkey is confronting the challenges of one of the worst man-made humanitarian crises facing the world. Turkey has taken in over 1.7 million refugees fleeing violence in Syria and the surrounding region. Of these refugees, over 200,000 live in one of 25 temporary protection camps, while 1.5 million live in Turkish towns and cities.
New York, NY (June 16, 2015) – The first-ever Abadan Awards were presented today at a ceremony held at Rumeli Feneri campus of Koç University in İstanbul. Zeynep Oya Yeğen of Boston University and Feyzan Özbay of İstanbul Medeniyet University shared the inaugural Dr. Yavuz Abadan Constitutional Law Award. Zeynep Oya Yeğen received the award for her study on 'The Politics of Constitutional Reform Process: A comparison of Chile and Turkey.' Yeğen is a PhD candidate in Comparative Politics at Boston University. The award is shared by Feyzan Özbay for her study entitled 'A Comparative Assessment on the Protection of Individual Rights and Privacy in face of Counter-Terrorism Related State Surveillance.' Özbay is a doctoral student at İstanbul Medeniyet University. Yeğen and Özbay were recognized by the jury for the timeliness and originality of their research. The winners each received $10,000 towards the advancement of their research efforts.
Turkey's 9th president, Süleyman Demirel, dies at 91 on June 17th at 2.05pm. The 91-year-old Turkish statesman had taken to a hospital last May 13th in Güven Hospital, Ankara. He will be buried in Isparta, next to his wife who died in May 2013. Demirel had an extensive presence throughout Turkish politics in the second half of the last century, having served as Prime Minister five times (1965-1971, 1975-1977, 1979-1980, 1991-1993) and president (1993-2000).1
