By İsmail Mahmut Ercan - This past year has been a difficult one for many families, as budgets have been strained, parents have become part-time teachers, and the emotional exhaustion of the pandemic brought the country to its knees. Worst of all, the sheer amount of death has brought a continuous period of mourning to this country, at a magnitude of which this country has rarely felt. The South Florida Turkish community was not spared of this sentiment either, although the mourning began several months before the pandemic began. In November of 2019, the community lost one of its best as my father, İsmail Hakkı Ercan peacefully passed away, leaving behind a legacy not just known, but felt and experienced in many people’s hearts.

Long time Turk of America Journalist Ali Çınar is accredited by the White House. He started to attend White House press conferences and events related with Turkey-US Relations as well as Foreign Policy.

A talented abstract painter whose vivid and vibrant art exists in three dimensions simultaneously. Tony Şeker is a New York-based multicultural artist who was born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1961 while his father was working at a multinational company. Due to the critical and unpleasant situation in his home country, caused by the civil war in 1975, Tony Şeker’s family had to migrate. First, they moved to Europe than settled in Ohio. He studied math in France and had an MBA degree from Rutgers University. He moved to Cliffside Park, NJ in 1977.

Julia Dağıstanlı has been selling and renting real estate since 2002. She has done hundreds of sales closings and transactions and had many awards recognition. She has been a salesperson since 2002 and a top producer year after year. Julia has been awarded the prestigious NJAR Circle of Excellence Silver Level since 2005. She was named the Re/Max Metropolitan 2008 Top Producing Agent. She has also been awarded by New Jersey Monthly Magazine the Highest in Overall Satisfaction Five Star Real Estate Award for the last 10 years. Only fewer than 1% of real estate agents in the New Jersey-area received this recognition.

She answered TURKOFAMERICA’s questions.