Ebru Ejder is the new director of the Turkish Culture and Tourist Office in New York, replacing Nihan Bekar who has returned to the head office in Ankara. Ejder has worked with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey since 1998 and previously worked in the Turkish Culture and Tourist Office in New York as a deputy director. In 2011, the office will launch a new advertising and public relations campaign.

In the last three years, visitor arrivals to Turkey from the U.S. increased by 23.17 percent, thanks in part to the advertising in New York’s Times Square, high-profile television coverage on the “Martha Stewart,” “Anthony Bourdain,” “Today Show” and “The Bachelorette” programs and the 2010 ASTA International Conference in Istanbul. Istanbul was also the European Capital of Culture for 2010.

Mona Diamond was appointed the Turkish honorary consul general for the state of Georgia in 2005. In the same year, she became the chairman of the American Turkish Friendship Council, a not-for-profit organization for the promotion of close relations between the United States and Turkey.

In 2009, she organized and chaired an International Women’s Entrepreneurship and Leadership Summit in Istanbul, Turkey, and in September 2010, she partnered with two Turkish American business organizations and the American Chamber of Commerce Executives to head a delegation of civic and business leaders from throughout the U.S. to several Turkish cities.

Ms. Diamond responded to the following questions from GlobalAtlanta about her current activities in promoting relations between Georgia and Turkey as well as her plans for the coming year, including her efforts to open a breast cancer clinic in Mersin, Turkey.