NEW YORK, May 14, 2019 -- Leading global commercial real estate services firm Colliers International Group Inc. announced today that Damla Barrett has joined the company as Director with a focus on tenant representation. She will be based in Colliers’ New York City office. Damla, who is fluent in Turkish, joins Colliers from Jones Lang LaSalle, where she represented The Turkish Consulate General in its 20,000-square-foot relocation to 605 Third Avenue. She was instrumental in helping Humanscale secure its global headquarters at 1114 Avenue of the Americas while doubling their footprint from 12,000 to 24,000 square feet.

TCA President G. Lincoln McCurdy and TUSIAD President Simone Kaslowski recently met with Members of Congress to highlight the importance of maintaining the strategic alliance and dialogue between the United States and Turkey. The meetings were set up by TCA on the occasion of the inaugural delegation led by Kaslowski to Washington as TUSIAD’s new president. TUSIAD, i.e. the Turkish Industry and Business Association, is Turkey’s equivalent of the Business Roundtable in the U.S.

NEW YORK — A Turkish banker convicted of helping Iran evade economic sanctions has been released from a U.S. prison, his defense attorney said Tuesday. Mehmet Hakan Atilla was released from prison Friday and surrendered to U.S. immigration officials to await deportation, attorney Victor Rocco said. It was not immediately clear when Atilla would be deported to Turkey. A federal jury convicted Atilla in 2018 of participating in a conspiracy that allowed Iran to launder billions of dollars in oil proceeds through world financial markets.

Turkish American economist Daron Acemoglu has been named Institute Professor, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) highest faculty honor. Professor Acemoglu is now one of the 12 Institute Professors, along with 11 Institute Professors Emeriti. Professor Acemoglu has been promoted to the rank of Institute Professor in recognition of his “significant impacts in diverse fields of economics.” The honor is an “exceptional distinction by a combination of leadership, accomplishment, and service in the scholarly, educational, and general intellectual life of the Institute and wider community.”