By Mona Diamond Sunshine - “Three months after I got married, my husband and I traveled to Turkey. At that time, I was given Turkish citizenship as I was married to a Turkish citizen.  We settled in Ankara where I lived for two years before returning to the United States. We settled in Atlanta, Georgia where I had my three sons, Burak, Turan and Kamuran. After we settled in Atlanta, we became very involved with the Turkish community here in Atlanta. At that time, we were only 150 Turkish people living in the city. We were a very close knit group and I helped organize the Turkish American Cultural Association of Georgia. I became vice president on two occasions. I was also a member of ATAA in Washington, DC and would go to the yearly meetings of ATAA.

Lolita Zinke who worked closely with President Trump and served as a member of his Hispanic and women’s outreach committee during the 2016 campaign, has been invited by Serdar Kılıç, Turkish Ambassador to the United States in Washington DC, to visit Syrian refugee camps in Turkey. The group of people from diverse backgrounds who are to come together for this visit will have the chance to see what the Turkish government has done about Syrian refugees. Lolita Zinke, better known as Lola, was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California. She graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara and California Western School of Law. Afterward, she provided bilingual felony arraignment services for the San Diego Public Defenders Office. Lolita lived in Adana in the late 1980s and she fell in love with the culture, food, and people. She married Ryan Zinke, who served as United States Secretary of the Interior in the Trump Administration between 2017 and 2019, until his resignation.

Lawrence Kaye represents a wide range of domestic and international clients in complex litigations and commercial transactions. He also represented the Republic of Turkey in its successful efforts to recover the fabled Lydian Hoard antiquities, long held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and some 1,800 ancient Greek and Lycian coins which Connoisseur Magazine called "The Hoard of the Century." Larry talked to TURKOFAMERICA.

Internationally acclaimed Turkish historian Kemal Karpat died on Feb. 20 in the United States aged 96. Karpat, an expert on the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkish history, was an emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He had celebrated his 96th birthday on Feb. 15. Professor Karpat taught in Department of History of University of Wisconsin-Madison for 36 years, from 1967 until his retirement in 2003. His research pioneered the study of late Ottoman history, and focused on the rise of ethnic nationalism and Islamic political discourse. He leaves a rich legacy as one of the leading Ottoman historians of his generation.  He also will be remembered for his contributions to the study of Ottoman History in higher education. During his time at UW-Madison, Karpat served as director of the Center for Turkish Studies, and contributed funds to its endowment. Karpat also endowed a professorship in Ottoman and Turkish History, which is currently held by Professor Daniel Stolz.