On April 12, Grassroots Day, the Turkish Coalition of America (TCA) will host ATAA, FTAA and TACC local chapter leaders at the TCA's new office building near the White House, for a day of training in public advocacy. On April 13, 2012, Leadership Day, which will take place at the Washington Plaza Hotel, we will delve into the intricacies of US-Turkish relations and public advocacy. On April 14, 2012, Young Turks Day, Current TV's "Young Turks" talk show host, Cenk Uygur, will provide a program on how to take advantage of your Turkish culture in your advocacy efforts. European Union Turkish politician Hande Bozatli will discuss youth and women's empowerment movements.
Z Realty Group, LLC was established in 2009 by Zeynep "Z" Ekemen, New Jersey's only woman-owned full-service commercial real estate brokerage firm specializing in Investment Sales, Industrial Properties, Owner Representation, Real Estate Development, Retail Leasing and Built-to-Suit Leases and Sales. The firm provides a relationship-driven approach to structuring and marketing properties. They currently represent over 1,000,000 square feet of commercial space with two office locations in Fort Lee, NJ and Istanbul, Turkey. 
The U.S. Department of Commerce announced that international visitors spent an estimated $13.3 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States during the month of February nearly $1.6 billion more, or a 14 percent increase from spending in February 2011. Year to date, U.S. travel and tourism exports have grown more than 11 percent in 2012.
Bilateral trade between the United States and Turkey reached a record level of $20 billion last year. The United States and Turkey have for six decades enjoyed a close political and military relationship. But our economic and business partnership has lagged behind until recently. During President Barack Obama’s 2009 trip to Turkey, he and Turkish President Abdullah Gul agreed to advance our commercial partnership to the level of our diplomatic and strategic defense relationship. 
Washington Township High School Art Teacher Sybil Cohen has been selected to participate in the 14th Annual Okumus/T.A.F.S.U.S. (Turkish American Friendship Society of the United States) 2012 Fellowships. As one of three educators selected from the Philadelphia area by the World Affairs Council, Cohen will take part in a 16-day study tour of Turkey from July 15-30, 2012. Made possible through a grant from the Mehmet Dogan Okumus Charitable Trust, participants’ studies will include highlights from Anatolia’s civilizations including Istanbul, Ankara, Cappadocia, Konya, Pamukkale, Aphrodisias, Kusadasi, Pergamum. Ephesus, Gallipoli and Troy. 
Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Mimoza Kusari Lila has said her country will sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with Turkey. Speaking to businesspeople in Bursa at an event organized by the Association of Industrialists and Businessmen of Rumeli (RUMELİSİAD) on Sunday, Lila also noted that Kosovo can serve as a good production hub for Turkish entrepreneurs who want to expand their clientele on the larger European continent. 
Neslisah Osmanoglu, an Ottoman princess who married an Egyptian prince and was twice forced into exile when both royal households were abolished, has died in Istanbul on Monday, April 2, 2012. The princess, 91,was the oldest member of the Ottoman dynasty. Neslisah Sultan was born in Istanbul on Feb. 4, 1921, two years before the Turkish Republic replaced the Ottoman Empire, which had ruled Turkey, parts of the Middle East and eastern Europe for 600 years. 
In 1451, Constantinople, the last outpost of the Eastern Roman Empire, was all that stood between consolidation of the Ottoman Empire from Turkey across the Bosporus to the Balkans. The cold war of its time, tensions simmered since the birth of Islam—and roiled the splintered Christian factions of the West. 
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The government of Turkey has asked the J. Paul Getty Museum and several other American museums to return artifacts that it believes were looted. The Turkish government has contacted the Getty, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Cleveland Museum of Art and Harvard University's Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection to present evidence that objects in their collections may have been illegally excavated from the country's archaeological sites, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday. It has threatened to halt all loans of art to those institutions until they respond to the claims.
Stepevi, a Turkish rug company known for its rich, textural designs, will open its first North American outpost next week in SoHo. The company was started about seven years ago (although the family behind it has been in the business since the early 1900s) and currently has showrooms in London, Paris, Milan and Istanbul. SoHo was the natural next step, said Aysegul Yurekli Sengor, the managing director and wife of the founder, Cem Sengor.
A Turkish entrepreneur has expanded his business by introducing lokum, also known as Turkish delight, to Russians, who have quickly taken to the taste of the sweet dessert. Entrepreneur Ali Yılmaz, who is from the western province of Denizli, moved to St. Petersburg in 1999 to study and at the same time started selling small packages of lokum to Russians. He rented a small storage unit where he kept packages of lokum and delivered orders himself directly to his customers’ doors. He said, “Now, those days are over.” 
News Corp. (NWSA) Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch held talks with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey’s capital Ankara. Murdoch met with Erdogan at his office at 5 p.m. today for about an hour. Turkey is an important market for News Corp. and it wants to expand its investments in the country, Murdoch told Erdogan, said a government official, who declined to be identified because the talks were private.
Comodo (comodo.com), a leading certificate authority and Internet security solutions provider, today broke new ground with the announcement of a mobile app that enables small business IT staff to manage endpoint security from a smartphone. Released to the Microsoft Windows Phone Marketplace today, the Comodo Endpoint Security Manager Console for Microsoft Windows® Phone mobile app takes full advantage of the latest "Mango" phones and alerts users to changes in the endpoint security status of their environment. 
