TCF is sponsoring the participation of a jazz ensemble of young Turkish jazz musicians in a series of jazz events organized by the Meridian International Center in Washington, DC later in September. The group will perform a concert at the Meridian on September 25, during the Turkish Heritage Month in Washington, DC, at several DC public schools, and perform with local student jazz musicians at various cultural venues in D.C. For more information on these events, please visit the Meridian website.

Guler Koknar, TCF Executive Director, and Basak Kizildemir, Vice President of the Turkish Coalition of America, will speak on TCF and TCA programs that foster people-to-people cultural exchanges and enhance citizen contributions to public diplomacy at the Young Diplomats Forum. The Forum will take place in Ankara on September 2-6 and is organized by the Global Diplomatic Forum, a  non-profit organization dedicated to contributing to global partnerships in furthering global prosperity through official and public diplomacy.

A TCF grant underwrote the performance of NY2Dance, a non-profit arts organization led by Turkish American choreographer and dancer Nejla Yatkin, at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on August 19. Her critically acclaimed performance Oasis was also presented at the International Contemporary Dance Festival in Peru earlier this summer.

Dr.Recep Karadag, head of the TCF Cultural Heritage Preservation and Natural Dyes Laboratory-DATU presented a paper at the 9th International Conference for the History of Chemistry in Uppsala, Sweden on August 21-24. His presentation, titled "Periodic Comparison of two Caftans through non-destructive micro-analysis methods in the Topkapi Palace Museum," highlighted the work undertaken by DATU at the Topkapi Palace's Imperial Costumes section which helped the correct dating of a kaftan in the collection. Later in September, Dr.Karadag will present at the 5th Vienna Intensive School on Conservation Science.

Dr.Ilgim Veryeri-Alaca, a recipient of the TCF Fellowship in Turkish Culture and Art gave a presentation on "Picturebooks and Newer Media as Pedagogical Tools for Pre-school Children in Turkey” at the 21st Biennial Conference of the International Research Society for Children's Literature, in Maastricht, Netherlands on August 10. She will also deliver presentations at the European Conference on Educational Research and the International Children's Literature. For more information, visit the TCF Culture Calendar.

The TCF Istanbul branch welcomed 18 graduate students of George Washington University on a study tour sponsored by a grant from the Turkish Coalition of America, TCF's sister organization. The group was led by Mark Kennedy, head of the Graduate School of Political Management at GW, a former U.S. Congressman. Mr.Kennedy first visited Turkey as a guest on the TCF Cultural Tour.

The TCF Istanbul office and the TCF Culinary Arts Center - YESAM will shortly announce its 2013-2014 lecture program which will begin in October. In addition to continuing its Turkish language lectures, YESAM will also expand the number of its English lectures on Turkish cuisine this season. The lectures are also recorded and periodically uploaded for viewing on the TCF Video Portal. The newest addition to the portal is a YESAM lecture on Honey (in Turkish) by Nedim Atilla. All TCF lectures are free and open to the public.