| Mark Your Calendars for TurkishFest 2010 |
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| Türk Kültürü ve Çocuk Bayramı / Turkish Heritage and Children's Day |
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Türk Kültürü ve Çocuk Bayramı
23 Nisan 2010 günü, Houston Belediye Başkanı Annise D. Parker Tarafından Türk Kültürü ve Çocuk Bayramı olarak tanınmıştır.
Houston Belediye Başkanlığı tarafından yayınlanan resmi belgede, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk'un lideliğinde uzun savaşlar sonucu elde edilen bağımsızlık ve sonrasında kurulan Türkiye Cumhuriyetine atıfta bulunularak, Musatafa Kemal'in 23 Nisan'i geleceğin bir simgesi olarak Çocuklara adadığı belirtilmektedir.
Resmi belgede ayrıca Türkiye'nin müslüman devletler arasında tek laik devlet olduğu ve Balkanlarda, Orta Doğuda ve Orta Asyada A.B.D Dış Siyasetine önemli katkılarda bulunduğu da vurgulanmıştır.
ATA Houston Türk Amerikan Derneği Üyerleri adına aldığımız ve bizi gururlandıran bu belgenin kopyasını burada bulabilrisiniz.
Turkish Heritage and Children's Day
Mayor of the City of Houston proclaims April 23, 2010 as Turkish Heritage and Children's Day.
Proclamation issued by the Mayor of City of Houston states that; "under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Turkish People valiantly fought a long War of Liberation to safeguard her sovereignty and independence and founded Republic of Turkey."
Proclamation also mentions; "Ataturk realizing the significance and importance of looking to the future and not to the past, dedicated April 23 as the national holiday for Turkish children. Turkey is the only secular democracy in the Muslim world; and has made significant contributions to us foreign policy in the Balkans, the Middle East, Central Asia and the Caucasus."
You can find the copy of the proclamation here.
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| ATA-Houston Visit to Turkish Consulate General in Houston |
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Among all the other activities planned for 23 April National Sovereignty and Children's Day, ATA Houston families visited Consulate General of Turkey in Houston on April 23, 2010. We sincerely thank Consul General, Akil Öktem and Consul Ali Findik for their warm welcome. All the children had a chance to occupy the executive chairs of the Consulate General for a few moments.
Please click here to see the pictures. |
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| 23 April National Sovereignty and Children's Day Picnic |
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 ATA Houston hosted festivity/picnic event at the Alexandre Duessen Park. Festivities included competitions for the kids, performances, music, dance, sport activities, and prices for the kids. Painting competition was also organized for the children age 15 and under related to Ataturk and significance of April 23th to Republic of Turkey. ATA Houston sincerely thanks Mr. Altug Emin Turan who single handedly organized and lead all the activities.
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| We want to hear from you! |
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Please send us your thoughts and comments on ATA Houston; our activities, web site and any questions you have in mind.
Send us an e-mail at secretary@atahouston.org. |
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National History Day - Third Placement: Ataturk - Legacy of a Secularist
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In the beginning of 08-09 school year, Tasnim Mohamed, Dimas Gonzales, Jonathan Espinoza, Nernwon Kargou, and Alejandro Suazo, junior students at the Eisenhower High School, were looking for a topic to cover in their National History Day quest (www.nhd.org). Then they came across a National Geographic documentary on the Middle East, which started with how Atatürk was able to create a secular, democratic republic in this region. They were captured by his accomplishments and, in particular, his legacy of secularism, which ended up shaping the focus and title of their documentary: Legacy of a Secularist.
Under the guidance of their teacher, Ms. Debra Brown, the team started the year-long adventure. The first competition was within the school. There were a total of 30 entries; at the end they competed against six other documentaries. They were placed first.
Next came the district competition against own grade level. They competed against eight other entries. They were placed first again.
On to the regional competition, where they had to compete against all grade levels from all the high schools in the region. This time, they were placed second to a documentary on the first baseball manager to play an African-American in his team. But, they were qualified to go to the state competition in Austin, last stop before the national contest.
Driven by their second place finish, the team worked even harder to convey better what they believed to be unique achievements of a truly distinguished statesman against all odds. They interviewed tens of people, and read hundreds of pages of history. They were able to sift through the noise and get to the essence of Atatürk’s legacy.
At the state competition, there were a total of 48 entries from all grade levels. In the first phase of the competition, they placed first against 11 entries. In the second phase, they placed second again to the baseball documentary. But, the second place was good enough; they were going to the national contest.
The 2008-2009 NHD national contest was held June 14-18 at the University of Maryland. The year-long, hard work of Nernwon, Tasnim, Dimas, Alejandro and Jonathan paid off. They were placed third among 84 entries in the finals. Now, they would like to visit Atatürk’s Republic.
ATA-Houston congratulates them for a well-deserved national placement. |
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Whats New? - 10 newest items posted at ATA Houston portal
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