Turkısh Journal- Beyzanur Yüksel – Habertürk had a interview on March 21 with U.S. Consul General in İstanbul. Crucial topics were discussed in this interview.
March is Women’s History Month in the United States. Sena Alkan asked that “How is to be women in diplomacy ?”
“I’m very committed to supporting women in diplomacy in Türkiye and also United States. We are doing so much to invest in women as the head as America’s top representative in İstanbul. It is a great honor for me as a woman to lead our mission here in this dynamic and incredible city.
Diplomacy has not always been a great place for women until 1972 in the US Foreign Service women who married had to resign their commission but we’ve come such a long way. We had some inspirational women leaders at the state department icluding Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Lisa Rice Secretary of State Madeleine Allbright, we have our ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas Greenfield. So it is really wonderful to see the progress and the progress that we continue to make. I’m very proud that %50 of her team at the consulate are woman. I think as a woman in diplomacy, as a woman in media it is so important that we lift.”
Is there any projects or programs between Turkiye and US when it comes to the empowering women in business life ?
We are continuously investing in women in Türkiye, it’s really core pillar of our outreach and our diplomacy.
The mission has focused on so many different areas where we are investing in women through:entrepreneurship, education, training, cultural and educational exchanges.
I’d like to highlight a couple of the specific project that we’ve done. This is women history month and we just celebrated international women day but on the occasion of the title 9 anniversary in Türkiye. The recognition of the incredible women here, we are really doing a lot on sport diplomacy. We at the consulate partnered with the NGO “kızlar sahada” and about empowering young girls in sports. We are very proud submitted for the 18th secretarys international women of courage award Eda Erdem. We submitted her for her pioneering excellent work in sport diplomacy. Ambassador Flake and I will be hosting reception in her honor later this month as well.
