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The changing role of Young Turks in the U.S.: Interview with Gunay Evinch
BY EMRE PEKER, MEDILL NEWS SERVICE Excerpted interview with Gunay Evinch, president of the Assembly of Turkish American Associations and Washington, D.C.-based attorney whose practice concentrates on matters relating to Turkey and the surrounding region. He is a second generation Turkish American. [to the lead story, "Turkish students discover individualism in the United States"] The Turkish lobby is getting more powerful as an increasing number of young Turks come to the U.S. for higher education and post-graduate work opportunities. Following the lead of their predecessors, a new generation of Turkish students is moving beyond traditional, passive roles and becoming more active in a wide array of activities. Gunay Evinch, president of Assembly of Turkish American Associations, talks about the changing nature of the student body in the U.S. Q: Is there a change in the way Turkish students act in the U.S.?
Gunay Evinch: I see more Turkish students wanting to not only promote Turkish culture and history and their heritage, but also to engage on the sensitive political issues that are affecting Turkey in the global environment. Today, the Turkish students are saying more and more, "I have to become more active, more engaged in the political process." BY EMRE PEKER, MEDILL NEWS SERVICE [to the companion interview with Gunay Evinch, "The changing role of Young Turks in the U.S."] Serdar Özenalp arrived in Charlottesville, Va., around midnight after a 20-hour journey from Istanbul, Turkey. He hailed a cab with two friends who were also about to begin their undergraduate studies at the University of Virginia and drove south on Route 29 to University Circle, where he stayed at the cozy International House. It was August 1998 and it was hot. Eser Turan took a 24-hour trip from Istanbul to San Francisco. An African-American couple she met on the plane gave her a ride to a high school friend's house. It was her first time in California, where she would soon begin her master's in architecture at UC Berkeley. It was a pleasant day in August 1996, with cool breezes welcoming Turan to the city. Young Turks today are going abroad in ever-increasing numbers for their higher education, just like their predecessors in the 19th century. They seek to explore new horizons and exit Turkey's rigid educational system. For most, the United States is what France and Germany were to their forefathers: a land of opportunities and fresh ideas. And so they come each year, in thousands, looking for knowledge, fresh experience and a taste of the American lifestyle they followed from afar. Their adventures in the United States are translating to new ideas back home, making their Western-influenced insights on Turkey unique and valuable as the country's democracy moves from its infancy to adolescence. Or, they are shocked upon their return to Turkey, experience difficulties in readjusting to an old way of life and start planning an escape. |
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