One of the distinguished candidates for ATAA Presidency, Mehmet Çelebi gave an exclusive interview to Turkishny.com over his plans and projects for Assembly of Turkish American Associations, Turkish-American relations, Mideast uprising, general elections in Turkey, presidential elections in U.S. and the situation of Turkish American community.
Turkishny.com: What makes you different from the other cadidates for ATAA presidency?
Mehmet Çelebi: All of the other candidates are great Turkish-Americans who will do a great job running ATAA, l am not quite sure about their particular plans but l am excited to be running for ATAA President-elect with such distinguished individuals who have served our community for a long time.
Turkishny.com: Turkey is playing a leading role in foreign policy. What are the influences of this policy on Turkish Americans?
Mehmet Çelebi: Turkey is finally where we all dreamed it would be and deserves to be, a country which is confident, sets its own foreign policy agenda, determins what is best for its own interests, one that promotes international prosperity and security and is respected around the world. What influence does that have on Turkish-Americans? First and foremost, for the first time since the 50-year Turkish-American relations began, Turkey and US are 2 true equal partners in the international arena. This relationship, based on mutual respect and trust, helps make America a better place and makes our elected officials aware of how valuable and important Turkey is for the US, more so than it ever was in the 2 countries' history.
Turkishny.com: What are your thoughts on the upcoming US presidential election in 2012?
Mehmet Çelebi: All Turkish-Americans need to be involved in these elections, those who can afford it need to contribute generously to various campaigns, those who can volunteer must do so, the important thing is to get involved and let the various campaigns know that you are a Turkish-American because it does make a difference. We have a major challenge ahead of us, the US is involved in 2 active wars, and a new war involving Libya, the economy is on a slow recovery, there are security and terror threats everywhere, but l am confident we will be in a better place in 2012 than we are this year. Personally, I am a Democrat, and l support my fellow Chicagoan President Obama, but l also support many Republican officials who l feel are sensitive toward Turkish-American relations, and have several close friends who are both Republican and Democratic elected officials.
Turkishny.com: We know, there is a very effective Armenian Lobby in US. What is your plans about Turkish Lobby in US?
Mehmet Çelebi: I think rather than focus on this or that lobby, we need to worry about our own community. If we become involved, make monetary contribution to campaigns, volunteer, participate, vote..etc, it won't matter which lobby is strong or weak, elected officials will take notice.
Turkishny.com: Can you tell us about your past political life and community service?
Mehmet Çelebi: I was President of the Turkish-American Cultural Alliance (TACA) in Chicago and Vice-President/Board-Member of ATAA for nearly 5 years, l also helped establish the Turkish-American Doctor's Association of Midwest (TADAM) and the Association of Turkish-American of Scientist, Engineers and Architects (ATASEA); l am also proud to have helped establish the Chicago Turkish Festival, now in its 9th year, a festival that has received several "best ethnic festival" recognitions and was promoted by the Turkish leaders as a "standard for any Turkish festival outside of Turkey".
In 2007, I joined the Hillary Clinton for President Campaign to have a Turkish voice in the Presidential elections. I was fortunate to become one of the top fund-raisers for the campaign and later became the Regional Co-Chair of the Finance Committee and a Hillary Clinton’s delegate from Illinois-the first Turkish-American to hold that position. I received over 31,000 votes during the primary in my district.
I have been a Member of the Dean’s International Council at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy since 2008, where l am working on projects connecting the Turkish academic and business communities.
I also serve on the Buck Advisory Council at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, a leading global institution for medical research on aging related illnesses.
Turkishny.com: Can you tell us a little bit about your professional life?
Mehmet Çelebi: I am a co-founder of Arti Bir Group, a group of companies engaged in construction, manufacturing, entertainment (live events, film & television production and financing) and fashion in Turkey and the Middle East. We pioneered several initiatives in Turkey including the first ever Turkish-Hollywood movie, Turkish-Hollywood TV Series, brought many famous celebrities to top Turkish television programs such as Acun and others, including Sharon Stone, Andy Garcia, Christina Aguilera, 50 Cent, and Bruce Willis.
In 2009, we organized “Fashionable Istanbul”, Turkey’s first ever international fashion event featuring top models and designers such as Roberto Cavalli, Gianfranco Ferré, Salvatore Ferragamo, Vivienne Westwood and Missoni.
Our Group’s live event company is one of Turkey’s largest concert organizers, exclusively representing performers such as Ajda Pekkan, Tarkan and Teoman, among others.
We have construction projects in Turkey, Iraq and the Middle East.
Turkishny.com: What are your plans and projects for Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) ?
Mehmet Çelebi: We as TA community members have always faced challenges in the US regarding Turkey, its image and its positions. Things have change drastically for the better in the last decade for Turkey; while many of the problems of years past have dissipated, we have new challenges to deal with.
Today, ATAA’s role as the “guide, eyes, ears and voice of local organizations at the national level” is more important than ever. Today, ATAA needs to solidify its national infrastructure, and for that it needs to continue to have solid ties with major US based organizations, think-tanks, and other ethnic groups. This will in turn allow ATAA to become “a desired and truly relevant umbrella organization".
There is another challenge though, as we have a proliferation of powerful TA organizations, some of which have solid financial and other resources, and nationwide affiliations. The polarization and divisions among our community are unfortunately rampant. This is an issue that not only ATAA is facing, but essentially almost every TA organization nationwide.
How do we overcome these “differences”? ATAA leadership in the last few years has made great strides towards bridging this gap, but certainly we are not there yet.
When we, as a community, allow “insignificant” issues-and by insignificant I do not mean to take light of the serious issues Turks are facing in Turkey; yet the vast majority of these issues do not/will not affect our daily lives in the US; nor what we face in the US necessarily have a direct impact upon our homeland (though most of the time some of the issues we face here have a direct impact on us and our children, and our homeland as well directly).
Somehow, we lost sight of what is important for our community and our homeland, and allowed these “smoke-screens” to overtake the imminent threats to our community and homeland here in the US.
I believe as proven during my leadership roles at ATAA and local TA organizations, and subsequent engagements in the community and my professional career; l am capable and currently have solid relationships with a variety of TA organizations, and other organizations (be it ethnic, professional or otherwise).
Today, many Turkish-American organizations are facing challenges; our community’s demographics are changing, as are the needs and desires of our community. The technological advances have made it easy to be “connected to Turkey” without the need for an organization to serve that role.
In addition, like other ethnic communities, our community today finally has a “First Generation” and ‘Second Generation” members among its ranks, thus what was successful in attracting our community members to Turkish-America organizations in the past to a larger degree is no longer valid, so the challenge becomes finding ways to attract the young and new (born and raised in US), while keeping the connection to our long time members and supporters alive and well (mostly born in Turkey).
Turkishny.com: How will you carry out the presidency of ATAA from Chicago?
Mehmet Çelebi: Though not required as the majority of ATAA's Presidents have been from different parts of the country, If elected, I plan to move to the East-Coast to better focus on how to make ATAA a better organization.
Turkishny.com: Turkish umbrella organizations in U.S. are being criticized that they do not cooperate enough. Will you cooperate with other organizations?
Mehmet Çelebi: I agree with this criticism, l think if we focus on what is important for us as a community-to promote our homeland, its people, history, culture in the best possible way, while also protecting our interests as a country and community; there is no reason why all of the Turkish-American organizations can not work together. During my presidency of TACA, I had a very good working relationship with all of the organizations in Chicago, bar-none; and l plan to do the same as ATAA president if elected.
Turkishny.com: Do you have plans to reach out Turkic and Muslim American Associations in the U.S.?
Mehmet Çelebi: Absolutely, and why wouldn't l? as long as our goals are aligned and mutual, we should be all working together. Look at Turkey now, it is working to diffuse tensions and conflicts in many regions, brokering peace between Syria & Israel; Bosnians, Croats and Serbs; Georgians and Russians; various factions in Lebanon, Iraq and the greater Middle East, not to mention between Afghanistan and Pakistan; why can't we do the same in the US with these ethnic communities as well?
Turkishny.com: What about the relations with Greek and Armenian Americans?
Mehmet Çelebi: During my presidency at TACA, l met with the Greek and Armenians communities numerous times, and today l enjoy a very close relationship with Greek-American leaders and members of the Armenian community, many of whom l can call "close-friends". If elected as president, I will continue this course.
Turkishny.com: How do you evaluate current relations between Turkey and U.S.?
Mehmet Çelebi: As mentioned earlier, I am elated that Turkish-American relations focus on areas such as strategic energy cooperation, trade and investment, security ties, regional stability, counterterrorism, and human rights in many areas around the world. Our relations in the past were called "strategic" but were in fact a relationship of a provider-needy, now Turkish-American relationship is that of 2 partners/allies.
Turkishny.com: Do you predict a push for a resolution on April 24?
Mehmet Çelebi: Now this year l don't anticipate a major push for a resolution on April 24, but we must really move beyond this annual ritual of cat & mouse. We are a much bigger, stronger, richer, important country than to get strangled by this issue each and every year.
Turkishny.com: What is the role of ATAA in improving and influencing Turkish-American relations?
Mehmet Çelebi: We have a tremendous role, first and foremost, we can ride the coattail of Turkey's success to help push Turkish-American relations even further, but remember we are all US citizens and residents here, and the things we can do as a community actually complement what the two governments can do with each other. We have a very important role to play, and certainly ATAA is the right organization to do just that,
Turkishny.com: What are your opinions about the upcoming general elections in Turkey?
Mehmet Çelebi: Turkey has been going through tremendous and impressive transformation, and each day we are getting closer to being a full fledgling democracy. I think elections are a healthy way of exercising our democratic right to elect officials whom we think are best to guide us and our country, and l hope we set another example of why Turkey is a unique democracy in a region that desperately needs it.
Turkishny.com: How do you evaluate the uprising in the Middle East? How will the new formation in the region will affect Turkey and Turkish American relations?
Mehmet Çelebi: The recent revolutions taking place in the Middle East are unbelivable and amazing. As you know, l am half an Arab, born in Syria with a sizeable family still living there, and while l agree with the demands of the public-especially the youth-to demand much delayed democratic reforms, l am against using violence as a means to achieve them. I also condemn any acts of brutality against the civilians by the various governments in the Middle East. I hope for an orderly transition to full democracy in the region, something that will benefit Turkey the most. I believe Turkey and its experience in democratic reforms, market oriented economy and civil liberties could serve as an inspiration for the Middle East, but it would be wrong to call Turkey as an "example" because no 2 countries are the same, each country in the region has its unique own history, experiences and traditions. Since the Middle East is of a tremendous strategic and economic importance for the US, Turkey's active and constructive role in the region is equally of important for the US.
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