Washington DC Presents Turkish Cultural month

The American Turkish Association of Washington, D.C. (ATA-DC) has announced that the Washington's first annual Turkish Cultural Heritage Month will be celebrated throughout the month of September. Turkish Cultural Heritage Month has been officially recognized by Mayor Vincent Gray and Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley. The month will include a "Mobile Turkish Coffee Truck" tour, special exhibitions at the Textile Museum and a two-day symposium at the Smithsonian Institution. The month will culminate in the tenth annual Turkish Festival, which will bring together more than 100 artists and 15,000 thousand visitors to create new friendships and explore the wonders of Turkey in Washington D.C. "Our team of volunteers is working round the clock to make sure that this year's festivities are the best yet. We are building on years of effort to promote the Turkish-American community in Washington, D.C., and this year we are excited to add a month of celebration to our annual Turkish festival," said Patsy Jones, the festival's chair. The Turkish Festival is an annual event that brings tens of thousands of people to downtown D.C. to "experience the wonders of Turkey in Washington D.C." It has become a staple of Washington's fall calendar. In 2011, readers of the Washington City Paper named the Turkish Festival the city's "Best Festival." "Our goal is to have fun and share our culture with our American friends. If we are able to bring people closer together and educate people while we are at it, we know we have been successful," said Demet Cabbar, president of ATA-DC. Today, over 500,000 Turkish Americans make the U.S. their home. D.C.'s Turkish Cultural Heritage Month seeks to build bridges and friendship between Turkish and American people and while recognizing the contributions of Turkish Americans to American society.