The American Turkish Association of Washington DC (ATA-DC) finalized the ballot count of Election 2023 on Saturday, June 17 and announced Sevtap Schreffler as the new president of the organization.
President Schreffler Released A Message for Members and Newly Elected Directors
Dear Friends,
First, let me thank all of you for your support to the American Turkish Association of Washington DC – ATADC. I am deeply honored to accept the Presidency. I value the trust you have placed in me very much and promise to work hard and not let you down. I have no doubt we will all together succeed, especially with the support of my teammates. Without them I wouldn’t be here today!!!!
I want to congratulate everyone who made the decision to be a candidate for a position on the ATA-DC board in this year’s election. Regardless of whether you were elected or not, your willingness to volunteer and be prepared for the investment of time to be part of the ATA-DC board is admirable. For those who were candidates but were not elected, you remain essential to our association and your willingness and efforts as volunteers remain invaluable to our continued success.
I want to recognize the significant efforts of the election committee Koray Kukrer and Patsy Jones from the board who were assisted by Serap Deniz Rada and Aylin Geçener selected from our member base. They have been key to ensure our election process was proper and correct. I would also like to thank our board member and legal counsel Tolga Ozek for ensuring the process followed our by-laws and the laws surrounding non-profit organizations. I want to welcome our new board members Busra Tarhan, Seda Arık, Burcu Lale Yüksel and Nilbahar Karaman to our ATA-DC family. To you, our members, this year we saw record numbers of votes and I very much appreciate you taking the time to participate in this election.
I know, as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkiye, that there is a lot of work on our collective plate. ATA-DC is successful in its mission because of all our wonderful volunteers. Many of you volunteer your time, your strength, and your passion for Turkish culture to help ATA-DC succeed in its mission. The Ataturk school, gastronomy events, teachers’ workshop, engagements with U.S. Legislators and of course our famous Turkish Festival all succeed because of all of you. Of course, this year, with this significant milestone for the Republic of Turkiye, I hope our impact is bigger than ever.
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve heard some fantastic ideas to improve our organization. One that I committed to before the election process started, is to improve how we communicate with our membership and those wishing to learn more about ATA-DC. To that point, we will be working with the IT committee to improve our online presence, make it more interactive, and make the board more transparent through those systems. Publishing board activities, status of committees and volunteer opportunities will all increase the transparency of the board as well as give everyone clear information about volunteer opportunities. I’ve also spoken about events focused on issues many Turks, members or not, face here in Washington D.C. Subjects like immigration law, personal and business tax laws, estate laws are just a few ideas I intend to pursue.
There were many other ideas that surfaced during this election process. This point alone proves the value of competition in our democratic process. You are all invited, encouraged, to participate and volunteer to support any or all these initiatives. I encourage the lively and polite exchange of ideas as a critical part of the continued success of our association. I welcome all of you to join me, and your new Board of Directors, in making this a great year for ATA-DC.
Lastly, and this is truly from my heart, thank you so very much for your participation in the ATA-DC election process and your support to the ideals of ATA-DC established almost 60 years ago.
With Gratitude,Sevtap Schreffler
President of ATA-DC
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