Greece Consul General Dimitris Caramitsos-Tziras talked of the importance of economic relations as a way to bridge the gap and strengthen the dialogue among the nations in the Balkans on the 1st of February luncheon forum.
This time, it was Turkish Consul General Hakan Tekin who made a speech about the Turkish Relations with the EU and the United States.
R.Hakan Tekin graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Political Sciences, and Department of International Relations in 1989. In December 1990, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey. He worked at the Departments of Cultural Relations, Central Asia, Human Rights and Balkans within the Ministry. He served at the Turkish Embassies in Abu Dhabi/United Arab Emirates, Sofia/ Bulgaria, attended the NATO Defense College Senior Course in Rome and worked at the Permanent Mission of Turkey to the United Nations in New York. Following the end of his tenure in New York, he took office as Chief of Section and then as Head of Department at the Personnel Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from November 2004 until April 2007. He assumed his post in Los Angeles as Consul General on 15 April 2007. Area of responsibility includes 12 states of the western region of the United States.
The Honorable Consul General elaborated on the historical facts between the European Union and America. Mr Tekin also gave detailed information on the economic ties and how it developed during the course of years, especially for the last five years, underlining that 2008 would be the European Union year for Turkey as the Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Babacan said. Of course the accession talks of Turkey is greatly supported by the current administration of the United States.
During the Q&A session, questions rose about the ban on headsarf, the relations of Turkey with the neighbors particularly with Northern Iraq and Turkey’s look on the war on terror in the southeast. Mr Tekin gave elaborate and detailed answers to each of the questions which lasted more than the first session due to the high number of attendees to the luncheon forum.