United Nations

2023 YEARLY ACTIVITY REPORT

OUR EVENTS in 2024

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY PROGRAM – March 8th-9th, 2024

March 8th – Panel on Theme “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress”

March 9th – “Domestic Violence and Abuse”

INTERNATIONAL MOTHER LANGUAGE DAY – Feb 25 2024

Click here for press release.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF EDUCATION

OUR UN EVENTS in 2023

-International Day of Education-January 24th, 2023

Mr. David Cuthell PhD, 

Mr. Selçuk Şirin PhD,

Mrs. Buket Sahin,

Mrs. Gül Bahtiyar Md,

Mr. Korhan Beba

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  • International Women’s Day-March 8th 2023

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  -2023 Water Conference-March 23th, 2023

Turks in Action Now For Water in Future                    

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Immediate Press Release: January 3rd 2022, New York
Organization: Turkish Women League of America
Email: Twlanewyork@gmail.com  or Twla@atkb.org


TURKISH WOMEN’S LEAGUE OF AMERICA IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE ITS ASSOCIATION WITH THE UNITED NATIONS DEPARTMENT OF GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS

Reference: United Nations Department of Global Communications Approves 19 Civil Society Organizations for Association https://www.un.org/press/en/2021/pi2297.doc.htm

With the full support of the board of directors of the Turkish Women’s League of America (TWLA), unanimously decided to start the Association process with the United Nations Department of Global Communications (UNDGC) on the 11th of August, 2020.

The Civil Society Association Committee at the United Nations Department of Global Communications (#UNDGC_CSO) met on 10th of December, 2021. At this particular meeting, TWLA’s application toward association has been officially approved, effective Immediately.

Turkish Women’s League of America established in New York, officially on 17 September,1958, by a group of secular Turkish women who adhere to the principles set by Ataturk and the values of the Turkish Republic. The TWLA is a non-profit organization with the status #501(c) (3).

The Organization mission is to unite Turkish Women living in the United States of America under one roof to provide solidarity and strength among them.

Further, The Turkish Women’s League of America has been working towards sharing Turkish customs and traditions with other cultures; regardless of language, religion, color or race to establish positive relationships through the organizing cultural events since 1958.

TWLA’s one of the core mission and visions has been to preserve and teach mother-tongue Turkish language and culture to the future generations since 1971.

New York Ataturk School operates as a week-end elementary school from October to June and has over 550 graduates. The school’s mandatory curriculum is to teach Turkish that includes Turkish language and rich and diverse culture.  Annually the school educates between 100 and 130 students between the ages of 5 and 14 years old.

The TWLA is proud to form and operate NY ATATÜRK School (NY Atatürk Okulu) under the TWLA’s roof since its inception in 1971 and onward. In fact, TWLA celebrated NY Atatürk School’s 50th Anniversary in conjunction with the 2021 International Mother Language Day along with The Light Millennium and Assembly of Turkish American Associations organizations.  

The Organization is one of the oldest and one of the most active Turkish American organizations in the United States of America.

Throughout Turkish Women’s League of America’s 63 year long history, it has been serving Turkish women in New York and other states by bringing families together through social and cultural events. These events are aligned with UNICEF (educating children in their mother tongue) & UNESCO programs since they support continuity of Turkish cultural heritage, customs, traditions as well as the Turkish language in the United States of America. In this context, TWLA’s and NY Ataturk School’s core programs are aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goal #4 Equal and Quality Education & SDG-5 Gender Equality and equal educational opportunity along with, International Day of Education (24 January), International Day of Mother Language (21 February) , International Day of Families (15 May), World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (21 May), which also cross-cutting with many other SDGs and UN Days.

TWLA’s, being associated with the UN-DGC, which is a threshold for a new era in the TWLA’s history. TWLA is determined to actively engage with the UN programs and support the UN 2030 Development Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals through TWLA and New York Atatürk School’s programs.

With this newly gained capacity, Turkish Women’s League of America will be able to have a delegation which consist of six representatives at the premises of the headquarters of the United Nations in New York, including two youth representatives. These representatives will have the privilege to attend UN meetings and will be reflecting back from the UN to the TWLA’s members and Turkish community in the U.S.

The following extract from UN-DGC Press Release provides insight into how the UN-DGC works and why it is important for TWLA.

United Nations Department of Global Communications’-associated organizations are expected to join the global effort to support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, promote and defend human rights, and promote peace and security. They also have the opportunity to network with other organizations and to share information about their activities during thematic briefings, capacity-building sessions and the United Nations Civil Society Conference.

As the preeminent and most impactful Turkish Women’s League of America organization in the United States, President Mrs. Sermin Özçilingir of TWLA, underlined the following:We are very proud of this outcome and looking forward to work with the UN-DGC along with the Global NGO executive Committee (GNEC) toward in this important newly defined mission and vision. We will make sure toward aligning and presenting more programs in connection with the UN Charter, Universal Declaration Human Rights and the 2030 Development Agenda. In this framework, we also consider to developing an introductory level class for New York Atatürk School’s 4. And 5. Grade students. With that, our students, too, will be aware of the UN’s Vision and Programs toward engaging them with the UN Vision and Programs at an early stage of their lives .”

Turkish Women’s League of America’s Website:  https://atkb.org
NY Atatürk School’s Website:  https://atkb.org/ataturk-school/

UN News Centre Press Release:
United Nations Department of Global Communications Approves 19 Civil Society Organizations for Association https://www.un.org/press/en/2021/pi2297.doc.htm

About the United Nations Department of Global Communications:
https://unic.un.org/aroundworld/unics/en/whoWeAre/aboutDPI/index.asp

Website of the UN Department of Global Communications: www.un.org/civilsociety

Turkish Women League of America is an organization formally affiliated with the United Nations Department of Global Communications.