Two groups of a total of 48 American middle and high school teachers visited Turkey last month as part of the Turkish Cultural Foundation's Teacher Study Tours. The teachers were selected from among participants in the Teacher Workshops on Turkey organized under the Spotlight on Turkey 2014 program, by 10 local chapters of the World Affairs Councils of America (WACA) and TCF. This year's teachers hailed from the states of Colorado, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, and Virginia. You can read more about the teachers' journey on the TCF Study Tour Blog and on Facebook and Twitter. You may also read Comments by participants on the TCF Teacher Study Tours and media articles about the tours on the TCF website.

The 2014-2015 YESAM Seminar Series will kick-off with a lecture on September 4 by Pelin Dumanli, a chef and co-owner of Culinary Bodrum. Her lecture is titled "Offal culture in Turkish Cuisine" and will be presented in Turkish.

Past YESAM seminar videos may be watched online on the TCF Video Gallery. Meanwhile, Turkish cooking traditions are highlighted every month with the YESAM Recipe of the Month, which features a recipe for Okra Stew for August.

The 6-week 2014 session of the Intensive Ottoman and Turkish Summer School (IOTSS) took place at the Sevgi Gonul Building in Cunda. The IOTSS is organized by the Ottoman Studies Foundation and is co-sponsored by a multi-year TCF grant and benefits from support of Harvard and Koc Universities.

The 18th Session took place from July 7 to August 15. This year 22 students were selected to participate to the program and were selected on the basis of their academic record, with particular attention to their background in the relevant languages besides Ottoman, namely Persian and Arabic.

TCF Art Historian Dr. Sumiyo Okumura participated in this year's session and also gave a presentation on “The Mamluk Kaaba Curtain in the Bursa Grand Mosque” on July 23.

Since 2009, TCF has provided internships to American students under the Santa Clara University Global Fellowship program. This summer's interns Sania Baqai, Elizabeth Furrow, Claire Ingebretsen and Keyra Galvan spent several weeks at the TCF Istanbul office over the summer, returning home earlier this month. Additional support for the TCF-Santa Clara internship has been provided by Bahcesehir University, which has been hosting the students at the University's dorms.

This month, the TCF Istanbul office hosted a study tour group of Alfred University students and faculty. The Alfred University study tour was visiting Istanbul with help from the Turkish Coalition of America Study Tour Grant.

Two Teacher groups on the TCF Teacher Study Tours also were hosted at the Istanbul office in July and received briefings on the work of civil society in the areas of education, community and environment from representatives of various Turkish non-profit organizations, including ACEV, TOG, TEMA and TEGV. The teachers also received lectures on the History of Turkish cuisine by Banu Ozden, YESAM Project Executive.

Installation and video artist Deniz Uster (TCF Cultural Exchange Fellow-2014) participated in an artistic residency program and exhibition project "We All Live on the Same Sea" at the Sirius Arts Centre, in Cobh in Cork, Ireland on August 1-7.

Composer Hakan Ulus (TCF Cultural Exchange Fellow-2014) attended the 2014 Harvard Summer Composition Institute Residency on August 11-25.

Dancers Idil Kemer and Ufuk Senel (TCF Cultural Exchange Fellows -2014) participated in the danceWEB Europe Scholarship Residency Program for Contemporary Dance and Performance within the frame of ImPulsTanz - Vienna International Dance Festival on July 17- August 17.

Cellist, composer, improviser, and photographer Anil Eraslan (TCF Cultural Exchange Fellow-2014) attended the 2014 OMI residency program at the OMI Arts Center on July 17 - August 3.