Fourth-Generation Turkish-Americans to Meet Relatives

Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Aydin, who is responsible for the affairs of Turks living abroad, attended a meeting connected to the project, "First Immigrant Turks in the U.S., 1820-1921," coordinated by Yeditepe University General Secretary Riza Kucukoglu. Aydin said: "It is very important both for Turkey’s past and its present that the project is a success. This project has great importance, including our having a strong lobby in America and the development of relations between the two countries."

Approximately 80,000 out of the 120,000 Turks who moved to the United States from the Ottoman Empire in search of a better life between 1820 and 1920 came from Harput in Turkey’s southeastern province of Elazig. Stating that he also has ties with the heart with the project since he is from Harput, Aydin said: "I have memories of these migrations from my childhood. We have some people there, even relatives we couldn’t locate."

Zafer Ozcan / Istanbul / TURKEY