On March 11, the TCF Lecture Series in Turkish Culture and Art held at the TCF Istanbul offices will feature Prof.Dr.Nurhan Atasoy with her lecture on “Turkish Lifestyle at the Dolmabahce Palace.” All TCF lectures are recorded and periodically uploaded on the TCF Video Gallery for online viewing. The latest addition to the Gallery is the video of Dr.Atasoy’a lecture on “Life in Istanbul in 1582 through the Surname-i Humayun.”

Dr.Recep Karadag, Senior Scholar at the TCF Cultural Heritage Preservation and Natural Dyes Laboratory-DATU will be presenting a paper on “Reusing Natural Dyes According to Analysis of Historical Textiles” on March 20 at the Textiles and Dyes in the Mediterranean World Symposium in Montserrat, Spain. Dr.Sumiyo Okumura, TCF Art Historian, will give a lecture on “The Art of the Turkish Carpet” at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris on March 19.

Teachers in 10 cities across the United States have a chance to learn about Turkey at Teacher Workshops currently underway as part of the national educational program Spotlight on Turkey, organized jointly with chapters of the World Affairs Councils of America and TCF and funded by a major TCF grant. Upcoming in March are Teacher Workshops by the World Affairs Council of Seattle on March 11, the Montana World Affairs Council and the World Affairs Council of Northwest Ohio on March 15.

TCF made its first award in 2014 under its Fellowship in Turkish Culture and Art Program. Dr.Muzaffer Ozgules of the Architectural Conservation Department of the Plato College of Higher Education in Istanbul received the TCF Fellowship to present his paper on “The Most Travelling Woman of the Ottoman Harem: Gulnus Sultan and Her Legacy” at the International Symposium on “Writing Women's Lives:Auto/Biography, Life Narratives, Myths and Historiography” at Yeditepe University on April 19-20, 2014. Restructured under new guidelines, the TCF Fellowship in Turkish Culture and Art is awarded year-round ro recognize outstanding papers published in the area of Turkish cultural and social studies, as well as to support participation of scholars in leading conferences in this subject area. For detailed eligibility and application information, please visit the TCF website.

Dr. Ozgen Felek (TCF Academic Fellow-2008) will present her paper “Healing Verses in the Imperial Minds” at the “The Healing Arts Across the Mediterranean: Communities, Knowledge and Practices” conference organized by Rutgers University in New York on March 28. She will also give a talk on “Ottoman Dream Culture and the Dream Letters of Sultan Murad III” at New York University as part of the Ottoman Studies Lecture Series on April 3. Dr. Nukhet Varlik (TCF Academic Fellow-2010) will present a talk on “The Ottoman Healing Arts: Health, Medicine, and the State" as part of the same lecture series on April 17. Meanwhile, Tayfun Serttas (TCF Cultural Exchange Fellow-2014) will give a lecture on "Two archives, Two methods, Two presentations" at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris on March 26.

The TCF Culinary Art Center-YESAM in Istanbul hosted a lecture by Aylin Oney Tan, food expert and journalist titled “From Mantou to Manti: A Great Culinary Journey from Asia to Anatolia”  on March 5. All YESAM lectures are periodically uploaded on the TCF Video Gallery. The latest video additions are: "Traditional Turkish Confectionery - Sweets" by Priscilla Mary Isin; "Anadolu Mutfak Kulturunun Kokenleri" by Prof.Dr.Ahmet Uhri and "Bugdayin Anadolu Geleneklerindeki Yeri" by Aylin Oney Tan.

Meanwhile, Turkish cooking traditions are highlighted every month with the YESAM Recipe of the Month, which features a recipe for Tutmac Soup for February.

Gripin, a leading Turkish rock band, and Los Angeles-based Turkish American rock band Twenty7 are on tour in the United States, with support from a TCF grant. After taking the stage in Boston, New York, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, Chicago, Miami, Orlando, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, the groups’ remaining concert will take place in Dallas on March 13, preceded by Gripin’s concert on March 11 at the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Texas.

A TCF grant will underwrite the 13th Boston Turkish Film and Music Festival organized by the Turkish American Cultural Society of New England-TACSNE. The Festival will be co-presented with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Goethe Institute, take place between March 20 - April 26, featuring 20 films and many musical performances.

TCF awarded a major grant to the Turkish Cultural Association of Washington-TACAWA in support of the International Children’s Friendship Festival. Organized in celebration of April 23 Turkish National Sovereignty and Childrens’ Day, the festival will take place on April 12-13 at the Seattle Center.