Offices and Departments

Public Affairs

The Public Affairs sections in Turkey, located in Ankara and Istanbul, are responsible for media, cultural, and educational affairs for the U.S. Mission in Turkey. Both were former branch offices of the United States Information Agency (USIA) in Washington, D.C., but merged with the U.S. Department of State on October 1, 1999. The merger brings U.S. public diplomacy closer to the center of policy formation.

Working closely with Turkish print and electronic media, Public Affairs organizes press conferences for Embassy and Consulate personnel and visiting U.S. officials. It also organizes telephone and Worldnet television interviews with officials in the U.S. Public Affairs provides information and assistance to Turkish organizations on a variety of subjects - politics, the environment, business and economics, defense, international relations, civic education, English Language Teaching, and American Culture.

The Public Affairs sections in Turkey provide daily record copies of official public statements about U.S. policies in the daily Washington File and Electronic Journals. In this homepage, as well as through its programs, and through the Ankara Information Resource Center and the Istanbul Information Resource Center (IRCs), it provides background information on the issues that affect those policies. The IRCs are the best sources of information about the United States to be found in Turkey.

Promoting cultural and educational ties with the United States is a major responsibility of the Public Affairs sections in Turkey. They work closely with Turkish institutions in organizing exchanges, lectures, seminars, workshops, and presentations by U.S. academics, specialists, writers and artists.

The Public Affairs sections also work closely with the Commission for Educational Exchange between the United States and Turkey, more commonly known as the Fulbright Commission, to promote a rich variety of academic exchanges through its Humphrey and Fulbright scholarship programs and through educational advising.

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