Conversation with Turkish Woman Consul General in Boston on Women in Science Diplomacy, Their Role in Creative Dialog between the US and Contemporary Turkey

It was an honor for me to receive an e-mail by Ceylan Ozen Erisen, the Consul General of the Republic of Turkey in Boston in order to meet and talk about my advanced academic research project and scholarly studies on women & women architects. We talked and discussed the importance of women in science, and in particular in "science diplomacy" and "cross-cultural dialog between the US and the Republic of Turkey.

I definitely agree with "the significance of women in science diplomacy" in today's world: In order to be able to address "common problems", make progress in international partnership through solution-oriented mindset and establish more constructive dialog among countries/cultures in today's (complicated) global world, politics and diplomacy strongly need "scientists, scholars and experts" in each scientific disciplines. In particular, I believe in "the creative, communicative power of women and their intelligence" within this (international) context.

As architects, "construction" is one of the top priorities in every aspect of our lives, and I have no doubt that "scientific studies in architecture" have a huge potential to accomplish "new and innovative constructive dialog" between today's US and the Republic of Turkey through "the power of women".

In addition, I am so proud of having "a woman" as the Consul General of the Republic of Turkey in Boston. Receiving her B.A. degree in International Relations from the Middle East Technical University, Mr. Erisen started her career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a US Desk Officer in Ankara in 1996; served under various positions at the Turkish Embassies in Tel Aviv, Almaty, and Belgrad, at the Turkish Permanent Mission to the OSCE/Vienna and at the Directorate General for International Security Affairs in Ankara between 1998 and 2012; was the Turkish Consul General in Mumbai between 2012 and 2014; and served as the Head of Department at Directorate General of Policy Planning of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey between 2014-2018.

In recent years, the rising influence of Turkish women as career diplomats is very promising as well: As of 2019, there are currently 1777 career diplomats in the ministry, of which 624 are women in the country. Currently, 35 percent of the diplomats in the Foreign Ministry are women. The number of women ambassadors have reached 63 and currently, 37 women ambassadors have been serving abroad. (For more information, please see: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/more-women-taking-up-ranks-at-turkeys-foreign-ministry-141645?fbclid=IwAR3WkoLX2Gg3wg0_QkB59o8zNT-OqwIVAp2AAFgSUZxEIfWg2CuGTVaY1hg, accessed on 6.29.2019).

What is interesting is that women can take leadership positions in the Republic of Turkey more easily than the US as we discussed in our meeting with Ceylan Ozen Erisen. For instance, in terms of architecture, women began to obtain their professional degree in the Republic of Turkey in the 1930s, and then, took their "active" roles in their fields. In this context, it is not surprising that Celile Berk, the first woman architect from Istanbul Technical University in 1942 conducted her master thesis at the MIT, School of Architecture and Planning under the advisorship of Professor Alvar Aalto in 1945-1947; Gulsun Saglamer (1945-present), professor in architecture and design architect served as the first woman president of Istanbul Technical University in 1996-2004, Turkish women architects have been serving as the president of the Chamber of Architects of Turkey, head of departments, deans in architecture for a long time ago, etc.

I strongly think and believe that "feminist scholarship in architecture" has a huge potential to establish creative and effective dialog between the US and the Republic of Turkey through "science diplomacy"...

For science diplomacy by American Association for the Advancement of Science, please see, https://www.aaas.org/focus-areas/science-diplomacy, accessed on 6.29.2019.