Research Director, Research Fellow Attended ISNA Convention

Kilic Bugra Kanat, Research Director of the SETA Foundation at Washington DC, and Ahmet Selim Tekelioglu, Research Fellow, attended the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)’s 53rd Annual Convention in Chicago over the Labor Day weekend. The convention brought together tens of thousands of attendees for the nation’s largest gathering of Muslim Americans. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson addressed the crowd on Saturday night, while Turkish Deputy PM Numan Kurtulmus spoke on Friday evening.

Kilic Bugra Kanat was one of the speakers at the panel, “A Conversation with the Turkish Delegation” held on Sunday, September 4. Ahmet Selim Tekelioglu moderated the panel. Dr. Kanat discussed regional dynamics in Turkey’s neighborhood as well as as Turkish-American relations in the context of the failed July 15 coup attempt. Other speakers included Ravza Kavakçı, Turkish Member of Parliament, Tubanur Sönmez from the Turkish Presidency, Hussam Ayloush, Executive Director of Council on American Relations (CAIR)’s Los Angeles Chapter and National Chair of Syrian American Council, Ali Osman Öztürk from the Turkish Prime Minister’s Office, and Meryem İlayda Atlas from the Daily Sabah newspaper.

ISNA 53rd Annual Conference