Mission Statement Board of Directors ByLaws

Turkish Women’s League of America (TWLA)

Established on September 17, 1958 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in New York, Turkish Women’s League of America (TWLA) aims to preserve and teach Turkish language and culture to the future generations. The association is one of the oldest active Turkish-American organizations in the USA and it also hosts the New York TWLA Atatürk School, which has been a pride since 1971.

Another important task TWLA carries out is the activities that will enable friendship and understanding between American and Turkish women and to support the work of other similar public institutions.

Under the leadership of Ms. Sermin Özçilingir, who has been the president of the organization with great success since 2009, various social and cultural meetings, conferences, seminars, art exhibitions, concerts, theater events, book signing days for the benefit of its members and the Turkish community living in the New York region.

Atatürk mentioning Turkish women who wrote history in the War of Independence, once said, “Oh the hero Turkish woman! You are worthy not to crawl on the ground, but to rise to the skies on the shoulders!”

With this awareness, Turkish Women’s League of America works devotedly with institutions and non-governmental organization to achieve and preserve the deserved respected place of women in the society.

TWLA Mission Statement

TWLA Board of Directors

TWLA Board of Directors, 2021-2023

Berna Gurdal-President

Berna Gurdal graduated from Hacettepe University Faculty of Nutrition and Dietetics in 1997 and worked as a corporate dietitian at Panorama Food Company between 1997-1999. Between 1998-2005, she worked as a clinical dietitian at Internal Medicine Department of Uludağ University and made presentations at various congresses. Her work on the treatment of diabetes was published in the book Diabetes Mellitus in 2006 Berna Gürdal who has been living in New York since 2005, received the Child Nutrition and Cooking Program Certificate from Stanford University. She is married and has two children. Her son graduated from New York Atatürk School since 2017. She has been serving on the Board of Directors of TWLA since 2017.

Esra Dogru -Vice President

Mine Yenigun-General Secretary

Mrs Mine Yenigun joined the Turkish National Police under the Ministry of Interior in 1992 as Civilian Staff Assistant for human resource management of the Turkish National Police constituted 200,00 police personnel in 81 provinces within Turkey. She is a first degree graduate from Eskişehir Açıköğretim İktisat Fakültesi. In 1995, she was posted as Staff Assistant, within the Department of Police Personnel for management health records and welfare provision of the Turkish National Police deployed around the country. In addition, she had the responsibilities to manage duty shift record for personnel to manage safety and security of the National Police Headquarter. She has obtained excellent performance during her service is currently retired from the Ministry of Interior. Mrs. Yenigun is married for 25 years and has two children whom of which are both graduates of Ataturk School .