US congressmen to open Turkish jazz department

U.S. congressmen are visiting Turkey to inaugurate a Turkish jazz department, the Turkish Coalition of America, or TCA, said Thursday. The TCA released a statement and said TCA President Lincoln McCurdy would accompany U.S. congressmen during their visit to Turkey.

The group includes Ed Whitfield, the co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on U.S.-Turkish Relations, congresswoman Donna Edwards of Maryland, congressman Jim Moran of Virginia, who is also a member of the Turkish Caucus.

"The Department of Jazz at Hacettepe University's State Conservatory of Ankara will host an opening gala co-sponsored by the TCA on Thursday," the statement said.

Hacettepe University is the only university in Turkey to have a department dedicated to the study and history of jazz. The university will begin its first jazz courses in September 2010. The student body will include 10 of the most talented young jazz musicians in Turkey.

The statement said that U.S. executives would hold talks with Turkish executives, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey and representatives of nongovernmental organizations and business world.

"TCA has made a commitment to strengthen the longstanding ties between Turkey and the United States through our shared culture and values," said Lincoln McCurdy, the president of TCA.

"Jazz, music and the arts are a wonderful way to highlight how the enduring bond between these two nations is only getting stronger as Turkey emerges as a new center for the arts in Europe," he also said.

TCS is an educational, charitable organization incorporated in February 2007. It aims to foster understanding of Turkish and American issues through public education.