Kristin Szakos, Vice Mayor of Charlottesville, together with a number of academicians from Virginia Tech and Radford University, participated in the dialog trip to Turkey.
Each year, Rumi Forum, in collaboration with American Turkish Friendship Association (ATFA), organizes intercultural dialog trips to Turkey. These trips have three objectives: (i) to facilitate direct communication and emphatic understanding between the peoples of the United States and the Republic of Turkey; (ii) to foster mutually beneficial relationships between the citizens and organizations of the two countries; (iii) to promote American -Turkish friendship. The trips include visits to historical and natural sites, government and civic organizations, and family homes. These are both fact-finding trips in the sense that they give an opportunity to the participants to find out the values, visions and perceptions of Turkish people and organizations, as well as opportunities for partnerships on mutually beneficial cultural exchange projects.