For years, they remained there. Until an archaeologist took a closer look and realized these forgotten stones pointed to something far greater and what emerged would transform our understanding of early human history.

With that realization, a hill was uncovered. And Göbeklitepe emerged. Göbeklitepe revealed monumental structures created by people more than 11,000 years ago, challenging long-held assumptions about when and how complex human societies began to form.

And nearby, another extraordinary site was waiting beneath the surface: Karahan Tepe.

Part of the broader Taş Tepeler region of southeastern Türkiye, Karahantepe is one of a group of Neolithic settlements offering new clues about the transition to settled life. Hundreds of stone pillars have been identified across the landscape, while excavations have revealed structures carved into bedrock, monumental sculpture, and objects rich with human and animal imagery.

What has been uncovered so far already challenges expectations. Sculptures with a level of detail not expected from this period: a human figure carrying a leopard, or  stone vessels with carefully arranged animal figures. Each discovery raises new questions about the people who lived there. How did they organize themselves? What did they believe? Why did they create these monumental spaces? And what might the objects they left behind tell us about the beginnings of community, ritual, creativity, and shared human experience?

Much of Karahantepe remains unexplored.

But uncovering the site is only the beginning. Understanding what is found requires scientific analysis, specialized equipment, and researchers with the ability to study materials in depth. Archaeology does not end when an object comes out of the ground. In many ways, that is where the next stage of discovery begins.

Through a grant to TPF partner Karahantepe Araştırmalarını Destekleme Derneği (KADD), philanthropic resources helped establish a fully equipped Archaeometry Laboratory to support the analytical needs of the Karahantepe Research Project and other research conducted across the Taş Tepeler region.

The laboratory gives researchers greater capacity to examine what they uncover and turn individual findings into knowledge that can deepen our understanding of the people who lived here thousands of years ago.

Because at Karahantepe, much of the story is still beneath the surface. And every discovery has the potential to change how we understand where our own story began.

For over a year, TPF has supported Derin, helping her train, travel, and compete in championships both at home and abroad through our partnership with Akut Sports Club, which is dedicated to training and empowering young athletes while promoting teamwork, resilience, and community responsibility. Some competitions she won, others gave her invaluable experience—but every race brought her closer to her dreams. Even when serious knee and foot injuries threatened to slow her down, Derin never gave up. In 2024, she helped Türkiye secure an Olympic quota at the Last Chance Regatta in France, proving that women can shine in Formula Kite. In 2025, she became the U19 European Champion and placed third in the U21 European Championship.

This is exactly where we want to see young women: dreaming big, facing challenges head-on, and never giving up. Derin’s next goal is the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and we stand with her—from Türkiye to the Olympics—wherever she goes, carrying our hopes and pride. Every supporter can be part of her journey. Are you with us?

Healing comes in many forms, but what truly matters is the willingness to embrace it. Whether it’s the rhythm of yarn and needles, a peaceful moment to breathe, or getting lost in stories that inspire, what truly matters is our willingness to embrace it.

At the Füsun Sayek Community Center in Arsuz, healing begins with your choice. Surrounded by greenery, it offers a peaceful space for all ages to recover, especially after the earthquake.

What started as a tribute to Füsun Sayek, a pioneering Turkish doctor, has grown into a hub for cultural events, workshops, and health services. Today, the Füsun Sayek Association supports education, women’s empowerment, and public health in Arsuz. After the earthquake, TPF helped rebuild a new center for women and children to heal and rebuild.

Thanks to your support, the center remains a haven of comfort and hope, offering activities like painting, reading, and sewing, helping visitors process grief and find hope.

For the past year, the Arsuz Community Center has stayed open, all because of you. Your kindness enables TPF and the Füsun Sayek Association to heal our communities, one person at a time. Thank you.

TAO is a non-profit organization with a mission to foster cultural exchange and build bridges through the power of music. Their performances highlight the rich and diverse musical traditions of Türkiye, bringing them to audiences across the U.S.

With 50+ professional musicians performing a wide range of Turkish music in symphonic form, TAO is dedicated to bringing the richness of our heritage to life. TAO proudly dedicates over 50% of their budget to supporting our talented musicians, ensuring the highest quality performances and honoring their vital role in our success.

Each season, TAO will host at least two major concerts and several smaller events, fostering an inclusive community where everyone can connect through the universal language of music.

Mark your calendars for October 26th to join TAO’s debut concert, A Celebration of Turkish Music, at 7 PM in New York City at Symphony Space.

Led by the internationally acclaimed conductor Nisan Ak, this concert will feature a thrilling repertoire that bridges the rich heritage of Turkish music with contemporary compositions. It will be an unforgettable evening that celebrates the power of music to connect and inspire through Western Classical, Jazz, Ottoman Classical, and Film Music. Join us in supporting TAO’s inspiring journey!

Support Turkish American Orchestra

Antakya Medeniyetler Korosu, or the Antakya Civilizations Choir, has long stood as a symbol of Antakya‘s legacy of inclusivity. Through music, they have celebrated the rich mosaic of cultures, languages, and religions that define their city. Their performances bring together people of all backgrounds in song and spirit.

The devastating earthquakes on February 6th hit the choir hard, destroying homes, claiming family members, and taking the lives of seven choir members. Yet, thanks to your donations, they’ve been able to reclaim their voice, embodying Antakya‘s resilience and spirit of togetherness.

In the aftermath, their music has not only brought solace to the streets of Antakya but has also emerged as a symbol of hope and endurance across Turkiye. The AntakyaCivilizations Choir continues to sing – not just of loss, but of rebuilding, of remembering, and of moving forward, united in their diversity and stronger than ever before. 

Learn more about our support to Antakya Civilizations Choir and other grants made from TPF’s Earthquake Fund in our 1st Year Earthquake Fund Impact Report.

Thank you for your continued support of the resilient hearts of Antakya.

What is Trauma-Free World for Children Project?

The Trauma-Free World for Children Project provides a healing and protective center for children who have suffered from psychological trauma due to natural disasters, migration, the pandemic, family loss, and bullying.

Maya Vakfı (Foundation) established the Child and Youth Center in the Balat district of İstanbul to help vulnerable children with traumatized experiences. The project aims to support children in coping with traumatic stress and to heal through creative art therapy methods. This healing center also serves as a child protection center for at-risk children and their caregivers to help them access basic services and learn their rights. The main goal of the project is to improve the psychosocial wellbeing and resilience of children by focusing on groups under protection threats and to create a “Trauma-Free World for Children”

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Maya Vakfı as an NGO is a pioneer in the mental health field in Turkey with its unique approach to MHPSS. Maya Vakfı is the first in the world to combine the Skills for Psychological Recovery (SPR) model, a trauma-sensitive approach, for vulnerable children in combination with innovative art therapy methodologies, including the use of photography, drawing, music, and dance as therapeutic mediums.

HEALING

Sadly, children witness and experience traumatized events including violence, abuse, war, multiple displacements, migration, loss of family, inadequate parenting, extreme poverty, social discrimination, and last but not least the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The most prevalent childhood mental health conditions are depression, prolonged grief disorder, post-traumatic stress, and anxiety disorders. No child should feel this way. To remedy this, we want to improve the psychosocial wellbeing and resilience of children through arts-based MHPSS (Mental Health and Psychosocial Support) interventions.

With the project, we provide access to quality art-based mental health care during individual and group sessions. The content of each session is adapted to the needs of the group following a clinical assessment. As children’s wellbeing is closely linked with their caretakers, we also offer positive parenting sessions for caregivers, with individual counseling available to help them offer better parenting to their own children. In addition to art therapy, we also use ecotherapy in our work at the center. Nature has been proven to heal and a large urban center like Istanbul has little green public space. Giving the children access to the garden at the center is often the only natural environment they have. The use of nature and the environment as a therapeutic intervention medium promotes the mental and physical wellbeing of children through outdoor activities in a green environment.

PROTECTION

Children also face a myriad of other protection issues such as obstacles to accessing basic services i.e., education, food security, and healthcare primarily caused by not having proper status registration documents, or more serious protection threats such as being forced into labor and early marriage. This project offers protection services to vulnerable children and their caregivers to help them access basic services and rights.

Project implementation:

1. We reach children and their families in and around the region where the center is located.
2. After the children are registered at the Centre, we include them in art therapy-based group sessions. During the pandemic, we conduct sessions both at the center and remotely.
3. If our psychologists identify children with special needs, we conduct one-on-one sessions
with them.
4. The number of sessions can be determined according to the needs of the children. Children who complete the sessions can continue to come to the center and spend time there, doing homework and playing games.
5. We refer the applications received through our Remote Psychological Counseling Service to the center. If the beneficiary is not able to come to the center, we start the remote counseling process.
6. Through our ongoing protocol with the Ministry of National Education (MoNE), we also work within the public schools and we refer children who are in need of psychosocial support to Balat Child and Youth Center.

*Due to the pandemic, Maya Vakfı utilizes online platforms and provides remote counseling and online sessions.

Impact of Trauma-Free World for Children Project

All children and youth have the right to happy and healthy lives and deserve access to effective care to prevent or treat any mental health problems that they may develop.

Mental health — an essential part of children’s overall health — has a complex interactive relationship with their physical health and their ability to succeed in school, their communities, and in society. Both physical and mental health affects how we think, feel and act on the inside and outside.

Developing social-emotional skills such as flexibility in thinking, social problem-solving skills, solidarity, and dedication, and self-control brings an advantage to the children for possible challenging life events. Even if the level of anxiety increases, it remains at a more controllable level and makes it easier to cope with challenges and find innovative solutions.

At Balat Child and Youth Center, we help children to develop the social and emotional skills that will enable them to cope with similar challenges in the future at the individual, school, and community levels. Through the sessions we carry out at the center, children learn to cope with negative emotions and difficulties, develop positive attitudes and behaviors, produce effective solutions to the problems they face in everyday life, self-expression, and build healthy relationships.

Main impacts:
1. Reducing symptoms associated with mental and psychosocial distress in children
2. Increasing children’s skills for psychological recovery
3. Increasing the knowledge of families about psychological trauma and enabling them to gain positive parenting skills
4. Ensuring children’s access to basic rights such as education and health

From a child’s perspective:

“Before I came to the center in Balat, I was having nightmares. Because I saw monster faces, I used to be afraid of the dark. I’m not afraid of monsters and have beautiful dreams since I hung my shield and dreamcatcher, which I made in the workshops here, on my wall. I believe they are protecting me.”

Ayşe, 8 years old.

Bring the center to life! Create a Trauma-Free World for Children!

By the end of 2022, we are aiming to reach out to 55 children.

$360 covers one child’s support.

Donations for each child will be used for:

– Implementation: 86%

– Human Resources 8%

– Administrative Costs 6%

SUPPORT MAYA'S TRAUMA-FREE WORLD FOR CHILDREN PROJECT

Twice a month we will have an artist perform for a 1:1 music performance to bring awareness and drive funding for necessary areas in our community. This month we continue to highlight our TPF Gender Equality Fund. Throughout the last few weeks, #ChallengeAccepted has shed light on several gender-based violence throughout Turkey. We hope to work together to spread awareness on these matters as well as striving for change. Join us in our efforts for #GenderEquality and in support of Turkish female artists!

We hope by bringing music and awareness into your homes, we can have a stronger community bond. Many members of our community are spread all over the world, but social media has provided many ways for us to feel together even when we are apart. We hope that this will bring us closer and make us stronger.

Thank you for your continued support!

Team TPF

Donate to the TPF Gender Equality Fund

The Sena Eken Schieber Award provides Turkish women who have completed their undergraduate education in Turkey, the financial opportunity to pursue graduate studies in economics in the United States. Find all grant details here.

Sena believed that finances should not stand between a talented woman and her education. She had a long and distinguished career as an economist at the International Monetary Fund and served as an Advisor to the Governor of the Central Bank of Turkey. She has been described as a role model for others, a pioneer for women, and a credit to her country.

We are looking for strong and motivated women to follow in her footsteps and make a difference. If you think that you, or a friend, qualify for this grant, apply now and forward this email on to a friend!
You are interested in applying and want to learn more? Consider attending our upcoming webinar on Wednesday, November 8th, 9AM EST. Register here.

The fellowship honors the memory of journalist, filmmaker and news executive Robert L. Long. Over many years, Long worked with journalists covering international news and was concerned with the issues facing journalism in a rapidly changing world. He committed his life to challenging and inspiring his colleagues to expand their intellectual curiosity and maintain the high standards and integrity of their profession.

Joan Rebecca Siregar-Long, Long’s widow, established the program to support Turkish Nieman Fellows. “Robert was passionate about many things in life, and two of his greatest passions were his love for Turkey and his dedication to truth in journalism,” she said. “I wanted to honor his legacy by supporting journalists from a country he dearly loved.”

Long’s son, Philip Long, recalls, “My father was a mentor to many. He labored tirelessly to preserve the virtues of thoughtful, principled journalism. It is fitting that his work continues through the Nieman Fellowship.”

The Robert L. Long Nieman Fellowship is open to journalists who are Turkish citizens. The fellowship is fully funded and supports fellows in two semesters of study at Harvard University. Fellows participate in the activities of the Nieman Foundation and engage with Nieman classmates and faculty at the university. They audit courses and take part in master classes and journalism workshops designed to strengthen their professional and leadership skills.

The international application deadline for the 2018-2019 academic year is Dec. 1, 2017. The fellowship will be offered for the next three years. Interested candidates should apply online to Harvard University’s Nieman Fellowship program. Information about eligibility and the application process is available on the Nieman website.

G. Lincoln McCurdy, president of the Turkish Coalition of America and a friend of Long’s, said “I was fortunate to witness Robert’s passion for Turkey as the two of us traveled extensively in the country. In the United States, Robert was always supporting Turkish-American causes. As a journalist and media executive, he was also concerned with the integrity and the development of journalism in Turkey.  He engaged on the grassroots level by giving moral support to Turkish reporters and highlighting the importance of maintaining high journalistic standards in their profession.”

Bill Press, host of “The Bill Press Show” and former host of CNN’s “Crossfire,” worked under Long when he served as news director at KCOP. Press remembers Long’s “contagious joie de vivre” and his exemplary leadership skills: “In over 40 years of television broadcasting, I’ve worked with a lot of news executives. Bob Long was by far the smartest, sharpest and most successful of them all. He knew how to inspire and bring out the best in everybody on his team. He had a keen sense for news. He was fearless.”

About Robert L. Long
A journalist, filmmaker and broadcast executive, Robert L. Long had a wide-ranging career including work developing motion picture scripts and serving in newsrooms on both the East and West coasts. Some of his early assignments included writing for WWDC Radio and The Associated Press and serving as a combat correspondent in the Marine Corps. During the late 1970s, he produced a number of independent documentaries for network outlets in Los Angeles.

Long served as KNBC’s vice president and news director from 2003 to 2009, at which point he retired and explored film projects and taught journalism at Bahçeşehir University in Istanbul, Turkey. He had previously served as vice president for news and operations at WRC-TV, the NBC-owned station in Washington, D.C. His prior television news experience included news gathering, production and management jobs at the CBS-owned KNXT (now KCBS), UPN Television’s KCOP and Disney Television, all in Los Angeles.

Before his death in August 2016, Long served as an executive producer for the Voice of America’s Mandarin service and as a program analyst for the International Broadcasting Bureau’s Office of Performance Review. He received many awards for his work throughout his career, including a number of Emmys, Edward R. Murrow Awards and a Peabody Award in 2005 for investigative journalism. He also received the Presidential Award from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

Turkish Philanthropy Funds
Turkish Philanthropy Funds (TPF) is a community foundation with a particular focus on Turkey and the Turkish community abroad. As a convener of givers, TPF introduces innovative philanthropic solutions to overcome crucial social challenges through its more than 60 partner NGOs on the ground. It serves the needs of donors so their generosity can make the greatest difference now, and long into the future. Built by donors for donors in 2007, TPF has turned into the leading U.S. community foundation for high-impact social investments in Turkey and in the Turkish-American community.

The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard
The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard educates leaders in journalism and elevates the standards of the profession through special programs that convene scholars and experts in all fields. More than 1,500 accomplished and promising journalists from 96 countries have been awarded Nieman Fellowships since 1938. The foundation’s other initiatives include Nieman Reports, a quarterly print and online magazine that covers thought leadership in journalism; Nieman Lab, a website that reports on the future of news, innovation and best practices in the digital media age; and Nieman Storyboard, a website that showcases exceptional narrative journalism and explores the future of nonfiction storytelling.

For more information contact:

Nicole Arias
Nieman Foundation, Nieman Fellowship Program Administrator
(617) 495-2238; nicole_arias@harvard.edu

Goncagul Ay
Turkish Philanthropy Funds, Communications Lead
(646) 630-8988; goncagul@tpfund.org

Just like any other young men, Jwan thinks about the future and has dreams. But unlike his peers, his dreams don’t include any career goals. All he wants in life is peace. He dreams of going back home where he had a simple yet a happy life surrounded by his loved ones. He wants to be able to do ordinary things he never appreciated before like going to school, discussing sports with his friends, dining with his family. And, he believes that “the Eye of Syria” will help him achieve that. He wants to make a film with his recordings to show what this war had cost them and hopes to restore peace in Syria.

We haven’t met Jwan in person but discovered his “big” dream through a short documentary, which features his life: The Boy with Camera by Ibrahim Yesilbas. It was through the New Film Fund that Jwan gained a voice and his story reached out to a broader audience. Co-founded by one of our partners, Anadolu Kultur, an Istanbul based NGOand !F (Istanbul Independent Film Festival), the New Film Fund supports the development, production and post-production of documentary film making in Turkey with a mission to encourage diversity and the free expression of diversity of voices. As the only independent platform, which provides funds to young documentary filmmakers besides the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Turkey, the New Film Fund awards between $2,000-$10,000 for each selected project. As they support over 30 documentaries each year, they provide young filmmakers an opportunity to address the social and cultural issues that our world faces. 

The Boy with Camera is just one of the many films that the New Film Fund supports. There are many other significant stories that you can discover through them such as a documentary that investigates the results of pink taxi service in Jordan, Iran and Pakistan, which deals with the issue of violence against women (Women Only), a film that recites the story of an unknown universe in which ponies are raised as commodities of racing and gambling (The Result Will be Determined by Photo Finish), a documentary about a transgender man struggling with self-realization and acceptance (Blue ID), a film about the difficult experience of an undocumented black migrant women living in Turkey (How Much?), a documentary that ells the story of a quite unorthodox beauty pageant (A Beauty Pageant)… Take a look at the New Film Funds project under Anadolu Kultur’s page to support them in empowering independent filmmakers to give a voice to those who need one. For more information about New Film Fund and the films they support, visit their website.