January 11, 2010 - Valerian Three Irons, a member of the Mandan nation and a faculty member of South Dakota University (SDSU), spoke on South Dakota Public Broadcasting about his recent trip to Turkey. The full interview can be heard here. The Turkish Coalition of America sponsored the three-week tour in November that visited 12 universities in 4 cities in Turkey and included members of Hopi, Pueblo and Mohawk nations.
In the interview, Three Irons talked about his experiences in Turkey and discussed similarities between Turkish and Native American cultures, the warm welcome the Native American delegation received in Turkey, as well as stereotypes prevalent both in Turkey and the United States. He commended the TCA program as opening new horizons for Native American students. As a result of the TCA Native American Tour to Turkey, Istanbul Technical University (ITU) has announced 20 full scholarships to Native American students to study at ITU. In addition to organizing exchanges between American and Turkish educators, TCA has also set up a scholarship program for Native American, Hispanic American and African American students who choose Turkey as their study abroad destination.
