1. Early life

2. Diplomatic career
     Early Years - Ankara, Sofia (1979 - 1990)    Houston (1992 - 1996)    Paris (1998 - 2002)    Washington D.C (2004 -2008)    New York City (2010 - 2011)    Taipei (2011 - 2017)    E-visa Program    Direct Flight Launch    Memorandum of Agreement    Agreement between machine tools    Agricultural Cooperation  

3. Enthusiasm to art

4. References

Ismet Erikan (10 February 1960) is a Turkish diplomat, art enthusiast, serving the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1979. Ideologically a defender of soft power diplomacy through culture, and arts. Erikan debuted his career at the Ministry of foreign affairs of the republic of Turkey as an administrative officer in Ankara. Erikan was appointed in numerous foreign missions in Bulgaria, United States, France and Taiwan. In 2011, Erikan was posted to Taipei at the helms of the Turkish Trade Office as the Representative of Turkey. As a senior diplomat, utilizing vast international experience and professional contacts Erikan facilitated and increased trade and investment partnerships across Turkey and Taiwan. Currently Erikan is chief secretary to the deputy undersecretary to the directorate of eastern Asia affairs at the Ministry of Foreign affairs in Ankara - Turkey.

Erikan was born and raised in Edirne - Turkey, and attended Gazi University. He met Rezzan Gulluoglu in Ankara and married her in 1981.

Early life

Ismet Erikan was born in the early months of 1960 at Başağıl - Uzunköprü in Edirne - Turkey. Son of Fikri, a health personnel and Hatice, housewife, he has 4 siblings with one elder brother, two younger sisters and a younger brother. His family was Turkish speaking, middle-class and his elders are known to have origins ultimately descending from the Ottoman Empire. Erikan attended primary school at Edirne Ataturk School in Uzunkopru and attended middle school in Edirne II. Murat School. As an active student leader, avid reader, Erikan attended high school in Edirne Uzunkopru in 1977 which also marked his first trip to the United States of America as part of the AFS Intercultural Program being the first student in the region to participate in this program. Throughout his year of exchange student Erikan experienced and lived the American culture in Pennsylvania.

Upon graduating from high school, Erikan joined the Turkish Ministry of foreign affairs in February 1979 where after a year joined Gazi Universitesi in Ankara - Turkey. Ismet married Rezzan in October 1982 in Ankara, and their first child Irem was in 1983. In 1984, Erikan received his bachelor's degree in the faculty of English Language Education. He is fluent in English, Bulgarian and pro-efficient in French.

Diplomatic career

Early Years - Ankara, Sofia (1979 - 1990)

Erikan debuted his career at the Ministry of foreign affairs of the republic of Turkey in 1979 as an administrative officer in the archives department in which six months later was transferred to the general directorate of protocol affairs. In August 1979 Erikan was no longer a candidate but a confirmed administrative officer followed with a role of examiner until 1984. In July 1984, Erikan joined the mandatory military service headquartered in Ankara for one year mainly responsible for paperwork related affairs. Back to the ministry in 1985, Erikan was appointed to his first posting abroad to the Turkish Embassy in Sofia- Bulgaria as an administrative attaché. Erikan's five-year posting in Bulgaria was notably marked by Zhivkov's regime with the campaign of forcible assimilation of Bulgaria's Turkish minority. By 1989, resistance to this policy led to riots, which resulted in multiple deaths. In May 1989, Zhivkov ordered an expulsion of Turks (and Muslims) to Turkey across the then Iron Curtain boundary between these two countries. This led to the largest ethnic cleansing in Europe during the Cold War, in which over 360,000 Turks (and Muslims) were targeted within three months. With Mesut Yilmaz in office as the minister of foreign affairs, Erikan acted as the official translator in diplomatic talks between Turkish and Bulgarian.

In August 1990, Erikan returned home to Turkey where Ismet and Rezzan's second child Can was born. Erikan was then appointed to the Office of the minister for the following two years in Ankara.

Houston (1992 - 1996)

Two years later Erikan was appointed to the General Consulate of Turkey in Houston - United States of America in 1992. In this role Erikan pursued his role of administrative attaché for four years until 1996.

Paris (1998 - 2002)

Arriving to France in 1998, Erikan was appointed to the permanent delegation of Turkey to the OECD. With the aim of promoting policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world, Erikan's role was to support the delegation as an expert. In 2002, Erikan returned home to Ankara and was appointed to the residence of the minister of foreign affairs as the residence director. Throughout his tenure at the residence, Erikan served under minister Ismail Cem, minister Sukru Sina Gurel and former President of Turkey Abdullah Gul.

Washington D.C (2004 -2008)

2004 marked Erikan's return to the United States in Washington DC. Erikan was appointed to the Embassy of Turkey as vice consul for the following four years until 2008. Coming back to Turkey in October 2008, Erikan took over the role of expert in the head of protocol affairs department. During his tenure, Erikan was part of the former president of Turkey Abdullah Gül's and current President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan's foreign official visits.

New York City (2010 - 2011)

In 2010, Erikan returned to the United States of America for his third official posting. As Consul of the Turkish General Consulate in New York City, Erikan's role was to assist Turkish and foreign nationals with the full range of consular services, including issuing of passports and entry visas, legalizations and other notarial functions, paralegal advice, and assistance when required in residency, citizenship, marital, investment and other cases. During his tenure in New York City, Erikan played a major role in the promotion of Turkish painter such as Eren Eyüboğlu, Hikmet Çetinkaya, İsmail Ateş, [https://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Adnan-Turani/A19690F7C7A94EBF Adnan Turani], Ahmet Yeşil, Canan Tolon and ceramic artist Mustafa Tunçalp

Taipei (2011 - 2017)

In 2011, Erikan was posted to Taipei at the helms of the Turkish Trade Office^[1] as the Representative of Turkey. As a senior diplomat, utilizing vast international experience and professional contacts Erikan facilitated and increased trade and investment partnerships across Turkey and Taiwan. Assisting Taiwanese and Turkish companies to develop new markets and gain foothold in the region, Erikan has marked the bilateral tourism and trade by establishing the e-visa program in 2013 and launch of direct flights between Turkey and Taiwan in 2015.^[2] With the belief of establishing soft diplomacy through arts Erikan continued promoting Turkish culture in Taipei together with [https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/25325/lot/1/ Devrim Erbil's] exhibition at the National Museum of History and Art Center of Kuo Mu Sheng Foundation, Ahmet Yesil's Exhibition to promote friendship^[3] at Taipei 101 building, as well as a photography exhibition called "Picture of the World" from Burhan Dogancay ^[4]

E-visa Program

Erikan's first accomplishment in Taipei was in 2013 when the e-visa program was established between the two countries. This allowed tourists to travel faster, cheaper and more frequently increasing the number from 40,000 to 100,000 in one year only.^[5] At the time of the launch of the e-visa program, Turkey became one of the only two countries in the world allowing tourists from Taiwan with the possibility of obtaining an electronic visa. In 2016, Turkey - Taiwan launched the bilateral free e-visa program.

Direct Flight Launch

The launch of direct flights between Turkey and Taiwan has been accomplished with the aim of impacting the boost of bilateral tourism and trade reaching a higher potential. Erikan believed this will open new doors in both ways by not only increasing tourism trades but also academic cooperation in every field.  In March 31, 2015, Turkey's national flag carrier was set to offer daily flights making it easier to reach another 50 countries. A year later in 2016, EVA Air, Taiwan's national airline follows Turkey's national flag carrier by launching non-stop flights from Taipei to Istanbul.^[6]

Memorandum of Agreement

Agreement between machine tools

30 March 2015 marked the agreement between Machine Tools Industrialists and the Businessmen Association (TiAD) of Turkey and Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA).^[7] The agreement enhanced the bilateral cooperation and creates an even closer ties between those in the exhibition industry and machine tools industry to foster business alliances. The MoU encouraged both bodies to foster business relationships among member companies and developed a mutually beneficial framework for exchange of industry reports, delegations, and business visits.

Agricultural Cooperation

In February 2017, Taiwan's representative Tai-hsiang Cheng and Erikan the "Agricultural Cooperation Memorandum" with the aim of improving agricultural economic fundamental relations between the two countries by eliminating the barriers to trade in agricultural products.[https://www.roc-taiwan.org/tr_tr/post/423.html]

Returning to Ankara in 2017, Erikan took over the Eastern Asia office at the ministry of foreign affairs as head of branch.

Enthusiasm to art

" Art is like a disease living in your veins that you never want to be cured of", "Art has penetrated every aspect of our lives in many ways. We have unknowingly become immersed in it" "To me, an art exhibition, a concert, or a single painting can become a bridge between cultures that surpasses language" by Ismet Erikan.

Erikan's passion for art enlightened itself in the mid 80's throughout his tenure in Sofia, Bulgaria. With regular visit to the Center of Bulgarian artists, Erikan visited galleries and have personally met various emerging Bulgarian artists notably Vezhdi Rashidov a prominent Bulgarian sculptor and [https://sofia-art-galleries.com/en/event/hristo-yotov-painting-exhibition-in-forum-gallery/ Hristo Yotov]. In 1989 the Communist Party was forced to give up its political monopoly on 10 November 1989 under the influence of the Revolutions of 1989 which helped the art scene grow and come to light. Taking this into advantage through personal friendships, Erikan brought closer ties between Bulgarian and Turkish culture with co-exhibitions for the first time ever.

An important encounter and two decades long friendship was marked in the early 90's in Houston, USA when Erikan met Burhan Doğançay. Dogancay being a former Turkish diplomat in the early 1960s, Erikan and Dogancay naturally had common grounds and developed a family friendship. Throughout Erikan's passion for art, Dogancay remained to be his favorite artist devoting himself to promoting Turkish culture through the eyes. In 2016 in the honor of Dogancay, Erikan put all efforts to organize in Taiwan National History Museum. a Picture the World: Burhan Dogançay as Photographer exhibition.

In January 18, 2003, a photography exhibition named "Sebah, Joalier and Lekegian Photographs" was opened at AFSAD studios, consisting of 60 photographs of Pascal Sebah, Polycarpe Joalier and Lekegian. The newest of these photographs is 110 years old, carrying a document of history, in which Erikan was interviewed on the topic of "Collections, Photography, Photography Collecting in Turkey".^[8] The "Foto Sabah" studio in Pera, Constantinople was the most prestigious photography studio in the city for many decades during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Throughout his postings abroad Erikan has not only devoted himself to his duty as a diplomat but also ensured a soft power was formed through the exchange of culture. In 2011, in New York City, USA Erikan played a major role in the promotion of Turkish painter such as Eren Eyüboğlu, Hikmet Çetinkaya, İsmail Ateş, Adnan Turani, Ahmet Yeşil, Canan Tolon and ceramic artist Mustafa Tunçalp. In Taipei, Erikan remained active in curating cultural exchanges with Devrim Erbil's exhibition at the National Museum of History, Isil Ozisik and Devrim Erbil at the National Museum of History and Art Center of Kuo Mu Sheng Foundation for an exhibit named "The City of Sultans: Istanbul, Two Painters, One City",^[9] "Scenes from Turkey" watercolor solo exhibit of Isil Ozisik at National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Ahmet Yesil's Exhibition to promote friendship at Taipei 101 building, Yalcin Gokcebag at Carrie Chang Fine Arts Center of Tamkang University ^{[8] ,} ,Tanini Trio & Yildiz Ibrahimova's concert at Taipei Zhongshan Hall.

References

• Kaunas Town Hall
• Kaunas University Hospital
• Kaunas University of Technology Gymnasium
• Kaunas Zoo
• Kaunata Parish
• Kaunaumeek
• Kauna Vagi
• Kaundamani
• Kaundampalayam
• Kaun (disambiguation)
• Kaunghein
• Kaunglanphu Dam
• Kaungsin
• Kaungton
• Kaunia-Dharlla State Railway
• Kauniaisten Jaahalli
• Kauniaisten Jaeaehalli
• Kauniaisten Keskuskentta
• Kauniaisten Keskuskenttae
• Kaunia–Dharlla State Railway
• Kaunik Acharya
• Kaunispe
• Kauno
• Kauno arena
• Kauno Arena