Clubs Related to Turkish Student Organization

The Turkish Student Organization (TSO) is an integral part of the social interaction in Atlanta. Its activities are mostly related to Turkish people and Turkish-Americans, however, thanks to related clubs such as the folk dance group, its impact far exceeds these people and even the borders of Atlanta.

Some organizations like the Turkish-American Cultural Association of Georgia (TACAGA) and Turkish Arts Council of Atlanta are regular partners of TSO in organizing cultural events and get togethers. They are independent beings in the sense that they have their own members, dues and belongings; but collobaration has always been the key element in any event organized by these 3 different associations. Therefore, from people's point of view, it is usually not possible to distinguish between these respective partners.

Some other related clubs/groups/organizations such as the Reading Club, Young Turks, Folk Dances Group, Turkomania have started as a part of TSO, and later got their own autonomy. This is due to our board members' common vision which tries to maximize the autonomy and self-sustainability of activists. By keeping the links alive we always help these small groups make use of the opportunities presented by TSO (budget, email lists, web site, marketing); on the other hand, by encouraging individual action we save them from being slowed down by the large organizational structure. This approach also lets individual activists to carry only as much responsibility as they like, helping them focus on a specific group only.

Here are brief descriptions for each group:

• Reading Club: This is a distributed library of books owned by members of the club. There is no central place to keep the books, rather we provide a cyber area to keep a list of available books and an automated mechanism to let the owner know that her/his book is requested. It is upto the owner to get in touch with the member making the request and get the book to her/him.
• Folk Dances Group: Established in 2001, the dance group has been performing all around Atlanta, and has been invited to many festivals. The group practices twice a week in fall and spring semesters, taking a little vacation on winter break. In summer, the group meets occasionally, most of the time for beach volley. Folk dances group is well known for its social interaction (parties exclusive to members, field/leasure trips with vans, exclusive passes to many events as performers). Videos and photos from previous performances, as well as annoucements for upcoming ones are available on their web site. The communication is mainly held by a mailinglist, check the web site for subscription and meeting hours/places. The best time to join the group is the beginning of Fall or Spring, since the group is usually taught in larger groups rather than individuals it is better to start with the group and go with the flow. No previous experience is necessary, actually most of the current performers were first time dancers when they joined.
• PerdeCan: Starting on Summer 2002, PerdeCan has been the beating heart of a group of self-aware people sharing both ups and downs of their path with caring others. Although the community started as a small group located in GaTech, it spread around the world with friendship and magnetic pieces of wisdom. As of Winter 2004, it hosts more than 150 registered users, contains more than 1000 articles and helps share the wisdom by over 2500 comments. Here is the real URL for PerdeCan, just in case the famous istanbul.tc/perde gives up on us...

In addition to these clubs, there are a number of amateur sports teams including soccer, basketbol, voleyball and beach volley. Each team has its own email list and practices (actually it can be better defined as having fun) regularly. Some subteams even compete in intramurals. Check this page for more info.