About Emek

Emek was born in Tokat and attended a boarding school in Sivas as a child. He studied computer science at Hacettepe University and received his Master’s at Bilkent University, both located in Ankara. He came to Seattle after applying to Microsoft and still works there as a software engineer. He visits his family in Tokat frequently and still connects with his friends in Turkey. He has found Seattle a great place to raise his daughter and tries to teach her some Turkish. He doesn’t celebrate Turkish bayrams but was a director of Turkish film festivals for six or seven years and worked to provide more exposure to Turkish films. He speaks English more commonly but enjoys chances to speak Turkish around his Turkish American friends. He misses Turkey but has kept an open mind to new experiences the U.S. has offered.