Turkish & Ottoman Studies Program | Near Eastern Languages & Civilization | University of Washington
Turkey in Seattle : an Oral History Project
Dogan was born in Çanakkale in 1934 but grew up in multiple cities across Turkey including Gaziantep, Istanbul, Ankara and many more. He joined the Turkish army in 1956 and was working for the government for years. Afterwards, he came to the United States in 1965 to complete his B.S. and M.S. in mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois. While in Chicago, he and his wife were active members of TACA Chicago and actually brought Ataturk’s bust to Chicago Turkevi all the way from Turkey. After Illinois, Dogan got a job offer in Lockheed, Texas as a F-16 Material Review Board Engineer and the Ulkekul’s stayed in Texas until 1997 to start a family. Then, they moved to the Seattle area after Dogan received a job offer from Boeing and have been in the PNW region ever since. Still being devoted members of the TACA, Dogan and his wife brought another Ataturk bust to Seattle as a contribution to the TACAWA community.