Ankara Library

F. Özen Vekiloğlu

President

Özen Vekiloğlu completed her university education in the field of economics. After working in the private sector for 6 years, she started her teaching career by completing a master’s in Turkish language and literature. Prior to Canada, she taught Turkish at various institutions in Poland and Egypt. She also started literacy projects and worked voluntarily for many years in Istanbul and the Eastern Anatolia region.

She is a founding member of Winpeace (Turkish – Greek Women’s Initiative for Peace). She took part in mutual peace education programs given to Turkish and Greek high school and university students. She immigrated to Toronto with her husband and two daughters in 2002. She has been teaching Turkish at the University of Toronto since 2008.

She has been a volunteer of the Ankara Library family for 20 years and a board member for the last 18 years. Particularly, she takes part in the invitation and organization of writers, artists and journalists coming to Toronto from Türkiye.

I. Bingül Ataman

Secretary

Bingül Ataman was born in Istanbul and spent her years of education in Ankara which played a major role in shaping her character. After studying at Ayşeabla Primary School, TED Ankara College and then Industrial Engineering at METU, she joined IBM Türk Limited Company and retired early after working for 20 years. She moved to Canada with her family in 2010. She served as a school crossing guard in her community and continued to volunteer in various non-governmental organizations.

Believing that we can be a solid and respected society to the extent of our lived and shared values, she joined the board of directors of Ankara Library in April 2018. She sees the Library as a great value for the Turkish society and friends of Türkiye in Toronto.

Birol Uzunmehmetoğlu

Director – Historical Studies

Birol Uzunmehmetoğlu was born and grew up in Küre, a small mining town where people, especially men, do not see much daylight due to long working hours and only live up to the age of fifty.

Birol graduated from Istanbul Boğaziçi University, majoring in Computer Science in 1990 and continued to serve as a teaching assistant there. He worked in the computer industry for many years under Logo Yazilim in Türkiye.

Birol immigrated to Canada with his wife and daughter in 2000, and worked in various institutions using his IT skills. Currently, he is working as a project manager for the Government of Ontario.

Birol has been a volunteer for the Ankara Library since the year it was founded. He served as President/Chairman of the Library between 2014 and 2018. He loves history and has been researching the connections between Turkish and Canadian history.

Figen Ozsan

Director

Figen Ozsan was born in Giresun. After graduating from Bogazici University Business Administration, she lived and worked in Istanbul. Her work was mainly in financial markets. She managed two EU funded projects for BUMED on entrepreneurship. In 2008, she moved to Toronto with her family.

Since 2009 she has been working for A&BB Rice Inc. Her current position is CFO.

She joined Ankara Library in 2021 and hopes to contribute to the future plans of the library.

Işıl Mumcu

Director

With many years of experience in marketing and reputation management across various global companies, Işıl Mumcu currently continues her career as the Marketing and Office Manager at a dental clinic in Toronto. She is also a children’s book author; her first book, The Nail That Caught the Sun, published in 2019, is a story that encourages children’s curiosity and creativity. Her second book, The Bird Who Lost Its Memory, published in 2020, explores themes of belonging and friendship through a simple yet meaningful narrative. Through The Purple Shawl, a children’s play for which she wrote the script and served as artistic director, she continues to create in the field of performing arts as well.

Meral Altinbilek

Meral Altinbilek was born in Ankara, Turkey, and completed her B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering at the Middle East Technical University.  She emigrated to Canada with her husband and two sons in 1980.

Meral worked full-time as a consultant and project manager until retirement in 2020.  Art has always been a significant part of her life.

She completed watercolour courses at the New York Arts Academy, attended many workshops with distinguished artists, and participated in art exhibitions.

Meral’s love for books led her to become one of the earliest members of the Ankara Library.  Over the years, she actively participated in numerous volunteer activities, including organizing an Art show and Turkish Bazaar event in 2023 with several Artists and Artisans on behalf of the Ankara Library.

Nergis Kırcalıoğlu

Director – Event Organization

Nergis Kircalioğlu is a graduate of Hacettepe University, majoring in Linguistics. She has worked as an English instructor in academic institutions and universities in Türkiye for many years. She settled in Toronto in 1999 and taught Turkish at the University of Toronto for 5 years.

She has been a volunteer of Ankara Library since its establishment and has been a member of the board of directors since 2016. She has been a key person in the library’s writing competitions and has published books.

Selime Dogruyol

Director

Selime Dogruyol is a graduate of Anadolu University, Faculty of Economics. She worked for 22 years in finance management roles at institutions such as Yapı Kredi Bank and Vodafone Telecommunication Inc. in Türkiye. In 2017, she moved to Canada with her family.

Since 2022, she has been volunteering at the Ankara Library of Toronto.

Uluç Özgüven

Born and raised in Istanbul, Uluç graduated from Istanbul Boğaziçi University and from Elmira College, NY majoring in Computer Science. Uluc immigrated to Canada with his wife and son in 1997 and worked in major Canadian and US financial institutions.

Uluc has always been interested in arts and culture, especially visual arts, photography, architecture and art history. He participated in various exhibitions, performed shows, and received awards. He travelled and photographed almost all of Turkey and major cities in Europe and the USA. His photographs were published in Turkish Ministry of Tourism publications and Turkish Airlines Skylife magazine. His interviews were published in Canada’s local newspapers, and on local TV channels. He volunteered in media organizations such as Rogers TV Toronto and Turkish Media Publications also known as Turkuaz TV. Currently, he is working as a cybersecurity consultant.

Zuhal Özkaya

Director

Zuhal Özkaya was born in Istanbul. She graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture at Ankara University. After a 15-year career in the food industry, starting as a marketing assistant and advancing to local retail manager and key account manager and commercial marketing manager at Turkey’s well-known, leading companies, she began working actively in the family business with her husband.

In January 2019, she moved to Canada with her husband and two children. In 2023, she completed her education in logistics and supply chain management in Toronto. Since 2019, she has volunteered at several Turkish associations and her children’s schools. Her love of books led her to connect with the Ankara Library, where she has been actively volunteering and participating in the library’s events since 2023.