Building upon her education and professional career in international relations, Suheyla Tayla serves as WACA’s Executive Operations and Relations Manager. Previously, she was Senior Vice President in Mercury Public Affairs’ Washington, D.C. office in charge of think tank and NGO outreach. Before Mercury, she had served the U.S. State Department over 30 years as Senior Political Specialist at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkiye. Through the course of her time in the Embassy she served as advisor to 10 U.S. Ambassadors covering a broad time span including the Gulf War, Operation Provide Comfort and Provide Comfort II, Afghanistan crisis, Arab Spring, Iraq and Syrian civil wars. She received several awards from the State Department, Department of Defense and U.S. European Command (EUCOM) for her distinguished services.
She was diplomatic correspondent at Anatolia News Agency from 1981-1989, reporting on foreign policy events and developments in and around Turkiye. She is a graduate of the Political Science Faculty’s International Relations Department of Ankara University. Had post-graduate studies in the same Faculty on International Law of the Seas. She is married with two sons.
