Eadeh speaks in Istanbul at an event celebrating America’s Independence Day.
Globe-trotter
Julie Eadeh forged her career abroad by building relationships
“People are my passion” says Julie Eadeh (BS99), the U.S. consul general in Istanbul, Turkey.
That’s what informed the career diplomat’s area of specialization when she started with the Foreign Service 20 years ago. “It’s required of [new] diplomats that they choose one of five areas in which to specialize—political, economic, public diplomacy, consular, or management,” she says.
Eadeh selected public diplomacy. That sure sounded like the right fit, and the results have more than validated her decision. Her last job before becoming consul general in Istanbul in November 2022 was U.S. Embassy spokesperson in Ankara. She previously served in Qatar, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Israel in the Middle East, and Shanghai and Hong Kong in China. Her work in those places earned numerous awards and accolades; being part of history could be part of her job description.
Eadeh (center) places flowers at a site in Istanbul commemorating the victims of a terrorist attack that occurred in November 2022.
Witness to history
In 2004, as a political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Eadeh witnessed the first-ever democratic elections in the kingdom. She was responsible for press and media relations at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad during the 2007 Iraq War surge (“a difficult time to be there,” she acknowledges).
When Israel and Hezbollah went to war in 2006, she was the chief of American Citizen Services at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, and helped lead the effort to evacuate 15,000 Americans from that country. “[It was] one of the largest civilian evacuations of Americans overseas since World War II,” she says.
In February 2023, Turkey experienced the deadliest natural disaster in the country’s modern history when a series of devastating earthquakes struck in the southeast. Eadeh and her colleagues throughout Mission Turkey worked with the American Chamber of Commerce in Turkey to coordinate $130 million in relief donations from American companies.
Although she was located far from the disaster, Eadeh knew the importance of emergency planning because “Istanbul sits on a fault line. It was a reminder of the need to be as prepared as one can be for a natural disaster that can strike at any time.
“Having been through many crises, I’ve learned that everybody responds to stress in their own way. But the fundamental leadership and management philosophies I’ve long adopted as a diplomat are very much reinforced in those situations. Communication, calm leadership and reassurance are vitally important.”
“I’m so happy I landed at Eastern. It was a transformative experience, one that was fundamental in helping to shape me and broaden my horizons.”
Julie Eadeh
First steps toward foreign service
If being a people person provided the “why” for Eadeh’s diplomatic path, her roots provided the “where.” She grew up in Livonia, the daughter of parents who emigrated from the West Bank. Eadeh is the first in her family to attend college.
“I’m so happy I landed at Eastern,” Eadeh says. “It was a transformative experience, one that was fundamental in helping to shape me and broaden my horizons. I give so much credit to where I come from: my parents, my family, my community in Michigan, and my community at Eastern.”
Janice Terry, EMU professor of Middle Eastern Studies, was a crucial figure in that community. “She was my mentor,” Eadeh says. One day, a State Department recruiter, a Diplomat in Residence, gave a presentation in a class she took with Terry. It was her first glimpse of what would become her future.
Moreover, it was Terry who encouraged her to pursue graduate work at Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies. “And it was there that I caught the diplomacy bug,” Eadeh says.
In the first year of the two-year program, the 9/11 terror attacks occurred.
“9/11 had changed the world,” Eadeh says. “To someone with my academic background, it seemed appropriate that I would serve in those countries.”
Global citizens
Eadeh has a striking passion for her present posting. “Istanbul is one of the most magical cities in the world,” she says. “It’s been the capital of three empires and cradles two continents. It’s a gateway between east and west, and a platform for our education, cultural, and trade relationships with Turkey. I swam across the Bosporus Strait from Asia to Europe in August as part of a trans-continental swim. People of differing faiths and religions have lived together here for millennia. It's an amazing, consequential city.”
Foreign Service officers are practically nomads, however. The typical assignment lasts three years, sometimes less for particularly challenging roles and locations, with a fourth sometimes added if the language is unusually hard to learn, so Eadeh and her family will soon be heading elsewhere.
Wherever she goes, she’ll bring her distinct diplomatic approach along.
In addition to attending diplomatic events as U.S. general counsel, Eadeh also participated in an event honoring Title IX and women’s sports.
“Diplomacy, at its core, is the art of relationships,” Eadeh says. “I’m very much driven by relationships, learning about people and their history and culture; understanding where people have been and where they want to go. My greatest pleasure has been meeting people in every country where I’ve worked who have become friends. It’s deeply gratifying to have as your employment and your specialty … people!”
By Jeff Mortimer
Photos courtesy of Julie Eadeh