Our founder, Düden Freeman is an award-winning former U.S. Diplomat who served with the Department of State for almost a decade in U.S. embassies across Africa, Asia and Europe and at the Atlanta Passport Agency. At idelirë, she works with a network of consultants, including retired Senior Foreign Service Officers, to provide specialized consulting and real insights into issues our clients may be having. 

​

Düden has been on both sides of the Consular window and understands the weight of every consular decision from both the applicant's and the Consular Officer's perspectives. She has personally interviewed and adjudicated more than 17,000 non-immigrant and immigrant visas. She led the complete redesigning of the E-visa process at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid and trained adjudicators on all E-visas and employment-based immigrant & non-immigrant visas. She has adjudicated, supervised and audited complex U.S. passport applications in Madrid and as a Supervisor at the Atlanta Passport Agency and processed one of the highest numbers of U.S. citizenship renunciations abroad. She is the recipient of two Cable of the Month Awards and Meritorious and Superior Honor Awards at the Department of State. 

Prior to serving as a U.S. Diplomat, Düden taught international business at Georgia State University, represented Turkey’s largest business organization in Washington, and worked at a number of think tanks as a researcher. She has a Bachelor’s from Cornell University, an MPA from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, and an International Diploma from Sciences-Po Paris. She is fluent in French and Turkish and proficient in Spanish.