The List

[Joseph]

CQ TODAY

Oct. 5, 2007 - 7:55 p.m.

Turkey Hires Familiar Faces for Genocide Debate

By Alan K. Ota, CQ Staff

In 2003, Richard A. Gephardt cosponsored a resolution that put the
"Armenian genocide" in company with the Holocaust and mass deaths in
Cambodia and Rwanda.

In 2000, the Missouri lawmaker backed a similar measure, and in a
letter to then-Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., Gephardt said he was
"committed to obtaining official U.S. government recognition of the
Armenian genocide."

Now Gephardt is a foreign agent lobbying on behalf of Turkey, and he's
got a different view of the world. He's working to stymie the latest
version of an Armenian genocide resolution.

If the resolution (H Res 106) gets through committee this week, it
will bring a billing bonanza for lobbyists working against it -
including Gephardt, who represents one of the newest additions to a
small group of former lawmakers who serve as the American face of
foreign countries on Capitol Hill.

The Armenian resolution is popular - with 226 co-sponsors - but
problematic, given that Turkey is an important Muslim ally in a
strategically vital part of the world.

The events at issue occurred nearly a century ago in what was then the
Ottoman Empire, but Turkey is still sensitive to characterizations of
the killings.

Gephardt, responding via e-mail to written questions, confirmed that
he had escorted Turkish Ambassador Nabi Sensoy to meetings with
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders.

Gephardt (1977-2005) acknowledged that he had in the past actively
supported efforts to label activities of the Ottoman Empire as
genocide. But "alienating Turkey through the passage of the resolution
could undermine our efforts to promote stability in the theater of
operations, if not exacerbate the situation further," he said.

Pelosi, D-Calif., declined to comment on any private talks about
Turkey, saying only that she would welcome talks on the measure and
other issues with Gephardt, who preceded her as House Democratic
leader. "I have the highest regard for xxxx Gephardt. Any advice he
has on any subject is indeed welcome by me," she said.

Pelosi's open door for Gephardt demonstrates the muscle former
lawmakers can provide for clients by snagging meetings and
conversations with the most powerful members of Congress. As with all
other kinds of lobbying, they can't assure success but they can give
client countries access they might not otherwise have to the
legislative branch.

When Republicans controlled Congress, they often blocked measures,
such as the Armenian resolution, that could embarrass allies and the
Bush administration.

In the 110th Congress, foreign countries have had mixed success trying
to slow or water down such measures.

Despite the help of prominent lobbyists, such as former House Minority
Leader Bob Michel, R-Ill. (1957-1995), Japan lost a battle in July
when the House passed a resolution (H Res 121) urging it to apologize
for using sex slaves, or comfort women, in World War II.

Working with lobbyists associated with DLA Piper, the firm where
Gephardt is a senior counsel, Ethiopia got plenty of support from the
White House. But the country failed to delay House action on a plan
(HR 2003) by Donald M. Payne, D-N.J., to limit security assistance
unless it moves to release political prisoners and protect human
rights.

Gephardt said he had met with Ethiopian representatives but elected
not to work for Ethiopia.

However, Gephardt has been active on behalf of Turkey, which has long
insisted that Armenians died not from genocide, but in conflicts tied
to World War I - including an uprising against Turkey's Ottoman
rulers.

Also representing Turkey is former Rep. Robert L. Livingston,
R-La. (1977-1999).

Another former congressman, Stephen J. Solarz, D-N.Y. (1975-1993),
worked for Turkey until August.

The Foreign Affairs Committee plans to take up the Armenian genocide
resolution on Wednesday, and Payne and other members predict it will
have broad bipartisan support on the panel.

Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., said a House vote on the
Armenian genocide resolution has not been scheduled, but he believes
it will happen this year. "It's my expectation we will have a floor
vote before we leave here in November," Hoyer said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., backs a companion measure
(S Res 106), but it has less momentum: just 32 co-sponsors.
Tougher Limits Sought

Critics argue that former lawmakers give foreign countries too much
power inside the Capitol and are calling for tougher restrictions and
revolving-door limits.

For example, Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, has called for a lifetime ban
(HR 168) to prevent lawmakers and senior government officials from
becoming foreign agents.

"Public confidence in government is shaken when they see high-level
officials and lawmakers going to work for foreign countries," she
said.

In response to such critiques, Gephardt and other foreign agents
contend they seek to merely ensure a vigorous debate, not special
favors for foreign countries.

"The better informed members are about all aspects of a particular
issue, the more likely Congress comes to the proper course of action,"
Gephardt said.

He said he serves dual roles in "private conversations with former
colleagues and meetings where I accompany the client."

Livingston describes the role of foreign agents as calming what can be
emotional fights. "It's more intense than lobbying," he said.

Working in tandem with the Bush administration, Gephardt, Livingston
and, for a time, Solarz tapped their personal contacts to try to block
the Armenian genocide resolution.

Last Dec. 19, Solarz sent a letter to Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla.,
inviting him to lead a congressional delegation to Turkey and to visit
Solarz' home on its Mediterranean coast.

"You and other members of the delegation would be more than welcome to
spend the evening and the next day with us," Solarz wrote. "If not,
I'll still love you, but I'll need to find someone else to do it."

Wexler, who never made the trip to visit Solarz in Turkey, is not
expected to support the resolution.

Turkey hired DLA Piper on May 10. Gephardt registered the next day to
represent the country.

The firm has since circulated a package of materials to lawmakers that
lays out Turkey's case for foreign aid and its argument against the
Armenian genocide resolution.

Lawmakers in both parties have long catered to the interests of
Americans of Armenian descent, a small but vocal group. The
Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues has about 120 members, while
the Congressional Turkey Caucus is roughly half as large.

In 2000, Livingston and other advocates for Turkey won a victory when
President Clinton urged Hastert to back away from a planned floor vote
on an Armenian genocide resolution. "It wasn't just Clinton. It was us
working it hard," Livingston said. "The Speaker changed his mind."

Hoping for a similar reversal by Pelosi, Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates have sent
letters laying out the reasons they think the resolution would
"significantly endanger U.S. national security interests."

In the coming week, the lobbying focus will be on the Foreign Affairs
Committee, where 22 of the 50 members are cosponsors, but some may be
amenable to making word changes in the name of U.S-Turkish relations.

After that, the lobbying goes behind the scenes, and it will be up to
Pelosi whether and when to allow a House floor fight.

Source: http://public.cq.com/docs/cqt/news110-000002601120.html

[Joseph]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/17/washington/17lobby.html

By MARILYN W. THOMPSON
Published: October 17, 2007
WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 — Since leaving Capitol Hill in 1999, former Representative Robert L. Livingston has been the main lobbyist for Turkey in blocking Congressional efforts to pass an Armenian genocide resolution.

After succeeding twice before — and collecting more than $12 million in fees for his firm, the Livingston Group — he is pushing once again for his client.

In recent months, Mr. Livingston, a Louisiana Republican who was once speaker-designate of the House, has consulted with Vice President xxxx Cheney and with Karl Rove, when he was still the top White House political strategist. He escorted Turkish dignitaries to Capitol Hill to warn that the resolution threatened to destroy a strong Iraq war alliance.

He made a phone call that helped persuade a Louisiana member to change his position and got other Republicans to remove their names from a growing list of co-sponsors. And he courted a powerful Democrat, Representative John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, who earlier this year asked Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a fellow Democrat, not to bring the measure up for a House vote.

Mr. Livingston has also showered money on House and Senate members, the National Republican Congressional Committee and other political causes. He and his firm gave more than $200,000 in campaign donations in the last election cycle, records show.

Last week, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a nonbinding resolution condemning as genocide the killing of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks beginning in 1915. Ms. Pelosi, a strong supporter, promised Sunday to bring the matter up for a floor vote before Congress recesses in mid-November.

But this week, a surge of defections by members who backed the resolution showed that Mr. Livingston’s high-powered effort was gaining momentum.

As Turkey reacted angrily to the House committee action in the last few days, members began responding to arguments that the resolution posed a national security threat. Those arguments were put forth by the Bush administration, Mr. Livingston and another prominent lobbyist, Richard A. Gephardt, of Missouri, the former House majority leader and a Democrat.

The issue has pitted Turkey’s money and high-placed connections against a persistent and emotional campaign by Armenian-American citizens’ groups.

“The Turks have done everything they possibly could,” said former Representative Stephen J. Solarz, whose firm got $165,000 this summer lobbying for Turkey under an arrangement with Mr. Livingston. Representative Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California, a resolution sponsor, called Turkey’s lobbying “the most intense I’ve ever seen.”

Both Mr. Livingston, who opposed a genocide resolution while in Congress, and Mr. Gephardt declined to discuss their work for Turkey, referring questions to the Turkish Embassy.

But records filed at the Justice Department show Turkish expenditures since August 2006 of about $3.2 million for lobbyists and public relations firms. In Mr. Livingston’s case, the reports offer details of his lobbying efforts.

Mr. Gephardt, a senior counsel at the law firm of DLA Piper who retired from Congress in 2005, began working for Turkey in March under a yearlong contract worth $1.2 million. He has been criticized by Armenian-Americans because he previously supported Armenia and co-sponsored an earlier genocide resolution.

Mr. Gephardt now has concerns related to national security, said Michael Messman, a lobbying colleague of Mr. Gephardt.

Turkey has never mustered the intense grass-roots support in the United States that has been Armenia’s strength, with constituents pressing lawmakers to back the measure. Records show that Armenia has spent far less money on lobbying. Its largest expenditure went to the public relations firm of Burson-Marsteller, which earned about $300,000 from August 2006 to April 2007.

After Mr. Livingston resigned from the House in 1999 amid disclosures about an extramarital affair, Turkey retained the Livingston Group, his new bipartisan firm. It has built a large foreign practice, representing among others the governments of Azerbaijan, the Congo Republic and the Cayman Islands. More than a quarter of the firm’s income, which has totaled more than $71 million, has come from foreign clients, records show.

Mr. Livingston earned Turkey’s gratitude by helping stop two resolutions in 2000 and 2004. When Democrats took control of the House last year, Turkey continued to rely on him as its principal lobbyist, though it eventually brought in Mr. Gephardt’s firm. Reports on Mr. Gephardt’s activities have not been filed.

Mr. Livingston contacted Mr. Rove on Nov. 28, 2006, just after a Livingston Group lobbyist attended a weekend retreat at the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia for key Congressional supporters of Turkey. In January, Mr. Livingston talked with a Cheney aide and prepared for Capitol Hill visits by Ambassador Nabi Sensoy of Turkey and other officials.

Mr. Schiff, the California Democrat, introduced the resolution on Jan. 30, with 160 co-sponsors.

The next day, the records show, Mr. Livingston called Representative Bobby Jindal, Republican of Louisiana, a backer. Mr. Jindal promptly withdrew his name.

In December 2006, Mr. Livingston and an associate contributed $10,000 to Mr. Jindal’s campaign for governor of Louisiana. Mr. Jindal’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Livingston’s courtship of Mr. Murtha began in February. After a meeting with Mr. Livingston and another lobbyist from the firm, Mr. Murtha was among a group of members who met with Mr. Livingston, Mr. Sensoy and the Turkish foreign minister, Abdullah Gul. Long opposed to a genocide resolution, Mr. Murtha wrote Ms. Pelosi on Feb. 8 asking her not to allow a floor vote.

Mr. Livingston contributed $3,000 to Mr. Murtha’s campaign in February. A Murtha aide said the contribution reflects support for his record on the issue.

On April 24, the annual observance of the Armenian genocide, President Bush made a brief tribute to the dead, avoiding the term genocide. In Congress, attention focused on the Iraq war.

The resolution soon rebounded. Mr. Livingston made a concerted, though unsuccessful, effort to win over Representative Tom Lantos, Democrat of California, a Holocaust survivor and chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Mr. Lantos had opposed a similar resolution in 2000.

Mr. Livingston took Turkish officials to meet Mr. Lantos, then met with him again on May 18. A Livingston associate gave $500 to his campaign in March.

Mr. Livingston met with Mr. Cheney on May 4, and an associate consulted a Cheney aide four times from July 10 to July 20.

Mr. Livingston continued to push lawmakers to change their positions. Representative Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, signed up as a co-sponsor on June 26, then changed his mind two days later after a call from the lobbyist.

Representative Tom Tancredo, a Colorado Republican, withdrew his support on June 27 after meeting with Mr. Livingston, Mr. Jindal and a member of the Turkish Parliament.

Mr. Livingston’s logs end at July 31. His firm will file another report detailing activities up to and including the House committee vote in favor of the resolution. Since then, a Republican and a group of Democrats have dropped their backing.

Kitty Bennett contributed reporting.

[Joseph]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-sedaei/the-clintons-the-high-pr_b_77298.html

SAM SEDAEI


The Clintons, The High Priest and Conflicting Interests

Posted December 18, 2007 | 11:42 AM (EST)


While he was in China in the past summer to meet with potential clients, he allegedly met with individuals from the Turkish government. The meeting was about an upcoming bill in the U.S. House that would have called on President Bush to declare that the killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks after World War I constituted genocide. The Turkish government was adamantly against the bill and had already hired multiple American lobbying groups to lobby the Congress against the bill. Following the meeting, he called his firm back in Washington DC to asked them to begin writing a preliminary proposal to pitch an offer to the Turkish government to lobby the Congress to kill the genocide bill. The name of his company was Burson-Marsteller - the 5th largest PR and lobbying firm on earth - and he was its worldwide president and CEO. His name is Mark Penn, and he is now serving as Hillary Clinton's top political strategist.

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Senator Clinton is the only top tier candidate on the democratic side who openly receives money from lobbyists for her campaign. While many seem outraged about this fact, most people are not aware of the extent of influence and history of relationships and dealings between the Clintons and lobbyists, and the inevitability of their continued influence in policymaking should Hillary become president.


It is important to briefly review how Penn rose to his current position. After the democrats lost the House and Senate in 1994, Hillary asked Bill to bring in xxxx Morris, a controversial friend from their time in Arkansas, to help repair Bill's image. Morris knew Mark Penn from when he was a pollster in New York and brought him to the White House to help with the effort. They pushed the Clintons to the right and caused the origination of the term "triangulation," the idea of strategically adopting certain aspects of your opponent's position on issues, not necessarily because of the merits of those policies but in order to immune oneself from criticism on that particular issue. But Morris's career was cut short after he let a prostitute, Sherry Rowlands, listen in on a conversation with the President. That left Penn as "the high priest," as the Washington Post called him, in a White House where triangulation and polling had become a religion. Following the Clinton presidency, Penn also became the architect of Hillary Clinton's victories in 2000 and 2006, receiving $1 million from Hillary for the latter service.


But Penn's involvement in Hillary's campaign is inconsistent with the party's stated mission. He has been intimately involved in running or lobbying for big corporations on issues that are directly contrary to the interest of consumers and average Americans throughout his life. Before he came to the White House in the 90s, he worked for Texaco - a major oil company - and Eli Lilly, which is a major pharmaceutical firm.


After moving to DC, he worked both at the White House and also continued to expand his own polling firm, Penn, Schoen and Berland (PSB), which served Microsoft as its biggest client. During his time at PSB, Mark Penn has tuned out any sense of integrity and care for the wellbeing of the general public from the process of deciding whose interests to serve. Public welfare is naturally irrelevant to what he does and why he does it. His firm defended Proctor and Gamble when the latter's fat substitute product, Olestra, was criticized for having disturbing side-effects and put the blame for Texaco's bankruptcy on the greed of jurors.


Throughout the past seven years, Mark Penn has continued to keep one foot in his corporate lobbying firm and another foot in Hillary Clinton's campaigns. Under his leadership, Burson-Marsteller has followed the same corporate mentality of not including the public's wellbeing as a factor in deciding what projects to undertake. B-M boasts in its website that the company recognizes its "obligations to all who have a stake in our success, including shareowners, clients, employees, and suppliers." (Notice that even the firm admits by implication that the "public," "consumers" or "national interests" don't have a stake in the firm's success.)


Burson recently lobbied the Texas legislature for TXU energy - a widely despised energy company in Texas - in support of an initiative that would secure the company's ability to build three more coal plants at a time when we are trying to put the usage of fossil fuels behind us. This is hardly the first time that Burson has put the company's bottom-line ahead of the environment. The firm has served TXU for almost a decade now on multiple projects, all aimed at multi-level lobbying to push for company's plans to continue to build coal plants. In 1993, Burson led a $1.8 million campaign to successfully defeat President Clinton's proposed BTU tax on fossil fuels. Burson is also behind a group called "Foundation for Clean Air Progress," which has been deceptively named as it was specifically formed to hinder - not help as the name implies - measures to control air pollution and designed to pressure the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency not to adopt tougher pollution controls. The Washington Post reported on June 17, 1997 that the group had participated in a "multimillion-dollar campaign to turn back EPA regulations for smog and soot."


Burson was also hired by Blackwater USA to help Erik Prince with his testimony to Congress two months ago about his employees' killing of 17 Iraqi civilians.


One of the lobbying methods that Penn's Burson employs is phone campaigns to constituents of legislators who are the "targets." Constituents receive a phone call, sometimes from a group artificially created with an innocent-sounding name. Caller explains the reason for the call and the issue in debate, tries to convince the constituent why he or she should support a certain position and asks whether he or she would be willing to write a letter to the target in support of that position. If the constituent agrees to the one-sided argument, the caller then asked for some personal information to compose a personalized letter on the constituent's behalf. The unique letter is then written and sent to the constituent along with a pre-stamped envelope and pre-addressed to the legislator. All the constituent has to do is to sign the letter, put it in the envelope and throw it in outgoing mail.


Burson also seeks to influence policy through its political action committee. According to SourceWatch and the Center for Responsive Politics, Burson's federal PAC raised more than $69,000 for the 2004 election cycle. Of that amount, 37% went to democrats while 58% went to republicans. Notice the firm's role in helping to secure a larger republican majority in Congress in 2004.


Lobbying and PACs have been a part of a long tradition of participatory democracy in this country. But the involvement of Mark Penn as the top strategist for the Clinton campaign is inapt for several reasons:


1) Burson-Marsteller - both through its lobbying efforts as well as its PAC - pushes for policies that are often significantly detrimental to progressive values and directly designed to serve the interest of multinational corporations to the detriment of the American consumers and workers. These policies are also contrary to many of Hillary Clinton's stated position on issues.

2) There was a great deal of criticism of the Armenian genocide bill, the strongest of which was that it wasn't the right time for the bill because of our geopolitical interests. But the fact is that the Congress has been intending to formally recognize this historically unchallenged event for two decades. But every time the bill reaches the floor, the lobbyists help to kill it. The inability of congress to pass this important legislation contributes to hurting our image. This is because each failure sends a message to the world that we are willing to keep quiet on a human rights matter and pander to a foreign government that refuses to accept responsibility for its history because we need them as an "ally." Burson's interest to lobby the U.S. Congress on behalf of foreign governments and companies with little or no transparency or accountability with regard to the impact of their lobbying efforts on distorting our foreign policies is extremely inconsistent with who we believe should or should not have influence on our international relations.

3) Penn's method of running his firm in the most secretive manner and his position as a major strategist for Hillary Clinton is likely to lead to a secretive presidential administration as well.

4) Mark Penn used his position in the White House to expand his own wealth and business interests and strike a close friendship with the Clintons in the 1990s. If Hillary is elected, Penn will have even better access to the inner White House circle and be in the unique position of lobbying the president personally from within the Oval Office on behalf of his clients, which most often include multinational corporations, labor-union busters, foreign governments, and more republicans than democrats.

There has not been enough discussion about whether a politician can be considered progressive if she has closely associated herself with someone who has a consistent record of serving the interests of oil, pharmaceutical and other major corporations as well as foreign interests, often at the expense of Americans' interests. In a recent interview with Charlie Rose, President Clinton agreed that voting for Obama - who doesn't get money from lobbyists and whose campaign lobbyists are not running - would be like "rolling the dice." But Mark Penn's life-long commitment to special interests, his intimate involvement with the Hillary Clinton campaign and the influence he will have to push his corporate agenda from within a Clinton White House should be yet another factor to lead any sensible voter to realize that supporting Hillary would be equivalent to raising the bet in the middle of the game knowing you are holding the losing set of cards.

[Joseph]

http://letsibeledmondsspeak.blogspot.com/2008/01/sibel-names-names-in-pictures.html

More names to be added

[Joseph]

Scandalized: Neocons and the Jewish and Turkish lobbies
From Armeniapedia.org
Horizon Armenian Weekly
Montreal
Quebec, Canada
November 29, 2005

Scandalized: Neocons and the Jewish and Turkish lobbies
By David B. Boyajian <http://www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=David_B._Boyajian>

Washington’s widening spy investigations threaten to expose the lovers’ triangle of Neoconservatives, the Jewish lobby, and the Turkish lobby.

There are three major espionage cases: Sibel Edmonds/FBI/Turkey, Larry Franklin/AIPAC/Israel, and Valerie Plame/CIA/Libby.

The latter two (and perhaps the first) involve so-called Neoconservatives. The hallmark of Neocons is, of course, an outspoken devotion to Israel. There are dozens of them, and 90 percent are Jewish.

And, yes, ideologically cohesive ethnic or religious groupings, whether Turks, Jews, Muslims, Christian evangelicals, Armenians, Cubans, or Greeks, are fair game for discussion.

Allies: Turks and Jews

The Jewish lobby has for years befriended the Turkish lobby. No one seriously disputes this (also see http://www.hairenik.com/armenianweek...litics001.html ).

Indeed, Armenian genocide resolutions in Congress, acknowledged The Jerusalem Post, “have been snuffed out by Turkey and its right-hand man on this issue, the Israel lobby.”

The lobbies’ friendship grew out of the bond between Israel and Turkey, who share an aversion to much of the Arab world and Iran.

Having worked their way into the media, academia, think tanks, and government—most notably the Bush administration—Neocons are immensely influential. Being pro-Israel hawks, they are, not surprisingly, strongly pro-Turkish.

As far back as 16 years ago, for example, two former members of the current administration, Neocons Douglas Feith and Richard Perle, founded International Advisors Inc., which registered as a foreign agent for Turkey. IAI, said journalist Jason Vest, helped to “quash a U.S. Senate resolution marking ... the Armenian genocide.”

Feith left Reagan’s National Security Council in 1982 after the FBI suspected him of passing classified information to Israel. Perle was reportedly suspected of the same thing a decade earlier.

In fairness, we must also recognize that scores of Jewish and Israeli academicians and elected officials have generally been supportive of Armenians and have acknowledged the Armenian genocide.

Gagged: Sibel Edmonds

Sibel Deniz, 35, was born an Azerbaijani Iranian. After moving to Turkey, Sibel immigrated to the United States and married an American, Matthew Edmonds.

After the September 11 terrorist attacks, she put her linguistic skills to work at the FBI. Vanity Fair’s David Rose (September 2005) reported that Sibel listened to secretly recorded tapes of Turks and persons associated with the high-powered American Turkish Council (ATC) allegedly engaged in illicit drug deals, the sale of classified military technology, and bribery of American officials. Some of the FBI wiretaps dated back to 1997.

Late in 2001, the Edmondses were approached by another FBI Turkish translator, Melek Can (pronounced Jan) xxxxerson, and her husband, USAF Major Douglas xxxxerson. Melek had met Douglas when he was stationed in Turkey selling U.S. weapons.

The xxxxersons allegedly tried to lure Sibel and Matthew into joining the ATC and ATAA (Assembly of Turkish American Associations) by promising lives of leisure. (Melek Can had apparently illegally hidden her previous employment at the ATC from the FBI.)

“Just tell them that you’re a Turkish translator for the FBI,” the xxxxersons reportedly told Sibel, “and you will get in very quickly.”

When Sibel spurned the offer, Melek allegedly stopped her from listening to any more FBI tapes related to Turkey.

Sibel blew the whistle and was fired. The xxxxersons fled the United States.

A Justice Department investigation, now classified, confirmed many of Sibel’s claims.

She has testified before Congress and the 9/11 Commission and is suing the FBI (JustaCitizen.com).

But the U.S. Attorney General, citing the rarely used “state secrets privilege,” got a judge to stop her lawsuit cold and slap a gag order on her. The ACLU is appealing the gag order to the Supreme Court.

Guilty: Larry Franklin

Undersecretary of Defense Larry Franklin (a Neocon, but Catholic) pled guilty this fall to passing classified information about Iran to Israeli embassy officer Nair Gilon and lobbyists Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman of AIPAC (America Israel Public Affairs Committee). Gilon fled the United States, and Rosen and Weissman are due to go on trial.

Larry Franklin’s boss at the Pentagon was none other than Douglas Feith, the Neocon Turkish lobbyist and former FBI suspect.

Did Feith know Franklin was spying for Israel? Was Feith working not just for Turkey but Israel as well?

Sibel’s Bombshell

Christopher Deliso of Balkanalysis.com recently asked Sibel Edmonds whether “the Turkish and Israeli [Franklin/AIPAC] investigations had some overlap.”

Edmonds answered with this bombshell: “There is only one investigation ... a very big ... all-inclusive one ... You can start from the AIPAC angle [or] the [Valerie] Plame case ... they revolve around the same nucleus of people.”

It is no exaggeration, therefore, to say that together the three spy cases could become the biggest scandal in U.S. history.

Outed: Valerie Plame

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has just indicted Vice President Cheney’s Chief of Staff, Lewis Libby, for perjury and obstruction of justice. Yes, Libby is a longtime Neocon.

In 2003, ex-ambassador Joseph Wilson had publicly alleged the falseness of President Bush’s pre-Iraq war claim that Saddam Hussein had sought nuclear weapons material from Africa.

Libby or other Bush officials apparently retaliated by illegally informing some journalists that Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, is a CIA operative. One such journalist, The New York Times’ Judith Miller, is Jewish and has become a Neocon favorite.

Fitzgerald hints at more indictments: “It’s not over.”

Action Needed

For the lid to be blown off the Neocon-Turkish-Jewish “menage a trois,” the stalled Sibel Edmonds case needs to go forward.

Armenian-Americans need to get behind those pushing to lift the case’s gag order. A special Federal prosecutor must be appointed, or Fitzgerald’s mandate broadened, to cover the Edmonds scandal.

Members of Congress’s Armenian Caucus should be urged to take the lead, though one wonders if anyone in Congress has the courage to take on Neocons and two powerful lobbies.

Armenian-Americans, meanwhile, can feel a certain satisfaction knowing that many of those who have opposed them on matters such as Genocide affirmation may be more unsavory than anyone ever suspected.

Article used with authors permission.

[Joseph]

http://www.armenianweekly.com

The Armenian Weekly; Volume 74, No. 8; March 1, 2008


An Overdue Housecleaning


By Paul Ternamian

Tradmarked by Presidential hopeful Barack Obama, "change" now appears to be
the campaign slogan shared by both Democratic candidates. As we gradually
wave goodbye to the Bush administration's eight catastrophic years at the
helm and slowly sieve the crop of willing successors on both sides of the
floor, "change" is definitely in need. But how does one begin to cleanse the
putrid a-Bush mess that has been eight years in the making? The plausible
answer is "the State Department," say the pundits.

To effectively evaluate the State Department's policies against House
Resolution 106, one must understand the misleading and distorted arguments
presented that deliberately sway and intentionally misinform politicians.
Only by understanding and analyzing their Machiavellian covert methods can
we effectively counter their assault.

Leading the charge against the resolution and various other Armenian
initiatives, such as regional security, economic development and investment
opportunities, are the notorious tandem of Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice and Secretary of Defence Robert Gates. When members of Congress are
invited to travel to Turkey, which happens with great frequency, the State
Department organizes their sojourn and schedules their meetings. It will be
naive to assume that these planned trips are only friendly visits by
congressmen from one NATO member to another. These sprees are specifically
tailored for senators, congressmen and senior policy advisors, who have been
briefed by the State Department to discuss significant issues like
H.Res.106. What is important to note is that these politicians and peddlers
of influence are sent not only to meet with Prime Minister Erdogan and his
AK party cronies, but more importantly to meet top local American
businessmen, political party organization representatives and various
special interest groups, like the American Chamber of Commerce and the
American Defence Industrial Core stationed in the country.

Ever since this Administration's inauguration, the unity and political
tenacity of the Armenian diaspora has been tested on numerous occasions. The
best example was the State Department's appalling and inexcusable decision
to add Armenia to the list of terrorist states. This meant that male
Armenian citizens visiting the U.S. would be subjected to strenuous
additional screening and fingerprinting. To ensure unopposed passage and
slow community opposition to this draconian measure, the list was
deliberately released on a Friday afternoon. What was particularly
objectionable and disturbing was that Armenia is the only country in the
region without a terrorist group operating within its borders and the only
non-Al Queda supporter on the list.

However, after forwarding a torrent of more than 10,000 webfaxes and
webmails to the President over the weekend, the true brawn of our community
leadership and mobilization capabilities came through. Much to the dismay of
the State Department, Azerbaijan and Turkey, Armenia was rightfully removed
>From this terrorist list the following Tuesday. It is hurdles like these
that the State Department continually erects in our path to justice and
reparation. They thrive to divert our collective attention and derail our
resources to test the resilience and determination of the Armenian
community-just to see if we're still kicking.

Glancing back at the Bush Administration's horrendous tract record, the
State Department's first attempt to amend Turkish-Armenian relations was the
establishment of a joint commission, better known as the Turkish Armenian
Reconciliation Commission (TARC). This farcical State Department creation
was made up mostly of Turkish members, a few diasporan Armenians, and former
Armenian government officials. It was strategically established at the turn
of the century, just as the first U.S. genocide resolution was picking up
steam. However, there was more to this insidious calculated move than is
often realized. In the late 1990's, France, Italy, Sweden and Vatican City
officially recognized the Armenian genocide. This surge of recognitions by
several major European countries, coupled with growing support of the 2000
U.S. Armenian Genocide Resolution, compelled Turkey to squeal for help.

Even though the then-Armenian government denied any direct connection with
TARC, many former senior government officials were members of this joint
commission. Under immense pressure from the Armenian diaspora, the State
Department eventually suspended support for its ridiculous attempt at
undermining our quest for justice, and TARC was rightfully terminated.
However, this did not signal a permanent end to the State Department's
malevolent ambitions.

In spring 2006, two specific events startled Turkey and the State
Department. The first major blow was the passage of the law criminalizing
genocide denial by individuals in France, a setback for all those working
against genocide recognition. The second and more significant event was
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's recognition of the Armenian
genocide in April. Not only was Canada the first major English-speaking ally
to officially recognize the genocide, but the fact that this affirmation
emanated from a Conservative right-leaning government took Turkey and the
U.S. by total surprise. As a result, Turkish pressure began to mount on the
U.S. and the wheels started churning for the State Department to resurrect
and recreate a new joint commission. However, this time there was one
exception: To ensure insulation, the diaspora was not invited to
participate.

Over a year ago, just as H.Res.106 started to gain serious momentum, the
State Department began to construct fallacious arguments used to brief
Congress and government officials to convince them to vote against the
resolution. There are two main arguments used by the State Department in
opposition to the resolution.

The first is that "the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Turkey are in
the process of establishing a new joint commission of academics and
histories to establish the facts in parallel with efforts to establish
official bi-lateral relations." Members of Congress are intentionally
misinformed by special envoys and are led to believe that voting for
H.Res.106 will support the continual conflict between both countries. The
logic goes, because Armenia and Turkey have finally come together, hand in
hand, under this joint pseudo-commission to discuss important regional
issues, which will help establish official bi-lateral relations, why should
Congress get involved and pass this resolution? It will only anger our NATO
ally and more importantly complicate the reconciliation efforts between
Turks and Armenians who are finally going to come to a decision on their
own.

It is unfortunate, however, that these pathetic attempts to undermine and
brainwash unsuspecting members of Congress is frequently effective. The
argument's major flaw is the assumption that both governments have agreed to
participate in this joint commission. The Armenian government and Armenian
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian have neither endorsed nor accepted any such
offer, and refuse to participate as the veracity of the genocide has already
been irrefutably established by numerous credible sources worldwide.

In addition, the State Department has strategically and surreptitiously
linked two entirely separate issues: the idea of a joint commission with
that of bilateral relations. Turkey's unwavering stance is that without a
joint commission there can be no bilateral relations and separating these
two distinct issues puts us in a stronger position by showcasing Turkey's
intransigence. The worst possible decision by the Armenian government would
be to agree to this new joint commission, as it would confirm that the facts
have not been indubitably established and thus validate this ridiculous
argument. By excluding members of the diaspora, the State Department
attempts to undermine our collective efforts by portraying us as a nuisance
to forward progress and to avoid another "TARC-ing." With continual pressure
for Armenia's participation in the joint commission by the State Department,
it has become evident that the Bush Administration's ultimate goal is to use
this opportunity as a means of coercing Armenia to forgo the coveted and
just reparations claims in exchange for bilateral relations, an open border,
and the development of a port facility for lines of communications and trade
in Trabizon.

The State Department's second argument is that passage of H.Res.106 will
lead to an intensely negative and nationalistic backlash response working
against those in Turkey who are now calling for a) a comprehensive review of
the events and b) creating bilateral relations with Armenia. This argument
shifts its focus away from establishing a joint commission and once again
attempts to weave the precondition of determining the facts of the genocide
with the creation of bilateral relations. The glaring flaw in this argument
is the actual lack of serious calls for a comprehensive and constructive
review of the genocide because anyone who attempts to introduce serious
reconciliation is swiftly marginalized and silenced.

Hrant Dink's cold-blood murder for calling it "genocide" and Orhan Pamuk's
numerous death threats despite never calling for a comprehensive review or
even labeling it as "genocide" are just some heinous examples of the fate of
one who dares to speak the truth. Ultimately, the State Department's tacit
support for this climate of obtuse oppression emboldens the present Turkish
government-and their paid lackeys in Washington-to create the illusion of
forward movement, while undermining the recognition, reparation and
reconciliation processes. With a 17-year blockade and still no embassy in
Armenia, there has been no tangible movement toward change in attitudes even
before this administration took office in 2000.

As chants for "change" gradually get louder and more fervent as we approach
election day on Nov. 4, Armenians all over the world will wonder if this
whiff of change emanating from Washington will permeate the corridors of the
State Department and create a much overdue surge of principled policies that
will support justice, enhance regional security and create economic
stability in the Caucuses free of prejudice.

Toronto, Ontario

[Joseph]

A little more background on the neocons for a book review

Book Review


They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons

The American Conservative - 24 January, 2008

Author: Jacob Heilbrunn

Review by Philip Weiss

It is hard to imagine a title more overdue than They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons. Ever since neoconservatism’s chief contribution to world betterment, the Iraq War, began losing its luster, its adherents have gone into a kind of hiding, and the media has given them cover. Former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and New York Times columnist David Brooks, one or both of whom are neoconservatives, have suggested that the word is an anti-Semitic epithet. Others try to avoid it entirely: when Bill Kristol, who was definitely once a neoconservative, was hired by the New York Times as a columnist, the paper called him a “conservative” and said his father Irving Kristol, one of the movement’s founders, was a leader of “modern conservatism.”

Jacob Heilbrunn asserts that neoconservatives have so far gotten away “scot-free” with planning the greatest foreign-policy disaster since Vietnam. And so his book will call them to account. Not quite.

Heilbrunn achieves one important chore: a forthright social narrative of the neocons as a Jewish movement. Tracing ideological currents in the Jewish community from the 1940s to the 1970s, Heilbrunn, a journalist who himself flirted with neoconservatism, describes how the neocons were propelled by resentments against WASP elites—the men who had ignored the Holocaust, they felt, and “frozen out” Jews from the establishment. It would be hard to overemphasize Heilbrunn’s accomplishment. There has been endless prevarication about the fact that neoconservatism is an element of the Jewish experience, even from liberal Jews. Yet Heilbrunn will have none of it. He says that neoconservatism is “intimately linked with the memory of the Holocaust and the allies’ failure to save the Jews during the war” and notes that a “peculiar amalgam of intellectual rigor and ethnic resentment … lies at the heart of the neoconservative outlook.”

And here’s the topper: a “lifelong antipathy toward the patrician class among the neocons … prompted them to create their own parallel establishment.”

The sociological insights in his story are often exciting. Neocon godfather Norman Podhoretz had “the classic Jewish experience with the WASP elite” but became a “social climber” himself Heilbrunn says. The other godfather, Irving Kristol didn’t at first take the late Allan Bloom seriously. Bloom told Heilbrunn that his relationship with Kristol got “easier” once Bloom, like Kristol, had wealth. The neocons didn’t like Kissinger because he was hofjude, “a court jew of the WASP foreign policy establishment.” They didn’t like Zbig Brzezinski because he was Polish and the neocons suspected him of Pale-era anti-semitism.

Boiling resentment meant very little without a political program. The neocons got that in the late 1960s. And not surprisingly, the issues had a Jewish character. “With the trial of Adolph Eichmann in Jerusalem, the 1967 war, and the rise of black anti-Semitism in the United States, neoconservatism was born,” Heilbrunn writes. So now Brzezinski was resented because he was against the Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and McGeorge Bundy because he wanted to push Israel to make a peace agreement with the Palestinians.

Neoconservative ideas might have been confined to small magazines, but the neocons stunned themselves in the 1970s by gaining traction in American political life—through the offices of Washington Sen. Henry Jackson (whom a Saudi ambassador called “more Jewish than the Jews”). With Jackson’s support, the neocons staged their first great victory, pressuring the Soviet Union to free Jews. After Daniel Patrick Moynihan won his New York Senate seat with “strong Jewish support” in 1976, the neocons had a second home.

At that time, of course, they were Democrats. Martin Peretz, the once leftwing editor of The New Republic, was so shaken by the Left’s friendliness to the Palestinians, that he provided access in his pages to hawks, and became “a major force in the mainstreaming of neoconservative ideas.” Douglas Feith, an architect of the Iraq disaster, tells Heilbrunn, “I grew up in a liberal Democratic Jewish household.” Again Israel was key. At the age of 15, two years into the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Feith wrote a precocious letter to the New York Times attacking the State Department policy in the Middle East. “It is appalling the State Department can be so blind to historical precedent as to call for a withdrawal from the captured area.” Captured, not occupied.

Israel-centrism made the neocons lousy wardheelers. They turned against Jimmy Carter on foreign policy, and so helped to elect Ronald Reagan in 1980. Not one to slight the power of his subjects, Heilbrunn says that had they not spurned Carter, he might have been re-elected. Neocons came back to the Dems in 1992, again over Israel. George H.W. Bush—“a scion of the WASP establishment”—was “acting like Jimmy Carter when it came to Israel.” Knocking off the Soviet Union gave the neocons a sense of hubris that would doom their ideas about Iraq. Their thinking was also damaged by the fact that the neocons overprized “filial piety”—and so their sons were enlisted in their fathers’ battles without having to develop their own ideas.

Good stuff. Alas, the book’s riches are set in the ancient past: the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. Didn’t the neocons just wreck our image around the world? Heilbrunn doesn’t get to 9/11 till page 228. There are only 60 pages left, and the social insights that have characterized the first half of the book disappear, giving way to a stentorian, op-ed style. The neocons have “debauched” the idea of intervention. They were “hopelessly naïve about the Arab predicament.”

I hoped that this book would do for the parallel establishment what The Best and the Brightest did for the last one in the wake of Vietnam. But Heilbrunn seems to have had only three or four interviews with Iraq war planners and we learn little about their psyches. How do they feel about Israel? How much money do they make? Do they think there is going to be another Holocaust? What was the importance of Cheney’s American Enterprise Institute chapter (both he and his wife have been fellows at AEI) to his inoculation with neocon doctrine? Heilbrunn doesn’t provide answers.

There are two reasons for his failure, the first vocational, the second far more worrisome. Heilbrunn was evidently under a deadline, and having spent years working on the first part of his book, he appears to have rushed the second half. His writing goes downhill. In the galley, two sentences in a row have the verb “would end up.” Twice on the same page former Sen. Bob Kerrey provides “important … cover” for the neocons.

The more troubling reason is self-censorship. It is one thing to write about the past with dispositive energy and quite another to render sharp judgments about the present. Heilbrunn hints at great ideas without the ability to follow through on them. He says the neocons’ obsession with radical Islam as another cold war was a self-delusion—did they also confuse Palestinian suicide bombers with Nazis? He talks about a parallel establishment and “an elite caste,” but doesn’t do anything to explore the huge pots of money available to the neocons and to politicians who stick by Israel. There is no follow through because all these ideas are close to anti-Semitic “canards,” the word the pro-Israel crowd likes to use when anyone tries to address Jewish influence in public life. Heilbrunn is conscious of these tactics. He notes that Francis Fukuyama said much more about the neocons’ love of Israel in an article than he did in his subsequent book and chalks the scholar’s silence up to “the bullying tactics the neoconservatives often employed to avert any criticism of Israel, however mild.” Well, Heilbrunn seems to have worried about the same thing.

As for bullying, what are we to make of Heilbrunn’s own vicious outbursts toward anybody who has tried to change American policy toward the hateful Israeli occupation? Thus George Kennan worried about “so-called ethnic lobbies.” Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer’s groundbreaking 2006 paper, “The Israel Lobby,” is dismissed as an “addled essay”, without another word. Jimmy Carter is accused of “crackpot moralism.” Edward Said was “a smooth, urbane purveyor of much nonsense about the Middle East.”

Between these knifings, Heilbrunn loses his own point of view. He tells us that Bush fell “into the web that the neoconservatives had woven around him.” Sounds like a conspiracy. Twice the author uses the word “cabal.” Harvard’s government department “was the first academic neoconservative cabal.” Later there is “the Pentagon cabal of neoconservatives.” Not even Walt and Mearsheimer used the word, though maybe they should have. Certainly, the neocons have often formed cells and have not been transparent about their ideas or their aims.

The book’s promotional copy teases the reader with that revelation. The boldfaced paragraph on the back of the galley asserts that many believe that a “cabal” of neocons launched a “war primarily on Israel’s behalf.” If Heilbrunn doesn’t believe this, he ought to state why not. As it is the reader is left with the shadowy sense that the neocons have a pro-Israel agenda that they are not upfront about. But it isn’t a conspiracy, Heilbrunn warns. The neocons have convinced themselves that the U.S. and Israel have congruent interests. “They just believe this stuff. They’re not agents,” an anonymous source tells him, speaking of Cheney aide David Wurmser, who is married to an Israeli.

Jacob Heilbrunn’s book should be hailed as a real sign of progress in assessing responsibility for the Iraq War, and yet the real work remains undone. I understand why there are inhibitions. Blaming the neocons’ Israel-first worldview for the war raises deep fears among Jews. The liberal Forward greeted Walt and Mearsheimer’s paper on the Israel lobby with the bitter retort: “In Dark Times Blame the Jews.” We need to get past this sort of defensiveness if we are going to understand our own democracy, let alone the Middle East. What Heilbrunn rightly calls an “elite caste” could lose status, yes. But others’ lives are at stake.

[Joseph]

http://www.turkishcoalitionofamerica.com/caucus.html

*G. Lincoln McCurdy lives in Arlington, Virginia. He was the Consul for Commercial Affairs at the US Consulate General in Istanbul in the early 1980s. He was with the American-Turkish Council from 1989 to 2004 and served as its president for the last five years. He is currently an independent consultant.

[Joseph]

TURKISH AMERICAN ASSOCIATIONS

In the United States

American Association of Crimean Turks
4509 Newutrecth Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11219
Phone:718-851-6621, Fax:718-435-1237
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Federation of Turkish-American Association

American Association of Teachers of Turkic Languages (AATT)
Teachers of the Turkic languages; universities, including language schools in government services; other institutions. Dedicated to the enhancement of study, criticism, and research in the field of Turkic languages, literature, and linguistics. Seeks to improve and advance the teaching of modern and historical Turkic languages. Is developing guidelines and standards for proficiency-based teaching of Turkic languages, bibliography of teaching materials, and workshops for teachers.
Princeton University
Near Eastern Studies
110 Jones Hall
Princeton, NJ 08544-1008 USA
Phone: (609) 258-1435
Fax: (609) 258-1242
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.princeton.edu/~turkish/aatt

American Friends of Turkey (AFOT)
Charitable and fundraising organization.
915 15th St., NW, 7th Fl.
Washington, DC 20005-4902 USA
Phone: (202) 783-0449
Fax: (202) 783-0511
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.americanturkishcouncil.org

American Research Institute in Turkey (ARIT)
Institutions of higher learning in the U.S. and Canada. Works to advance knowledge of Turkey and enchance mutual understanding between the U.S. and turkey by supporting and promoting research and study of Turkey in all fields of the humanities and social sciences. Research support includes maintaining two research centers in Turkey and administering a program of research fellowships and language study. Bosphorus University, Istanbul. Maintains research facility and 10,500 volume library in Istanbul, Turkey on Byzantine, Islamic, Ottoman, and modern Turkish studies and a 7000 volume library in Ankara, Turkey on archaeology.
c/o University of Pennsylvania Museum
33rd & Spruce Streets
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6324 USA
Phone: (215) 898-3474
Fax: (215) 898-0657
Email: [email protected]

American Turkish Association of Houston
PO Box 61002
Houston, TX 77208-1002 USA
URL: http://www.atahouston.org

Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
American Turkish Association of North Carolina
PO Box 31761
Raleigh, NC 27622-1761 USA
Phone: (919) 991-7030
Fax: (919) 859-4090
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.ata-nc.org

American Turkish Association of Washington, DC
1526 18th St NW
Washington DC 20036
Phone: 1-888-282-3236
Contact: Pelin Aylangan (President, ATA-DC)
General Information: [email protected]
Turkish School: [email protected]
To become a member: [email protected]
Cultural Activities: [email protected]
Webpage: www.atadc.org
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
American Turkish Islamic and Cultural Center
President: Nureddin Demircan
Address: 888 Main Street
Peterson, NJ 07503
PH: (973) 345-3940
EM: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.

American Turkish Society (ATS)
American and Turkish diplomats, banks, corporations, businessmen, and educators. Promotes economic and commercial relations as well as cultural understanding between the peoples of the United States and Turkey. Serves as information center. Holds a series of lectures and symposia cultural programs. Sponsors social activities between U.S. and Turkish official and businesspersons. Conducts charitable work including aid for victims of earthquakes and floods.
3 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
305 E. 47th Street, 8 th Floor
New York, NY 10017
Tel: 212-583-7614 Fax: 212-583-7615
e-mail: [email protected]
Webpage: www.americanturkishsociety.org

American-Turkish Council (ATC)
Devoted to increasing understanding of commercial, defense, and cultural issues involving the U.S. and Turkey. Provides information on historical, economical, and social advancement of Turkey. Conducts educational programs to increase business relations and opportunities between the U.S. and Turkey.
915 15th St. NW, 7th Fl.
Washington, DC 20005 USA
Phone: (202) 783-0483
Fax: (202) 783-0511
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.americanturkishcouncil.org
Contact(s): G. Lincoln McCurdy, Pres.

Anadolu Club
152 North Passaic Avenue , CHATHAM, NJ 07928
Phone: 973 222 0484
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations and Federation of Turkish-American Association
Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA)
1526 18th St. NW
Washington, DC 20036 USA
Phone: (202) 483-9090
Fax: (202) 483-9092
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.ataa.org

Ataturk Society of America-ASA
4731 Mass. Ave NW, Washington, DC 20016
Tel:202-363-0945, Fax:202-363-4075
Webpage:www.ataturksociety.org
Federation of Turkish-American Associations (FTAA)
Local organizations (35) of Turkish-Americans in the U.S. Promotes fellowship; works to advance cultural and educational interests; seeks to maintain and preserve knowledge of the cultural heritage of Turkey and the U.S. Maintains Turkish Cultural Center. Observes Children's Day (Apr. 23), Youth and Sports Day (May 19), Turkish Day Parade (3rd Saturday of May), and Ataturks Commemoration Day (Nov. 10). Broadcasts Turkish radio program in New York City.
821 United Nations Plz.
New York, NY 10017 USA
Phone: (212) 682-7688
Fax: (212) 687-3026
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.tadf.org/index.php3
Contact(s): M. Ata Erim, M.D., Pres.

Florida Turkish American Association
PO Box 50021
Lighthouse Point, FL 33074 USA
Phone: (954) 975-3384
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Institute of Turkish Studies
Founded and incorporated in the District of Columbia in 1982 and currently located at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service of the Georgetown University, the oldest and largest school of international affairs in the country, the Institute of Turkish Studies (ITS) is the only non-profit, private educational foundation in the United States that supports the development of Turkish Studies in American higher education.

Institute of Turkish Studies
Intercultural Center
Box 571033
Georgetown University
Washington, DC
20057-1033
Tel: .(202) 687-0295
Fax: (202) 687-3780
Sabri Sayari, Executive Director
[email protected]
Intercollegiate Turkish Students Society ITSS
Intercollegiate Turkish Students Society ITSS As a volunteer students organization, ITSS was established in 1997 to increase communication and cooperation among Turkish Student Associations in USA and Canada. Its major aims are to provide an exchange of information, experience and resources; support students before-during-after their schools; better implement lobyyist activities; better promote peaceful relations among societies and strengthen 'Peace at home, Peace on the world'.
Contact: Aydin BIRIK- Secretary General
Phone: 347 276 0839
Address: 821 UN Plaza, 7th Fl.New York, NY 10017
Web-site: www.itss.org
E-mail: [email protected] |[email protected]
Karacay Turks Mosque and Cultural Association
92 Ballantine Dr.
North Haledon, NJ 07508 USA
Phone: (973) 238-1868
Organization Notes:
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations and Federation of Turkish-American Association

Maryland American Turkish Association
10176 Baltimore National Pike, Ste. 211
Ellicott City, MD 21042 USA
Phone: (410) 750-7735
Fax: (410) 750-3158
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Melungeon Heritage Association
PO Box 4042
Wise, VA 24293 USA
URL: http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Inn/1024/
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Pittsburg Turkish American Association - PTAA
PO Box 7545
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Phone:412-856 5616
Email[email protected]
Webpage: www.ptaa.org

[Joseph]

Society of Turkish American Architects, Engineers and Scientists
c/o Gokhan Tanriverdi, Pres.
821 UN Plaza
New York, NY 10017 USA
Phone: (631) 667-1467
URL: http://www.avrupa.com/mim/
Organization Notes:
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Society of Turkish Architects, Engineers and Scientists in America (MIM)
Architects, engineers, scientists, and others who possess at least a bachelor's degree in the positive and technical sciences; associate members are individuals who possess associate or bachelor's degrees in social sciences; student members are post-graduate students of architecture, engineering, and science schools. Encourages and fosters the unity, professional collaboration, networking and mutual cooperation of Turkish American architects, engineers and scientists. Works to develop, establish, and maintain programs designed to foster the professional advancement of members and to initiate and develop collaboration with other scientific organizations.
821 United Nations Plz., 2nd Fl.
New York, NY 10017 USA
Phone609) 275 1358
E-Mail: [email protected]
Contact(s): Yalcin Kaya Sarier, Pres.
Affiliated With: Federation of Turkish-American Association
Solidarity of Balkan Turks of America
1030 Main St., Ste. 6
Paterson, NJ 07503 USA
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Tri-State Turkish-American Association
7414 Walnut Creek Dr.
West Chester, OH 45069-5528 USA
Turk Ocagi
760 Pennsylvania Ave.
Lyndhurst, NJ 07071 USA
Phone: (201) 935-7584
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkestanian American Association
266 Vail Rd.
Parsippany, NJ 07054 USA
Phone: (212) 737-9703
Fax: (212) 737-9688
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Association (TAA)
Promotes cultural relations between the United States and Turkey. Sponsors Turkish radio program in the New York/New Jersey area, films, concerts, music festivals, conferences, and lectures; arranges charter flights to Turkey.
1600 Broadway
48th St., Ste. 318
New York, NY 10019-7413 USA
Phone: (212) 956-1560
Fax: (212) 956-1562
Affiliated With: Federation of Turkish-American Association
Turkish American Association for Cultural Exchange
825 Jaipur Ave.
Naperville, IL 60540 USA
Phone: (630) 416-9820
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Association of Arizona
PO Box 373
Tempe, AZ 85281-0373 USA
Phone: (602) 253-7118
URL: http://www.taaaz.org
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Association of California
2053 Grant Rd., Ste. 123
Los Altos, CA 94024 USA
Phone: (415) 646-0946
URL: http://www.taaca.org
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Association of Central Ohio
P.O. Box 12454,
Columbus, OH 43212-0454
Email:[email protected]
Web Address: www.taaco.org
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Association of Greater Kansas City
505 NW 41 St.
Kansas City, MO 64116 USA
Phone: (816) 452-1968
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://members.aol.com/taaofkc
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Association of Louisiana
PO Box 55112
Metairie, LA 70055-5112 USA
Phone:504 669 5461
Email:[email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Association of Milwaukee
1517 W. Pierce St.
Milwaukee, WI 53204 USA
Phone: (414) 671-1255
Fax: (414) 671-4264
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Association of Minnesota
Fosters awareness in the community of the richness of Turkish heritage and the contributions of the people of Turkey and their families to American life and to the cultures of the world and seeks to keep Turkish culture alive among the people of Turkey and their families who are residing in the state of MN. Also organizes social, educational, recreational, and other functions to promote better understanding and friendship both among the members of this corporation and among individuals and organizations within MN who share an interest in Turkish culture. Activities include social events, concerts, student welcome nights, film shows, and slide shows. Attends the International Festival in MN to represent Turkey and it's culture. Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
PO Box 14704
Minneapolis, MN 55414 USA
Phone: (651) 631-7122
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.taam.org
Contact(s): Can Cinbis, Sec. Chair
Email:[email protected]
Turkish American Association of Northern Texas
PO Box 1837
DeSoto, TX 75123-1837 USA
Phone: (972) 223-7250
Fax: (972) 223-7250
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.turant.com
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Association of Oklahoma
10010 E. 16th St.
Tulsa, OK 74128-4813 USA
Phone: (916) 665-6575
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Association of Pittsburg
4 Camden Dr.
Pittsburgh, PA 15215 USA
Phone: (412) 782-3393
Fax: (412) 782-3384
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Association of Southern California
PO Box 53024
Irvine, CA 92619-3024 USA
Phone: (714) 806-7720
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.atasc.org
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Business Forum, Inc.
51 East 42nd Street, Suite 510,
New York, NY 10017
Phone212) 599-1192
Fax212) 599-2565
Email:[email protected]
Webpage: www.forum.org
Turkish American Cultural Alliance of Chicago
3845 N. Harlem Ave.
Chicago, IL 60634 USA
Phone: (773) 725-3655
Fax: (773) 725-3685
Email: [email protected]
Webpage: www.tacaonline.org
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Cultural Alliance of St. Louis
5614 Wieland Dr.
St. Louis, MO 63128 USA
Phone: (314) 894-1824
Fax: (314) 894-1824
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Cultural Association
222 Pearl St., Lawrence
New York 11559
NY USA
Affiliated With: Federation of Turkish-American Association
Turkish American Cultural Association of Alabama
11116 Hillwood Dr. SE
Huntsville, AL 35803 USA
Phone: (256) 881-8788
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Cultural Association of Florida
Seeks to raise the knowledge level of Turkish culture and history in the community; to perform activities which are charitable, educational and non-profit; to provide an intellectual bridge between mainland Turkey and the local community; to support and maintain ties with other organizations of similar goals. Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
PO Box 3303
Brandon, FL 33509-3303 USA
Phone: 727-799-2501
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.tacaf.org
Turkish American Cultural Association of Georgia
PO Box 190013
Atlanta, GA 31119-0013 USA
Phone: (770) 913-9431
Email:[email protected]
URL: http://www.tacaga.org
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Cultural Association of Michigan
Follows the philosophy of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic, which encompasses the nation's creative legacy as well as the best values of world civilization. Emphasis is placed on personal and universal humanism. Seeks to promote cultural independence; to provide social function gatherings; to provide educational workshops in the community; and to provide political awareness. Sponsors cultural events that educate the MI community. Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
28847 Beck Rd.
Walled Lake, MI 48393 USA
Phone: (248) 348-4176
Fax: (248) 626-8279
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.tacam.org
Turkish American Cultural Association of Southern New England
291 Vine Rd.
Stamford, CT 06905 USA
Phone: (203) 225-4784
Fax: (203) 329-1640
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Cultural Association of Washington
PO Box 357
Kirkland, WA 98083-0357 USA
Phone: (425) 294-4240
Fax: (425) 717-1506
Email:[email protected]
Webpage:www.tacawa.org
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Cultural Society of Colorado
PO Box 260435
Highlands Ranch, CO 80163-0435 USA
Phone: (303) 708-4408
Fax: (303) 708-4020
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Cultural Society of New England
Individuals of Turkish origin and Americans who have lived or spent time in Turkey. Seeks to educate Americans about Turkey and its culture and to unite ethnic Turks and friends of Turkey. Conducts lecture series on topics related to Turkey. Teaches Turkish language. Sponsors various social activities. Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
PO Box 1308
Boston, MA 02104-1308 USA
Phone: (617) 536-4418
Fax: (617) 536-4418
URL: http://www.tacsne.org/
Affiliated With: Federation of Turkish-American Association
Turkish American Friendship Association of Hawaii
1330 Ala Moana Blvd. No. 1506
Honolulu, HI 96814-4216 USA
Phone: (808) 593-0500
Fax: (808) 596-9546
Email: [email protected]

Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Friendship Society of the United States
249 St. Joseph's Way
Philadelphia, PA 19106 USA
Phone: (215) 629-1089
Fax: (215) 629-9745
Email: [email protected]
Webpage: www.tafsus.com
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Neuropsychiatric Association
8335 Brittany Hill Ct.
Grand Blanc, MI 48439 USA
Phone: (810) 694-1808
Fax: (810) 694-6100
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Physicians Association
1350 Lexington Ave.
New York, NY 10128 USA
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations and Federation of Turkish-American Association
Turkish American Physicians Association
645 Beaver Dam Rd.
Stratford, CT 06614 USA
Phone: (203) 378-4178
Fax: (203) 375-1790
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations and Federation of Turkish-American Association
Turkish American scientist and Scholars association (TASSA)
TASSA is an independent, non-profit and non-political organization promoting educational and scientific coorperation between the USA and Turkey. Established in June 2004 in washington, D.C., it aims to facilitate the advancement of science in Turkey and the USA through scientific exchange and educational programs and increased networking.
Executive Director: Levent Yanik
1526 18th Street N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036
USA
Phone: +1-800-620-4120
Fax: +1-800-620-4120
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.tassausa.org
Turkish American Society of Northeastern Ohio
P.O. Box: 22121,
Cleveland OH 44122
President:Suleyman Gokoglu
Phone: 440-546-0745
Fax: 216-977-7065
Email:[email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish Children Foster Care
730 Ticonderoga Ave.
Severna Park, MD 21146 USA
Phone: (410) 647-1315
Fax: (410) 647-0109
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish Cultural Foundation
Email [email protected]
Mailing Address TCF
12 Elizabeth Drive
Chelmsford, MA 01824
USA
Telephone 301-571-0980
Executive Director, WDC
USA
www http://www.turkishculture.org/
Turkish Cypriot Aid Society
843 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx NY 10462
Phone718) 892 7640
Email:[email protected]
Turkish Fine Arts Ensemble
Individuals interested in promoting the dances, music, drama, and artwork of Turkish people with the goal of uniting Turkish speaking immigrants living in the U.S. Provides financial assistance for relocation to the United States to those skilled in Turkish arts. Maintains a meeting house and sponsors social events.
45-54 39th Pl., Ste. 2C
Sunnyside, NY 11104 USA
Phone: (718) 937-5211
Email: [email protected]
Contact(s): Mr. Tayyar Akdeniz, Pres.
Turkish Society of Rochester
2841 Culver Rd.
Rochester, NY 14622 USA
Phone: (716) 266-1980
Fax: (716) 266-1752
Webpage:www.tsor.org
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations and Federation of Turkish-American Association
Turkish Women's League of America (TWLA)
Americans of Turkish origin united to promote equality and justice for women. Organizes cultural and recreational activities to foster better understanding between the people of Turkey, the U.S., and other counties, including the new Turkish republics of the former Soviet Union; brings together Turkic-speaking people in the U.S. Defends human and civil rights. Operates Ataturk School, which offers courses in Turkish language, history, music, and folk dancing; sponsors workshops and seminars for high school teachers. Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations; Federation of Turkish-American Associations. Also Known As: Amerika Turk Kadinlar Birligi.
821 UN Plaza
New York, NY 10017 USA
Phone: (212) 682-8525
Fax: (212) 682-8525
Affiliated With: Federation of Turkish-American Association
US Council for Human Rights in the Balkans, Inc.
67-57 Exeter Street,
Forest Hills, NY11375
Tel: 718-520-8487
Washington Turkish Women Association
PO Box 2246
Kensington, MD 20891 USA
Phone: (301) 384-8254
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Young Turks Cultural Aid Society
57 Ashley Ct.
Bedminster, NJ 07921 USA
Phone: (732) 981-0099
Fax: (732) 981-9666
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Young Turks of America Cultural Aid Society
821 UN Plaza, 2nd Fl.
New York, NY 10017 USA
Phone: (212) 535-2153
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Updated March 1, 2005.