Amerikan Senatorleri NASIL SATIN ALINIR : Buying Policies of Armenian American nationalists

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PoliGazette takes a closer look into the financial records of US Senator Menendez (D NJ). His vote can and has been bought.

One of the main things Americans frequently complain about is the influence of special interest groups over politicians and, thus, over how the United States is ran. Too many laws, these Americans say, are designed not with the best interest of the American people in mind, but with the interest of said groups in mind. This is, Americans rightfully complain, now how the US government was meant to function.

In recent months and years some Democratic politicians have constantly functioned as mouthpieces for one of those special interest groups; Armenian American nationalists. For some, for most Americans, unknown reason, these Democratic Senators and Representatives bring the events of 1915 which they call the Armenian Genocide up whenever they can. This obsession with something that happened almost 100 years ago resulted in an international controversy when one of the first acts of the Democratically controlled US Congress after the elections of 2006 was to adopt a resolution that labels said events officially as ‘genocide.’

Turkey denies that what happened constitutes genocide and argues, instead, that historians, not politicians, should cast judgment on this affair. In response to the resolution Turkey threatened to withdraw its support for the War in Iraq and, more importantly, would no longer allow the US to use Turkey (to move troops, material, etc.) in order to fight and thus win in that Middle Eastern country.

Americans wondered what happened to their government; why was the war put at risk? Why were American lives put at risk? Why this sudden obsession with something that has no relation whatsoever with America?

PoliGazette has the answers to those questions. As usual it is about one thing only: money.

One of the most fervent supporters of the Armenian cause in the United States is Senator Robert Menendez. He is one of the Senators who blocked George W. Bush’s nomination for ambassador to Armenia; when Bush wanted to send that person, Menendez blocked the nomination because the nominee refused to call what happened to the Armenian as ‘genocide.’ Later Bush nominated another diplomat, and once again Menendez objected, etc. In the end, though, Marie Yovanovitch was finally confirmed.

And once again Americans wondered what the hell just happened. Why was Menendez so passionate about this subject? Why is history politicized?

As said, it is about one thing, and one thing only; money. PoliGazette’s Kemal (who did most of the work) and me, Michael, took a closer look at the financial records of Senator Menendez and found that he has been paid and bought by Armenian activists. All in all, this Senator received some $136,000 from Armenian action committees and individuals; quite a gigantic sum.

Below follows the complete record of Armenian donations to Senator Menendez. I’ll summarize the findings here, for details, scroll down to the records.

One of the first things one notices about the Armenians who donated to Senator Menendez is that many of the Armenian donaters do not live in New Jersey. This means that he is not representing them, since American Senators represent a specific part of the population who are able to vote him or her in and out of office. In other words, a sizable part of Menendez’s donaters are not his constituents.

Since he does not represent them nor their regional interests, common sense dictates that he works for them in other areas. This is, obviously, the Armenian Genocide issue. Menendez has become one of the most vocal US Senators on this subject.

Another interesting aspect of Menendez’s financial records is that he receives a lot of money from Armenian organizations, or PACS. These PACS are special interest groups, who often only deal with one subject. The Armenian PACS that donate to Menendez are the Armenian American PAC and the Armenian Americans Legislative Issues Committee. Together these PACS have donated $25,746 to Menendez.

Menendez’s own financial records taken from the Federal Election Commission’s website show that this one, individual Senator alone has received $136,481 from Armenian organizations and individuals, many of whom not constituents of this Democratic Senator for New Jersey. This amount, a significant amount, has caused Menendez to focus a lot of time and attention to the Armenian ‘Genocide’ issue and has, directly, resulted in international controversies and worsening relations with America’s allies.

Here follow the details. Names of individuals are published because those records are available and open to the public already at other places.

DETAYLI LISTE ICIN / FULL INFORMATION OF AMERICAN SENATOR BUYING DETAILS  OF ARMENIANS ARE BELOW

AND SOME COMMENTS FROM THE NEWSPAPER ARE POSTED BELOW


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One response to “Amerikan Senatorleri NASIL SATIN ALINIR : Buying Policies of Armenian American nationalists”

  1. kb@turkishforum.com Avatar
    kb@turkishforum.com

    14 Comments »

    1 Jay_C
    August 5, 2008 @ 3:28 pm CEST
    I’m glad to see you guys doing coverage on such issues. Not that I’m saying anyone here is, but it would be naïve to think that this exception, rather than the rule when it comes to any politician (Senators, Congressman, Presidents, Alderman, for your local ward, etc). It is a systemic problem. The old, “the other guy does it, so I guess I can too, right?” “It’s how the “game” is played”. News flash.., this is not a game… Buying policies is a bi-partisan issue, and needs to be brought to light on both sides of the aisle. I say you guys should do this sort of investigative reporting on any and all instances of this sort. If you did a series on this sort of thing, I would say your readership would increase quite a bit! Thanks again!

    2 Michael van der Galien, Editor-in-Chief
    August 5, 2008 @ 3:33 pm CEST
    Jay C; from now onwards, we will look at the financial records of several politicians regularly, and in depth. When something is discovered, and like you I am 100% certain that many other politicians are so bought by some (different but still) interest groups. We will continue to report about that in the coming months and weeks.

    3 Robert
    August 5, 2008 @ 10:27 pm CEST
    Gee, I think I’m in the wrong camp…
    After all these years, still didn’t get a cent from the Turkish Gov. !!!

    I think we have a clear view here that prostitution DOES pay…

    4 Jannaan
    August 5, 2008 @ 11:12 pm CEST
    Well, wha d you know?..

    All these years, whenever somebody unearthed a document clearing the Turks off the false Armenian allegations, the Armenian propagandists intimidated them, or smeared their reputation. While these years, they were the ones who did the buying.

    Remember how the Armenians campaigned for John Kerry with slogans ‘from your house to the White House’.

    I wonder, how they bought Barack Obama? I hope he learns the truth before it is too late.

    Has anyone read the list of politicians Harut Sassunian recommends the Armenians to work on in his column, a few days ago?

    Could someone please check out psychiatrist Izrael Charny’s records. Even though he knows nothing about the historical events of 1915, he is very vocal todeclare the events as Armen geno.

    I have no doubt that Taner Akcam is a sucker for he almost reached American Green Card status from being in jail for abductication of an American Embassy personnel in Ankara in the 70s. The Armenians have been vely vely good to enemies of the Turkish Republic.

    5 Ertugun
    August 6, 2008 @ 12:32 am CEST
    Here’s an idea. Why don’t we do an investigation of Michael van der Galien’s financial records to see how much he is being paid by the Turkish government to run this website and spew out all the Armenian Genocide denial propaganda. I bet we would find some really interesting facts there. Or maybe if he has the courage he’ll reveal all this himself in the name of citizen journalism by running an investigative piece on himself.

    6 Hally
    August 6, 2008 @ 12:52 am CEST
    Well, Michael, I have to hand it to you. Excellent article with some very excellent information about Menendez’s bias, no, no make that BIA$$$$.

    Oh Ertugun, wake up and smell the coffee. Not everyone is corrupt like Menendez and those who bought him.

    If anything, the Turkish government would more than not like to shut Michael up so he stops criticizing the Islamic ways of the AKP.
    $136,000 for one pol, now there are 50 Senators and 435 and something odd House of Representatives. Sheesh, that’s some serious cash (136kx485=$66M).

    Maybe the diaspora should send that money to Armenia to feed the poor instead. It certainly would be a more useful and effective way of using the money.

    7 Hally
    August 6, 2008 @ 1:14 am CEST
    Oh, this is too hilarious!

    The links actually work and lead you to pdfs of the original documents.

    8 Hyola
    August 6, 2008 @ 7:33 am CEST
    Wow – very compressive records of donors – of course all legal. Here’s some illegal/foreign agents influencing the US government type fodder:

    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9774.htm

    http://www.democracynow.org/2005/8/10/did_speaker_hastert_accept_turkish_bribes

    http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0804-06.htm

    http://www.libertycoalition.net/sibel-edmonds-case-dennis-hastert-receive-payoffs-services-rendered

    http://www.talkleft.com/story/2005/08/03/607/55336

    9 Lucrèce
    August 6, 2008 @ 4:40 pm CEST
    Good job. However, if Mr. Menendez is almost a caricature, the ANCA and the AAA contributed to the campaign of many other US politicians, both Democrats (Nancy Pelosi) and Republican (Arnold Schwartzenegger). It would be necessary to document this other financial supports.

    10 Kiraz
    August 6, 2008 @ 7:08 pm CEST
    Does anybody care that the Armenian genocide thesis has already become an economic sector in which 1288 lobby foundations are working in the United States alone. The Armenians spend 3-6 billion dollars annually for their activities (www.haberler.com/sozde-ermeni-soykirimi-iddialariyla-ilgili-bin-288-haberi/). This amount of money is more than enough to save Armenia from poverty.

    If the Armenians were sure of their thesis, why have they spent that much money and hired 1288 lobby foundations only in the US, instead of simply going to court? What is the reason of their insistent refusal of Turkey’s suggestions to discuss these events together with historians from both sides and historians from other countries?

    It is not surprising that they spend much to organize and give financial support to politicians. However, I am not sure that the Armenians spend money only to support the politicians. Here are the reasons of my suspicions:

    The archives of Dashnak Party is present in Zorian Armenian Institute in Boston. Both Turkish government and Turkish History Foundation offered the Armenians to open these archives years ago; but the directors of the Institute replied that they did not have enough money to open the archives. Turkish government and Turkish History Foundation promised financial support. Zorian Institute rejected this offer too (http://www.ntvmsnbc.com/news/418517.asp).

    However, is it not interesting that Zorian Institute who claimed not to be wealthy enough, financed Taner Akçam who advocated the Armenian claims in Minnesota University up till now, as confirmed by the authorities of the university?

    Thus, is it not obvious that the real purpose of the Armenians is not justice and the truth! Instead they want the public to accept the history which was ordered and rewritten by themselves as they wished to have been. So, they claim that the historians who do not support the Armenian thesis, could be paid agents of the Turkish Government.

    This accusation forces us to ask why the historians who support the Armenian thesis are exempt from this logic. Why overlook that they could be bought by the Armenians? Is it not a possibility, since Armenians have been investing that much money on this sector? And is it not striking that Turkey is considered insufficient to neutralise the activities of Armenian Organisations by launching counter activity reflecting its views, by foreigners (http://www.gulfnews.com/opinion/columns/world/10168595.html)?

    And if all the historians who do not support the Armenian thesis were people hired by the Turkish government, and if the Turkish government pays historians if and only if they support the Turkish thesis, then how has Fatma Muge Gocek, a Turkish origined scholar who supports the Armenian thesis been able to be a board member of the Institute of Turkish Studies financed by Turkish government in Georgetown University, Columbia (http://www.turkishstudies.org/about.html)? How could she give conferences supporting the Armenian views up till now? She is the second Turkish origined academician the Armenians approve after Taner Akçam http://www.armeniangenocide.com/showthread.php?t=2471 http://www.eraren.org/index.php?Lisan=tr&Page=Makaleler&MakaleNo=3008

    Can you imagine Taner Akçam, who advocated the Armenian claims in Minnesota University up till now and was financed by Zorian Armenian Institute as confirmed by the university authorities, give conferences against the Armenian thesis?

    In conclusion, the question what the Armenians do with 1288 lobby foundations for which they pay 3-6 billion dollars annually, except organizing financial support to the politicians still remains to be answered.

    11 http://www.beyazrenkler.org engin demirci
    August 7, 2008 @ 3:11 pm CEST
    It is not surprising that they spend much to organize and give financial support to politicians. However, I am not sure that the Armenians spend money only to support the politicians. Here are the reasons of my suspicions:The archives of Dashnak Party is present in Zorian Armenian Institute in Boston. Both Turkish government and Turkish History Foundation offered the Armenians to open these archives years ago; but the directors of the Institute replied that they did not have enough money to open the archives. Turkish government and Turkish History Foundation promised financial support. Zorian Institute rejected this offer too (http://www.ntvmsnbc.com/news/418517.asp).
    http://www.beyazrenkler.org

    12 East as 1 2 3
    August 10, 2008 @ 1:28 am CEST
    You say Armenian individuals and PACs have donated 136K to Menendez in the past 12 years, a good deal of it in election cycles prior to 2006-8 when Menendez started to stand up for Armenian issues. At least one of the names of your list is conspicuously non-Armenian (and almost 10K total amount is his). You act like you have some sort of super special breaking news-worthy story here when your rationale of -ian last name = doing it for Armenian issues is first of all extremely narrow minded and juvenile. Secondly it is also making a huge presumption which in any court of law would be utterly unacceptable.
    Worst of all, a simple look at that website will bring up one Turkish PAC alone founded LESS THAN A YEAR AGO which has donated almost 90K to congressmen. That is in ONE year’s time while you had to go over a decade for your Armenian count. Imagine if we got Turkish donation numbers going that far back. It’s not as simple as looking for -ian names but if you look at the politicians that PAC donated to and also the donations towards typically pro-Turkish congressmen (examples being Robert Wexler and Dan Burton) it is not hard for the Turkish names to start jumping out at you on the list. And sure enough unlike this Armenian list where the vast majority of them are from New Jersey (and most of the others NYC which is just over the border and so clearly a NJ senator is a regional interest, they might have businesses there, etc.) none of those Turks donating to those congressmen are from the district.
    So what does this mean, that Turks are no different than Armenians and that this is much ado about nothing, or something else? Either way I’d like to hear it.

    13 Jonathan Wilson
    August 15, 2008 @ 7:36 am CEST
    Considering that speakers that go up in front of the ANCA and ONLY talk about the Armenian Genocide for 2-3 hours. It proves that anyone name ending in -ian is most likely (though maybe not always) donating for the “Cause” as some Armenians call it nowadays.

    The “Cause” of recognizing a 93 year old genocide, to form the legal basis of which to demand reparations… From Insurance companies, from governments, from individuals — that’s why they spend so much money on this issue, because they believe in the end it will all be worth it.

    The Turks donating for congressmen is usually completely difficult to trace. The reason is, most Turks do not have the same Turkish last names, and most Turks vote for who they like and will benefit America. They are assimilated. You have Turks voting for Obama and donating thousands to Obama and who have donated thousands to Hillary and Edwards and other Democratic congressmen. Then you have Turks who vote for McCain and donated thousands for some Republican congressmen.

    So as you can see, the Turks are not a one-issue people. The Armenians aren’t either, but a majority of them are.

    I dare you to find any financial records of Michael, or of any congressmen that will total over 136,000$.

    Please do not spread lies, the Turkish government does not fund senators/congressmen and the Turks do not specifically fund congressmen for certain policies. In fact, there has never been a policy for “Let’s not recognize the Armenian Genocide” but there has always been policies called “Let’s recognize the Armenian Genocide.”

    14 Baris Tarim
    August 27, 2008 @ 1:17 am CEST
    Aside from anything, I have to salute the depth of the journalistic work done here. Impressive job Michael…

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