Turkey and the Indians – The Washington Post

By Al Kamen, Published: July 25

History is littered with odd couples: Oscar and Felix, Anna Nicole Smith and that old guy, etc. Add to that list Native Americans and . . . Turkey?

That unlikely pairing was the star of a perplexing bill that failed on the House floor Monday night. The measure would have made it easier for American Indian tribes to do business with Turkey.

Why Turkey, one might ask? An excellent question. Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), the bill’s sponsor, explains the ties that bind the disparate populations that live half a globe apart: “There’s a deep interest,” he said on the House floor last night. “There has been for hundreds of years.”

Turkey, he noted, was the only country to send a delegation to a recent Native American economic development conference, and there are scholarships for Native Americans at Turkish schools.

Well, then. Mystery solved — sort of.

And what kind of business might the Turks want to do with the tribes? Well, that’s also a good question, but getting a precise answer proved rather difficult.

In news releases, Lincoln McCurdy, president of the Turkish Coalition, said it’s all about “new commercial activity.” And John Berrey, chairman of Oklahoma’s Quapaw tribe, hailed “new global partnerships.”

Such as?

The bill makes mention of leasing land for “grazing” or farming or other, unnamed commercial purposes. Cole’s office referred us to the Turkish Coalition to provide specific examples, and a spokesman suggested that a Turkish solar-energy company was interested in leasing tribal land for a plant and that a construction company wanted to build infrastructure.

via Turkey and the Indians – The Washington Post.

more : https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/turkey-and-the-indians/2012/07/24/gJQAbNuj8W_story.html