Turkish Forum

Author: Harut Sassounian

  • Prominent Pro-Erdogan Istanbul Armenian Engages in Pro-Turkish Propaganda

    Prominent Pro-Erdogan Istanbul Armenian Engages in Pro-Turkish Propaganda

    Despite the many violations of Armenian cultural and religious rights in Turkey, there are some Armenians in Istanbul who praise the Turkish regime and particularly its fascist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

    These few pro-Erdogan Armenians, who enjoy special privileges and access to high-ranking Turkish officials, represent themselves as protectors of the local Armenian community’s interests. But in reality, they have selfish motives. They either have personal business interests with corrupt Turkish leaders or seek to maintain their undeserved positions in Armenian community institutions. One such individual is Bedros Sirinoglu, Chairman of the Board of Sourp Prgich Armenian Hospital in Istanbul.

    In a recent interview with journalist Pinar Isik Ardor of Forum USA, a Turkish American newspaper, Sirinoglu made several false statements about the Armenian community in Turkey and distorted the facts of the Armenian Genocide.

    Sirinoglu’s words were “shocking,” according to Istanbul’s Nor Marmara Armenian newspaper. Sirinoglu told Forum USA that Armenians have never lived as comfortably as they have been during Erdogan’s leadership! He also made untrue statements about the Armenian Genocide, stating that “the events of 1915 were organized by outside powers intending to dismantle and overthrow the Ottoman Empire.”

    Furthermore, Sirinoglu told Forum USA: “Before Erdogan’s time, we could not even paint or repair our churches. We could only do it when the state pretended not to notice such actions.” Sirinoglu repeatedly claimed he has done good deeds for the Armenian community in Turkey. Several years ago, he said he had requested a meeting with Erdogan which was immediately granted. He asked Erdogan to permit the placement of a cross on the dome of the Holy Cross Armenian Church in Akhtamar. He reportedly told Erdogan: “Just as you cannot have a mosque without a minaret, similarly you cannot have a church without a cross.” Sirinoglu claimed that “Erdogan had the cross placed overnight on the Akhtamar church.” If Sirinoglu was so influential, why didn’t he ask Erdogan to restore the status of the Akhtamar as a Armenian church instead of designating it a “museum,” allowing religious services to be performed only once a year! Sirinoglu also ignored the fact that Armenians and others worldwide, including the Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul, had demanded the placement of the cross on the dome of the church. Sirinoglu was not the only one to make such a request.

    Calling them “fictional scenarios,” Sirinoglu contradicted the various Western reports that Armenian religious rights are restricted in Turkey. The 67-year-old Sirinoglu told the Turkish newspaper: “Since my childhood days Armenians have not had any problems.”

    When the Turkish journalist reminded Sirinoglu that some Armenians are not pleased with his words, he responded: “If you don’t speak as they wish, they become hostile. I stand by the state. I do not betray my own country. I am an Armenian, but I am a Turkish compatriot. Our faith orders us to be faithful to the state. Our Bible preaches likewise.”

    Sirinoglu’s most controversial remarks pertain to his misinterpretation of the Armenian Genocide. He stated that “he approaches with suspicion the [Armenian victims’] numbers used regarding 1915.” He added that “Armenians, Jews and Greeks were wealthy in that period, which is why there was enmity against them. Now the Armenian population is gradually decreasing. The birth rate is low. The death rate is high. There are also mixed marriages.”

    When the Turkish journalist asked Sirinoglu if the Armenians, Greeks and Jews share the same point of view, Sirinolglu answered affirmatively and added: “We only disagree about the events of 1915. Greek Patriarch Bartholomew has a reserved and principled position, also regarding the government. The Jews also like the state, but they are also men of principle. They do not abandon their principles. The Jews living here do not betray Turkey, but they are tied to Israel.”

    Finally, Sirinoglu responded to a question regarding the recent decrease in the value of the Turkish Lira. Repeating the same answer given by Erdogan, Sirinoglu blamed foreign powers for orchestrating “this game against the Turkish economy.”

    This is not the first time that Sirinoglu has made such false statements on the Armenian Genocide. For example, after meeting with then Prime Minister Erdogan in 2010, he told the Turkish media that “1915 was nothing more than a feud between loving friends, instigated by third parties.” He went on to say that his “grandfather was among the victims, but so were many Turks.”

    Back in 2010, Armenians in Istanbul launched a petition announcing that Sirinoglu is not their leader and does not represent the Armenian community. Angered by Sirinoglu’s statements, the petitioners stressed: “We live in a different Turkey,” not the Turkey described by Sirinoglu!

  • Trump and Bolton Undermine The International Criminal Court

    Trump and Bolton Undermine The International Criminal Court

    Many Americans and others around the world have been following with great concern the irrational statements and destructive decisions made by Pres. Trump ever since his election.

    Some of the President’s policies on national and international issues have made the United States the laughing stock of the world. The latest such example is the announcement by the White House National Security Adviser John Bolton that the United States will not cooperate with the International Criminal Court; will not allow the Court’s judges to travel to the United States; will sanction their funds in American banks; and prosecute them in U.S. courts.

    According to Wikipedia, “the International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal that sits in The Hague in the Netherlands. The ICC has the jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The ICC is intended to complement existing national judicial systems and it may therefore only exercise its jurisdiction when certain conditions are met, such as when national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute criminals or when the United Nations Security Council or individual states refer situations to the Court. The ICC began functioning on 1 July 2002, the date that the Rome Statute entered into force. The Rome Statute is a multilateral treaty which serves as the ICC’s foundational and governing document. States which become party to the Rome Statute, for example, by ratifying it, become member states of the ICC. Currently, there are 123 states which are party to the Rome Statute and therefore members of the ICC.”

    John Bolton, the National Security Adviser of Pres. Trump, in a highly critical speech on Sept. 10, 2018, rejected the jurisdiction of the ICC, especially in cases involving accusations against the United States and its allies, particularly Israel.

    Bolton and his boss were incensed by ICC’s investigation of possible crimes committed by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan and charges brought by the Palestinian National Authority against Israel. To prevent any legal action against American forces, the United States has signed binding agreements with 100 countries not to surrender any U.S. personnel to the ICC. Furthermore, the United States shut down the representative office of Palestine in Washington, D.C., because of the latter’s intention to file charges at the ICC for alleged Israeli violations. This comes on the heels of the White House decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, thus eliminating all possibility for the United States to serve as an honest broker between the Palestinian Authorities and Israel.

    Bolton gave five reasons for the U.S. refusal to cooperate with the ICC:

    The first reason is Bolton’s claim that the ICC “threatens American sovereignty and US national security interests. The prosecutor in The Hague claims essentially unfettered discretion to investigate, charge, and prosecute individuals, regardless of whether their countries have acceded to the Rome Statute.” Bolton’s claim is not accurate. First, all international treaties ratified by the United States supersede national sovereignty, such as the Genocide Convention and many others. Secondly, the ICC has jurisdiction over U.S. citizens only in cases where the U.N. Security Council authorizes the Court to do so. While the United States is not a member of the ICC, it is a Permanent Member of the U.N. Security Council and as such it has veto power over its decisions. Thirdly, the ICC does not get involved in cases where the home country takes legal action against its own citizens.

    Bolton’s second objection is that “the International Criminal Court claims jurisdiction over crimes that have disputed and ambiguous definitions, exacerbating the court’s unfettered powers.” Bolton is concerned that ICC judges would bring charges against the United States, in cases such as the U.S. bombing of Syria in 2017 for its alleged use of chemical weapons. As in any other trial, if the evidence proves that the United States acted illegally, there should be an appropriate verdict. No country is above international law. The U.S. is already protected from such Court actions as a non-member of the ICC. It is ironic that the United States, after preaching for decades to the rest of the world about upholding law and order, is now flouting the very principles that America was founded on!

    Bolton’s third concern is that “the International Criminal Court fails in its fundamental objective to deter and punish atrocity crimes. Since its 2002 inception, the court has spent over $1.5 billion while attaining only eight convictions.” Contrary to Bolton’s assertion, the eight convictions prove that the Court is very deliberate in its judgments and does not pursue every little case around the world, allowing member states to charge their own accused citizens.

    Bolton’s fourth complaint is that “the International Criminal Court is superfluous, given that domestic US judicial systems already hold American citizens to the highest legal and ethical standards.” This is an easily dismissible issue. If the ICC finds that U.S. courts have dealt with a particular crime, it will not interfere. The ICC is a court of last resort. This is one of ICC’s main guidelines.

    Bolton’s fifth criticism is that “the International Criminal Court’s authority has been sharply criticized and rejected by most of the world. Today, more than 70 nations…are not members of the ICC.” While 70 countries are not yet members of ICC, 123 countries are members! Over time, more nations will join the ICC, as is the case with other international conventions.

    Rather than argue against the rule of law, the United States should be the first to join such international legal institutions. By rejecting the ICC and considering it to be “dead,” as Bolton described it, the United States is simply encouraging the impunity of brutal regimes and dictators around the world!

  • Congress Must Investigate U.S. Loans To Secretive Azeri Silk Way Airlines

    Congress Must Investigate U.S. Loans To Secretive Azeri Silk Way Airlines

    Last year, I wrote an article reporting that the Silk Way Airlines of Azerbaijan made 350 secret flights to transport hundreds of tons of weapons from Bulgaria to ISIS terrorists in Syria and other Middle Eastern countries between 2014 and 2017.

    We now have a new surprising revelation that Silk Way received $419.5 million of loans from the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM) to buy three 747-8 cargo planes from Boeing to continue its sinister operations.

    The disclosure was made by a reporter for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) by filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the U.S. government in 2016. It is noteworthy that Silk Way, “owned by a company with past ties to Azerbaijan’s Aliyev family, won some lucrative contracts from the U.S. military,” according to FOIA documents.

    In fact, “Silk Way was given contracts worth more than $400 million with the U.S. Defense Department’s Transportation Command for more than decade,” according to Devansh Mehta of OCCRP. Silk Way transported “ammunition and other non-lethal materials” to Afghanistan as of 2005. “In addition to its relationship with the U.S. government, Silk Way Airlines has also worked as a subcontractor for the Canadian Department of National Defense, the German armed forces, and the French army,” Mehta revealed.

    In April 2017, Silk Way increased its purchases from Boeing, signing a $1 billion deal for 10 new 737 MAX passenger planes, according to reporter Mehta. However, it is not known how the new acquisition was financed. Last October, Silk Way announced plans to buy two more 747-8 cargo planes.

    Mehta disclosed that “the airline is owned by Silk Way Group, which, at least at one point, was closely associated with Azerbaijan’s ruling Aliyev family (which has used its planes for private trips) and has benefited from benevolent state deals. Information obtained through FOIA shows that Silk Way Airlines took steps to conceal its owners’ identity, perhaps to improve its chances of winning the valuable U.S. loan guarantees and military contracts.”

    Mehta added that “Azerbaijan ranks 122nd out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s corruption perception index, while President Ilham Aliyev’s family owns luxury properties around the world worth over $140 million. The Panama Papers and other leaks have implicated the country’s first family as being involved in nearly all sectors of the Azerbaijani economy, from luxury hotels to mining to banking.”

    According to the terms of the Export-Import Bank’s $419.5 million loan to Silk Way, in case of default the loss would be repaid by the state-owned International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA). The problem is that IBA has been “implicated in the Azerbaijani Laundromat, a massive scheme that pumped nearly $3 billion out of the country through various shell companies,” Mehta wrote. Furthermore, IBA is not in a position to guarantee the Silk Way loan, as the IBA itself declared bankruptcy in 2015, unable to pay its $3.3 billion debt!

    Nate Schenkkan, project director of the Nations in Transit report at Freedom House, a US-based nonprofit that monitors democracy and human rights around the world, questioned the wisdom of EXIM Bank’s loan to Silk Way: “In Azerbaijan, where one family dominates economically and politically, and is then using state institutions to back its economic projects, there’s an obvious conflict of interest.”

    Arzu Aliyeva, Pres. Aliyev’s 21-year-old daughter in 2010, was one of the three owners of Silk Way Bank, the financial arm of Silk Way Holding. Since 2017, her name is no longer mentioned as an owner. “Silk Way Holding, also referred to as Silk Way Group (SW Group) on its website, is a conglomerate that has currently listed 11 companies in its portfolio, including the airline,” according to Mehta.

    Silk Way Holding dominated Azerbaijan’s aviation sector after the state carrier AZAL airlines was privatized in a highly secretive manner without any bids and tenders. Mehta wrote that “a similar privatization of the telecom sector ended up with the [Aliyev] family earning about $1 billion in bribes in cash and share value, according to an earlier OCCRP story. The investigation also found that the money was funneled to the first family through various secret offshore companies. These companies have enabled the Aliyevs to control stakes in gold mines, telecommunications and construction businesses in Azerbaijan.”

    According to a filing in 2006, Silk Way Airlines was owned by IHC (International Handling Company), an offshore entity based in the British Virgin Islands. In a 2017 filing, Silk Way Airlines stated that 40% of the company was owned by IHC, while 60% was owned by SW Holding, “effectively controlled” by Zaur Akhundov, an Azerbaijani citizen. Mehta stated that “IHC is linked to the Aliyev family through its director Jaouad Dbila who reportedly served as a proxy for the first family’s business interests in the past.”

    In 2011, a Russian-born manager, Grigory Yurkov, was given power of attorney for both Silk Way Holding and IHC, according to Luxembourg’s official gazette. This appointment was used as a means to conceal the true owners of IHC.

    Meanwhile, Zaur Akhundov had mysteriously become the 100% owner of the entire Silk Way Group in 2014. By that time, the firm and its many holdings were already worth billions of dollars, Mehta declared, based on the company’s loan guarantee application. Akhundov, 50, had held several official positions in Azerbaijan. “It is unclear how Akhundov became the owner of a billion-dollar conglomerate with more than 10 aircrafts, an insurance company, a construction company and an aircraft maintenance company, to name a few of the enterprises in the Silk Way Group,” Mehta wondered.

    According Schenkkan of Freedom House, “Azerbaijan can be described as a centralized, vertical pyramid where the benefits go to one family that collects rents throughout the economy. This includes all sorts of transactions, not only official state transactions that might involve taxes and public funds, but also things that involve what we normally consider the private sector: import-export, consumer goods, transport — any area of the economy, the family has a stake in it and receives a cut on what takes place.”

    The U.S. Congress should hold a hearing to investigate the appropriateness of EXIM Bank’s $419.5 million loan guarantee to Silk Way Airlines, its arms shipments to terrorist groups in the Middle East, and its hidden ownership by the ruling Aliyev family. After all, why should Azerbaijan, a country with billions of petrodollars, be given a U.S. loan?

  • Despite an Encouraging Visit to Armenia, Chancellor Merkel Didn’t Say Genocide

    Despite an Encouraging Visit to Armenia, Chancellor Merkel Didn’t Say Genocide

     

    Last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Media reports indicated that her visit to Armenia and meetings with its leadership were very constructive. Armenian-German political, cultural and trade relations are expected to expand. Merkel’s visit resulted in a much needed boost for Armenia’s new democratic government.

    One of the sensitive issues that both Armenians and the international community were carefully following was Chancellor Merkel’s comments on the Armenian Genocide. The German Parliament (Bundestag) almost unanimously adopted a resolution in 2016 recognizing the Armenian Genocide and declared that “the German Empire bears partial complicity in the events.”

    Immediately after the adoption of the Genocide resolution, Turkey withdrew its ambassador from Berlin and threatened to cut off ties with Germany. Relations between Germany and Turkey remain tense for a variety of reasons, but are expected to improve after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s forthcoming visit to Germany in late September.

    While in Yerevan, Chancellor Merkel paid a visit to the Armenian Genocide Memorial. She laid a wreath in memory of the 1.5 million Armenian victims and planted a tree at an adjacent park. However, Merkel avoided the use of the term genocide in Yerevan, describing Turkey’s mass killings as “heinous crimes against Armenians” which “cannot and must not be forgotten.” She also stated that she had visited the Genocide Memorial “in the spirit of the Bundestag 2016 resolution.” She clarified that the language used was “a political, not a legal classification.”

    Despite Merkel’s goodwill toward Armenia and her very positive statements, I hope that Armenia’s leaders reminded her that the proper term to describe the planned extermination of 1.5 million Armenians is “Genocide,” not simply “heinous crimes.”

    Armenia’s leaders could have informed Chancellor Merkel of a recent report by Ben Knight of Germany’s Deutsche Welle (DW) about the weapons provided by the German Reich to the Ottoman Turkish forces to carry out the Armenian Genocide.

    According to DW, “Mauser, Germany’s main manufacturer of small arms in both world wars, supplied the Ottoman Empire with millions of rifles and handguns, which were used in the genocide with the active support of German officers.” Furthermore, quoting from a report by “Global Net — Stop the Arms Trade,” DW stated that “the Turkish army was also equipped with hundreds of cannons produced by the Essen-based company Krupp, which were used in Turkey’s assault on Armenian resistance fighters holding out on the Musa Dagh Mountain in 1915.”

    The author of the Global Net report, Wolfgang Landgraeber, wrote that “Mauser really had a rifle monopoly for the Ottoman Empire.”

    DW revealed that “many of the firsthand German accounts in the report come from letters by Major Graf Eberhard Wolffskehl, who was stationed in the southeastern Turkish city of Urfa in October 1915. Urfa was home to a substantial population of Armenians, who barricaded themselves inside houses against the Turkish infantry. Wolffskehl was serving as chief of staff to Fakhri Pasha, deputy commander of the Ottoman 4th Army, which had been called in as reinforcement.”

    In a letter to his wife, Major Wolffskehl shamelessly bragged about the killing of Armenians by German troops in Urfa: “They [the Armenians] had occupied the houses south of the church in numbers. When our artillery fire struck the houses and killed many people inside, the others tried to retreat into the church itself. But … they had to go around the church across the open church courtyard. Our infantry had already reached the houses to the left of the courtyard and shot down the people fleeing across the church courtyard in piles. All in all the infantry, which I used in the main attack … acquitted itself very well and advanced very dashingly.”

    Landgraeber also reported that “while German companies provided the guns, and German soldiers the expert advice on how to use them, German officers also laid the ideological foundations” for the Armenian Genocide.

    German Navy Attache Hans Humann, a member of the German-Turkish officer corps and close friend of the Ottoman Empire’s war minister, Enver Pasha, wrote: “The Armenians — because of their conspiracy with the Russians — will be more or less exterminated. That is hard, but useful.”

    Furthermore, Landgraeber wrote in his report about “the Prussian major general Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz, a key figure who became a vital military adviser to the Ottoman court in 1883 and saw himself as a lobbyist for the German arms industry and supported both Mauser and Krupp in their efforts to secure Turkish commissions. (He once boasted in his diary, ‘I can claim that without me the rearmament of the [Turkish] army with German models would not have happened.’)” Goltz “helped persuade the Sultan to try and end the Armenian question once and for all!”

    The above quotations support the admission by Bundestag’s 2016 resolution that Germany was complicit in the Armenian Genocide and German President Joachim Gauck’s acknowledgment in 2015 about Germany’s “co-responsibility” for the Armenian Genocide. Being well aware of these facts, Chancellor Merkel should have called the Armenian Genocide by its proper name: Genocide!

  • Fox-TV’s Devastating Attack On Turkey and Pres. Erdogan

    Fox-TV’s Devastating Attack On Turkey and Pres. Erdogan

    As the conflict between Turkey and United States is heating up, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is too stupid to realize that by continuing to hold American Pastor Andrew Brunson on trumped-up charges, he is undermining Turkey’s economy and its membership in NATO. Any other intelligent Turkish leader would have released Pastor Brunson a long time ago and maintained military and trade relations with the United States.

    Even though the Turkish government is paying millions of dollars a year to hire high-powered American lobbying and public relations firms, none of them can protect Turkey’s reputation from Erdogan’s erratic behavior. Every time he opens his mouth and takes an inept action, Erdogan further damages Turkey’s relations with other countries, reminding the world and reinforcing the long-established image of the “Barbarian Turk.”

    Here is an example of the negative PR generated by Erdogan against his own country in the American media. Lisa “Kennedy” Montgomery on Fox Business TV, Pres. Trump’s favorite channel, delivered the following devastating attack against Pres. Erdogan on August 16, 2018. In addition to millions of Americans who watched her commentary on TV, 662,000 others saw it on Facebook and many more on Twitter. Kennedy even mentioned the Armenian Genocide, as a way of getting back at Turkey!

    “How do I despise thee Erdogan? Let me count the ways. The Turkish president is putting his country in a diplomatic pickle by refusing to free an American Pastor over ‘terrorism charges.’ The fake crime is a bunch of hot malarkey, a rancid plate of Turkish non-delight; and although Erdogan has been concentrating his power to fake elections, imprisoning journalists, and purging academics, he didn’t bet that he would be strong-armed by another strong man. Our president has had it up to his eyeballs with Turkey trolling, and instead of empty words, Pres. Trump is offering a full-throttled digital slap to Erdogan, tweeting: ‘I have just authorized a doubling of Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum with respect to Turkey as their currency, the Turkish Lira, slides rapidly downward against our very strong Dollar! Aluminum will now be 20% and Steel 50%. Our relations with Turkey are not good at this time!’”

    Kennedy continued her criticism by stating: “When were they [relations with Turkey] ever good? The Turkish government is a disgrace, and past administrations have either coddled them or sat idly by while they’ve rolled out the welcome mat and threw the door open for ISIS, all while cozying up to Russia. This is not our strategic partner. This is a corrupt, murderous regime that should be kicked out of NATO for a host of human rights violations, not to mention deep kissing the Russians who are supposedly the biggest regional threat. Now, sure, there have been counter-threats. Now Erdogan is saying he will pull the iPhone off the market as if the people there can use the device to mobilize, enrich themselves or seek freedom from a murderous regime that wants total control, and is willing to tank the global economy to prove a childish point! And while we are at it, and while the president [Trump] is hot under the collar, if he really wants to make his new party pal Kim Kardashian happy, he should officially, and once and for all, acknowledge the Armenian Genocide which was not ‘an issue’ or ‘a series of unfortunate events,’ but a cold-blooded slaughter of 1.5 million people whose memory will not be erased by any Napoleonic nincompoop. Release Pastor Andrew Brunson, President Erdogan, and fear [Pres. Trump’s National Security Advisor John R. Bolton’s] moustache [as] Bolton is mongering, so for the sake of world peace put up and shut up so you don’t get blown up!”

    To make matters worse for Erdogan, Pres. Trump told American journalists on August 17, 2018: “Turkey has been a problem for a long time. They have not acted as a friend. We will see what happens. They have a wonderful Christian pastor. He is a wonderful man, Pastor Brunson. They made this phony charge that he is a spy, and he is not a spy. He is going through a trial right now, if you call it a ‘trial.’ They should have given him back a long time ago. And Turkey has, in my opinion, acted very, very badly. So we have not seen the last of that. We are not going to take it sitting down. They can’t take our people. So you will see what happens!”

    Before Armenians get too impressed with Pres. Trump’s threatening words, they must remember that despite Turkey’s anti-U.S. and anti-NATO policies for several decades, the West has kept heaping praises on Turkish leaders. No one in the West has had the guts to put Turkey in its place. If tomorrow, the unpredictable Erdogan releases Pastor Brunson, I am afraid Pres. Trump will start praising Erdogan once again, as he has done with Kim Jong Un of North Korea and Vladimir Putin of Russia.

    Pres. Trump should not forget that in addition to holding Pastor Brunson, Turkey invaded and occupied Northern Cyprus in 1974, banned the crossing of American troops into Northern Iraq from Turkey during the Iraq War, attacked the Kurdish allies of the United States in Northern Syria, is planning to purchase the Russian S-400 missile system contrary to NATO’s admonition, helped circumvent U.S. sanctions on Iran, and supported the entry of ISIS terrorists to Syria from Turkey.

    Even after Pastor Brunson is liberated, Turkey should not be forgiven for its many indiscretions. As numerous analysts have recently suggested, Turkey should be immediately kicked out of NATO!

  • Countering Erdogan’s Propaganda In The New York Times

    Countering Erdogan’s Propaganda In The New York Times

    By Harut Sassounian
     
    For many years, the Turkish government has hired numerous American companies in Washington, D.C., to lobby and carry out public relations on its behalf.
     
    Hiring such companies is very expensive and most of the time, it is a waste of money, as they produce more paperwork than actual results. But once in a while, they can draft and help publish opinion articles (op-eds) in American newspapers on behalf of Turkish officials and arrange their visits and meetings in the United States.
     
    The Turkish government is obligated to spend large amounts of money to hire such companies because it cannot rely on the Turkish-American community to lobby or do PR on its behalf, no matter how much funding is provided from Ankara. The same situation applies to the Azerbaijani government and the Azeri-American community. Neither the Turkish nor Azeri communities are very active in American politics and have not existed in the United States as long as the Armenian community. This is why Turkey and Azerbaijan rely on paid lobbyists to advance their interests in the United States.
     
    Given the recent turmoil in the relationship between the United States and Turkey, one of the PR firms hired by the Turkish government was probably asked to draft an opinion column on behalf of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and use its contacts to have that article published in The New York Times.
     
    Naturally, the column had to reflect the views of Erdogan rather than those of the PR firm. It would have been interesting to compare the first draft of what the American PR firm first suggested to the final version as revised by Erdogan’s staff.
     
    Judging from the content of Erdogan’s article, one can tell that the PR firm’s proposed text, written delicately and professionally, was not accepted by Ankara. Instead, what The New York Times ended up publishing is a typical bombastic article reflecting Erdogan’s dictatorial and pompous stand! Having rejected the PR firm’s more diplomatic text, Erdogan has made his article useless in having any positive effect on the American public and government.
     
    Erdogan’s August 10, 2018 critical article was titled: “How Turkey Sees the Crisis With the U.S.,” and subtitled: “Unilateral actions against Turkey by the United States will undermine American interests and force Turkey to look for other friends and allies.”
     
    The reader would be turned off right away from the article’s title by its confrontational tone and threatening language inappropriate for resolving any kind of a dispute. Here are a few examples of Erdogan’s questionable opinions expressed in his controversial op-ed column:
     
    — “…The United States has repeatedly and consistently failed to understand and respect the Turkish people’s concerns.”
     
    How about the Turkish leader’s need to understand and respect the concerns of the American people? The tail does not wag the dog! Erdogan does not comprehend that Turkey needs the United States more than the U.S. needs Turkey. For far too long, because of weak leadership in Washington, the Turkish government has gotten away with its inappropriate behavior as a NATO member and U.S. ally. The more American leaders accommodated Turkish misbehavior, the more antagonistic they have become. If decades ago, the United States had put Turkey in its place, it would have learned to behave as a junior U.S. partner, and not as a bully!
     
    — Erdogan warned: “Unless the United States starts respecting Turkey’s sovereignty and proves that it understands the dangers that our nation faces, our partnership could be in jeopardy…. Turkey has alternatives. Failure to reverse this trend of unilateralism and disrespect will require us to start looking for new friends and allies.”
     
    This is an empty threat. Turkey is free to turn to Russia or China and lose the support of the United States and Western Europe. It is high time for NATO to consider kicking Turkey out of the alliance. Good riddance!
     
    — Erdogan also accused the United States of arming Kurdish fighters in Syria and using these weapons against Turkey “in Syria, Iraq and Turkey” itself.
     
    First of all, it is a lie that U.S. weapons were used by Kurds in Turkey. Secondly, Turkish forces have no business invading Syria and Iraq, thus violating their territorial sovereignty.
     
    Erdogan went on to counter Pres. Trump’s request to free the unfairly held American pastor, Andrew Brunson, by asking the United States to respect Turkey’s “judicial process.” What judicial process under Erdogan’s dictatorship? Thousands of Turks have been in jail without any due process or an iota of guilt. If Erdogan had any brains, he would have ordered the release of Pastor Brunson a long time ago, thus avoiding an unnecessary conflict with the United States. Because Erdogan and his junior brother, Pres. Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, are so unhinged, they have generated negative publicity against Turkey and Azerbaijan that no PR company can fix, no matter how much money it is paid.
     
    Interestingly, The New York Times published an editorial on the same day as Erdogan’s article, condemning the Turkish leader’s “unscrupulous behavior” for holding Pastor Brunson on “trumped-up charges,” and asking: “is Turkey still an American ally?”
     
    Ironically, The New York Times editorial destroyed any benefit Erdogan was expecting from the publication of his propaganda article, thus wasting the large amount of money Turkey spent on public relations.