Turkish Forum

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  • “US Senator Buying Policies” of Armenian Lobby in the USA

    “US Senator Buying Policies” of Armenian Lobby in the USA

     

    Buying Policies

    Michael van der Galien, Editor-in-Chief

     

    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 ʽgenocide.ʼ

    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. Bushʼs 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 ʽgenocide.ʼ 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. PoliGazetteʼs 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. Iʼll 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 Menendezʼs 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 Menendezʼs 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.

    Menendezʼs own financial records taken from the Federal Election Commissionʼs 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 ʽGenocideʼ issue and has, directly, resulted in international controversies and worsening relations with Americaʼs allies.

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

    ——–
    Haberin aslini ve uzerine tiklaninca dokumanlari gosteren  bagislarin listesini gormek icin tikalyiniz.
  • Turkey’s East; Still One Big Mess

    Turkey’s East; Still One Big Mess

    Submitted by Michael van der Galiën

    Eastern Turkey is the country’s poorest region. A lot of Kurds live in that area, and a lot of poor Turkish people as well. These individuals have had little to no education, and still live in accordance with the beliefs, prejudices and ways of their ancestors.

    Although Turkey’s culture is great in many ways, it’s not so great in many other. The people in the East are often very conservative, and not very modern or enlightened. When we hear about Turkish immigrants in the West, who misbehave so tremendously, and who kill their daughters because they refuse to wear headscarfs, or have a Western (and Christian) boyfriend, we often forget that Turks from Western and Central Turkey aren’t like that at all; it are mostly Eastern Turks we hear about.

    The main reason for the above is simple: the area has not been given the attention it deserves. It has stayed behind, or at least not made a lot of progress in decades. Some things have changed, but the culture has not. Where women in the West, and especially in the big cities, have emancipated, they are still humble and oppressed in the East, especially in the villages. The citizens there are not educated, or if they are, their education was of such a terrible quality that they may just as well not have gone to school at all.

    Education is not encouraged in those areas, this in contrast with the West and Central regions. There, people believe that education is of the utmost importance. In the East, however, people all too often believe that education is not truly important; it’s all about God, customs, and farm work.

    This while education has changed so much in the West (of Turkey). So much even, that Easterners and Westerners often appear to be coming from completely different countries altogether. All too often when gets the impression, when talking to Turks from the West or Heartland, that they look down upon their fellow countrymen in the East; they truly cannot get along well, the differences in culture and views are gigantic. When one, at the same time, talks to people from the East, one quickly comes to the conclusion that they believe that their fellow countrymen from the West are living ‘Godless.’

    Of course, the lack of education in the East has not merely resulted in a lack of cultural progress; there are also a whole lot of economic problems. The East is poor, and undeveloped. The people there lack just about everything.

    As said, one of the main reasons for this is a lack of education. How difficult can it be, one may wonder, to educate the citizens in the East? Well, quite difficult. Turkey is not a rich country, although it is becoming richer every year. Some regions are also hard to reform education-wise, simply because people there still live according to ancient norms and values. And then there is the little fact that teachers who teach in the East, often leave immediately after their term has expired; they are sent by the government to teach in the East for a short amount of time, but after this time, they quickly go back to the Central or Western parts of their country. The East is poor and undeveloped, what modern person wants to live and work there?

    Well, not many, and as a result, children in the East have often experienced eight to ten different teachers at the time they are elementary grade students. This constant change of teacher is incredibly problematic; they never develop a bond with their teacher, and, just at the moment the student may find school fun, or interesting, the teacher leaves and is replaced by another one. Every time, the students have to get used to the new teacher. When they are used to him / her, (s)he leaves again.

    And so, Eastern Turkish schools perform worst in nationwide tests.

    But Turkey’s educational systems are not confined to this region:

    Some regions in Turkey’s eastern region might struggle with financial and social abandonment, but students from every part of society are also beset with a deficient education system that many hope will improve with a new curriculum. Tens of thousands of elementary school graduates were dismayed by the results of the OKS, another slap in the face of authorities in the Turkish education system. More than 30,000 students scored points “not worth calculating,” according to Çelik.

    Associate professor Ömer Kutlu of Ankara University’s education faculty said poor results stem from a lack of capacity to understand what is heard or read on the part of many students. “Turkey scores very low in international studies on literary effectiveness,” he said and added that the system pushes students toward greater competition in test taking skills. An Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development 2006 report revealed that 40 percent of Turkish 15-year-old students scored one on a scale of six on tests that measure text comprehension skills.

    ”The problem lies with the teachers, who sometimes lack enough skills,” Kutlu said and added that the whole system is oriented toward making children able to solve tests, not preparing them for life.

    When it comes to education, a lot remains to be done in Turkey. Education is one of the corner stones of Kemalist ideology, and of modern countries in general terms. Without education, without a significant improvement in education, Turkey will never fullfil its potential.