Blog Archives
Justice Department Files Reveal Activities of Firms Lobbying for Turkey
By Harout Sassounian
The California Courier
Last week, I described the terms of the $1.4 million contract signed by the Gephardt Group, the lobbying firm of former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, to promote Turkey’s interests in Washington.
Realizing that its relationship with the United States has seriously deteriorated, the Turkish government has been pouring millions of dollars into the coffers of several U.S. firms, hoping to improve its image by whitewashing the dark stains of its dictatorial regime. For that purpose, Ankara on May 12 signed a contract with former Turkish national swimming champion Huma Gruaz and her Chicago-based public relations firm Alpaytac, Inc., for $1,420,000 a year. Oddly enough, instead of making monthly payments, the Turkish government gave Alpaytac $1 million up front upon signing the agreement, and paid the balance of $420,000 in the first three months. Alpaytac thus replaced the public relations firm of Fleishman-Hillard, which had received $779,805 from the Turkish Embassy for the 6-month period from Nov. 1, 2013 to April 30, 2014, at which time its contract was terminated.
In addition, Ankara benefits from the activities of the Turkish Coalition of America (TCA), which spent over $1 million to sponsor 170 congressional trips to Turkey since 2000. The TCA was founded in 2007 by Massachusetts microchip millionaire Yalcin Ayasli, who has donated close to $140,000 in the past 18 months to several pro-Turkish members of Congress, according to Al-Monitor.
Most people are unaware that pursuant to the Foreign Agents Registration Act, American firms representing foreign clients are required to report to the U.S. Justice Department their day-to-day activities every six months.
Alpaytac’s six-month report is not yet due. However, we would like to present excerpts from the detailed files the Gephardt Group and its subcontractors—Greenberg Traurig LLP, Lydia Borland, Brian Forni, and Dickstein Shapiro LLP—submitted to the Justice Department regarding their specific activities on behalf of Turkey from Aug. 1, 2013 to Jan. 31, 2014:
– On Sept. 19, 2013, forwarded a letter from Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek to Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Patrick Leahy.
– Sent emails to Reps. Castro, Cohen, Connolly, Deutch, Esty, Foxx, Frankel, Gabbard, Kennedy, Schneider, Wagner, and Whitfield and Sen. Murphy regarding the upcoming visit of Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu; contacts were also established with several other members of Congress to discuss Syria, Iran sanctions, Hamas, and missile defense.
– Dick Gephardt reported making campaign contributions from Sept. 24 to Dec. 12, 2013 to: Reps. Alcee Hastings ($1,000), Barbara Lee ($1,000), Marjorie Margolies ($1,000), Richard Neal ($1,250), Brad Schneider ($500), Debbie Wasserman-Schultz ($1,500), Marc Veasey ($1,000), and Henry Waxman ($1,000); and Sens. Dick Durbin ($2,500), Mary Landrieu ($1,000), Claire McCaskill ($1,000), Mark Pryor ($1,500), and Ron Wyden ($2,500).
– Gephardt Group employees contributed to Sens. Dick Durbin ($500) and Jeanne Shaheen ($1,500); and Reps. Steve Cohen ($500), Colleen Hanabusa ($1,250), Jim Moran ($500), Brad Schneider ($500), and Henry Waxman ($500).
– Employees of Gephardt Group subcontractor Dickstein Shapiro LLC contacted Ben Branch, legislative director to Cong. Gregory Meeks, “regarding legislation focused on Turkish regional issues.” On behalf of Dickstein Shapiro, former House Speaker Dennis Hastert met with Turkish Ambassador Namik Tan and Sen. Ron Johnson “regarding U.S.-Turkey relations.”
– Other Dickstein Shapiro employees contacted the offices of Reps. George Holding, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Sheila Jackson Lee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Gregory Meeks, Chellie Pingree, Robert Pittenger, Dana Rohrabacher, Ed Royce, and Ed Whitfield; and Sens. John Boozman, Ron Johnson, Rand Paul, and Roger Wicker to discuss Turkish regional issues, Cyprus, Travel to Turkey, and U.S.-Turkey relations.
– Dickstein Shapiro employees contributed over $60,000 to the political campaigns of congressional candidates from July 20 to Dec. 19, 2013, including Sens. Lamar Alexander ($2,500), Kay Hagan ($9,000), Amy Klobuchar ($2,000), Mitch McConnell ($2,500), Mark Pryor ($2,500), and Tim Scott ($1,000); and Reps. Sanford Bishop ($2,500), Emanuel Cleaver ($1,500), Rick Crawford ($2,500), Steve Daines ($2,500), John Dingell ($1,000), Bill Huizenga ($2,500), Eddie Bernice Johnson ($1,000), Adam Kinzinger ($2,500), Mike McIntyre ($5,000), Buck McKeon ($1,500), Dutch Ruppersberger ($2,500), and Ed Whitfield ($2,500).
Since the lobbying firms hired by Turkey are obligated by law to report their detailed activities, it is important to regularly check their Justice Department filings to find out who they are contacting in Congress, for what purpose, and how much are they contributing to their political campaigns.
Harout Sassounian is a syndicated columnist, author, political analyst, and human rights activist in Los Angeles, California. He is the editor of The California Courier, a leading Armenian American weekly newspaper.
Douglas Kalajian Publishes New Book on Armenian Genocide
By Douglas Kalajian
FLArmenians Contributor
I felt certain of the title the moment I decided to write the book: Stories My Father Never Finished Telling Me.
It represents a dilemma that will be familiar to many Armenian-Americans born after the tumult that dislodged our parents and grandparents from their homeland.
My father, Nishan Kalajian, had the misfortune to be born in Diyarbakir, Turkey in 1912 at the core of the imploding Ottoman Empire. For him, the Armenian Genocide was not a distant, historic event but the defining reality of his life. He lost his mother, his home and everything familiar before being cast into the world alone.
I knew that much from an early age, but I desperately wanted to know more: How he survived, how he kept his wits and his faith, how he moved forward without being consumed by bitterness and hate. My father volunteered none of it. He dealt with his most painful memories in a most Armenian way, by pushing them aside.
My mother understood this better than anyone. She warned me never to ask him about such things and I never did, at least not directly. But every so often when an opportunity presented itself, I’d approach the topic obliquely and with great caution.
When he responded at all, my father often shared only a scrap or two before changing the subject or retreating to his books. It was left to me to figure out the importance of each scrap, and to connect it to whatever had come before or after. This is how my life-long conversation with my father continued, in fits and starts, yielding scattered pieces of a puzzle that I’m still trying to complete more than 20 years after his death.
As a writer, I felt compelled to tell as much of my father’s story as I could because I believe it holds important lessons. But I also wanted to tell my own story about growing up in the shadow of a great cataclysm with a father who would not talk about what he had experienced.
The book’s subtitle, Living With The Armenian Legacy of Loss and Silence, conveys my challenge in learning to appreciate a complex cultural inheritance that is rich and wondrous but also dark and painful to contemplate.
Most important, I wrote the book for my daughter and for her generation in hopes that they’ll figure out how to celebrate the best parts of that inheritance while finally vanquishing the pain.
Stories is my third book, and the first I’ve published independently. It’s available in print and as a Kindle e-book. You won’t find it at your local bookshop but they can order it for you—or you can order one yourself through Amazon or other online booksellers.
Or just click here.
Douglas Kalajian is a regular contributor for FLArmenians.com. Prior to his retirement he worked as an editor, reporter and feature writer for the Palm Beach Post and the Miami Herald. He currently lives in Boynton Beach with his wife Robyn, and together they operate www.TheArmenianKitchen.com.
South Florida Community Commemorates Armenian Genocide
Mayor of Boca Raton Proclaims April 24, 2014 as Armenian Martyrs’ Day
BOCA RATON, FL – On Thursday, April 24, hundreds of members, friends, academics, clergy and human rights activists from the South Florida Armenian American community gathered at St. David Armenian Church to commemorate the 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
Armenians around the world commemorate the genocide on April 24, when in 1915 Turkish authorities arrested some 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople. Thereafter, Armenians were uprooted from their homes and forced to march for hundreds of miles, depriving them of food and water, to the desert of what is now Syria. Over 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children perished in 1915-1923 in what historians recognize as the Armenian Genocide. While 23 countries have officially recognized the events of the period as genocide, Turkey denies the word genocide as an accurate description of the events. In recent years, it has faced repeated calls to accept the events as genocide, but has refused to do so.
Boca Raton City Councilman Mike Mullaugh attended the commemorative service and read a proclamation from Susan Haynie, Mayor of Boca Raton, which announced April 24th 2014 as Armenian Martyrs’ Day. The proclamation called upon the citizens of Boca Raton “to join all Armenians worldwide to observe the 99th commemoration of Martyrs’ Day in the hope that these days of infamy will never be forgotten.”
As the Armenian community commemorated 99 years of a genocide unrecognized by its perpetrators, the focus of the program echoed a growing shift. Instead of looking to the past, the evening highlighted the survival of the Armenian people and looked to the future, through artistic expression. Mr. Taniel Koushakjian, Communications Director of the Armenian Assembly of America, served as master of ceremonies and took the crowd through the evening’s events. The program included several artistic performances by local Armenians. Some read poetry, others played the piano or violin, while still others danced or performed vocally.
Fr. Galstyan of St. David Armenian Church and Fr. Joulfayan of St. Mary Armenian Church offered the memorial service for the victims of the Armenian Genocide. Fr. Saba of Saint George Cathedral, Rabbi Rosenkranz of Congregation B’nai Israel, Rev. Endruschat of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Fr. Leondis and Fr. Klund of St. Mark Greek Orthodox Church, Archpriest Gvosdev of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, Fr. Marashlian and Fr. Jebejian were also in attendance.
This year’s commemoration followed on the heels of the April 12th Walk Against Genocide in Mizner Park, a walkathon organized to raise funds for genocide awareness, community outreach and advocacy for more comprehensive genocide education in Florida public schools.
David Silvers, Candidate for Florida House District 89, addressed the crowd of over 250 walkathon participants that day: “The actions of the Ottoman Empire perpetrated on the Armenian people was and is an affront to all of humanity. I strongly believe that politics shouldn’t get in the way of facts. It’s a fact 1.5 million Armenians died as a result of this genocide. It’s a fact that national, state, and local governments all over the world have recognized this genocide. It’s a fact that all of the lives lost mattered and refusing acknowledgment of this genocide is the type of political gamesmanship that’s beneath the American people.”
Both the April 12th Walk Against Genocide and April 24th commemorative service at St. David Armenian Church were organized by the Armenian Genocide Commemoration (AGC) Inc., a nonprofit organization comprised of representatives from various Armenian American organizations and churches in South Florida.
AGC Inc is dedicated to observing the Armenian Genocide, as well as bringing awareness to the public on all genocides. The committee was incorporated in February 2014 and is comprised of representatives from the following South Florida organizations: St. David Armenian Church, St. Mary Armenian Church, Armenian Assembly of America, Armenian National Committee of America, Armenian Relief Society, Florida Armenians, Homenetmen, Armenian Revolutionary Federation, and Knights of Vartan.
Florida Armenians 