This blog is dedicated to the politicians who are the enablers of the Gulen Movement and their "front groups." From Gulen Schools to Gulen's Interfaith Groups, these politicians knowingly or sometimes naively have accepted campaign contributions, honors(snicker, giggles) or the famous FREE trips to Turkey. Thanks to all of you for submitting, lets put the message out to Politicians, if you sell out Americans we will vote you out.
Corrupt Politicians and Tools of the Gulen Movement
Disclaimer: if some videos are disabled this is the work of the Gulen censorship which has filed fake copyright infringement complaints to UTUBE.
Annise Parker, as the mayor of Houston is no stranger to the Gulen Islamic Cult. Annise who is openly gay has MC'd the Turkish Olympiads for the Islamic Cult. Visited their Charter Schools (Harmony Science Academy) http://www.harmonyparenttruth.blogspot.com and has even gone to free trips to Turkey sponsored by one of the Gulen Cult's NGOs "Turquoise Council".
The Turquoise Council is no stranger to controversy, you will find several investigations into their $ campaign contributions, sponsoring lawmakers trips to Turkey, Azerbaijan, and other Turkic countries. The past president of Turquoise Council is Kemal Oksuz a Gulen "golden boy" who has recently stepped down. Bilal Eksili is the new President of Turquoise Council, and has come from the Gulen Movement's failed operation in Indiana and the Midwest (Holy Dove Institute and Niagara Foundation)
Annise Parker, opens her home to the new President of the Islamic Turquiose Council
Annise Parker with new President Bilal Eksili
Turquoise Council and Bilal Eksili are not strangers
to controversy. Good luck Annise Parker you have
betrayed American values and sided with the Islamic Cult LEARN MORE ABOUT POLITICAL SCHMOOZER BILAL EKSILI (an expert at photo bombing) http://www.bilaleksili.com/
Houston Proclamation declaring "Gulen Institute - Dialog of Civilizations Day"From the website of the Azerbaijanian American Cultural Alliance (a Gulenist organization), referring to a Jan 2010 event called "Dialog of Civilizations Platform":
"The honorary guest of the program was Congressman Al Green. He stated the Gulen Movement is a peace movement and the aid campaign of the Raindrop Turkish House for the Haiti Earthquake was something to be applauded.
"Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and newly-elected Houston Mayor Annise Parker also sent messages to the Platform to show their support. Annise Parker issued a proclamation in which she declared 22-23 January as the 'Gulen Institute – Dialog of Civilizations Day'. "http://turkishinvitations.weebly.com/winning-over-texas-politicians.html
Annise Parker and city of Houston attempts to censor free speech of American Christians while cajoling with Islamic cult
The City of Houston ignited a First Amendment free-speech debate by issuing subpoenas to evangelical Christian leaders demanding they turn over their sermons – and all other communications – regarding a new city ordinance providing protections to the LGBT community.
"Mayor Parker agrees with those who are concerned about the city legal department’s subpoenas for pastor’s sermons,” according to an email from Janice Evans, chief policy officer for the City of Houston. “The subpoenas were issued by pro bono attorneys helping the city prepare for the trial regarding the petition to repeal the new Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) in January. Neither the mayor nor City Attorney David Feldman were aware the subpoenas had been issued until yesterday. Both agree the original documents were overly broad. The city will move to narrow the scope during an upcoming court hearing. Feldman says the focus should be only on communications related to the HERO petition process.”
Turkish politics are impacting the Washington State legislative elections and might even have a hand in tossing out one of the longest-serving lawmakers in Olympia.
Controversial incumbent Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, faces ethics complaints lodged by Republican challenger, state Rep. Cathy Dahlquist, R-Enumclaw, and state Rep. Christopher Hurst, D-Enumclaw.
Roach has been elected to the state Senate since 1990 and over the years has earned both ire and praise from her colleagues on both sides of the aisle. She told The Skanner News last month she believes the two Enumclaw lawmakers have united to force her out. “I really think this might be the end of my political career,” she told The Skanner News. “I have been on trade missions that were nothing but window dressing, and this was one of the most informative trips I have ever taken.”
Roach is referring to a delegation for Northwest lawmakers sponsored by a moderate Islamic organization the Turquoise Council, to visit the wealthy, oil-producing authoritarian nation of Azerbaijan.
"I really think this might be the end of my political career"
Soon to be former Senator -Pamela Hijab Roach aka Cockroach.
The trip focused on a petrochemical industry conference that drew 300 state lawmakers from around the United States as well as powerful political gurus — all to listen to the world’s top experts discuss the future of global oil and gas distribution, the same issue that is tearing local communities apart over coal trains, natural gas terminals and tracked gas shipped from the Bakken oil fields in Canada.
Other guests on the trip with Roach included state lawmakers from Montana, Idaho and Wyoming — both oil and gas-producing states -- as well as a roster of American political heavy hitters including Stratfor Global Intelligence Company founder George Friedman; former World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz; former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson; Barack Obama-advisors Robert Gibbs and Jim Messina; Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee and New York Rep. Yvette Clarke; as well as Obama elections strategist David Plouffe, now Senior Vice President of Policy and Strategy for Uber.
The conference’s keynote speech was by Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, who boasted that his nation currently has “100 years” of gas reserves. Speakers debated the merits of pipelines over rail systems, the relative profitability of tracked gas versus liquid natural gas, and above all, the oil industry's desire for the United States to become a major fuel exporter with fuel transportation lines connecting American ports to Asian and European markets.
Full disclosure: The Skanner News’ Lisa Loving also traveled to Azerbaijan with Roach and the delegation.
Complaints to The Washington State Legislative Ethics Board about the trip, hosted by the community referred to by its members as Hizmet, paint it as a “junket” without legislative value as a trade mission.
The board already this month threw out Roach’s objection to the state characterizing the Hizmet community as “potentially linked to radical policies,” comments Roach described in her complaint as “bigoted, hateful, derogatory and inflammatory.”
Another ethics complaint by Dahlquist against Roach remains, charging that the incumbent should not have accepted a place on the energy conference trip because it was not cleared by legislative staff — also citing the Hizmet community as “potentially tied to radical policies.”
Meanwhile in the state of Oregon, as with many others from coast to coast, the Turquoise Council since 2012 has held legislative gatherings and cultural events noteworthy for their balance of Republican and Democratic lawmakers in attendance, as well as cultural and business exchange trips embracing both parties.
The effort to build Turkish community in Oregon has been so successful that last November, the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency – collaborating with the Turkish Coalition of America and the National American Indian Housing Council -- gave $200,000 to Warm Springs tribal officials to help build a water system at a new school. (None of the groups are affiliated with Gulen.) The Azerbaijan trip included a petrochemical conference in which President Barack Obama's former senior policy advisor, David Plouffe -- now a senior policy staff at Uber -- was interviewed by Turquoise Council of America President Kemal Oksuz. Photo by Lisa Loving
Seattle Hizmet community organizer Abdullah Akturk says the Turkish government-appointed former honorary consul — who made that original “radical policies” charge to a news reporter last year but was subsequently removed from his post by the Turkish government for criticizing its brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters — has caused some problems for the community.
But Akturk had nothing bad to say about the former consul.
“We see each other around, we’ll probably get together sometime,” Akturk says.
“We accept him as he is; that is life.”
Not so the Washington State legislature, where the Ethics committee just threw out a complaint by Roach protesting the way Akturk’s group has been portrayed in a series of legislative travel briefings and in charges against her.
“These are the nicest people you’ve ever met, there is no concrete accusation against them,” she says. “We learned about the gas and oil pipelines in Canada and how our state can potentially benefit — how is that ‘radical policies’?”
The Hizmet movement (“hismet” means “service”) was founded by exiled Turkish media magnate Fethullah Gulen, who last week publicly condemned ISIL, comparing it to Al Quaida and Boko Haram, which he also condemned.
Hizmet is considered a significant force in the Turkish government and business community; Gulen was once a powerful ally of former Turkish Prime Minister — now president — Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is himself still considered to be an ally of the United States despite accusations his policies contributed to the rise of ISIL.
When Erdogan was first elected as prime minister in 2003, he dedicated himself to gaining entrance to the European Union for Turkey. He launched a series of educational, social and commercial reforms alongside the Hizmet community of industrialists, bureaucrats and educators who consistently pushed for interfaith dialogue about political issues.
Gulen and his followers have over the past decade built STEM schools around the world, advocated for industrial opportunities and sought to bolster commerce through international trade relationships struck directly with local communities in the United States and elsewhere.
But Turkish politics became choppier about five years ago, with a military crackdown on elements of the political structure, which tore the two former allies apart.
Last year Turkey erupted in rioting after Erdogan moved to bulldoze the biggest park in Istanbul for an urban development plan; the riots led to wider-scale demonstrations that broke out around the country against Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian leadership.
Gulen is currently living in Pennsylvania and said to be in ill health due to diabetes. Erdogan is now actively lobbying the CIA to have him extradited to Turkey amid accusations that Gulen is guilty of “using influence within the judiciary, police and state bureaucracy to plot against him in his final year as prime minister,” Reuters reported last month.
Meanwhile, back in the Seattle metro area, both Dahlquist and Roach have each charged the other with campaign finance violations — some have already been thrown out by a judge but more remain — in addition to the charge pinned to the slur on Hizmet.
In the local Pacific Northwest communities where hundreds of Hizmet families work, go to school and worship, news that they have been branded as “having ties to radical policies” is not completely surprising.
That’s because unlike lawmakers elsewhere in the region and the nation, Washington State representatives have little connection to the Turkish expatriate families living and working there.
“For the last few years we have been trying to organize trips to Turkey for Washington legislators but we could not because he was telling people this,” Akturk said. “Pam Roach ignored that message and went anyway, and now she is being hurt.” http://www.theskanner.com/news/northwest/21923-turkish-politics-play-out-in-washington-senate-primary-race
Turkish theologian Fethullah Gülen has during the past three decades built a network of schools, businesses, media-outlets, and civil-society organizations. The closing of schools in Azerbaijan based on his principles could affect Turkey’s relations with the US.
Azerbaijan’s recent crackdown on institutions and individuals allegedly linked to the influential Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen may not have halted promotional work by Gülen-associated organizations in the United States for the Azerbaijani government.
Baku’s wariness toward the elderly Turkish cleric, now living in Pennsylvania, first surfaced last December, whenTurkey, Azerbaijan’s closest ally, claimed that Gülen planned to overthrow the government of then Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a formerly close Gülen ally.
Following an April meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Erdoğan, a few influential Azerbaijani officials, tagged by media as sympathetic to Gülen, lost their positions, and the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR) took over private high-schools, university-exam-preparation courses and a university run by a company linked to the so-called Gülen-movement. Some of the facilities were later closed.
Azerbaijani media had claimed that the movement, which advocates moderate Islam coupled with globalization, interfaith dialogues and “betterment of the individual,” had “infiltrated” Azerbaijan’s secular government.
But this supposed concern may not have extended to the movement’s lobbying efforts for Azerbaijan in the US.
In reality, noted Fuad Aliyev, a researcher into Islam in Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani government has “a close relationship” with the Gülen network, which “helps the government to lobby itself in Washington.”
Lobbying both local and national American politicians is a top priority for Azerbaijan, which, at just under $2.3 million, ranked among the top ten foreign countries for such expenditures in the US in 2013, according to an analysis by the Sunlight Foundations, a Washington, DC-based advocate for government-accountability.
As the South-Caucasus country sees its international profile rising – whether as a strategic energy hub or partner in the West’s anti-terrorism campaigns – that priority will remain intact.
But Azerbaijan also uses less overt lobbying methods.
One of the chief among them appears to be the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians (TCAE), a Houston,Texas-based non-profit umbrella group that describes its aim as “pursuing the interests of Turkic Americans and friends of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in Houston, Washington and beyond.”
TCAE’s president and chief executive officer, Kemal Oksuz, formerly served as executive director of the Niagara Foundation, a Chicago-based network of non-profits that promote the teachings of Fetullah Gülen, the Foundation’s honorary president. Oksuz himself also has worked as head of the Gülen Institute, a Houston research organization that shares a similar goal.
Aside from cultural outreach programs within the US, the TCAE organizes trips for US congresspersons to Azerbaijan, US-Azerbaijan conventions and dinners with US officials. It also has promoted statewide recognition of the 1992 massacre of ethnic Azeris in Khojaly, during Azerbaijan’s war with Armenia over breakaway Nagorno Karabakh, as well as Azerbaijan’s oil and gas-pipeline projects.
The reason for that interest is clear: Oksuz serves as the president of the Assembly of Friends of Azerbaijan (AFAZ), another Houston-based non-profit organization. Rauf Mammadov, head of SOCAR USA, serves as the group’s treasurer.
Whether SOCAR’s takeover of the Gülen-linked educational facilities in Azerbaijan affected that relationship is not known. Neither AFAZ nor the Turquoise Council was available for comment.
In late April, though, after the warnings about a supposed Gülen-directed “infiltration” of the Azerbaijani government had begun, the Turquoise Council went ahead with promotions for the AFAZ-hosted, annual US-Azerbaijan Convention.
No Turquoise Council public events involving promotion of Azerbaijan are known to have occurred since then, however.
But those who have followed the Gülen movement’s activities in both Azerbaijan and Turkey doubt that Baku will want to call it quits – barring, that is, fresh pressure from now Turkish President Erdoğan, who recently received Azerbaijan’s highest honor, the Order of Heydar Aliyev.
“I don’t think that this is something [that] Azerbaijani diplomacy can easily refuse because [the] Azerbaijani community and lobby capacities in the US are weak, whereas [the]Turkish-Gülenist associations are very well implemented,” commented Bayram Balci, a scholar in the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Russia and Eurasia Program who formerly worked in Baku for the French Institute of Anatolian Studies. A dozen US state legislatures have passed resolutions or adopted citations related to the Khojaly massacre since 2011. The measures have been publicized heavily by Gülen-sympathetic Turkic or Turkey-related organizations.
The promotion, however, works both ways, commented Aliyev.
“That lobby help was a guarantee of safety for Gülen schools and Gulen-linked entrepreneurs in Azerbaijan.”
But why the Gülen movement would continue to promote Azerbaijani causes in the US despite the takeover of Gülen-associated educational operations in Azerbaijan remains unclear.
As yet, small and mid-size Turkish businesses in Azerbaijan identified by researchers as run by Gülen sympathizers do not appear to have been similarly targeted.
Aliyev attributes that immunity to the movement’s importance for the Azerbaijani government. The Turquoise Council, in particular, is believed to have warm ties with the Azerbaijan American Alliance led by Anar Mammadov, son of Azerbaijani Transportation Minister Ziya Mammadov, and a member of one of the country’s most politically influential families.
But, ultimately, what long-term return Azerbaijan can find from such lobbying groups, whether paid or unpaid, is uncertain, noted Richard D. Kauzlarich, a former US ambassador to Azerbaijan who now teaches at George Mason University’s School of Public Policy.
“The fact that they can assemble a group of former officials and members of Congress is not unusual. If you spend enough money. . .,” Ambassador Kauzlarich wrote in an email interview with EurasiaNet.org. “From Baku, the participants may appear to be ‘important,’ but, in the context of Washington politics . . . it’s not who shows up at receptions and dinners, but who can get things done . . . that determines one’s ‘importance.’” http://www.eurasianet.org/node/70271
Meanwhile at the Kennedy center in Washington DC, Azerbaijan Lobbying celebrates the "Contract of the Century"
WASHINGTON, D.C.
“Contract of the Century”, signed on September 20, 1994, marks the beginning of independent Azerbaijan’s policy of energy diversification, initiated by late President Heydar Aliyev and symbolizes the success, gained by Azerbaijan in regional and international partnerships. The contract signed in Baku with the participation of major energy companies and partner countries is still important and relevant after 20 years.
To honor the success of the contract and the international partnership that guaranteed this success, Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan to United States, BP, SOCAR and USACC organized a reception at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, one of the most prestigious cultural centers of the capital. The event was attended by the representatives of Obama Administration, top officials of U.S. State Department and Department of Energy, congressmen, representatives of diplomatic corps, academic circles as well as members of the business community.
Opening the ceremony, the speakers highlighted the historical significance of the deal, its successful implementation and achievements to date. Ambassador Elin Suleymanov underlined the signing of the “Contract of the Century” under Heydar Aliyev’s strong leadership as an important step to export the hydrocarbon resources of the Caspian to international markets. Ambassador Suleymanov noted that the event honoring the 20th Anniversary of the “Contract of the century” that will be held in Baku on September 20 will mark yet another date in the history of the contract. He informed the audience about the groundbreaking ceremony of Southern Gas Corridor to be held in Baku on September 20 and said he believes this event will be the beginning of a new era for all the region and participant countries. Bill Delahunt, former Congressman and new USACC Co-Chairman and Susan Sadigova, USACC Executive Director spoke about the contribution the contract had made to the development of Azerbaijan and the whole region.
Members of U.S. Congress – Jim Moran, Ruben Hinojosa, Andre Carson, Henry Cuellar and Donald Payne – expressed their support for the development of U.S.-Azerbaijan relations, stressed the leading role of Azerbaijan in the region and congratulated it with the success of “Contract of the Century”.
Reflecting on his firs trip to Azerbaijan before the “Contract of the Century” was signed 20 years ago, Jim Moran commended on the enormous development Azerbaijan made during this period and recommended everyone to visit Azerbaijan.
Ruben Hinojosa highlighted the work implemented under the President of the Azerbaijan Republic with the focus on turning “black gold into human capital”.
Andre Carson praised the contribution Azerbaijan was making in the energy security of Europe.
Congressmen Pete Gallego, Mike Fitzpatrick and Steve Stockman also attended the event and expressed their support to Azerbaijan.
Joe Murphy, Vice President of Southern Corridor for Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey and Michael Hoffman, External Affairs Director for Trans-Adriatic Pipeline reminded the pessimistic views expressed about the “Contract of the Century” in the past and added that the success of the contract proves that Southern Gas Corridor groundbreaking ceremony to be held in a few days will be as successful.
Amos Hochstein, Acting Special Envoy of U.S. Department of State, Jonathan Elkind, Assistant Secretary for International Affairs of Department of Energy and Eric Rubin, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Department of State reminded the crucial and consistent support the U.S. government extended to the “Contract of the Century” and its role in the strong cooperation between U.S. and Azerbaijan. Amos Hochstein, who will be attending the event honoring 20th Anniversary of the Contract of Century in Baku and Jonathan Elkind, who was the participant of the signing ceremony of the contract in Baku 20 years ago, spoke about the future perspectives of Southern Gas Corridor. Deputy Assistant Secretary Rubin stressed the importance given to Azerbaijan by the U.S. and said he believed these relations are based on constructive partnership, mutual respect, understanding and support.
The event continued with the performance of Azerbaijan’s talented jazz pianist Emil Afrasiyab and the national dances performed by Silk Road Dance Group.
The Azerbaijan trip included a petrochemical conference in which President Barack Obama's former senior policy advisor, David Plouffe -- now a senior policy staff at Uber -- was interviewed by Turquoise Council of America President Kemal Oksuz. Photo by Lisa Loving
