Is oil rich Azerbaijan ready to give up on their US lobbying via the Gulen Movement?

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"

 



Azerbaijani News in U.S., Oil & Gas

20th Anniversary of “Contract of the Century” Celebrated in Washington, DC

September 18, 2014 •    from Texas Azerbaijani Organization

http://texasazerbaijanis.com/20th-anniversary-contract-century-celebrated-washington-dc/

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.