Gulen Azerbaijan lobbying in Tennessee backfires

Rep. Joe Towns "Just a coincidence I received $10,000 from Azerbaijan lobbying and
then shortly after tries to pass a resolution in Tennessee about Azerbaijan.

 http://www.newschannel5.com/story/25530882/lawmaker-says-10k-contribution-resolution-just-coincidence

by Phil Williams
Chief Investigative Reporter

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A lawmaker's $10,000 campaign contribution and a resolution he introduced this year in the legislature are reviving questions about foreign influences on Tennessee's Capitol Hill.

Last year, NewsChannel 5 Investigates first revealed how advocates for foreign countries were taking your lawmakers on expensive junkets.

Now, we've discovered a case of mysterious donors handing out money for a legislative campaign.

During a hurried legislative session dominated by all sorts of contentious issues, state Rep. Joe Towns found time to introduce a House resolution -- HR 145 -- calling for national support for the country of Azerbaijan.

"Let me tell you where it came from -- it actually came from friends that I know that are from Azerbaijan," the Memphis Democrat told NewsChannel 5 Investigates.

An oil-rich, predominantly Muslim country -- where Eastern Europe meets western Asia -- Azerbaijan has been involved in a decades-old dispute with the predominantly Christian country of Armenia over territory that both countries claim.

Towns said he agreed to introduce the resolution because Azerbaijan is a U.S. ally.

"You did not just come up with this one your own?" we asked.

"No, no, no," Towns answered.

"And you knew nothing about the conflict between these two countries?"

"No, I did not."

But Armenian immigrant Barry Barsoumian said, "Those brutal people, they are trying to change history by going around different states in the United States passing resolutions."

Barsoumian discovered Towns' resolution and could not believe anyone would ask a Tennessee lawmaker to help a country known for its human rights abuses and whose leader is seen as one of the world's most corrupt.

"I asked him if it was Azerbaijani Embassy. He denied it," Barsoumian recalled. "But he wouldn't name or tell me what organization was behind it."

But NewsChannel 5 Investigates looked at Towns' campaign reports and discovered he introduced the resolution just two weeks after he got a total of $10,000 in campaign contributions from people out of Texas with ties to the Azerbaijani community.

"This one was probably in Texas, Houston," Towns said, looking at his campaign disclosure.

"You had a fundraiser in Houston?" we asked.

"Uh-huh. I've had fundraisers in other places before. That's true."

"Who hosted that fundraiser?"

"Well, my friends. Friends of mine."

NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked, "Who in particular?"

"Well, I don't want to get involved in their names because this is about me," Towns answered. "I don't want to talk about their names and who they were."

Still, our investigation discovered that a Turkish-Azerbaijani cultural center in Houston appears to be the common connection for all seven of the contributors, who reportedly gave either $1,000 or $1,500 each to Towns' campaign.

"Did the people who gave you the $10,000 ask you to introduce this resolution?" NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked Towns.

"No, they didn't. Did not," he responded.

"It's purely coincidental?"

"Oh, of course."

But Barsoumian called it "suspicious [that] somebody in Tennessee would introduce a bill for Azerbaijan and then those organizations funnel money to his campaign."

One of the contributors listed on Towns' campaign report as having given a thousand dollars first told us, "That's wrong information. I don't know anyone from Tennessee."

Later he changed his story, saying "I remember something like that. I never met him. I did it through my friends, my community."

Adding to the mystery: almost a third of the money supposedly came from two people who live in an apartment in one of Houston's roughest neighborhoods.

In fact, we identified $13,000 in contributions in the last two years to various candidates around the country from just one low-rent apartment.

So we went back to Representative Towns.

"Does that strike you as odd?" we asked.

"See, in order for me to know that," he responded, "I would have to know the lay of the land down there, the people. I don't know. I don't know."

But when Towns' resolution came up in committee, members of the Armenian community had already lobbied other lawmakers to kill the bill.

The resolution never even got a vote -- a strange end to what some consider a strange piece of legislation.

NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked Towns, "You attend a fundraiser and then suddenly you are introducing this resolution. Do you understand why someone might be suspicious?"

"I can't deal with people's suspicion," he said. "I don't address their suspicion. The fact is that it happens all the time."

Some of the contributors appear to have connections to groups who've taken Tennessee officials on free trips to Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Towns was supposed to go on one of those trips last year, but he wasn't able to go.

Still, he did sponsor another House resolution that essentially accused Armenia of war crimes.

That resolution actually passed the House on a 93-0 vote.

So why would Azerbaijan care about what the Tennessee House thinks about world affairs?

It appears to be part of an orchestrated PR campaign to show that world opinion is on their side.

Towns said that he hopes it leads to better understanding of all the countries in that region.

Email: pwilliams@newschannel5.com

Related story:

Turkish Groups Offer Free Foreign Trips For Lawmakers

12 Tennessee Lawmakers get free trips to Turkey and Azerbaijan by Gulen Movement

http://www.newschannel5.com/story/22111765/free-foreign-trips-for-state-lawmakers

 

by Phil Williams
Chief Investigative Reporter

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Who's providing free foreign trips to state lawmakers -- and what do they want?

A group of Tennessee legislators will soon be packing their bags and heading overseas for what most Tennesseans would consider an exotic trip.

But those lawmakers will not be picking up the tab -- and few seemed to know anything about the group that is.

In the waning days of this year's legislative session, lawmakers debated whether proposed changes to the state's campaign finance laws would open the door to foreign influence.

"If you want to know who contributes to my campaign, it's as easy as the click of the mouse," said Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, a Smith County Republican.

Still, what you won't find online -- and what Weaver did not mention -- is that, in late May, a select group of state lawmakers will be jetting off for a 12-day, all-expenses paid trip, landing first in Azerbaijan, then heading a few days later to nearby Turkey.

The invitations came from a group called the Turkish American Chamber of Commerce of the Southeast -- with the money coming from a sister group called the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians.

Both groups have ties to a movement headed by a moderate Muslim imam named Fethullah Gulen.

"You have accepted the invitation to go on the trip?" NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked Rep. Mark White.

"I would like to look into going on that, yes," the Memphis Republican answered.

"Why is that?"

"Because it's an educational experience."

White is one of the nine lawmakers who have accepted the invitation to go on the trip.

Others, according to a list provided to NewsChannel 5, are: Sen. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville; Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown; Rep. Vance Dennis, R-Savannah; Rep. Roger Kane, R-Knoxville; Rep. Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis; Rep. Joe Towns, D-Memphis; Rep. Johnnie Turner, D-Memphis; and Terri Lynn Weaver.

Safety Commissioner Bill Gibbons has also agreed to go, as has his assistant commissioner David Purkey.

"Does it matter to you who is paying for this trip?" we asked White.

"Yeah, we'll find that out," he answered on the last day of the legislative session. "Like I say, I just have not had a chance to -- we've been so busy in session -- just haven't had a chance to look into that yet."

Fethullah Gulen has generally drawn praise for his moderate religious views and his message of tolerance.

Time Magazine just named him to its lists of the 100 most influential people in the world.

But a U.S. State Department cable published by Wikileaks describes his movement as being one that "officially professes to be interested in ecumenical understanding, but whose roots are intensely Islamic."

As 60 Minutes reported last year, the movement is also behind a secular network of science and math charter schools that began in Turkey and has now spread to the U.S.

One of those is in Memphis.

In fact, our NewsChannel 5 investigation discovered that the president of the Turkish American Chamber, Ayhan Korucu, is also the president of a Gulen school, the Fulton Science Academy, in Atlanta.

And the president of the Turquoise Council, Kemal Oksuz, is -- according to the New York Times -- a principal in a company that has built Gulen schools in the U.S. Oksuz also has served as chairman of the Gulen Institute and was interviewed for a PBS story on the imam.

The trip comes at a time that some lawmakers, like White, are pushing legislation to make it easier for charter schools to get approval to open across the state.

"You're telling me something that I haven't heard before," White said.

"Should you have asked who was providing the funding before you accepted?" NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked.

"Well," the lawmaker answered, "it's been done for so many years I didn't see any problem with it."

House Education Committee Chairman Harry Brooks, a Knoxville Republican who has been helping to coordinate the upcoming trip, keeps in his office mementos from both Azerbaijan and Turkey from a trip he accepted last year.

Brooks said that there were five Tennessee lawmakers on that trip.

Other lawmakers, according to Brooks, were: Sen. Reginald Tate, D-Memphis; Rep. Joe Armstrong, R-Knoxville; Rep. Josh Evans, R-Greenbrier; and Rep. Gary Odom, D-Nashville.

It was trip that Brooks described as part economic development, part goodwill.

"What we gain is, one, an understanding of a society that wants to be a friend to this country," he added.

But Brooks insisted that charter schools were never discussed.

"That has never been an item of discussion," he said.

And Tennessee isn't alone in getting attention from the Turkish groups.

Some lawmakers have reportedly had second thoughts about such trips in Texas, where there's a whole chain of Gulen schools.

But even if the ultimate goal is to curry favor with lawmakers, Brooks still doesn't see a problem.

"If you're a legislator in the state of Tennessee and if you don't have the courage to vote your conviction -- whether someone has given you a donation or not -- you don't need to be down here -- simple fact," he said.

One of those invitees, Rep. Johnnie Turner, insisted that she is a staunch charter school opponent.

Under Tennessee law, if the hosts had hired lobbyists, these trips would be illegal.

But, as is, they are entirely legal -- and no one has to disclose them to the public.

Late Monday, NewsChannel 5 Investigates heard from Kemal Oksuz -- and he put the cost at close to $4,000 a person. He said lawmakers from several states were being invited.

Still, Oksuz insisted the goal is about establishing opportunities for partnerships, not about charter schools.

E-mail: pwilliams@newschannel5.com

 

Tenn. lawmakers encounter Turkish protesters

June 9th, 2013 5:40 pm by Tom Humphrey, Knoxville News Sentinel

Stacey Campfield

NASHVILLE — Tennessee state legislators found themselves in the middle of Turkish protesters at one point during a 10-day tour of Turkey and Azerbaijan that ended last week, according to state Sen. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville.
“They were really a lot like the Occupy Wall Street crowd, or Occupy Nashville,” said Campfield, adding that he had talked with several of the protesters, who were in a peaceful mode when encountered by the Tennesseans in Istanbul.
“They had the same type of arguments” in complaints about capitalism, interrelated with what the protestors saw as unwarranted development of a city park, said Campfield, one of several legislators making the trip sponsored by the Turkish-American Chamber of Commerce of the Southeast.
The Knoxville News Sentinel has the rest of the story. - See more at: http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/article/108489/tenn-lawmakers-encounter-turkish-protesters#sthash.ReXir3L0.dpuf

Turkish Groups Offer Free Foreign Trips For Tennessee Lawmakers

Turkish Groups Offer Free Foreign Trips For Lawmakers

by Phil Williams
Chief Investigative Reporter

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Who's providing free foreign trips to state lawmakers -- and what do they want?

A group of Tennessee legislators will soon be packing their bags and heading overseas for what most Tennesseans would consider an exotic trip.

But those lawmakers will not be picking up the tab -- and few seemed to know anything about the group that is.

In the waning days of this year's legislative session, lawmakers debated whether proposed changes to the state's campaign finance laws would open the door to foreign influence.

"If you want to know who contributes to my campaign, it's as easy as the click of the mouse," said Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, a Smith County Republican.

Still, what you won't find online -- and what Weaver did not mention -- is that, in late May, a select group of state lawmakers will be jetting off for a 12-day, all-expenses paid trip, landing first in Azerbaijan, then heading a few days later to nearby Turkey.

The invitations came from a group called the Turkish American Chamber of Commerce of the Southeast -- with the money coming from a sister group called the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians.

Both groups have ties to a movement headed by a moderate Muslim imam named Fethullah Gulen.

"You have accepted the invitation to go on the trip?" NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked Rep. Mark White.

"I would like to look into going on that, yes," the Memphis Republican answered.

"Why is that?"

"Because it's an educational experience."

White is one of the nine lawmakers who have accepted the invitation to go on the trip.

Others, according to a list provided to NewsChannel 5, are:

Sen. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville; Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown; Rep. Vance Dennis, R-Savannah; Rep. Roger Kane, R-Knoxville; Rep. Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis; Rep. Joe Towns, D-Memphis; Rep. Johnnie Turner, D-Memphis; and Terri Lynn Weaver.

Tennessee Safety Commissioner Bill Gibbons has also agreed to go, as has his assistant commissioner David Purkey.

"Does it matter to you who is paying for this trip?" we asked White.

"Yeah, we'll find that out," he answered on the last day of the legislative session. "Like I say, I just have not had a chance to -- we've been so busy in session -- just haven't had a chance to look into that yet."

Fethullah Gulen has generally drawn praise for his moderate religious views and his message of tolerance. Time Magazine just named him to its lists of the 100 most influential people in the world.

But a U.S. State Department cable published by Wikileaks describes his movement as being one that "officially professes to be interested in ecumenical understanding, but whose roots are intensely Islamic."

As 60 Minutes reported last year, the movement is also behind a secular network of science and math charter schools that began in Turkey and has now spread to the U.S.

One of those is in Memphis.

In fact, our NewsChannel 5 investigation discovered that the president of the Turkish American Chamber, Ayhan Korucu, is also the president of a Gulen school, the Fulton Science Academy, in Atlanta.

And the president of the Turquoise Council, Kemal Oksuz, is -- according to the New York Times -- a principal in a company that has built Gulen schools in the U.S. Oksuz also has served as chairman of the Gulen Institute in Houston and was interviewed for a PBS story on the imam.

The trip comes at a time that some lawmakers, like White, are pushing legislation to make it easier for charter schools to get approval to open across the state.

"You're telling me something that I haven't heard before," White said.

"Should you have asked who was providing the funding before you accepted?" NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked.

"Well," the lawmaker answered, "it's been done for so many years I didn't see any problem with it."

House Education Committee Chairman Harry Brooks, a Knoxville Republican who has been helping to coordinate the upcoming trip, keeps in his office mementos from both Azerbaijan and Turkey from a trip he accepted last year.

Brooks said that there were five Tennessee lawmakers on that trip.

Other lawmakers, according to Brooks, were: Sen. Reginald Tate, D-Memphis; Rep. Joe Armstrong, R-Knoxville; Rep. Josh Evans, R-Greenbrier; and Rep. Gary Odom, D-Nashville.

It was trip that Brooks described as part economic development, part goodwill.

"What we gain is, one, an understanding of a society that wants to be a friend to this country," he added.

But Brooks insisted that charter schools were never discussed.

"That has never been an item of discussion," he said.

And Tennessee isn't alone in getting attention from the Turkish groups.

According to a news report, some lawmakers have had second thoughts about such trips in Texas, where there's a whole chain of Gulen schools.

But even if the ultimate goal is to curry favor with lawmakers, Brooks still doesn't see a problem.

"If you're a legislator in the state of Tennessee and if you don't have the courage to vote your conviction -- whether someone has given you a donation or not -- you don't need to be down here -- simple fact," he said.

One of those invitees, Rep. Johnnie Turner, insisted that she is a staunch charter school opponent and has never discussed the issue with her hosts.

Under Tennessee law, if the hosts had hired lobbyists, these trips would be illegal.

But, as is, they are entirely legal -- and no one has to disclose them to the public.

Late Monday, NewsChannel 5 Investigates heard from Kemal Oksuz -- and he put the cost at close to $4,000 a person. He said lawmakers from several states were being invited.

Still, Oksuz insisted the goal is about establishing opportunities for partnerships, not about charter schools.

E-mail: pwilliams@newschannel5.com http://www.newschannel5.com/story/22111765/free-foreign-trips-for-state-lawmakers

 

View selected State Department cables (via Wikileaks):                        
Turkey's Invisible Man Casts Long Shadow
Turkish Gulenist Movement in Turkmenistan
Turkish Fethullah Gulen Network's Presence in Azerbaijan
Turkish Gulenist Schools: Be Everywhere or Be Nowhere
Fethullah Gulen: Why Are His Followers Traveling?
Verdict Suspended In Case Against Islamic Leader Fethullah Gulen

 

Tactics of Gulen, bribe, trips, honors and so much more razzle dazzle

Tactics of Islam, Conquering America from Within
Fethullah Gulen's Missionaries Exposed
A great book by Dr. Aland D. Mizell
Soon to be part II

http://turkishinvitations.weebly.com/elected-officials-who-went-on-gulenist-turkey-trips.html

Last updated May 4, 2013

This list is not comprehensive and names are continually being added. While another page already lists Congressional trips; this page is for state legislators, governors, mayors and other state and local officials.

"To date, more than 6000 Americans have traveled to Turkey at the invitation of Hizmet institutes and have returned to support the activities of the Turkish immigrant circles." - Sophia Pandya & Nancy Gallagher in their 2012 book The Gulen Hizmet Movement and Its Transnational Activities

The standard Gulenist Turkey trip is 9-10 days long.

Alabama

Date: 2011; Sponsor: Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians (also involved:
Turkish American Chamber of Commerce of the Southeast U.S., Peace Valley Foundation, Istanbul Center); Source: June 3, 2012

• Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster
• Sen. Gerald Dial, R-Lineville
• Sen. Clay Scofield, R-Arab
• Sen. Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills
• Secretary of the Senate Pat Harris

Arizona

• Jannah Scott, advisor to Governor Janet Napolitano (Date: 2008; Source: Sep 22, 2008)
• State Representative David Lujan (Date: 2008; Source: Sep 22, 2008)
• State Representative Theresa Ulmer (Date: 2008; Source: Sep 22, 2008)
• State Senator Linda Grey (Date: 2008; Source: Sep 22, 2008)

Arkansas

• State Representative Karen Hopper R-District 81 (Date: July 2010; Sponsor: Raindrop Turkish House; Source: click here)

California

• State Senator Bob Huff R-District 29 (Date: 2011; Source: Nov 24, 2011)
• Congressman Bob Filner (Sponsor: Pacifica Institute; Dates: Dec 2010, Apr 2011; Source: May 11, 2012)
• Newport Beach Mayor Keith Curry (Sponsor: Pacifica Institute; Date: 2009; Source: Apr 3, 2010)
• Los Angeles County Sheriff Leroy D. Baca (Sponsor: Pacifica Institute)

Colorado

• State Legislator Cherylin Peniston (Sponsor: Multicultural Mosaic Foundation; Source: Apr 19, 2009)

Delaware

• 4 State Representatives, 1 State Senator; names unknown. Date: Aug 2012? Sponsors: ATFA DE (American Turkish Friendship Association Delaware); MAFTAA (Mid Atlantic Federation of Turkic American Associations). Source: MAFTAA website, post dated Aug 28, 2012.

Florida

• Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford (Sponsor: Amity Turkish Cultural Center; Source: May 11, 2010)
• State Representative Jennifer Carroll (Sponsor: Amity Turkish Cultural Center; Source: May 11, 2010)
• State Representative Gwyndolen Clarke-Reed (Sponsor: Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians; May 2012, source)

Georgia

• State Senator Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga (Source: Jan 3, 2012)

Date: May 13-21, 2012
Sponsor: Istanbul Center (Dr. Mustafa Sahin, guide)
Source: Istanbul Center website

• Senators Donzella James
• Senator Gloria Butler
• Senator Valencia Seay
• Senator Horacena Tate
• Senator Miriam Paris
• Senator Nan Orrock
• Representative Michele Henson

Idaho

Date: September 2011
Sponsor: Pacifica Institute
Source: Idaho Statesman

• Senate President Pro Tem Brent Hill R-District 27
• Sen. John McGee R-District 10
• Sen. Diane Bilyeu D-District 29
• Sen. Lee Heider R-District 24
• Rep. Janice McGeachin
• Sen. Curt McKenzie
• Rep. Donna Pence
• Sen. Joe Stegner
• Sen. Michelle Stennett
• Sen. John Tippetts

Date: Spring 2011
Sponsor: Pacifica Institute
Source: Idaho Statesman

• Rep. Dennis Lake
• Sen. Edgar Malepeai
• Rep. John Rusche

Illinois

• Several lawmakers including State Senator Bill Brady (Date: 2008; Source Jun 16, 2009)
• State Senator James Meeks (Source: Mar 21, 2012 blog entry)
• State House Rep. Jack Franks (Source: Mar 21, 2012 blog entry)
• State Senator Pamela Althoff (R) (source)
• State Rep. Michael Madigan (D) (source)

Kentucky

• 1 State Senator; name unknown. Date: Aug 2012? Sponsors: ATFA DE (American Turkish Friendship Association Delaware); MAFTAA (Mid Atlantic Federation of Turkic American Associations). Source: MAFTAA website, post dated Aug 28, 2012.

Louisiana

• Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden (Sponsor: Atlas Foundation; Source: Apr 4, 2010)

Maine
Date: summer 2012 Sponsor: Council of Turkic American Associations (CTAA) Estimated trip value: $3300/person Source: Kennebec Journal, Feb 17, 2013

• State Senator Joseph Brannigan, D-Portland and spouse
• State Representative Dennis Keschl, R-Belgrade and spouse
• State Representative Jane Knapp, R-Gorham

Maryland

Date: Spring 2011
Sponsors: Maryland Turkish American Inhabitants (MARTI), Mid-Atlantic Federation of Turkic American Associations (MAFTAA)
Source: Baltimore Sun

• Delegate Gail Bates
• Maryland Secretary of State John P. McDonough
• Five Maryland legislators (names unknown)
• Senator James M. Robey

Minnesota

• State Senator Sandy Pappas (Summer 2010; Sponsor: Niagara Foundation; Source: Twin Cities Daily Planet)
• State Representative Jerry Newton (Sponsor: Niagara Foundation)

Missouri

• State Senator Harry Kennedy (Year: 2008; Sponsors: Turkish American Society of Missouri and BAKIAD; Sources: Missouri senate website; Kennedy's 2008 Capitol Report)

June 5 -16, 2008. Sponsors: Institute of Interfaith Dialog, Raindrop Turkish House, Source: Raindrop Turkish House website. Some attendees:

• Senator Jolie Justus
• Prosecutor Beth Murano, Kansas City
• Kansas City Council Women Melba Curls
• Jackson County Legislator Theresa Garza Ruiz

Nebraska

• State Senator Amanda McGill (read her testimonial in the Gulenist propaganda newspaper Today's Zaman, July 31, 2011)

New Hampshire

• State Representative Lenette Peterson (R) (source)
  
• State Representative Wyman E Shuler III (source1, source2) and spouse. May 22-June 1, 2012; Trip value: $9020.00; Sponsor: Council of Turkic American Associations (CTAA)

New Jersey

• State Senator Loretta Weinberg (source: Aug 1, 2011)
• Mayor of Borough of Closter Sophie Heymann (source)

New Mexico

Sponsor: Turquoise Council of Americans And Eurasians
Source: The Santa Fe New Mexican, June 1, 2011

Date: Fall 2010

• State Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino
• Senate President pro-tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell,
• State Senator George Muñoz, D-Gallup
• others (names unknown)

Date: 2011 (first half of year)

• State Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque
• Rep. Debbie Rodella, D-Española
• other state legislators (names unknown)

Date: June 2011

• State Senator Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque
• State Senator Cisco McSorley, D-Albuquerque

Date: unknown

• State Senator Eric Griego, D-Albuquerque

New York

• Honorable Assemblyman Kevin Cahill D-District 101("observations from his trips to Turkey;" Source: CTAA website)
• Other state legislators; names unknown. ("NY State Legislators made final presentations on their experiences from their recent trips to Turkey;" Source: CTAA website)
• Assembly Majority Leader Ron Canestrari (source: June 19, 2012) Date: prior to 2012. Sponsor: Turkish Cultural Center Albany

North Carolina

Date: Oct 2011 Sponsor: Divan Center (source1, source2)

• House Speaker Thom Tillis (R) Oct 2011
• Rules Committee Chairman, Rep. Tim Moore (R-Cleveland)
• Rep. Chuck McGrady (R)
• Rep. Mitch Gillespie (R-Marion)
• 4 other NC House representatives, Republicans (names as yet unknown)

Oklahoma

• Chad Smith, Principal Chief of Cherokee Nation (Sponsor: Institute of Interfaith Dialog; Source: here)
• State Senator Sean Burrage D-District 2 (Sponsor: Institute of Interfaith Dialog; Source: here)
• Senator Gary Stanislawski R-District 35 (source)

Sponsor: Institute of Interfaith Dialog. Date: Dec 2008/Jan 2009. (source)

• Secretary of State Susan Savage
• Attorney General Drew Edmondson
• Director, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control Darrell Weaver
• Deputy Director, Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation Tom Jordan

Pennsylvania

• State Senator Mike Brubaker (Sponsors: Turkish Cultural Center of Pennsylvania and Red Rose Intercultural and Educational Foundation; Guide Sait Onal; Source here)

South Carolina

Date: October 2011
Sponsor: South Carolina Dialogue Foundation and "unidentified sponsors in Turkey
Trip value: $7,047 per person
Source: Rick Brundrett, TheNerve.org, viewed here.

• State Senator Creighton Coleman, D-Fairfield
• State Senator Mike Fair, R-Greenville
• State Senator Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg
• State Senator John Land, D-Clarendon
• State Senator Phil Leventis, D-Sumter
• State Senator John Matthews, D-Orangeburg
• State Senator Mike Rose, R-Dorchester
• State Senator Vince Sheheen, D-Kershaw

Tennessee
Source: NewsChannel5, Nashville, Apr 29, 2013
Date: 2012

• Rep. Harry Brooks (R) House Education Committee Chairman
• Rep. Joe Armstrong D-Knoxville
• Sen. Reginald Tate, D-Memphis
• Rep. Josh Evans, R-Greenbrier
• Rep. Gary Odom, D-Nashville

Accepted invitation to go on May 2013 trip:
Trip value: $4000 per person
Sponsor: Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians (providing funds) +
Turkish American Chamber of Commerce of the Southeast (sending invitations)
Rep. Harry Brooks is "helping to coordinate" this trip

• Rep. Mark White, R-Memphis
• Sen. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville
• Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown
• Rep. Vance Dennis, R-Savannah
• Rep. Roger Kane, R-Knoxville
• Rep. Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis
• Rep. Joe Towns, D-Memphis
• Rep. Johnnie Turner, D-Memphis
• Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, R-Lancaster
• Tennessee Safety Commissioner Bill Gibbons
• Tennessee Assistant Safety Commissioner David Purkey

Texas

• State Senator Rodney Ellis D-District 13 (source)
• State Representative Alma Allen D-District 131 (source)
• State Senator Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay (Sponsor: Turquoise Council; source)
• Austin Mayor Will Wynn (source)
• State Senator Leticia van de Putte
• State Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, and his wife (source)
• Meria Carstarphen, Superintendent of the Austin Independent School District, with 10 staff members (note: she is actually appointed by elected officials, not elected herself) (source 1; source 2)

Virginia

Date: May 2012
Sponsor: American Turkish Friendship Association
Source: May 5, 2012, Virginia Public Access Project

• Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon S. Bulova (D)
• Senator Richard L Saslaw (D-Fairfax) (Value: $3700)
• Senator Barbara Ann Favola (D-Arlington) (Value: $3700)
• Delegate Robert H. Brink (D-Arlington) (Value: $1850)

Date: 2012
Sponsor: American Turkish Friendship Association
Source: Virginia Public Access Project

• State Senator Henry L Marsh, III (D) $4,875
• State Senator Frank W Wagner (R) $3,700
• Delegate Riley E Ingram (R) $1,850
• Delegate James P Massie, III (R) $1,850
• Delegate Joseph D Morrissey (D) $1,800

Date: unknown
Sponsor: American Turkish Friendship Association
Source: Feb 23, 2012

• City of Fairfax Police Department Chief Rick Rappoport

Date: 2011
Sponsor: American Turkish Friendship Association

• Delegate David L Bulova (D) + spouse Value: $3,000
• Delegate David Lawrence Englin (D) Value: $2,500
• State Senator David W Marsden (D) Value: $1,650

Date: 2010
Sponsor: American Turkish Friendship Association ("The organization spent more than $36,000 to take state officials on trips during the year, making it the largest donor of 2010." - Sun Gazette, Feb 7, 2011)
Trip value: $5000 (per person)
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch; Sun Gazette

• Sen. Janet D. Howell (D) with spouse
• Del. Kenneth R. Plum (D)
• Del. James M. Scott (D)
• Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple (D-31st) with spouse Tom
• State Sen. Patsy Ticer (D-30th)
• Del. Adam Ebbin (D-49th) (declared value $2,500)
• Delegate Betsy Brooks Carr (D) (declared value $2,500)
• Delegate Mark D Sickles (D) (declared value $2,500)
• State Senator Patricia S Ticer (D) (declared value $2,500)
• State Senator John C Watkins (R) (declared value $2,500)
• Delegate Vivian E Watts (D) (declared value $2,500)
• State Senator J Chapman Petersen (D) (declared value $1,650)

West Virginia

• Delegate John Ellem, R-Wood (source) June 2012; Sponsor: Mid-Atlantic Federation of Turkic American Associations (MAFTAA)