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CHP deputy: AK Party spent millions to seem friendly with Israel
Feb. 16, 2015
Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Istanbul deputy Aykut
Erdogdu has claimed that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK
Party) spent $65.4 million up until 2013 on efforts to portray itself
as a pro-Israeli administration while pretending to its voter base
that it is one of Israel's staunchest critics.
Erdogdu, who is the head of the CHP's corruption investigation unit,
shared a number of documents with the press on Monday, claiming that
they reveal the importance that the AK Party's places on its relations
with Israel.
To prove his claims, Erdogdu said the documents show that the AK Party
paid $65.4 million to lobby groups in the US to promote its relations
with the Israeli government. However, Erdogdu did not explain how
paying lobby groups in the US helped Turkey to maintain good relations
with Israel. In common with a large number of countries, Turkey works
with a variety of groups in Washington to lobby for its interests in
the US capital. The groups that Turkey has worked with over the past
years have mostly worked against the strong Armenian lobby groups in
the US which have been working on the passage of a resolution which
would recognize the 1915 mass killings of Armenians as a genocide
perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire. Turkey says the 1915 events cannot
be considered genocide because Turks also died due to the chaotic
conditions in Turkey during the break-up of the Ottoman Empire in
World War I.
AK Party government officials have increasingly employed anti-Israeli
and anti-Semitic rhetoric to gain votes from the party's conservative
base before the parliamentary elections scheduled to take place on
June 7 this year.
"We [the CHP] have determined that the AK Party paid $65.4 million to
lobby firms in the US to tell the world that they're friends of
Israel. We have documents to prove it," Erdogdu said in a press
conference in Istanbul.
The deputy claimed that the AK Party paid 19 lobby firms in the US,
including DiNovo Strategies, FleishmanHillard, Neusner Communications,
Livingston Group, Gephardt Group and DPA Piper in order to appear as a
friend of Israel. He said that the AK Party government is exploiting
the sensitivities of Turkish people to the Palestine-Israel conflict
in order to solidify its support among its conservative voter base.
"On the one hand they portray themselves to the Turkish people as
being in a constant fight with the Israel while on the other hand they
worked hard to make the Jewish lobby in the US believe that the AK
Party is a pro-Israeli administration and paid millions of dollars to
that end. This is completely hypocritical," said Erdogdu.
The unofficial Jewish caucus in Congress has traditionally supported
Turkey's position on the Armenian issue in the past, but this support
seems to be on the wane in recent years in parallel with AK Party
government officials' increasingly anti-Semitic rhetoric.
http://www.todayszaman.com/national_chp-deputy-ak-party-spent-millions-to-seem-friendly-with-israel_372814.html
Feb. 16, 2015
Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Istanbul deputy Aykut
Erdogdu has claimed that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK
Party) spent $65.4 million up until 2013 on efforts to portray itself
as a pro-Israeli administration while pretending to its voter base
that it is one of Israel's staunchest critics.
Erdogdu, who is the head of the CHP's corruption investigation unit,
shared a number of documents with the press on Monday, claiming that
they reveal the importance that the AK Party's places on its relations
with Israel.
To prove his claims, Erdogdu said the documents show that the AK Party
paid $65.4 million to lobby groups in the US to promote its relations
with the Israeli government. However, Erdogdu did not explain how
paying lobby groups in the US helped Turkey to maintain good relations
with Israel. In common with a large number of countries, Turkey works
with a variety of groups in Washington to lobby for its interests in
the US capital. The groups that Turkey has worked with over the past
years have mostly worked against the strong Armenian lobby groups in
the US which have been working on the passage of a resolution which
would recognize the 1915 mass killings of Armenians as a genocide
perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire. Turkey says the 1915 events cannot
be considered genocide because Turks also died due to the chaotic
conditions in Turkey during the break-up of the Ottoman Empire in
World War I.
AK Party government officials have increasingly employed anti-Israeli
and anti-Semitic rhetoric to gain votes from the party's conservative
base before the parliamentary elections scheduled to take place on
June 7 this year.
"We [the CHP] have determined that the AK Party paid $65.4 million to
lobby firms in the US to tell the world that they're friends of
Israel. We have documents to prove it," Erdogdu said in a press
conference in Istanbul.
The deputy claimed that the AK Party paid 19 lobby firms in the US,
including DiNovo Strategies, FleishmanHillard, Neusner Communications,
Livingston Group, Gephardt Group and DPA Piper in order to appear as a
friend of Israel. He said that the AK Party government is exploiting
the sensitivities of Turkish people to the Palestine-Israel conflict
in order to solidify its support among its conservative voter base.
"On the one hand they portray themselves to the Turkish people as
being in a constant fight with the Israel while on the other hand they
worked hard to make the Jewish lobby in the US believe that the AK
Party is a pro-Israeli administration and paid millions of dollars to
that end. This is completely hypocritical," said Erdogdu.
The unofficial Jewish caucus in Congress has traditionally supported
Turkey's position on the Armenian issue in the past, but this support
seems to be on the wane in recent years in parallel with AK Party
government officials' increasingly anti-Semitic rhetoric.
http://www.todayszaman.com/national_chp-deputy-ak-party-spent-millions-to-seem-friendly-with-israel_372814.html