Tweet
CHP DEPUTY: AK PARTY SPENT MILLIONS TO SEEM FRIENDLY WITH ISRAEL
Today's Zaman, Turkey
Feb 16 2015
February 16, 2015, Monday/ 17:55:07/ TODAY'S ZAMAN / ANKARA
Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Ä°stanbul 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 Ä°stanbul.
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
From: A. Papazian
Today's Zaman, Turkey
Feb 16 2015
February 16, 2015, Monday/ 17:55:07/ TODAY'S ZAMAN / ANKARA
Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Ä°stanbul 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 Ä°stanbul.
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
From: A. Papazian