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Turkey and America: the Corridors of
Intelligence and Geopolitics
6.4.2007
By John Stanton |
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April
6, 2007
“Turkey is not as politically stable or as secular
domestically as they would have you believe,” said
one long time observer of US-Turkish relations in
Washington, DC. “The Turks do not have a large
community across the United States like, say, the
Armenians and the Greeks who have been here a long
time. Because of this you see a very large Turkish
presence inside Washington, DC.”
Lacking a legitimate national grassroots
organization, Turkey has built a notable presence
inside the corridors of power in Washington, by
spreading cash around and buying direct access to
key US decision makers in and out of the US
government. It all seems legitimate enough: campaign
donations and junkets for members & staff of the US
Congress (FMOCs); consulting fees to former FMOCs,
US military generals, US State Department employees;
and promises of billions of dollars in contracts to
US corporate representatives operating in
Washington. With so much money chasing politicians,
consultants and contractors of all stripes, there’s
bound to be some corrupt and even criminal activity.
No seasoned observer of politics anywhere is
completely surprised at the occasional and
well-timed conviction of a white collar criminal.
But Sibel Edmonds’ seems to have stumbled into the
really big white collar crime ring that ties an old
George Bush I family friend, Brent Scowcroft -- and
his American Turkish Council--in with former US
Ambassador to Turkey Marc Grossman; members of the
Turkish Caucus in the US Congress; Douglas Feith,
(once had his security clearance revoked and was
rumored to be watched by the FBI) who once greased
arms sales to Turkey back in the 1990s, is a famed
Zionist, formerly of the Pentagon and now at
Georgetown University in Washington, DC; the Bob
Livingston Group (Livingston a FMOC), who has gotten
very wealthy via Turkish business; and Joe Ralston
the former USAF general whose bank account has
blossomed after joining Lockheed Martin and being
put on the Turkish payroll as a counter-Kurdish
insurgency expert. Finally, former Speaker of the US
House Dennis Hastert seems a natural part of the
ring, whose claim to fame may become that he kept
debate on the Armenian Genocide Resolution off the
House floor during his tenure and was the subject of
a Vanity Fair piece.
Many of us have written on Ms Edmonds’ case and
after so many years find it infuriating that the FBI
continues to shut her up behind a State Secret
Privilege holding. Taking recent events at the
Department of Justice as guides, it is probably safe
to say that Ms Edmonds’ is being silenced because of
some sort of State Embarrassment Privilege. The
Department of Justice, of which the FBI is a
subsidiary, is seeing its credibility quotient
crushed under the weight of Attorney General Albert
Gonzales’ arrogance and the adolescent antics of his
staff. Meanwhile at the FBI, Director Mueller is
under fire for the antics of his staff and its abuse
of USAPATRIOT Act provisions to catch common
criminals, not “terrorists.”
A few thoughts come to mind here. First, the FBI
apparently was illegally monitoring subjects
associated, somehow, with the Edmonds’ matter and,
perhaps, saving a savory scandal for the right time.
J Edgar Hoover, former FBI director, was skilled at
that sort of subterfuge. If the illegal monitoring
allegation is true, that’s another damaging blow to
the Justice Department and the US justice system.
Second, Ms Edmonds must have stumbled upon the
payola racket that Turkey had been running and there
were so many big US names involved in so many high
places that to air that laundry would damage US
credibility not so much abroad, as right here in the
USA. Imagine on one news day FMOCs, active members
of the US Congress, US military personnel, US State
Department people, US Justice Department folks all
get nailed for being in on the Turkish gig or at
least knowing about it. And what could be worse than
the FBI, DEA and CIA knowing about it? Foreign
intelligence agencies, of course.
Third, if it is true that Turkey is not as secular
or as politically stable as its proponents in
Washington and Ankara say, then the whole
Turkey-as-US strategic partner and would-be European
Union partner would be one of the better smoke and
mirrors acts sold to the US public, and the world,
in recent memory.
The reality is that Turkey remains a distant and
unknown entity for most Americans, although if Ms
Edmonds were allowed to speak freely it may become a
well-known country. It’s a product that is difficult
to sell to citizens here in the USA as a strategic
necessity, as a wonderful vacationland, or as a
dynamic society full of business opportunity. The
harsher side to the story is that Turkey has
threatened to invade Northern Iraq/Kurdistan should
it declare its independence, or if an upcoming
referendum on oil-rich Kirkuk goes the Kurds’ way;
the Turks brutally repress their Kurdish population;
free speech and tolerance of government critiques
are in short supply; and, in reality, the Turkish
military holds the keys to power in Ankara.
Lastly, according to the observer of US-Turkish
relations, “It seems to me that the government in
Ankara, Turkey, is always working on propaganda, on
slogans. Trying too hard. If you visit Turkey,
you’ll notice everywhere you go that there is a
picture of Turkey’s founder Attaturk. It reminds me
sort of like Soviet times where you’d see a picture
of Lenin everywhere. The Turks spend too much time
worrying about petty resolutions like those
recognizing the Armenian Genocide.”
John Stanton is a Virginia based writer
specializing in political and national security
matters.
onlinejournal com
** The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate as many as 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
Turkey is home to some 20 million ethnic Kurds, some
of whom openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media.
The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish
alphabet has led to judicial persecution in 2000 and
2003
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan
but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag
is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it
is a criminal offence" -
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan ( Kurdistan-Turkey)
wikipedia
** First world war
massacres | Related
issue:
Armenian Genocide by Turkish Muslims against
Christians
Turkey faces international pressure to recognise
that more than 1 million Armenians were massacred
during a 1915 campaign of ethnic cleansing by
Ottoman Turks. Turkish officials claim that most
deaths were caused by hunger and disease.
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