Politics 11:04 08/06/2022 World

Analysis: Erdogan expands political reach to France and throughout Europe

By Harut Sassounian

Publisher, The California Courier

I wrote last week about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s plans to collect votes from Turkish Americans for his reelection next year by opening an office in Washington for his ruling party (AKP) and hiring his cousin, Dr. Halil Mutlu, as a registered lobbyist. Already, Erdogan has scored an initial political success in the United States with the victory of Turkish-American Dr. Mehmet Oz’s in the Pennsylvania Republican primary for the U.S. Senate.

This week, I would like to report Pres. Erdogan’s similar political efforts in France by planting Turkish moles in the French legislature. This has been the long-term objective of Erdogan ever since 2010, when he urged his compatriots in France, during his visit to Paris, to run for political office.

Naturally, no one can object to Turks in France and the United States to run for political office. However, when such political action is prompted and supported by a foreign government, in this case Turkey, and its autocratic leader, serious concerns are raised that these Turkish politicians can become a tool in the hands of Erdogan to export his despotic policies beyond Turkish borders and propagate anti-Armenian positions.

Heeding Erdogan’s marching orders, Ali Gedikoglu, founder of the Strasbourg-based Equality and Justice Party, “presented 50 candidates in the 2017 [French] legislative elections,” Intelligence Online reported. “Gedikoglu is also known to be a long-time close associate of the Turkish foreign affairs minister and founding AKP member, Mevlüt Çavusoglu.”

For the upcoming June 12 and 19, 2022 French Parliamentary elections, the Turkish news website Medyaturk, in collaboration with the French version of Turkish government-owned Anadolu Agency, has been promoting three Turkish candidates: “French-Turkish dual citizens Celil Yilmaz (for 5th constituency of Ain); Yalcin Ayvali (14th constituency of Rhône); and Ramazan Calli (5th constituency of Saône-et-Loire),” a candidate of the Union of French Muslim Democrats. All three are “involved in the Strasbourg-based association Cojep (Conseil pour la justice, l'égalité et la paix), whose name translates as council for justice, equality and peace,” according to Intelligence Online. Created in 1985, Cojep has an annual budget of 300,000 euros. It “advocates for the interests of the Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ‘Turkish Justice and Development Party’ or AKP, to which its leadership is close.”

Candidate Celil Yilmaz is President of the Cojep association and former town councilor for Nantua (east of France). Cojep's director Gedikoglu is an active denialist of the Armenian Genocide in the European Parliament where he is registered as a lobbyist with the Parliament's Transparency Registry. He is also described as “the driving force behind the AKP's media presence and charity work in France,” according to Intelligence Online.

Given the widespread recognition of the Armenian Genocide throughout Europe, Turks who deny the Genocide become the laughing stock of Europeans, just as in the United States, after both chambers of congress and Pres. Biden recognized the Genocide. Turkish denials of the Armenian Genocide are the equivalent of trying to prove that “the earth is flat.”

Candidate Yilmaz was “indicted in 2018 by the Paris prosecutor's office for ‘incitement to hatred,’” according to Intelligence Online. “Yilmaz demonstrated his capacity to rally people to his side when, in just a few minutes via social media, he managed to gather a hundred Turks to counter a pro-Kurdish demonstration in front of the Turkish consulate in Lyon in January 2018.”

Intelligence Online revealed that “Yilmaz also arranged for Cojep staff to meet with an official delegation from the Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC] that had travelled to talk with senior AKP members at its headquarters in Turkey in August 2021. The DRC party included President Félix Tshisekedi's brother Roger Tshisekedi. Yilmaz also relies on Cojep's Vice President for international relations, Sati Arik, who is a substitute on the board of AKP's women's branch ‘AKP Kadin Kollari.’ Arik, who hails from Strasbourg, is close to the Turkish-German AKP Member of Parliament Zafer Sirakaya. According to her biography on the party's website, she writes reports on “Muslims in France” for Sirakaya. The other two candidates, Ayvali and Calli, only show their association with Cojep via social media, though Calli is its local contact person for Montceau-les-Mines, eastern France.”

In addition to the United States and France, Erdogan has set up a chain of lobbying groups throughout Europe. They consist of “Union of European Turkish Democrats (Union des démocrates turcs européens) created by the AKP in Brussels [Belgium] in 2003 to back Turkey's candidature to join the European Union. This entity has since become the parent company of several micro-parties close to the AKP, such as “Be.one” in Belgium, the Multicultural Law Party (Multicultural Recht Partij) in the Netherlands and the Alliance for Innovation and Justice (Bündnis für Innovation und Gerechtigkeit) in Germany,” according to Intelligence Online.

This extensive Turkish lobbying effort should be confronted by everyone, not just Armenians. Even though Turkey is a bankrupt country, Pres. Erdogan, has chosen to use his country’s limited financial resources to arm its military and disseminate Turkish propaganda around the world.



Source Panorama.am
Share |

Newsfeed

13:33
Temperatures set to plunge next week
Clear weather is expected in Armenia's regions over the weekend. Rain and snow are forecast for most parts of the country next week....
13:06
Magnitude 4․3 quake hits Azerbaijan, felt in Armenia
A magnitude 4․3 earthquake struck Azerbaijan on Saturday afternoon. The quake was recorded 42 km northeast of the town of Goris in...
12:35
Opposition MP slams Pashinyan's Western Armenia remarks
Opposition Hayastan faction MP Levon Kocharyan has blasted Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's remarks on Western Armenia and Baku’s fake...
12:00
MP Hovik Aghazaryan says decided on his parliament seat
MP Hovik Aghazaryan of Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party has made a decision on his parliament seat. The deputy has told the media...
11:36
US lawmakers request classified briefing on Turkey’s ties to Hamas
More than three dozen Democratic and Republican lawmakers are calling on the Biden administration to offer a classified briefing on...
11:15
Armenia's Mushegh Mkrtchyan wins bronze at World Military Wrestling Championships
Armenian serviceman Mushegh Mkrtchyan (92 kg) has clinched a bronze medal at the 37th CISM World Military Wrestling Championships in Yerevan,...
11:00
Switzerland bans exports to Polish firm after Swiss-made ammunition ends up in Ukraine
The Swiss government said Friday it is barring exports to a Polish military hardware supplier after concluding that some 645,000 rounds of...
17:12
Armenia to face Georgia in Nations League play-off
The 2024/25 UEFA Nations League knockout stage and play-off ties have been confirmed following the draw in Nyon, Switzerland on Friday....
16:36
Hayk Marutyan agrees to debate with Tigran Avinyan
New Power party leader Hayk Marutyan has agreed to a TV debate with incumbent Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan. Marutyan, a former Yerevan...
15:45
Opposition politician: Pashinyan leading Armenia to 'final collapse'
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s administration is leading Armenia to the “final collapse” and Turkification, opposition...
15:05
Caretaker deputy justice minister sacked
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has signed a decree to dismiss Armenuhi Harutyunyan as Acting Deputy Minister of Justice....
14:35
Armenian parliament speaker confirms MP's resignation
National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan has issued a statement on the resignation of Narek Zeynalyan as an MP from Armenia’s ruling Civil...
14:06
Visa restricts media access to key event in Yerevan
Visa has restricted the media access to the Cashless Forum 2024 to be held in Yerevan for the first time on November 22. Only...
13:36
Orban says he will invite Netanyahu to Hungary after ICC warrant
Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday he would invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Hungary, saying he would guarantee...
13:11
Temps to plummet in Armenia
Clear weather is expected in Armenia's regions on Friday and over the weekend. Rain and snow are forecast for most parts of the country...
12:32
Alexis Ohanian showcases rare Armenian coin
Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian has showcased a rare Armenian coin from 95 BC featuring Tigranes the Great, a famous Armenian king....
12:16
German foreign minister criticizes Azerbaijan's human rights record
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock criticized the human rights record of Azerbaijan during her first appearance at the UN Climate Change...
12:06
Minister shares new images captured by Armenia's first satellite
Armenia's Minister of High-Tech Industry Mkhitar Hayrapetyan has shared new satellite images from orbit captured by ARMSAT-1,...
11:36
World Cadet Chess Championship passes its halfway mark
The 2024 World Cadet Chess Championship has passed its halfway mark in Montesilvano, Italy. After 6 rounds, in the Open 12 category CM...
11:15
Iran to launch 'new and advanced centrifuges' in response to IAEA censure
Iran said Friday it would launch a series of "new and advanced" centrifuges in response to a resolution adopted by the IAEA that...
11:00
Armenian, Iranian foreign ministers hold phone call
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan on Thursday had a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Seyed Abbas Araghchi....
17:07
Winter military draft starts in Armenia on November 25
The winter conscription for compulsory military service starts in Armenia on November 25 to run through January 31, 2025. The...
16:45
Russian spokeswoman told not to comment on ballistic missile strike live on air
Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova received a phone call during a live press briefing on Thursday telling her not to...
16:33
Belgian politicians call for immediate release of all Armenian prisoners held in Baku
In the backdrop of the COP29 currently taking place in Baku 20 members of the Belgian Federal Parliament, the Flemish Parliament, the Walloon...
16:06
Armenia thwarts large-scale drug smuggling attempt
Officers of Armenia’s State Revenue Committee (SRC) have foiled an attempt to smuggle some 1,600 grams of cocaine into the country as part...
15:33
Armenian government reduces financial aid for Artsakh refugees
The Armenian government on Thursday approved a decision to reduce financial aid for the displaced Artsakh Armenians. Starting from...
14:45
Percival Everett wins National Book Award
Percival Everett has won the $10,000 National Book Award for fiction, one of the US’s most prestigious literary prizes, for James, his...
14:35
Pyunik v West Armenia match canceled
An Armenian Premier League match between FC Pyunik and West Armenia has been canceled. The 17th round match was scheduled for November 21....
14:06
Armenian Foreign Ministry denies cooperation with Azerbaijan on water management
Armenia’s Foreign Ministry has denied claims of cooperation with Azerbaijan on transboundary water resources management. In a social...
13:36
No rain in sight for rest of the week
Clear weather is expected in Armenia's regions from Thursday to Sunday.  Rain and snow are forecast for most parts of the country...

Follow us and get updates!

Most popular articles

{"core.blocks.header.spell_message1":"Selected mistake: ","core.blocks.header.spell_message2":"Send a message about the mistake?"}