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Contributed To HellasFrappe
By Alex Aliferis
WASHINGTON - The Washington based newspaper "Roll Call" on Jan 15th said that the Turkish Coalition of America is one of the leading spenders for US congressional trips and records by LegisStorm note that the Turkish Coalition of America is one of the top spenders.
In fact, it spent a whopping US $159, 942 in 2012 to send bipartisan groups of staffers to Turkey
in February, March, May, and August of 2012. The August trip included a stop in Bosnia so the Turkish Coalition of America can show efforts by Turkey and the United States to end the Bosnian War.
These trips are designed to increase support for Turkey.
Roll Call notes how the Turkish Coalition has beefed up its travel expenditures in recent years. Apart from this, the Turkish Coalition of America has sent groups of FYROManian Lobbyists, Native Americans, African Americans, and Latino Americans to visit Turkey.
Due to the recent economic crisis in Greece, it is important to note that the Turkish Lobby and its allies (Albanian, FYROManian and Bosnian) have beefed up their activities.
When checking out their site, we found out that the Turkish Coalition provides informational bulletins to members of Congress 12 months a year, and at the same time it apparently organizes and sponsors congressional delegations to Turkey, as well as events on Capitol Hill. Parallel to this it provides a platform for Turkish American activism and advocacy on issues that concern Turkish Americans.
The Turkish lobby believes that through efforts such as the above, that it can easily strengthen a balanced dialogue in Washington, DC on issues relating to US-Turkey relations as well as US policies in the region.
Is the Greek lobby in DC listening?
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