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Congress stops traveling to Turkey after ethics probes, political turmoil

June 23, 2016 By administrator

Congress-turkey-tripBy Fernanda Crescente and Paul Singer, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Members of Congress have abandoned privately funded trips to Turkey, once a favorite destination for such junkets, after investigations by House ethics panels and USA TODAY indicated many of these trips had been illegally funded.

No lawmakers have accepted a privately sponsored trip to Turkey since May 2015, with the exception of one congressman who made an August trip sponsored by a Norwegian group, according to data complied by the Clerk of the House.

That wasn’t always the case. In 2011, more than 100 members of Congress and their staff accepted private trips from different non-profit groups. But an ethics investigation last year revealed evidence that a Turkish religious movement was hiding the true source of funding for many trips provided to lawmakers and their staff. That probe, by the Office of Congressional Ethics, was leaked to The Washington Post in May 2015. USA TODAY later found about 200 congressional trips that appeared to have been improperly funded.


The Turkish Coalition of America used to be a frequent sponsor of congressional travel to Turkey. Though the organization is not associated with the Islamic movement that sponsored the improper trips, the coalition has not sponsored any congressional travel in the past year. Louette Ragusa, executive assistant at the Turkish Coalition of America, said a combination of factors led to cuts in travel. “With the events going on in Turkey and also being election year, our organization has decided to hold back on trips,” she said.

Prior election years have not seen the same drop. In 2012, the organization sponsored 30 trips to Turkey.

Fatih Oke, press counselor at the Turkish Embassy, said that while congressional trips have declined, official congressional travel — paid for by Congress — has increased, ruling out the idea lawmakers may be trying to distance themselves from Turkey. “Many of these visits have allowed members of Congress to have meetings with Turkish leaders,” Oke said.

USA TODAY found government-sponsored trips reported by Congress dipped from 110 in 2013 to 92 in 2015.

Campaign Legal Center Policy Director Meredith McGehee said the ethics investigation could have contributed to cutbacks. “That scrutiny has certainly created some hesitation there,” she said. “It generated a ton of bad press, and appropriately so.”

Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist at Public Citizen, agreed.  “The fact these organizations were sponsoring 100 members of Congress and then suddenly dropping to zero would raise red flags that the organizations themselves or their funders are not supposed to be sponsoring these kinds of trips,” Holman said.

The drop in travel could also be attributed to increasing tensions between the United States and Turkey, said Jock Friedly, founder and president of LegiStorm, an organization that discloses Congress’s financial information. “In the past, you could count on many trips happening each year, so the fact we haven’t had any in the past year is pretty striking,” Friedly said.

U.S. lawmakers have been critical of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s crackdown on political opponents, which has included shuttering major national media outlets. When Erdogan visited Washington in March, Congress was out of session and lawmakers did not come back to town to meet with him — even members of the congressional Caucus on U.S.-Turkish Relations.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: traveling, Turkey, US congress

54 US Congress members call on Obama to press Aliyev on Karabakh peace

March 30, 2016 By administrator

defaultWASHINGTON, D.C. – In the days leading up to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Washington D.C. for an international nuclear summit this week, more than 50 US Representatives have joined with leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in calling upon US President Barack Obama to leverage this visit to pressure the Azerbaijan leader to stop obstructing the implementation of the life-saving Royce-Engel peace proposals for Nagorno-Karabakh, reported the Armenian National Committee of America.

The letter, authored by Chairman Ed Royce and Representative Brad Sherman, a senior member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, builds upon an earlier Congressional letter, sent to the State Department last December, in support of three practical peacekeeping measures, known collectively as the Royce-Engel proposals:

— An agreement from all sides not to deploy snipers, heavy arms, or new weaponry along the line of contact.

— The placement of OSCE-monitored, advanced gunfire-locator systems and sound-ranging equipment to determine the source of attacks along the line of contact.

— The deployment of additional OSCE observers along the line of contact to better monitor cease-fire violations.

The list of Congress members who have signed this letter is available here.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Aliyev, Karabakh, Obama, US congress

Karabakh FM delivers speech in U.S. Congress

December 10, 2015 By administrator

Karabakh usWASHINGTON. – Karabakh FM Karen Mirzoyan today had separate meetings in Washington with members of the U.S. Congress, Co-Chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues Frank Pallone and Robert Dold, as well as Congresswoman Anna Eshoo. On the same day, accompanied by Chairman of the Armenian National Committee of America Ken Khachikian and Kate Nahapetian, who is responsible for the Committee’s relations with the U.S. Government, Karen Mirzoyan met with U.S. Senator, member of the Appropriations Committee Mark Kirk.

During the meeting, a range of issues related to the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict peaceful settlement process, provocations on the Line of Contact by Azerbaijan, as well as the U.S. humanitarian assistance rendered to Karabakh were discussed.

On the same day, the Karabakh FM took part in a traditional event dedicated to the anniversary of Artsakh’s independence held in the U.S. Congress. The event was organized under the auspices of the Co-Chairs of the U.S. Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues and through the joint efforts of the Armenian National Committee of America, the Armenian Assembly of America, the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia to the USA, and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) Permanent Representation to the USA.

The event, which started with the prayer of blessing by the Armenian Church’s North American Eastern Diocese Legate, Archbishop Vigen Haykazian, was attended by representatives of the American Armenian organizations and communities, staff members of Congressmen’s Offices, experts, and journalists.

A number of Congressmen attended the event and delivered speeches, including Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Ed Royce, Co-Chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues Frank Pallone and Robert Dold, Congressman Adam Schiff, and others. The Congressmen expressed their support for the NKR’s independence and democratic development and underlined their readiness to continue to focus on the issues related to Artsakh. The speakers also stressed the necessity of taking immediate steps for reducing the tensions on the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Karabakh and Azerbaijan.

RA Ambassador to the U.S. Tigran Sargsyan also welcomed the participants of the event with his address.

The Karabakh FM briefed on the state-building process in the NKR, stressing that the path that Artsakh people have gone through serves as a proof that it is impossible to limit the strive of people to decide their own future and fate.

Mirzoyan also expressed his gratitude to the Congressmen for their continued support in the issues related to the NKR.

Apart from this, he touched upon the current stage of the process of peaceful settlement of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Karabakh and briefed on the situation on the Line of Contact aggravated due to Azerbaijan’s provocative policy.

The Minister stressed that Karabakh is an established state with all the attributes and institutions of statehood, its Constitution, an active civil society and a vibrant economy.

Artsakh is also an important geopolitical factor in the region, which contributes to the stability and peace. Throughout its independence, Karabakh has proven to be a reliable, predictable, and responsible partner for the international community and is consistent in its actions aimed at maintaining regional peace and stability.

At the end of his speech, Karen Mirzoyan expressed confidence that the time had come for the international community to accept the reality and to recognize the free and democratic Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: FM, Karabakh, speech, US congress

Turkey: Foreign Minister Davutoğlu discusses Armenian resolution with Kerry

April 10, 2014 By administrator

ANKARA

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu held a phone conversation with U.S. Secretary General John Kerry late April 9, discussing the recent Armenian draft resolutions that were submitted to the U.S. Senate and House of n_64884_1Representatives.

“We don’t have a negative expectation [for the outcome of the draft resolution],” Davutoğlu told reporters in Ankara on April 10, adding that the two had also discussed developments in Syria and Egypt.

The Turkish government is taking measures against “initiatives that will bother Turkey. We hope they will not take such an attitude,” he also said.

Last week, four U.S. Congressmen introduced a resolution calling on U.S. President Barack Obama to encourage a Turkish-Armenian relationship based on Turkey’s acknowledgement that the 1915-16 killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces constituted genocide. The move was paralleled by a resolution introduced to the U.S. Senate by Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez and Senator Mark Kirk.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: armenian genocide, Davutoglu, Turkey, US congress

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