Written by Bülent Kenes, Today's Zaman. Posted in Columns.

A New Lobbying Style

NEW YORK - Turkey has for decades had a serious image problem in the world. The Armenian diaspora's claims about the alleged genocide being taken seriously in the international community and turning into an all-out campaign, and the wounds that were opened by the portrayal of Turks in films such as "Midnight Express" and "Lawrence of Arabia" and which remain unhealed, have once again shown how vital lobbying is. By spending myriad sums for years to meet this lobbying need, Turkey sought to give its own theses to its counterparts with the support of professional lobbyists and to respond to counter campaigns. It is well known that some professional lobbying companies such as the Livingston Group and DLA Piper have been serving Turkish aims in Washington for years in return for very large sums of money. At times, when it is forced through bottlenecks in the international arena, Turkey obligatorily seeks the support of groups that it sees as relatively friendly, such as the Jewish lobby. Of course, both the service provided by professional lobbyists in return for a payment and the support given by Jewish groups in return for support of certain interests fall short of countering the Greek and Armenian campaigns or the lobbying activities of the pro-Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Kurdish diaspora. For this reason both the American and European publics always take contrary positions on the sensitive issues of Turkey, in which case we are supposed to be dumbstruck.

In recent years, Turkey has not disregarded efforts to make Turkish communities abroad take a more active role in lobbying activities. However, it is still impossible to say that these efforts, materially and spiritually supported by the state, are producing any noticeable results as of yet. In fact experience shows that the lobbying activities carried out by reliable independent civil society organizations are more effective and fruitful than state-supported lobbying activities.

Currently, the activities of a civil initiative, which have increased substantially in recent years and can be considered a type of lobbying, are drawing attention. A movement that has been developing relations with active segments in all corners of the world by always starting from the base has been trying to fulfill the mass lobbying mission that Turkey has needed for decades. Associations and foundations from the Gülen Movement, considered the smiling face of the Islamic world, have been carrying out lobbying activities, which could never be achieved otherwise, for hundreds of millions of dollars.

If we attempt to write just about the effective activities held during Ramadan, we would far exceed the limits of this column. The dialogue iftars given in Germany, Austria, Canada, Australia and many states in America have managed to bring together the Turkish communities with high-ranking officials of the respective countries or states.

Even enumerating the guests that attended the Second Friendship Dinner (iftar) held in New York by the Turkish Cultural Center on Friday night would be enough to show at what level such activities are held. Coming across organizations similar to the one that brought together Senator Hillary Clinton and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has almost become an ordinary thing.

During the years I worked in New York, I was surprised to find out that the annual Turkish Day Parade, held for the last 25 years by the Federation of Turkish-American Associations, had never been attended by either a New York mayor or any senator. Later, I attended a dinner organization by the Hudson Turkish-American Cultural Association (HUTACA) which operates at the local level in New Jersey, and I was surprised once again there -- this time to see the New Jersey senators, local administrators and police chiefs at the dinner. A young lawyer, Güvenç Kulen, maybe still in his twenties then, was at the head of HUTACA. However, Kulen, with his friends even younger than him, managed to unite the Turks and bring them together with the top administrative representatives of the region through various events.

Pondering the many associations in the United States similar to HUTACA, and the hundreds of them in the world, which carry out very influential lobbying activities and represent the real and lovely face of Turks, the Turkish culture and Islam, I couldn't help thinking to myself, "This is the lobbying that should be done." The iftar dinner held by the Rumi Forum in Washington in the US Congress attended by many US deputies, the one attended by Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plasnik in Vienna and all other events held, for instance, in Germay and Canada, which local administrators, officials and ministers can no longer approach indifferently, all point out that a new rising Turkish lobby is progressively becoming more and more prominent.

I applaud the services done to Turkey, the Islamic world and world peace by the Gülen Movement, which takes its power from its own values and turns this into a "soft power" that serves world peace all around the world on the grounds of dialogue, tolerance and mutual respect.

Created on 30 September 2007.