{"id":705444,"date":"2021-09-01T05:05:44","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T09:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=705444"},"modified":"2021-09-01T05:05:45","modified_gmt":"2021-09-01T09:05:45","slug":"squad-member-was-guest-of-honor-at-fundraiser-hosted-by-pro-erdogan-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/squad-member-was-guest-of-honor-at-fundraiser-hosted-by-pro-erdogan-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Squad Member Was Guest of Honor at Fundraiser Hosted By Pro-Erdogan Group"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsquad-member-was-guest-of-honor-at-fundraiser-hosted-by-pro-erdogan-group%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=705444&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div readability=\"29.487603305785\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><a class href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/\">Democrats<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">Jamaal Bowman has formed close ties to controversial Turkish group<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"736\" height=\"514\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/GettyImages-1220616697_736x514.jpg\" class=\"w-full lazyload blur-up wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/s2.freebeacon.com\/up\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1220616697_736x514.jpg 736w, https:\/\/s2.freebeacon.com\/up\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1220616697_736x514-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/s2.freebeacon.com\/up\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1220616697_736x514-703x491.jpg 703w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" \/><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs bottom-0 bg-black opacity-75\">\n\t\t\t\tRep. Jamaal Bowman (D., N.Y.) \/ Getty Images\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/chuck-ross\/\" title=\"Posts by Chuck Ross\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Chuck Ross<\/a> \u2022 September 1, 2021 4:59 am<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div readability=\"111.04476998905\">\n<p>Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D., N.Y.) attended a fundraiser hosted last month by a Turkish-American advocacy group with close ties to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose members were on hand in 2017 when the Turkish leader&#8217;s bodyguards beat peaceful protesters in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<p>Two officials with the Turkish American National Steering Committee, a nonprofit cofounded by a relative of Erdogan\u2019s, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/israfildemir\/status\/1424217018929135618\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hosted<\/a> the &#8220;meet and greet&#8221; fundraiser for Bowman at a restaurant in New Jersey on Aug. 7. Bowman, an acolyte of the &#8220;Squad,&#8221; appeared at two of the committee\u2019s events in May, the <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/squad-acolyte-jamaal-bowman-cozies-up-to-controversial-turkish-advocacy-group\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The committee has been accused of working as an influence group for the Erdogan regime. Founded in 2016, the Steering Committee has hosted Erdogan at multiple events in the United States and frequently holds protests supporting Erdogan-backed causes. It lobbied aggressively against the U.S. government\u2019s recognition of the Ottoman Empire\u2019s genocide of Armenians. Officials with the Steering Committee, including Erdogan relative Halil Mutlu, accompanied Erdogan\u2019s delegation in May 2017 when his bodyguards attacked peaceful protesters outside the Turkish ambassador\u2019s residence in Washington.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;[The Steering Committee] operates as an Erdogan front, one of many astroturf groups advancing this dictator&#8217;s anti-American agenda in Washington, D.C.,&#8221; Aram Suren Hamparian, the executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America, told the <em>Free Beacon <\/em>in June.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Rubin, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute who has been targeted by the Erdogan regime, said Bowman was &#8220;siding with the most dictatorial elements in Turkey&#8221; by appearing at Steering Committee events.<\/p>\n<p>Rubin said Bowman was &#8220;symbolically spitting on Turkish journalists and progressives imprisoned by the Erdogan regime, and giving solace to a group on the wrong side of the attack on Americans in the heart of Washington, D.C.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Bowman\u2019s blind eye to Erdogan\u2019s crackdown in Turkey is a stark contrast to his support for left-wing causes at home. Bowman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/watch\/?v=724473885169600\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">supports<\/a> the movement to defund police departments and has <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/issues\/justice-democrats-endorsed-candidate-wants-to-disarm-police\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> he wants to &#8220;disarm the police.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Bowman posed for photographs with Mutlu at the recent fundraiser and at a previous event held by the committee. Mutlu and other officials with the committee contributed more than $6,750 to Bowman\u2019s congressional campaign last year. The group supported Bowman\u2019s primary challenge against former representative Eliot Engel (D., N.Y.), who was a staunch critic of the Erdogan regime.<\/p>\n<p>Relations between the United States and Turkey have deteriorated in recent years as Erdogan has purged Turkish media companies, schools, and the military of his critics. Turkey has become one of the world\u2019s worst jailers of journalists.<\/p>\n<p>The Steering Committee\u2019s close ties to the Turkish government were on display days before the group hosted the Bowman fundraiser. Mutlu, who is Erdogan\u2019s cousin, met in Ankara on July 26 with Turkish foreign minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu and his deputy.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ourtasc\/photos\/2668170830152108\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a post<\/a> on the Steering Committee\u2019s Facebook page, Mutlu told the Turkish officials that the group would &#8220;reach out to the U.S. political leaders, media, and public&#8221; regarding U.S.-Turkey relations. The Steering Committee also boasted that it has representatives throughout the United States &#8220;who communicate and educate the local leaders on issues related to Turkey and the Turkish community.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Bowman\u2019s office and the Turkish American National Steering Committee did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democrats Jamaal Bowman has formed close ties to controversial Turkish group  Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D., N.Y.) \/ Getty Images  Chuck Ross \u2022 September 1, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-705444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}