Turkey Hires More US Lobbying Firms As its Reputation is Further Tarnished

BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN

As Turkey becomes the target of worldwide condemnation for its human rights violations, the Turkish government decides to spend a fortune on lobbying and public relations firms to try to cleanse its tarnished reputation. On the heels of the April 16 flawed referendum which Erdogan barely won to give himself a wide-ranging dictatorial powers, and his bodyguards’ brutal attack in front of the Turkish Embassy in Washington D.C., on innocent protesters has been universally criticized by the executive and legislative branches of the US government, including a resolution adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives 397-0!

Unfortunately, for Turkey and its autocratic president, the country’s reputation is so tainted that public relations firms, regardless of how powerful and competent they are, cannot whitewash its image. Turkish leaders are simply wasting millions of dollars of their taxpayers’ money attempting to accomplish an impossible task.

The Turkish government has already been paying five million dollars a year to 10 lobbying firms: The Gephardt Group $1,700,000; APCO $741,000; Amsterdam Partners $600,000; Greenberg Traurig $480,000; Capitol Counsel $384,000; Mercury $240,000; Madison Group $240,000; Mcbee Signal $240,000; Jim Arnold $240,000; and MediaFix $108,000! In addition, a business associate of Pres. Erdogan paid Pres. Trump’s disgraced former National Security Advisor Michael T. Flynn $540,000 in September 2016 to lobby on behalf of the Turkish government!

In recent months, trying to get out of its P.R. quagmire, the Turkish government and groups affiliated with it have hired three new firms. This week we will present one of these lobbying firms, leaving the other two to a future column.

Monte Advisory Group was hired in August 2016 for a fee of $400,000. According to the Daily Beast, the firm is run by Douglas Baker, the son of Republican James Baker [Chief of Staff and Secretary of State for Pres. George H.W. Bush; and Chief of Staff and Secretary of the Treasury for Pres. Ronald Reagan). The firm is supposed to improve public perceptions of Turkey! Douglas Baker is the “sole and managing member”