By Tugrul Cam
WASHINGTON (AA) - Though accused July 15 coup plotter Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) uses donations and lobbying to gain access and influence among U.S. politicians, unlike objects in your car’s rear-view mirror, that influence may in fact be smaller than it appears.
Efforts to extradite U.S.-based FETO leader Fetullah Gulen are now a top issue between Ankara and Washington, and in the aftermath of the bloody defeated coup, the organization's activities in the U.S. are coming under renewed scrutiny.
Self-exiled FETO leader Gulen has lived in a complex in Pennsylvania since 1999, and is the mastermind behind the putsch attempt, according to Turkish authorities. In addition to a variety of ventures across the U.S., Gulen's followers are also involved with politics through donations and lobbying.
Some of Gulen's followers in the U.S. are considered to be close to American politicians, using donations and illegal trips to gain influence over members of Congress and presidential hopefuls.
Some argue, however, that FETO is not as influential as it wants to be.
- Paltry millions
Murat Guzel, a U.S.-based Turkish businessman and supporter of Democrat Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, contends that FETO’s influence in the U.S. is actually quite limited.
Guzel is in charge of the Democratic Party’s National Democratic Ethnic Coordinating Council (NDECC) and also serves on the Clinton campaign's financial committee.
Guzel told Anadolu Agency that FETO abuses the U.S. political system through illegal donations.
"They [FETO] are not as influential as some believe, but they know politicians and have a certain influence," Guzel told Anadolu Agency, saying that this influence comes from the long history of FETO activities in the U.S. and its donations.
According to Guzel, the amount of money FETO spends to gain influence among American politicians is comparatively less sizable than first impressions might say.
For example, Guzel said that FETO's donations since last year to Clinton's presidential campaign and the nonprofit Clinton Foundation did not exceed $3-4 million. Such donations, he said, would not mean that the group controlled the Clinton campaign, but rather that it gained some access.
"Hillary Clinton is expected to attract $2 billion [for her presidential campaign]. Think how small $3 million [FETO's total donation] is in that total amount," he said.
Guzel said FETO members work to smear Turkey by using the already "troubled perception of Turkey in the U.S."
"All politicians I speak to in the U.S. constantly say that the Gulenists [FETO members] say bad things about Turkey. I hear this all the time and it saddens me," Guzel said, adding that this misinformation needs to be corrected.
- Web of misdeeds
Meanwhile, the FBI and Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the U.S. tax authority, are scrutinizing FETO institutions and schools in the U.S. for financial irregularities, corruption, bid-rigging, and forgery.
FETO owns one of the largest charter schools networks in the U.S., with about 140 schools nationwide. For these schools FETO gets about $500 million annually in U.S. government funding, according to U.S. media reports.
The FBI has a continuing investigation of irregularities in 30 Chicago-based schools -- part of Gulen’s Concept Schools network -- for funneling more than $5 million in U.S. government funding intended for the schools to its members instead.
Investigations are also ongoing into white-collar crime involving 19 Gulen schools in the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. During the investigations, documents of the Concept Schools network -- which the investigated schools belong to -- were seized by police.
Besides schools, FETO also has hundreds of political, commercial, and educational foundations and institutions in almost every state of the U.S., particularly in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
FETO's efforts in the U.S. were also clear last year in a letter signed by 88 members of Congress to Secretary of State John Kerry complaining about the state of freedoms in Turkey. It was later revealed that in previous years, FETO had made donations to some of the lawmakers and even organized a trip to Turkey.
The nonpartisan website LegiStorm, which compiles information on privately funded lawmaker trips, later revealed that FETO had taken almost 300 members of Congress, including some of the lawmakers who signed the letter to Kerry, on a $3 million trip to Turkey, which included a tour of its own newspaper, magazine, and school buildings.
The U.S. media has also been doing stories about irregularities involving FETO.
Spotlighting FETO's political contributions, USA Today reported last November that FETO might have made illegal donations to U.S. presidential and congressional campaigns.
The story found that dozens of people who made those illegal donations were FETO members of “modest incomes” who had no idea about the candidates they donated to.
One of the lawmakers FETO made donations to, New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte, had to return $43,100 in "suspicious donations" that she took in 2014.
-Major muscle
Besides donations to improve its image in the U.S. and expand its influence, FETO also uses lobbying. Recently, FETO's New York-based umbrella organization, the Alliance for Shared Values (AfSV), reached an agreement with one of the most influential lobbying groups in Washington, the Podesta Group, to seek influence with Congress.
This May, the Podesta Group submitted official documents to Congress’ lower chamber, the House of Representatives, saying that it would lobby on behalf of the AfSV between April 1 and June 30. According to the group, the AfSV paid $30,000 for lobbying services over that period.
According to the House of Representatives, the documents listed the AfSV as the client and the Podesta Group's Mark Tavlarides, David Adams, and Riley Moore as the paid lobbyists. The AfSV was not listed as a "foreign entity" on the document, and "human rights" was listed as the subject of the lobbying work.
The 30-year-old Podesta Group is one of the leading lobbying groups in the U.S. capital. Tony Podesta, who heads the group, is known to be close to U.S. President Barack Obama, and his brother John Podesta chairs Clinton's presidential campaign.
Among the Podesta Group’s clients are large multinationals such as Novartis, BP, and Wal-Mart and countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Georgia, Albania, and Kenya.