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Turkey reaches out to diaspora, decides to pay less to lobbying firms in US
The Turkish government is among the foreign clients of the Gephardt Group and Fleishman-Hillard, a leading strategic communications firm. Speaking to reporters in Washington on Monday, Turkey’s Ambassador to the US Namık Tan said Turkey will soon pay 20 percent less in fees than it currently pays to the two companies.
The government’s contract with the two lobbyists recently expired. The Turkish Embassy in Washington conducted performance assessments of the companies and persuaded them to accept a 20 percent reduction in fees in the new contracts to be signed.
The embassy, meanwhile, advised Ankara to approve the new draft contracts with the 20 percent reduction in fees. The government is expected to make its final decision on the issue in the coming days.
Eager to maintain closer contact with the Obama administration, Ankara, meanwhile, will adopt a new communications strategy on Capitol Hill, with Ambassador Tan defining this strategy as “meeting with all circles.”
While admitting that the US administration has been having some difficulty persuading Congress to approve a request by Turkey for weapons procurement, Tan, however, said claims suggesting the imposition of an “arms embargo” by the US against Turkey were “groundless.”
In addition to efforts to diversify channels of official communication with the US administration and attempts to get the US-based Turkish diaspora involved in unofficial lobbying activities, the Turkish government is also trying to restore ties with the Israeli lobby, which is seen as the main reason for the negative atmosphere at the US Congress vis-a-vis Turkey.
Accordingly, a Foreign Ministry delegation led by Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu –- which last week had talks with several senior US officials from the departments of state, defense and commerce –- also met with representatives of some Jewish organizations in the US capital.
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