The American-Turkish Council (ATC) is a business association dedicated to enhancing the promotion of US-Turkish commercial, defense, technology, and cultural relations. Its diverse membership includes Fortune 500s, multinationals, U.S. and Turkish companies, non-profit organizations, and individuals with an interest in
U.S.-Turkish relations. Guided by member interests, the ATC strives to enhance growing ties between the U.S. and Turkey by increasing investment and trade through high level government relations, effective commercial engagement, and bilateral cultural education. It has been described as "a 'Turkey lobby' in Washington".
Personnel
* General James L. Jones: Chairman
* Howard Beasey: President and CEO
* Fatih Orhan: Director, Membership Development and Programs
* Ruya Eichelberger: Director, Communications and Marketing
* Zabe Shafi: Lead Program Associate
* Kemal Çankaya: Analyst, Finance
* Zeynep Ergin: Analyst, Program and Research
Board
As of 2014 the ATC board members included:
#
Richard Armitage
# George Perlman of
Lockheed Martin
The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...
#
Hamdi Ulukaya
Hamdi Ulukaya (born 26 October 1972, Iliç) is a Turkish billionaire businessman, activist, and philanthropist of Kurdish ethnicity based in the United States. Ulukaya is the owner, founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Chobani, the ...
, CEO of
Chobani
Chobani is an American food company specializing in strained yogurt. The company was founded in 2005 by Hamdi Ulukaya, a Turkish businessman. Chobani sells thick, Greek-style yogurt with a higher protein content than traditional yogurt and is o ...
# Elizabeth Avery of
PepsiCo
PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the manuf ...
# Özer Baysal of
Pfizer
Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer ...
# Andy Button of
Boeing
The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...
# Richard K. Douglas of
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
# Sherry Grandjean of
Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation
Sikorsky Aircraft is an American aircraft manufacturer based in Stratford, Connecticut. It was established by aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky in 1923 and was among the first companies to manufacture helicopters for civilian and military use.
Pr ...
# John R. Miller of
Raytheon
Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitaliza ...
# Selig A. Taubenblatt of
Bechtel
Bechtel Corporation () is an American engineering, procurement, construction, and project management company founded in San Francisco, California, and headquartered in Reston, Virginia. , the ''Engineering News-Record'' ranked Bechtel as the sec ...
ATC's advisory board also includes representatives of a number of defense, pharmaceutical, consulting, and technology firms, including
BAE Systems
BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...
and
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...
.
The American-Turkish Council holds a Joint Annual Conference with the Turkey-U.S. Business Council (TAİK) every year in Washington D.C.
Controversies
Growing media scrutiny of the ATC came as a result of allegations made by
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
whistleblower
Sibel Edmonds
Sibel Deniz Edmonds is a former contract translator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the founder and editor-in-chief of the independent news website NewsBud.
The FBI hired her as a translator shortly after September 11 attacks ...
regarding the activities of council members in an article in the September 2005
Vanity Fair. The improprieties were alleged to be illegal contributions to the
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation
The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) is an American educational foundation. It conducts research on issues affecting African Americans, publishes a yearly report on key legislation, and sponsors issue forums, leadership seminars and ...
. The ATC is where former Ambassador Joseph Wilson met his future wife and CIA operative,
Valerie Plame
Valerie Elise Plame (born August 13, 1963) is an American writer, spy novelist, and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer. As the subject of the 2003 Plame affair, also known as the CIA leak scandal, Plame's identity as a CIA officer ...
, leading some to speculate Plame's CIA front company,
Brewster-Jennings & Associates, was monitoring the same alleged nuclear trafficking of the ATC as Sibel Edmonds.
In 2014, James Holmes, ATC President since 2005, was forced to resign at the demand of Turkey's deputy prime minister
Ali Babacan
Ali Babacan (; born 4 April 1967) is a Turkish politician, economist, and engineer. He is the founder and current leader of the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA). He served 13 years as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Economy, Chief ...
. ATC Deputy Head Canan Büyüküstün and Executive Manager Ayşe Sümer also submitted their resignations. This was a result of the ATC having issued a report citing media reports about the 2013
corruption probe in Turkey that had implicated members of the AKP Erdoğan government. Concerns were subsequently raised by Cüneyt Zapsu, former Erdogan advisor and executive member of the ATC's partner organization in Turkey, the Turkey-U.S. Business Council (TAİK), an arm of Turkey's Foreign Economic Relations Board.
Further dislike of Holmes by the Turkish government was caused when at a discussion panel chaired by Holmes, AKP-affiliated journalists, acting as if they were still in Turkey where such behavior would be normal, refused to answer a question posed by a
Zaman journalist. Holmes rebuked this refusal, insisting that the AKP-columnist answer.
See also
*
American Turkish Friendship Association American Turkish Friendship Association (ATFA) is a non-profit non-governmental organization founded in 2003 by members of the Gülen movement, made up of followers of the Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen. Its stated goal is addressing the social and ...
*
Assembly of Turkish American Associations The Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA), created in 1979, is the umbrella organization whose stated purpose is to promote cooperation between the social and cultural Turkish American organizations around the United States. ATAA informs ...
*
Federation of Turkish American Associations
The Federation of Turkish American Associations is a non-profit organization established in 1956 for the purpose of uniting and supporting the Turkish American community within the United States. The Federation has evolved with the changing times a ...
*
Lobbying in the United States
Lobbying in the United States describes paid activity in which advocacy group, special interest groups hire well-connected professional advocates, often lawyers, to argue for specific legislation in decision-making bodies such as the United Sta ...
*
Turkish Americans
Turkish Americans ( tr, Türk Amerikalılar) or American Turks are Americans of ethnic Turkish origin. The term "Turkish Americans" can therefore refer to ethnic Turkish immigrants to the United States, as well as their American-born descend ...
References
External links
*
{{Turkey–United States relations
Turkey–United States relations
Realist think tanks