Imagine representatives banding together in Congress to advance the interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the United States, senators forming an internal group to advocate for strong U.S. ties to serial human rights violator Venezuela, or congressmen lending their names and the prestige of their offices to a regime which promotes Hamas, supports al Qaeda affiliates, imprisons journalists, and whose leader has now moved on to ordering attacks on U.S. citizens in the heart of Washington, D.C.
Well, the first two scenarios might be farcical, but voters might want to ask Reps. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., Stephen Cohen, D-Tenn., Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and Steve Chabot, R.-Ohio, why they are essentially leading a group of more than 100 representatives and senators in conformity with the third scenario.
The Turkish Coalition of America says “The Turkish Caucus is a bipartisan platform for members of Congress to focus on U.S.-Turkey relations and issues that concern Turkish Americans.” But Turkey’s former ambassador Namik Tan and the government he once represented look at the numbers of congressmen signing on to be an endorsement of Turkish state and society.
What is that state and society today? Turkey may once have been an ally and a partner, but today it has become in-all-but-name a state sponsor of terrorism, a dictatorship, a liability to NATO, and a source of instability in the Middle East.
Explanations that the congressmen support strong U.S.-Turkish relations but make no value judgment on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rule fall short. After all, Turkey is no longer a democracy.
Erdogan has now declared a perpetual state of emergency, giving him power to rule by decree and imprison opponents and civil society leaders. He has done so to great effect, imprisoning more than 50,000 and purging almost three times that number. The Turkish embassy, meanwhile, represents not Turkey more broadly but instead only Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). It has become not a resource for Turks in the United States and Americans interested in Turkey, but a center for espionage against them.
If members of the Congressional Turkey Caucus wish to advocate for stronger U.S.-Turkey ties or a more liberal, democratic Turkey, they can do so every day in their individual capacities without creating the impression of endorsement.
It’s time for Congress to do the right thing and to stop providing cover for a country and government which now unapologetically launches attacks in our nation’s capital. Disband the Congressional Turkey Caucus.
Michael Rubin (@Mrubin1971) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a former Pentagon official.
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