Turkey's Ambassador to the U.S., Namik Tan (arrow), hosts Native American tribal leaders at Turkey's Embassy in Washington. At right is Oklahoma Congressman Tom Cole (member of the Chickasaw Nation tribe) who introduced a "Trojan Horse" bill that would give Turkey unfettered access to Native American tribal lands. At left is Turkey's long-time chief lobbyist in America, Lincoln McCurdy, head of the Turkish Coalition of America. More photos documenting Turkey's intense cultivation of ties with Native American tribes are at the end of this article.
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Turkey's government, under Islamist leadership, has developed a remarkable but obscure tactic to make inroads into the United States.
Recently, Native American Congressman Tom Cole (R-OK, member of the Chickasaw Nation) introduced H.R. 2362, the Indian Trade and Investment Demonstration Project. The bill singles out Turkish-owned companies for exclusive investment preferences and special rights in Native American tribal area projects.
Congressman Cole freely admitted the following on the House floor:
There's no question that I was approached by the Turkish American Coalition [properly the Turkish Coalition of America], who have a deep interest in Turkey and American Indians.
"Deep interest" indeed. The bill was the culmination of a curious multi-year effort by Turkey to ingratiate itself with Native American tribes: tribal students now study in Turkey with full scholarships; Turkish high officials regularly appear at Native American economic summits; and dozens of tribal leaders have gone to Turkey on lavish all-expense paid trips.
Why the intense interest in business and cultural ties with Native American tribes only now, when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamist Justice and Development party (AKP) have taken Turkey down a path of aggressive and dangerous Islamism?
Evidence from Uzbekistan points to a possible nefarious motive: Infiltration and Islamization. The government of Uzbekistan is claiming that private Turkish business interests in the Central Asian country have been acting as a front for banned Islamist extremists. According to Agence France-Presse:
[The Uzbek government is] accusing Turkish companies of creating a shadow economy, using double accounting and propagating nationalistic and extremist ideology. ... Long wary of the influence of Islamic fundamentalism ... secular authorities appear to be linking Turkish private business to the activities of the Nurcus, an Islamic group that is banned in the country. [Nurcus is alsobanned in Russia].
Is it really in America's national security interests to have thousands of Turkish contractors and their families flooding into America's heartland and settling in semi-autonomous zones out of the reach of American authorities? Especially if their intent is to form intimate business and social ties with a long-aggrieved minority group?
H.R. 2362 was narrowly defeated on July 23, when a "suspension of the rules" vote (usually reserved for non-controversial votes with limited debate) failed to attain the required two-thirds majority. But troublingly, 220 representatives voted in favor – representing both parties and all ideological strains – with 160 opposed and 49 abstaining.
The bill could come up for a vote again, at any time.
In the original version of H.R. 2362, the stated purpose was to "encourage increased levels of commerce and economic investment [with Native American tribes] by private entities incorporated in or emanating from the Republic of Turkey." It allowed for select Native American tribes to lease land held in trust by the United States for "a project or activity … in furtherance of a commercial partnership involving one or more private entities incorporated in or emanating from the Republic of Turkey."
When the bill came up for a vote, its backers were forced to offer an amended version. The phrase "or other World Trade Organization (WTO) member nations" was placed after "Republic of Turkey" in the passages above.
The amended version still maintains that Congress "finds that the public and private sectors in the Republic of Turkey have demonstrated aunique interest in bolstering cultural, political, and economic relationships with Indian tribes and tribal members;" and that removing "barriers" and encouraging a "more robust relationship" between "Turkish and Indian tribal communities" is "in the interest" of "the United States-Turkey relationship." [Emphasis added].
These "interests" are not defined.
The bill, in both its forms, severely limits federal oversight of the investment projects, and does not even require the Department of the Interior to approve the leases. The term of the leases could stretch 75 years, effectively tying the hands of future Administrations.
Presidents would come and go. But Turkey would have a semi-permanent foothold in America's heartland.
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