Wednesday, August 3, 2022
No Result
View All Result
Asbarez.com
NEWSLETTER
ՀԱՅ
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports
No Result
View All Result
Asbarez.com
ՀԱՅ
No Result
View All Result

FBI Insider Links Turkish Lobby To Bribery And Blackmail

by Asbarez Staff
August 11, 2009
in Featured Story, National, News, Top Stories, Videos
14
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

WASHINGTON—Former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds testified under oath Saturday about shocking details connecting the Turkish government to an intricate network of individuals and organization that bribed, persuaded, and – at least in one case – blackmailed US lawmakers and corrupted American government officials. Corruption. Espionage. Bribery. All to ensure that the US does not recognize the Armenian Genocide ever again.

For years, the Turkish government and its representatives here in the United States have stopped at nothing to fight the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. This far-reaching campaign of denial and cover-up stretches from well-funded efforts to block education about the Armenian genocide to ensuring that American media does not address or acknowledge the Armenian genocide as historic fact.

The Turkish government and Turkish lobby have for years pressured local, state and the federal governments and American and global media to rewrite American, Ottoman, Turkish, and world histories so that they exclude the Armenian genocide.

But only now are we beginning to understand exactly how far the government of Turkey, and its agents and proxies, are willing to go to undermine the Armenian case.

The FBI hired linguist Sibel Edmonds as a translator after the Sept. 11 attacks. But she was fired less than a year later after reporting the illegal activities of Turkish citizens being covered up by her bosses. Edmonds has been bravely battling the legal system for years for the opportunity to tell her story. On Saturday, Edmonds was able to speak freely thanks to David Krikorian, an American Armenian who is running for a congressional seat in Ohio.

“Ms. Edmonds is a very credible witness,” said Krikorian, “and she has direct information pertaining to how when she was a member of the Department of Justice, of the FBI, where she uncovered relationships between the government of Turkey and US officials, where the government of Turkey was pushing its agenda on US officials and doing so, perhaps, and we’ll find out today, in what people many people believe to be an illegal way.”

David Krikorian is the democratic candidate in the 2010 elections for Ohio’s 2nd congressional district. The seat is now held by Republican Jean Schmidt, who was the largest recipient of money from the Turkish lobby in the 2008 elections. The congresswoman also fought the Armenian Genocide resolution.

When her challenger, David Krikorian, pointed out that she was receiving blood money from Turks for helping deny the Armenian Genocide, the congresswoman complained to the Ohio Elections Commission. Representing the congresswoman and the Turkish American Defense Fund at the deposition on Saturday, August 8, was non-other than attorney and longtime voice of the Turkish lobby Bruce Fein.

Krikorian says the Turkish lobby’s interest in what Sibel Edmonds would say is because this FBI whistle blower is linking bribes accepted by lawmakers to the Turkish campaign of denial.

“I think they’re concerned, because this exposes their campaign of denial regarding the Armenian Genocide,” said Krikorian, “and how they’ve been able to buy off certain members of the US congress in support of the Turkish government’s position on this issue. So they have an interest.”

Bruce Fein claims Edmond’s testimony on Saturday has no relevance in congresswoman Schmidt’s case against David Krikorian.

Sibel Edmonds following her deposition Saturday
Sibel Edmonds following her deposition Saturday

We asked Bruce Fein about David Krikorian’s first amendment rights of freedom of speech and the right to talk openly about his opponent’s opposition to the Armenian Genocide resolution.

“We totally support his right to state anything he wants about the Armenian Genocide,” said Fein. “What you’re not entitled to do under the first amendment as interpreted by the US Supreme Court, who we think is the authoritative interpreter, is knowingly state lies, and what we have alleged, and what we have to prove, and we understand and accept it, is that Krikorian knowingly and intentionally told lies about Jean Schmidt including she received money from the Turkish government, and we fully expect we will discharge that burden and we agree that we ought to be able to. We must be shouldered with that burden in order to protect free speech. We don’t want close anybody’s mouth when it comes to arguing one way or another about the Armenian Genocide.”

Fein and the Turkish Defense Fund are indeed trying to stop Krikorian from speaking the truth. Congresswoman Schmidt did receive huge sums of contributions from the Turkish lobby. Sibel Edmonds says that same lobby bribed public officials to enforce the Turkish agenda in the United States.

The government has tried to gag Edmonds and has sent threatening letters to stop this type of talk about corruption inside the FBI, the State Department, the Department of Justice, and in the halls of Congress.

“I am able to talk about the kind of information they used to retaliate against whistle-blowers, to gag people, to issue states secrets privilege, or to use the excuse of classification,” said Edmonds. “Nothing that has to do with national security but to cover up criminal activities, embarrassing information, and today that is happening, and this is the biggest significance. It’s very significant. I believe Mr. Krikorian is very brave and courageous person, to push this and bring it to this point. He’s actually serving the interest of the United States citizens and not only in Cincinnati, Ohio, but everyone here in this country. So, we should be all thankful to him for providing us with this opportunity.”

During the deposition on Saturday, Edmonds talked in detail about scandalous bribes accepted by then-Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and former lawmakers Dick Gephardt and Stephen Solarz. She also spoke about the blackmailing of another un-named member of congress — a married woman with children, who was lured into a homosexual affair by a female prostitute sent by the Turkish lobby. This congresswoman was then blackmailed to abandon her support for the Armenian Genocide resolution.

“It’s the Turkish government,” said Edmonds, “but also other entities and layers of these operations and some of these covert operations and the way they are done is completely illegal. I was able to discuss those in detail, and that information within the next couple of hours I hope will be available to the public, and the public will get a chance to decide for themselves and see what the government does to gag and quash necessary information like this and stamp it as classified. I think this may end up inflicting the best and the worst damage to arbitrarily, criminally done classifications and let’s hope that it does.”

Edmonds says the allegations she made in an August 2005 Vanity Fair article were confirmed by the several FBI agents and Department of Justice officials. The piece by Vanity Fair reporter David Rose said that then-Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was the recipient of various bribes. Edmonds says it is amazing that neither Dennis Hastert nor his attorneys reacted to the article. Hastert did not issue a denial to the allegations, but he resigned a year later. Now he is part of the Turkish Government orchestrated network that Vanity Fair says paid him the big bribes when he was the most powerful member of the House of Representatives. The most recent Federal filings show that Hastert, one of several registered foreign agents for Turkey, now receives $35,000-a-month to push the Turkish government’s agenda on Capitol Hill.

How deep do these corrupt Turkish operations go? Vanity Fair reported that the FBI began investigating Turkish citizens living in the US in the late 90s, and they found evidence of attempts to bribe US officials. However, as Sibel Edmonds says – the government has used the phrase “state secrets” and security reasons to hold this information back from the public and media.

The Ohio Election Commission’s Probable Cause hearing is scheduled for Aug. 13th, and the final hearing in the case against David Krikorian where all the evidence will be heard is scheduled on Sept 3.

 

For more coverage on this topic, please visit http://www.facebook.com/v/113418419077

 

Brief Q&A With Bruce Fein

Q: Is this part of the series of cases you’re opening up, whether it’s in Massachusetts or suing the Southern Poverty Law Center as well to try to quash speech with regard to the Armenian Genocide?

BF: No, what we are trying to do is promote freedom of speech, because what’s been done is that other organizations have accused various members who dispute their version of history of criminal activity of compromising scholarly integrity. It is they who are trying to suppress freedom of speech by intimidating, harassing, and calling criminal those individuals who happen to dispute their version of history.

Q: Would you then also support Holocaust denial entrance into the Massachusetts school system or pushing other publications like the Southern Poverty Center’s publication to talk about denial as well?

BF: What the Southern Poverty Law Center alleged is that various academics are receiving money from the government of Turkey to compromise their scholarship and we will not accept accusations that are knowingly false of that sort, period.

Tags: TurkeyUnited States
Asbarez Staff

Asbarez Staff

Next Post

People & Places: A Day at the Beach

Comments 14

  1. Grish Begian says:
    13 years ago

    I wonder why US is not one of those 20 “civilized nation” who officially recognized the truth of Armenian Genocide.

    Reply
  2. HyeVideos.Com says:
    13 years ago

    I bet you won’t be seeing or hearing any of this on American TV or RADIO… It’s a shame!

    Reply
  3. ABRAHAM NALBANTIAN says:
    13 years ago

    this is the most surprising article i have ever trad , it makes me verry disapointed of our goverment system .

    Reply
  4. Misha M. says:
    13 years ago

    Because, the US is not a civilised nation 😉 simple as that !

    Reply
  5. Big V says:
    13 years ago

    because then they would have to recognize their own genocide over native indians, and that would be a big issue for the ‘most democratic nation’ in the world

    Reply
  6. Serge says:
    13 years ago

    The only way for us to have US goverment recognize the Armenian Genocide is to have more Armenian representives and friends in congress and senate, there is no other way, since Turkey can always win stratagically and financially.
    I wish Atom Egoyan will make a movie on this story.

    Reply
  7. John says:
    13 years ago

    If US were a civilized nation, it would not have legalized lobbying, an obvious form of bribery.

    Reply
  8. Samvel Jeshmaridian, PhD says:
    13 years ago

    Do not forget that bribery grows into political corruption and the latter grows into corruption of hearts.
    jeshmarid@yahoo.com

    Reply
  9. Tsoghig says:
    13 years ago

    The saddest thing about Sibel’s story is that the Government of this great and free country, my country, would rather support Turkey, turning a blind eye to Turkey’s(and Israel’s) attempts to smuggle information about nuclear weapons. What price are we paying as Americans to let Turkey get away with this incredible backstabbing? I feel so helpless and lost…Sargysyan tells Obama, “it’s all good bro, don’t say Genocide on April 24th,” and then Obama, the State Dept and the FBI tell Turkey “no problem dudes, steal any info on nucs you need…it’s all good.” WTF man?? Not only is our government (US) coming to its knees agreeing to deny what happened to our people was Genocide, but they are letting these so-called friends get away with incredibly blatant threatening of our national security. 9/11 part II can’t be far off… Sibel is a national hero with a fucking muzzle placed on by the very country she wishes to protect.

    Reply
  10. Katia K. says:
    13 years ago

    The US is basically run by big companies and powerful lobbies. Apparently, if you hold the media, the congress and the money flow, you can direct the US policies towards whatever direction you please. Shameful, if you consider the genius and decency of the Constitution that was drawn by the founders of this country. I agree with Serge, we should at least TRY to push this story to the forefront of the news media. It will be a terrific movie… if the Turkish lobby ever allows its production… Free Speach and Expression…. Ha!

    Reply
  11. rammy says:
    13 years ago

    What do we expect from the Turks to do , but i think this will not last forever we have the good Americans .
    Evil forces shouldn’t win all the time

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended

Through Use of Force, Azerbaijan is Forcing Concessions from Artsakh, Says Human Rights Defender

Through Use of Force, Azerbaijan is Forcing Concessions from Artsakh, Says Human Rights Defender

6 hours ago
Russia Again Blames Azerbaijan for Ceasefire Violation

Russia Again Blames Azerbaijan for Ceasefire Violation

7 hours ago

Connect with us

  • About
  • Advertising
  • Subscribe
  • Contact

© 2021 Asbarez | All Rights Reserved | Powered By MSDN Solutions Inc.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports

© 2021 Asbarez | All Rights Reserved | Powered By MSDN Solutions Inc.

Accessibility

Accessibility modes

Epilepsy Safe Mode
Dampens color and removes blinks
This mode enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
Visually Impaired Mode
Improves website's visuals
This mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
Cognitive Disability Mode
Helps to focus on specific content
This mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
ADHD Friendly Mode
Reduces distractions and improve focus
This mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
Blindness Mode
Allows using the site with your screen-reader
This mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.

Online Dictionary

    Readable Experience

    Content Scaling
    Default
    Text Magnifier
    Readable Font
    Dyslexia Friendly
    Highlight Titles
    Highlight Links
    Font Sizing
    Default
    Line Height
    Default
    Letter Spacing
    Default
    Left Aligned
    Center Aligned
    Right Aligned

    Visually Pleasing Experience

    Dark Contrast
    Light Contrast
    Monochrome
    High Contrast
    High Saturation
    Low Saturation
    Adjust Text Colors
    Adjust Title Colors
    Adjust Background Colors

    Easy Orientation

    Mute Sounds
    Hide Images
    Virtual Keyboard
    Reading Guide
    Stop Animations
    Reading Mask
    Highlight Hover
    Highlight Focus
    Big Dark Cursor
    Big Light Cursor
    Navigation Keys

    Asbarez.com Accessibility Statement

    Accessibility Statement

    • asbarez.com
    • August 3, 2022

    Compliance status

    We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.

    To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.

    This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.

    Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.

    If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email

    Screen-reader and keyboard navigation

    Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:

    1. Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.

      These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.

    2. Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.

      Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.

    Disability profiles supported in our website

    • Epilepsy Safe Mode: this profile enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
    • Visually Impaired Mode: this mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
    • Cognitive Disability Mode: this mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
    • ADHD Friendly Mode: this mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
    • Blindness Mode: this mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
    • Keyboard Navigation Profile (Motor-Impaired): this profile enables motor-impaired persons to operate the website using the keyboard Tab, Shift+Tab, and the Enter keys. Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.

    Additional UI, design, and readability adjustments

    1. Font adjustments – users, can increase and decrease its size, change its family (type), adjust the spacing, alignment, line height, and more.
    2. Color adjustments – users can select various color contrast profiles such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome. Additionally, users can swap color schemes of titles, texts, and backgrounds, with over 7 different coloring options.
    3. Animations – epileptic users can stop all running animations with the click of a button. Animations controlled by the interface include videos, GIFs, and CSS flashing transitions.
    4. Content highlighting – users can choose to emphasize important elements such as links and titles. They can also choose to highlight focused or hovered elements only.
    5. Audio muting – users with hearing devices may experience headaches or other issues due to automatic audio playing. This option lets users mute the entire website instantly.
    6. Cognitive disorders – we utilize a search engine that is linked to Wikipedia and Wiktionary, allowing people with cognitive disorders to decipher meanings of phrases, initials, slang, and others.
    7. Additional functions – we provide users the option to change cursor color and size, use a printing mode, enable a virtual keyboard, and many other functions.

    Browser and assistive technology compatibility

    We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and for MAC users.

    Notes, comments, and feedback

    Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to