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https://ahvalnews.com/us-turkey/will-biden-administration-act-against-pro-erdogan-influence-us-politics
Will the Biden administration act against the pro-Erdoğan influence in U.S. politics?
But perhaps the most complex example of Ankara’s influence is the Turkish American National Steering Committee (TASC).
TASC bills itself as an educational and advocacy group for Turkish-Americans and a promoter of better relations between the U.S. and Turkey. But like TRT, it has been notable for channelling Turkish government views in its public statements and on its television network TASC-TV.
TASC has also been involved in organising protests in support of Turkey, resulting in a number of notorious incidents. In July, vans carrying banners commemorating the failed 2016 coup attempt rode across New York City, Washington D.C and Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, where exiled cleric Fethullah Gülen lives. The Turkish government accuses Gülen of orchestrating the coup, and TASC co-chair Murat Güzel said the protests were aimed at informing the American public.
Güzel, a self-identified “commercial diplomat”, is a known donor to the Democratic Party. But he has been connected to Zuberi through Federal Election Committee records that show a political donation he made to the Republican Party with Zuberi’s California home listed as the address.
TASC’s board also has several direct connections with Turkey and President Erdogan.
The organisation’s listed headquarters is at the Turkish House in Washington D.C., a property owned by the Turkish government.
Halil Mutlu, a cousin of the Turkish President, previously served as head of the New York-based Türken Foundation, where he posed with former Vice President Mike Pence during Pence’s last term as governor of Indiana.
Mutlu’s partner at TASC is Gunay Evinch, a lawyer at the law firm Saltzman & Evinch in Washington, who has been connected to Turkish interests in Washington D.C. for over three decades.
Evinch’s law firm was later retained by the Turkish Embassy after the May 2017 protests outside the Turkish Ambassador’s residence during Erdoğan’s first visit in the Trump era. It went on to represent Erdoğan’s bodyguards, over clashes that saw several protestors injured.
Evinch himself was on the of the fracas, where he told a local news network that the anti- Erdoğan crowd had attacked the president’s supporters.
As of June 2020, Evinch and his firm are registered as foreign agents of Turkey.
However, Justice Department guidelines produced during Van Grack’s tenure require that non-profits receiving foreign funding only register under FARA if the money is going towards the specific purposes of a foreign state or entity.
According to the District of Columbia’s business registry, TASC is operated as a non-profit corporation which would require a letter certifying this status from the Internal Revenue Service. TASC does not have a publicly available report detailing their funding and it is impossible to know whether or not it has received money from Turkey or pro- Erdoğan government enterprises.