Erdoğan Speaks at Influence Group Conference, Meets with Muslim Brotherhood Leaders

Turk­ish media is report­ing that Pres­i­dent Erdoğan spoke at a con­fer­ence orga­nized by the Turk­ish-Amer­i­can Nation­al Steer­ing Com­mit­tee (TASC). Accord­ing to the Dai­ly Sabah report:

Sep­tem­ber 20, 2021: Anti-Mus­lim hatred and xeno­pho­bia, which dis­rupt the dai­ly lives of Mus­lims, have tak­en pol­i­tics hostage in the West, Pres­i­dent Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Sun­day. Erdoğan not­ed that both ide­olo­gies have been shap­ing state poli­cies and have become destruc­tive trends that pose a direct threat to social peace. “We are fight­ing against a dead­lier and sneaki­er virus. This virus, which is as dan­ger­ous as the coro­n­avirus, is called Islam­o­pho­bia,” Erdoğan said at the “A Fair­er World Is Pos­si­ble” con­fer­ence orga­nized by the Turk­ish Amer­i­can Nation­al Steer­ing Com­mit­tee (TASC) in New York City. “This virus is spread­ing very quick­ly in coun­tries that have been por­trayed as cra­dles of democ­ra­cy and free­dom for years,” he said.

Read the rest here.

Anoth­er speak­er at the con­fer­ence was Sir­aj Wah­haj, who said that he believes Erdoğan is the leader of all Mus­lims in the Mus­lim world. Wah­haj is an unin­dict­ed co-con­spir­a­tor in the 1993 World Trade Cen­ter bomb­ing and Pres­i­dent of the Mus­lim Alliance of North Amer­i­ca. He has also held var­i­ous posi­tions in the Islam­ic Soci­ety of North Amer­i­ca, the Amer­i­can Mus­lim Coun­cil, the North Amer­i­can Islam­ic Trust, and the  Coun­cil on Amer­i­can Islam­ic Rela­tions (CAIR), all US Mus­lim Broth­er­hood groups.

Erdoğan also spoke at a recep­tion co-orga­nized by TASC and the Pres­i­den­cy for Turks Abroad and Relat­ed Com­mu­ni­ties (YTB) with “rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the Mus­lim com­mu­ni­ty in the Unit­ed States.” Though the event was closed to the press, GIOR has found social media posts and pho­tos indi­cat­ing that the recep­tion includ­ed sev­er­al US Mus­lim Broth­er­hood leaders:

• Esam Omeish (for­mer pres­i­dent of the Mus­lim Amer­i­can Soci­ety)

• Mohsin Ansari (Pres­i­dent of the Islam­ic Cir­cle of North Amer­i­ca and the Chair­man of the US Coun­cil of Mus­lim Orga­ni­za­tions; USCMO)

• Nihad Awad (Nation­al Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of CAIR)

• Ous­sama Jam­mal (USCMO Secretary-General)

The arti­cle also notes that before the con­fer­ence, Erdoğan vis­it­ed the Turk­ish House, which he said would func­tion for Turks and the Mus­lim Amer­i­can com­mu­ni­ty. The new­ly opened Turk­ish House is a 36-sto­ry sky­scraper that serves as home to Turkey’s per­ma­nent mis­sion to the UN, its con­sulate gen­er­al in New York, and diplo­mat­ic housing.

The Turk­ish Amer­i­can Nation­al Steer­ing Com­mit­tee (TASC) is strong­ly tied to Turk­ish Pres­i­dent Erdoğan:

• TASC co-chair Halil Mut­lu is Erdoğan’s cousin.

• TASC co-chair Gunay Evinch is a prin­ci­pal of Saltz­man & Evinch, a law firm retained by Turkey and reg­is­tered as a for­eign agent of Turkey in 2020.

• TASC’s for­mer trea­sur­er, Murat Guzel, detailed his US polit­i­cal activ­i­ties in e‑mails to Erdoğan fam­i­ly members.

The Pres­i­den­cy for Turks Abroad and Relat­ed Com­mu­ni­ties (Turk­ish: Yurt­dışı Türkler ve Akra­ba Toplu­luk­lar Başkan­lığı; YTB) is a part of the Turk­ish Min­istry of Cul­ture and Tourism. The YTB describes its mis­sion as coor­di­nat­ing activ­i­ties for and strength­en­ing eco­nom­ic, social, and cul­tur­al rela­tions with Turks liv­ing abroad and relat­ed com­mu­ni­ties and man­ag­ing the Türkiye Schol­ar­ship Pro­gram. YTB Pres­i­dent Abdul­lah Eren has called its alum­ni orga­ni­za­tions a “seri­ous instru­ment” in the fight against Fethul­lah Gülen, who Turkey blames for the 2016 coup.