Turkish Forum

Author: Ibrahim Kurtulus

  • New York State So-called “Armenian Genocide” narrative

    New York State So-called “Armenian Genocide” narrative

    New York State So-called “Armenian Genocide” narrative / New York Turkish Consul General

    New York Turkish Consul General Ahmet Yazal has presided over one of the weakest and most ineffective periods of representation for the Republic of Türkiye in New York.

    While the so-called “Armenian Genocide” narrative is being advanced in New York State Senate. The Consulate remains silent offering no pushback, no outreach, and no public diplomacy whatsoever. It is difficult to recall a consul general who has been more disengaged from the responsibilities of defending Turkish interests abroad. 

    Ibrahim Kurtulus 
    Community Activist 

  • President of New York University Response to Alon Ben-Meir’s recent article, “The Turkish Kurds”

    President of New York University Response to Alon Ben-Meir’s recent article, “The Turkish Kurds”

    Linda G. Mills – President of New York University
    70 Washington Square South
    New York, NY 10012

     Dear Ms. Mills,

    I extend warm greetings to you. Hope you are in good health. 

    My letter is sent to you because of Alon Ben-Meir’s International Relations and Middle Eastern Studies at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs (CGA):  recent article, “The Turkish Kurds: Erdoğan’s Folly On Full Display” (Jan. 20, 2026), is not a critique it is narrative engineering presented as human rights analysis. It attempts to reframe one of the most complex security dossiers in the Middle East into an indictment of one political figure while whitewashing the central role of the PKK, a Marxist-Leninist terrorist organization designated by the United States, the European Union, and NATO. The result is not scholarship it is propaganda by omission.

    First, vocabulary matters. The country Ben-Meir refers to casually as “Turkey” is formally the Republic of Türkiye, a sovereign state whose diplomatic identity is not optional for commentators to ignore.

    Second, Ben-Meir’s core premise collapses immediately: equating the Kurdish population with the PKK is both analytically false and morally reckless. The Republic of Türkiye has more than 15 million Kurdish citizens who serve as MPs, ministers, governors, judges, and diplomats. If Türkiye were waging a war against Kurds, it would not have sheltered half a million Iraqi Kurds fleeing Saddam Hussein in 1991 nor hosted millions of Syrian refugees including tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds since 2012.

    The omission of Kurdish plurality is astonishing. Nechirvan Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Regional Government, has called the PKK a “headache” and demanded their expulsion from Iraqi Kurdish territory. Abdullah Keddo of the Syrian Kurdish National Council warned that PKK-linked groups must be expelled from Syrian Kurdish-majority areas. Kurdish rejection of PKK authoritarianism is not peripheral it is central.

    Ben-Meir’s romanticization of PKK “disarmament” theatrics ignores the organization’s criminal portfolio. Interpol, FATF, and UN agencies have documented PKK-linked narcotics trafficking, forced conscription, human smuggling, extortion, and arms networks across Europe and the Middle East. No sovereign state including Israel would tolerate an armed separatist formation on its territory funded through transnational organized crime. The claim that the PKK has “fulfilled all measures” and now innocently awaits Turkish reciprocation is historical revisionism. When the 2013–2015 peace process collapsed, it was the PKK that unilaterally broke the ceasefire, declared “autonomous zones,” dug urban trenches, and launched insurgencies from Cizre to Sur. No Western state would allow an armed non-state actor to carve municipal fiefdoms on its soil under the banner of cultural rights.

    Ben-Meir also omits the U.S. role in muddying the conflict. Under the cover of counter-ISIS operations, Washington armed the PKK’s Syrian affiliates YPG/PYD, rebranding them as the “SDF.” Senior American officials have since admitted the obvious. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the PKK an “enduring threat” to Türkiye. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin acknowledged the SDF’s structural ties to the PKK. Former Ambassador James Jeffrey stated openly that the SDF poses a real national security problem for Türkiye. Even President Donald Trump no friend of diplomatic euphemism said: “Kurds are not angels. The PKK, which is a part of the Kurds, as you know, is probably worse at terror and more of a terrorist threat in many ways than ISIS.” That is not a Turkish talking point it is an American presidential assessment. Meanwhile, the regional context Ben-Meir ignores is transformative. Since January 2026, Syria’s government under President Ahmad al-Sharaa has granted Kurds full citizenship, legalized Kurdish-language education, recognized Newroz as a national holiday, and enacted anti-discrimination laws. This undermines the PKK’s separatist thesis and removes the humanitarian alibi Western commentators lean on. Ben-Meir simply deletes this from the narrative.

    Finally, the assertion that President Erdoğan “refuses to recognize Kurdish identity” is refuted by empirical outcomes: Kurdish broadcasting, Kurdish university departments, elective Kurdish-language public school courses, Kurdish municipal governance, and parliamentary representation all predate any PKK disarmament theatrics.

    Türkiye’s democratic evolution is imperfect so are Israel’s, America’s, and Europe’s. But reducing forty years of terrorism, geopolitics, NATO tensions, foreign intervention, Kurdish pluralism, and constitutional politics into a morality play of “Erdoğan vs. the Kurds” is not analysis. It is a smear campaign packaged for Western consumption especially to our fellow Americans who don’t even know where the District of Columbia is. 

    Ibrahim Kurtulus

    Community Activist

    Cc:

    Evan R. Chesler, Esq. — Chair of the Board of Trustees

           Jennifer Trahan   Clinical Professor, Center for Global Affairs

           Mary Beth E. Altier  Clinical Professor, Center for Global Affairs

           Sylvia G. Maier  Academic Director & Clinical Professor, Center for Global Affairs

           Thomas E. Hill  Clinical Professor, Center for Global Affairs

           Carolyn Kissane   Associate Dean & Clinical Professor, Center for Global Affairs

           Sylvia Maier – Academic Director & Clinical Professor

           Christopher Ankersen – Academic Director (Global Security, Conflict & Cybercrime)

           Tana OsaYande – Associate Director

  • Ji Hyun Kim / Korean War Veteran Organization of Media Representative

    Ji Hyun Kim / Korean War Veteran Organization of Media Representative

    Ji Hyun Kim – Wisdom
    Korean War Veteran Organization of Media Representative 
    Astoria – Queens – New York

    Dear Wisdom,

    Warm greetings to you.

    For more than 25 years, you have honored our community through your heartfelt representation of the heroic Turkish Korean War Veterans. Many of us in the Turkish-American community know this well, including numerous Turkish military officers who have served in New York throughout the last quarter century. In fact, past Turkish Military Advisors still ask about your health and remember your dedication with great appreciation.

    My dear friend, I write to you with a sincere and respectful request: that you kindly refrain from sending further correspondence to the current Consul General of Türkiye, Mr. M. Ahmet Yazal. Unlike his predecessors who valued your efforts, engaged with the community, and showed genuine respect Mr. Yazal has not demonstrated the qualities deserving of the honor you traditionally extend to the office of the Consul General Figures such as Volkan Bozkır, Yusuf Buluc, Fuat Tanlay, Mehmet Nuri Ezen, Ömer Önhon, Mehmet Samsar, Mustafa Levent Bilgen, Ertan Yalçın, Alper Aktaş, and Reyhan Özgür. 

    Most painfully, Mr. Yazal refused to attend the funeral of the highest-ranking and most decorated Turkish Korean War Veteran in the United States, who passed away in January 2025. This veteran was not only honored by the United States military for his heroism, but was the most decorated Turkish veteran recognized in America for his service during the Korean War. For our community, his funeral was a moment of profound respect and national pride. For Mr. Yazal, it was a moment ignored. We view this as an insult not only to the memory of a heroic Turkish soldier, but to the dignity of the Turkish nation itself.

    No Consul General in our community’s history has shown such disregard. For more than 40 years, we have not seen a Consul General perform so poorly in representing the Republic of Türkiye or in engaging the community that funds and supports the very institution he represents.

    A Consul General’s role is not merely ceremonial. It is a position funded by taxpayers, meant to maintain relationships, foster diplomacy, support citizens of the sending state, and actively engage with community, civic organizations, veterans, religious leaders, city officials, diplomats, and Americans of goodwill. When this engagement breaks, the mission of the Consulate suffers and the image of Türkiye is damaged.

    For these reasons, I am urging friends in our American community including diplomats, veterans’ organizations, civic leaders, and city officials to suspend engagement with Mr. Yazal. He has not earned the respect nor the honor you have so generously extended to previous Consul Generals who valued your contributions and the contributions of our veterans.

    You have always stood with those who served this nation and the Republic of Türkiye. Your moral clarity has never gone unnoticed, and it continues to inspire those of us who believe that respect must be earned, not assumed.

    With my highest regards and respect,

    Ibrahim Kurtulus

    Honorary South Korean Citizen 
    Honorary Korean War Veteran 

  • “Islamic law”  Tulsi Gabbard’s Dangerous Smear of Paterson, New Jersey

    “Islamic law”  Tulsi Gabbard’s Dangerous Smear of Paterson, New Jersey

    Tulsi Gabbard’s suggestion that Paterson, New Jersey is somehow working to impose “Islamic law” is not merely false it is reckless, inflammatory, and deeply dangerous. It is a textbook example of fear mongering, rooted not in facts, but in prejudice and conspiracy theory.

    Paterson is an American city governed by the U.S. Constitution, New Jersey state law, and the democratic will of its residents not by religious doctrine, not by religious law , and certainly not by some imaginary parallel legal system fabricated for political theater. To suggest otherwise is to insult the intelligence of the American public and to deliberately sow division.

    For over 45 years, the Turkish American community in Paterson, New Jersey has lived, worked, paid taxes, built businesses, raised families, and contributed to the civic life of this city and our beautiful country of America. In all that time, there has never been a single instance zero of any Turkish American or Muslim American organization attempting to impose Islamic law, Muslim law, or any religious legal system. Not one ordinance. Not one proposal. Not one shred of evidence.

    What Ms. Gabbard is doing is not whistleblowing. It is character assassination aimed squarely at Muslim Americans.

    Once again, we see Tulsi Gabbard attempting to manufacture fear, to push a smear campaign against an entire community by recycling long debunked Islamophobic tropes. This narrative has been used before by her, and every time it collapses under scrutiny. It relies on the same tired formula: identify a Muslim majority or Muslim visible community, attach the phrase “Islamic law,” and let suspicion do the rest.

    This is not leadership. This is demagoguery. The language Ms. Gabbard employs is venomous and venom, once released, does not stay within the boundaries its author imagines. History teaches us a hard lesson: hatred never confines itself to its original target. Those who spread hatred eventually endanger everyone Christians, Jews, Muslims, immigrants, and native born Americans alike. Hate metastasizes. It does not self regulate.

    Let us be absolutely clear: Muslim Americans are not a threat to the United States, I am a Turkish American Muslim , I love America ,  America is my home , home to my daughters , my family, we are proud Americans . The real threat comes from those who weaponize misinformation, Like Ms Gabbard, who delegitimize fellow Americans based on faith, and who normalize conspiracy theories under the guise of “concern.”

    Ms. Gabbard is once again pushing conspiracy theories not facts, not evidence, not law. And conspiracy theories, when amplified by public figures, corrode trust, undermine democracy, and place innocent people in harm’s way.

    Paterson does not need lectures from politicians seeking relevance through outrage. It needs honesty, responsibility, and respect for truth. Muslim Americans including Turkish Americans do not need to prove their loyalty. We are proud Americans. They have already done so through decades of peaceful civic engagement, military service, entrepreneurship, and community leadership.

    Tulsi Gabbard should be called out plainly: Stop lying, Stop smearing, Stop endangering communities for political gain.

    Because the moment we allow baseless hate to masquerade as patriotism is the moment we betray the very American values we claim to defend.

    Ibrahim Kurtulus

    Community Activist

  • Yazal left a lasting mark

    Yazal left a lasting mark

    “New York’ta Turk Birliginin Mimari Buyukelci Baskonsolos Sayin Yazal’in iz birakan donemi”

    A gentleman I meet several years ago wrote ethe above comments on Social Media . In English translated to the following:  The statement claiming that “the era in which the Turkish Union was established in New York under the leadership of Ambassador and Consul General Mr. Ahmet Yazal left a lasting mark” I write Respectfully,  reflects, at best, a limited and ahistorical perspective, and at worst, a profound misunderstanding of what genuine leadership and community legacy truly mean within the Turkish American experience in New York.

     With respect, anyone making such an assertion appears not to have lived through nor personally experienced the distinguished tenures of former Turkish Consuls General who served this community with exceptional dedication, humility, and human connection. Figures such as Volkan Bozkır, Yusuf Buluc, Fuat Tanlay, Mehmet Nuri Ezen, Ömer Önhon, Mehmet Samsar, Mustafa Levent Bilgen, Ertan Yalçın, Alper Aktaş, and Reyhan Özgür did not merely occupy an office. They embodied it. Their service left indelible marks not because of ceremony or rhetoric, but because they became an integral part of the community’s daily life.

    These Consuls General practiced a true open door policy long before the phrase became fashionable. They knew community members by their first names. They sat at kitchen tables, visited living rooms, attended funerals and weddings, met children, listened to elders, and stood shoulder to shoulder with people during moments of pride and moments of grief. They walked into Turkish cafés, storefronts, NGOs, and grassroots organizations not for photographs, but for conversation, trust, and solidarity. When they entered a room, the community naturally gathered around them, not out of obligation, but out of affection and respect earned over time.

    By contrast, the claim that Mr. Yazal has left a comparable “iz” (footprint) does not withstand scrutiny when measured against concrete actions and omissions. The record to date shows repeated absences at moments when presence mattered the  most:

     the funeral of a Turkish–Korean War veteran, a hero who served both Türkiye and the United States;

     the funeral of Ata Erim’s wife, honoring a man who devoted over half a century to the Turkish American community;

     the 25th Annual Turkish Flag Raising on Wall Street for Cumhuriyet Bayramı, an unprecedented absence by a Consul General Yazal , despite participation by senior New York City officials; and neglecting to honor our Seyhitler (Police or Military Personal Who died in the line of duty,

     and most tellingly a resent NYPD event in Brooklyn, a growing disconnect from the grassroots, evidenced by community gatherings where the overwhelming majority neither recognized nor had any meaningful interaction with Mr. Yazal.

    Leadership is not defined by titles sir, social media praise, or carefully worded tributes. Nor is a “legacy” established through proximity to power or ceremonial appearances. A true footprint is measured by presence, empathy, continuity, and trust qualities that cannot be manufactured or retroactively declared.

    It is also important to acknowledge an uncomfortable reality: many within the community share these concerns quietly. A silent majority refrains from speaking openly, not out of agreement, but out of fear, the fear of exclusion from receptions, invitations, or access. Silence, however, should never be mistaken for consent.

    If one wishes to understand what a genuine and enduring “iz” looks like, one need only reflect on figures such as Ambassador Şükrü Elekdağ, eloquently remembered in a recent piece in TurkNetwork by Oya Bain a statesman whose legacy lives not in official statements, but in the hearts and conscience of the people he served. We the people.

    Respectfully, before elevating present performance to historic status, one must look honestly at the past. When that comparison is made with integrity, the difference between symbolic presence and substantive leadership becomes unmistakably clear.

    Ibrahim Kurtulus

    Community Activist 

  • A Rebuttal to Chris Eyte’s Misguided Portrayal of Türkiye

    A Rebuttal to Chris Eyte’s Misguided Portrayal of Türkiye

    Silence of Consul General Ahmet Yazal, New York –  Republic of Turkiye 

    The article by Chris Eyte is not an impartial assessment of religious freedom in Türkiye; it is a selective, distorted, and inflammatory narrative designed to delegitimize the Republic of Türkiye and malign its people. What is presented as “analysis” is, in reality, a familiar political trope: portraying Türkiye as inherently intolerant while willfully ignoring a rich seven-century record of coexistence, the significant protections afforded to Christian communities today, and the escalating wave of Islamophobia consuming the Western world.

    For more than 700 years from the Ottoman Empire to the modern Republic Christian communities have lived, prayed, and maintained their heritage on Anatolian soil. The Ottoman Empire safeguarded the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, the Armenian Patriarchate, the Syriac Churches, and countless Catholic and Protestant congregations. These religious institutions endured not because of “persecution,” but because the Turkish state across empires and republics recognized their legal and spiritual standing. This historical continuity alone refutes the baseless claim of a “multilayered policy of elimination.”

    Today’s Türkiye builds upon this legacy. The Turkish government has funded the restoration of major Christian sites such as the Bulgarian St. Stephen Church (Iron Church) in Istanbul, restored jointly by Türkiye and Bulgaria; the Surp Giragos Armenian Church in Diyarbakır; the Aya Nikola Church in Demre; and dozens more across the country. New churches have been funded as well, including the Syriac Orthodox Church of Mor Ephrem in Istanbul the first new church built from the ground up in the history of the Republic constructed with direct support from the Turkish state. No other country in the region can present such a record.

    Christian life in Türkiye is not only preserved; it is protected. Armenians maintain their schools, newspapers, hospitals, and foundations. The Greek community continues to operate historic churches and institutions. The Syriac community has witnessed the return of confiscated properties that had been tied up in legal disputes for decades. These are not the actions of a nation driven by “normalized hate,” but of a state committed to safeguarding its diverse heritage.

    Yet the article conveniently ignores a parallel, urgent reality: the alarming rise of hate crimes against Muslims in the United States and Europe. In Germany, dozens of mosques have been vandalized or burned in recent years, with far-right extremists openly targeting Turkish Muslims. In the Netherlands, anti-Islam rhetoric is now normalized at the parliamentary level. In France, Switzerland, Denmark, and Sweden, the desecration or burning of the Holy Quran is routinely defended as “freedom of expression.” Even here in the United States on Staten Island, in Midland Beach Turkish Americans have faced discrimination, intimidation, and harassment from people we grew up with in PS 38, IS 2, and New Dorp High School. These realities are not speculative they are measurable, documented, and undeniable.

    If the goal is to examine the climate of religious hostility worldwide, then selective outrage serves no one. A fair-minded assessment would acknowledge that Muslims remain one of the most targeted religious groups in Western societies. Even Ray Charles if he were alive could see the tidal wave of hate and Islamophobia sweeping across the streets of the United States and Europe. Yet this undeniable reality is omitted entirely, replaced by a one-sided narrative fixated on demonizing Türkiye.

    Equally troubling is the silence of those who should be defending our community against such blatant distortion. The Consul General of the Republic of Türkiye in New York, Ahmet Yazal, has a duty to respond when our history, rights, and faith are attacked in the public arena. Silence is not neutrality; it is abdication. When smear campaigns circulate unchallenged, they gain legitimacy by default. Unfortunately, Mr. Yazal remains quiet in the face of these misrepresentations, failing to uphold the responsibility of his office.

    Chris Eyte’s article is not a contribution to human rights discourse. It is a smear campaign one that ignores context, disregards Türkiye’s century-long record of pluralism, and turns a blind eye to the very real hatred directed against Muslims and Turkish communities in the West. True advocacy requires honesty; this article delivers only bias.

    Respectfully,

    Ibrahim Kurtulus

    Community Activist