Category: Ibrahim Kurtulus

Letter to Ambassador Sedat Onal / CC: Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan

Your Excellency Ambassador Sedat Onal
Embassy of the Republic of Türkiye
2525 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington, D.C. 20008

October 31 2025

Your Excellency,

I write to you with profound disappointment and deep respect for the office you represent. For twenty-five years the Bowling Green Association  joined by New York City’s Mayor’s Office (represented at the highest levels), fellow Americans, professors, civic flag groups, many Turkish Americans, children who took time away from school, and visitors standing near the Charging Bull  has observed our annual Turkish Flag raising on Wall Street. This year also marked the fifty-seventh raising of the Turkish flag in the heart of the financial capital of the world. It was an occasion of shared civic pride and solemn remembrance: students, including Ms. Lara Çelik, a medical student at Harvard on full scholarship who travelled from Boston, came to honor those who sacrificed for our Republic and to celebrate the legacy of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

This ceremony is not about any individual or a single organization. It is about the Republic of Türkiye, our history, and the collective respect we pay to those who gave their lives for our nation. It is in that spirit and with that gravity that I must register my astonishment and sorrow that, for the first time in a quarter century, the seated Consul General of the Republic of Türkiye in New York did not attend this important commemoration. While Deputy Consul General Kemal Yüksektep attended and we appreciate his presence, his attendance cannot and should not be regarded as an adequate substitute for the Consul General’s absence on such a significant day.

The absence of the Consul General  coming after a pattern of decreasing engagement reported privately by numerous community leaders and even by several foreign consuls in New York has been interpreted by many in our community as a disengagement from the grassroots and from the very people the Consulate is entrusted to serve. I have heard, firsthand and from multiple respected quarters including community activists, clergy, educators, and members of the New York Police Department who work alongside us at civic events a consistent note of concern about the tone and substance of the Consulate’s outreach since his appointment. These are not idle complaints; they are the considered observations of people who care deeply about Türkiye and its standing here. Ambassador Onal, the office of the Consul General carries institutional responsibilities that go beyond personal preference.

The Consul General is the public face of Türkiye in one of the world’s most visible cities: to lead ceremonial observances, to sustain relationships with municipal partners, to support educational and cultural exchanges, and to foster the mutual respect that strengthens Türkiye’s soft power. When the senior representative of the Consulate is absent from an event of such symbolic and civic importance, it sends a message intended or not that the ties between the Republic and its diaspora community are less than a priority. For many of us who have labored for decades to build bridges between our communities and Türkiye, that message is deeply hurtful.

Let me be clear: my criticism is not personal; it is principled. I owe nothing to any political faction in Turkiye , and my sole obligation is to defending Turkiye as I have for 40 years and to the honor our Sehitler . We were honored to receive Ambassador Ahmet Yıldız at the ceremony just an outstanding person like you , and his attendance was warmly received; that very reception underlines how critical visible, respectful engagement is to our shared diplomatic and civic life here.

Your Excellency, Türkiye’s presence in New York is measured not only by the activities that appear in official schedules, but by the relationships cultivated in parks, schools, houses of worship, and community halls. Where My Yazal is missing , but just collecting his $14,000 and seating in his office. I believe Türkiye deserves, and the community expects, steadfast, humble, and consistent representation. I hope you will treat this matter with the seriousness it deserves and help restore the confidence of those who felt overlooked on this most solemn of days.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I remain available to meet at your convenience and to work with the Embassy and Consulate to rebuild trust and to ensure that future commemorations reflect the dignity and unity our Republic merits.

Respectfully,

Ibrahim Kurtulus
Community Activist

CC:  Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan
Ambassador Ahmet Yildiz.

December 11, 2025
Response to Michael Rubin’s Article: “Try Turkish Army Veterans for Human Rights Violations”

President Robert Doar
American Enterprise Institute
1789 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036

Re: Response to Michael Rubin’s Article: “Try Turkish Army Veterans for Human Rights Violations”

Silence of Consul General of Turkiye to New York Ahmet Yazal.

November 25, 2025

Dear President Doar,

To begin with, a basic yet critical correction: the internationally recognized name of “Turkey” country is the Republic of Türkiye. Continued use of outdated terminology disregards the democratic will of the Turkish people and fails to meet the diplomatic standards.

I am writing to express my unequivocal objection to the deeply flawed, politically motivated, and factually inaccurate assertions advanced in Michael Rubin’s recent article, “Try Turkish Army Veterans for Human Rights Violations.” The piece does not constitute reasoned analysis or human-rights advocacy; it is a partisan polemic designed to delegitimize the Republic of Türkiye, distort the historical record, and sanitize the violent extremism of a designated terrorist organization. It represents a troubling departure from the standards of rigor, objectivity, and scholarly integrity that institutions such as the American Enterprise Institute have historically upheld.

Mr. Rubin’s central claim that Türkiye targets Kurds is a demonstrable falsehood. Türkiye is home to more than 15 million citizens of Kurdish heritage who have lived on the Anatolian peninsula in shared nationhood, intermarriage, and cultural coexistence for centuries. The Republic’s longstanding struggle is not against Kurds, but against the PKK, an internationally recognized Marxist-Leninist terrorist organization designated by the United States, the European Union, NATO allies, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, and others. To conflate Kurdish identity with the PKK’s separatist violence is not only inaccurate but deeply insulting to the millions of Kurdish citizens who reject terror, coercion, and the Marxist-Leninist terrorist organization PKK’s extremist ideology.

Equally troubling is Mr. Rubin’s mischaracterizetion of Türkiye’s counter-terrorism operations in southeastern cities. During periods of heightened PKK aggression, militants turned residential neighborhoods into fortified combat zones, rigged homes with explosives, dug trenches to sever city access, and used civilians as human shields. Turkish security forces repeatedly implemented evacuation corridors, medical access routes, and civilian-protection protocols while confronting an armed group that weaponized hospitals, mosques, and schools. To portray these operations as “collective punishment” is not analysis it is propaganda by omission.

The same selective amnesia appears in Mr. Rubin’s framing of Cyprus. The 1974 Turkish intervention was a lawful action under the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee and a direct response to a violent Athens-backed coup seeking Enosis. Even Archbishop Makarios, the first President of the Republic of Cyprus, stood before the United Nations Security Council on July 19, 1974, and declared: “The coup by the Greek junta is an invasion, and from its consequences all the people of Cyprus suffer, both Greeks and Turks.” This statement made one day before Türkiye intervened remains one of the clearest confirmations of the existential danger Turkish Cypriots faced after years of massacres, pogroms, and ethnic cleansing by extremist groups such as EOKA-B. Today, approximately 16,000 Greek Cypriot and mainland Greek troops remain stationed on the island, supported by nearly 70,000 reservists. The continued division of Cyprus persists not due to Türkiye’s actions, but because the Greek Cypriot administration rejected the Annan Plan, which Turkish Cypriots approved by 85 percent in a democratic referendum.

Yet while Mr. Rubin speaks of alleged human-rights abuses, he conspicuously ignores the well documented and ongoing violations committed by Greece against refugees that if Ray Charles was alive could even read about, migrants, and its own Turkish Muslim minority. His silence is not scholarly oversight; it is ideological convenience and a clear smear campaign againt Turkiye and Turks.

In the Aegean Sea, Greek military and coast guard units have repeatedly fired live ammunition near, around, and directly at unarmed refugee vessels many carrying women and children. Numerous documented incidents include Greek forces puncturing inflatable rafts, spearing life boats with metal poles, destroying engines, and leaving families adrift to drown. Independent investigations by the United Nations, Amnesty International, Lighthouse Reports, and global media outlets have confirmed Greek coast guard involvement in forced pushbacks that led to the deaths of infants and small children. Greek personnel have been recorded beating refugees on beaches, stripping men to their underwear, confiscating their belongings, and abandoning them on rafts without motors. On land,Greek police have engaged in arbitrary detention, forced expulsions, and violent assaults on asylum seekers, including shooting rubber bullets and even live rounds at unarmed civilians attempting to reach border crossings.

Similarly, Greece continues to violate the human rights of its Turkish Muslim minority in Western Thrace and Athens denying them the right to self-identify, seizing community properties, interfering in religious leadership, restricting education, and maintaining Athens as the only European capital without a single functioning state-sanctioned mosque.

Despite these realities, Mr. Rubin directs no criticism at Greece or other EU country that to have a blind eye to relious rights and expressions. Instead, he advances a narrative intended to isolate, stigmatize, and delegitimize Türkiye an indispensable NATO ally on the front lines of counter terrorism and regional stability.

Most concerning is the silence of those who should defend our community against such blatant distortion like the AKP sided Consul General of Turkiye to New York Ahmet Yazal. When our history, rights, and sacrifices are challenged publicly, they must be defended publicly. Silence is not neutrality it is abdication.

Türkiye will continue to protect its sovereignty like another other Nation , safeguard all its citizens Kurdish and nonKurdish alike and confront terrorism with the full force of law. Those who attempt to weaponize misinformation will ultimately find themselves not aligned with human rights, but with destabilization, distortion, and extremism.

Respectfully,

Ibrahim Kurtulus

Community Activist

December 8, 2025
New York Consul General Ahmet Yazal’s Silence

New York Consul General Ahmet Yazal’s Silence as Congresswomen Nicole Malliotakis Engages With the terrorist’s Gulen-Affiliated Network

In recent months, the Turkish American community on Staten Island has watched with deep concern as Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis has appeared at events linked to organizations widely understood to be affiliated with the Gulen movement known in the United States under names such as “Turkish Cultural Centers.” While these entities present themselves as benign, interfaith, and educational institutions, major international actors including the Republic of Türkiye, multiple governments across Eurasia, and sections of U.S. law enforcement have long raised alarms about the nature, structure, and intentions of this network.

Fettuallh Gulen, who had resided in Pennsylvania since 1999, leaded what his supporters call the “Hizmet” movement. Public-facing messaging portrays him as a scholar advocating peace and intercultural dialogue. Yet Turkish court records, Former US Ambassadors , global investigations, including ICE Agents , and testimony from defectors describe an entirely different picture: a clandestine, hierarchically organized movement accused by the Turkish state of orchestrating the 2016 attempted coup and infiltrating state institutions for political and financial gain. Estimates based on U.S. legal filings place the global economic footprint of Gulen affiliated institutions between $40 billion and $50 billion. Reports by governments and independent analysts have even characterized the movement as operating through “white-collar” structures with covert objectives.

What troubles Staten Island’s Turkish American community most is not simply the Congresswoman’s engagement with this network, but the complete silence of Türkiye’s Consul General in New York, Ahmet Yazal. At moments when elected officials amplify groups viewed by the Republic of Türkiye as dangerous, the Consulate General has a duty not merely a privilege to offer clarification, context, and defense of Türkiye’s positions. Instead, not a single public statement has been issued. This quietness is deeply felt.

At a time when misinformation spreads rapidly and when extremist groups of all types seek influence in American civic life, silance is not diplomacy. Silence is negligence.

The Turkish American community on Staten Island stands firmly for transparant cooperation, public safety, and the integrity of U.S. Türkiye relations. We urge our political leaders and diplomatic representatives to ensure they are not unknowingly lending legitimacy to organizations whose intentions remain widely questioned and internationally scrutinized.

Ibrahim Kurtulus

Community Activist

December 8, 2025
Letter About Michael Rubin / Turkiye UN Ambassador Ahmet Yildiz

President Robert Doar
American Enterprise Institute
1789 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036

Re: Response to Michael Rubin’s Article on UNHCR Leadership

November 20,2025

Dear Mr. Doar,

To begin with, a basic yet critical correction: the internationally recognized name of “Turkey” country is the Republic of Türkiye. Continued use of outdated terminology disregards the democratic will of the Turkish people and fails to meet the diplomatic standards.

I write to express my deep concern regarding Michael Rubin’s latest commentary on the selection of the next United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees an article that once again reflects a troubling pattern of rhetoric targeting the Republic of Türkiye and, most recently, Ambassador Ahmet Yıldiz. Mr. Rubin’s assertions are not only factually distorted but also part of a long-running and increasingly transparent campaign to delegitimize Turkish diplomacy and vilify Turkish officials at every opportunity. It is important to state at the outset that even the most casual reader can recognize the repetition of themes in Mr. Rubin’s writings: persistent Turkey-bashing, one-sided narratives, and broad accusations unsupported by evidence. If the late Ray Charles were alive, even he could see the unmistakable pattern. This is not analysis it is fixation.

Mr. Rubin claims that Ambassador Ahmet Yıldiz “weaponized refugees,” yet he provides no substantive evidence. In reality, Mr. Yıldiz is a career diplomat with decades of honorable service, known widely for his integrity, professionalism, and authentic compassion. I have witnessed him personally embrace refugees, speak with families, and comfort individuals experiencing profound hardship. His character is not theoretical it is observable to anyone willing to approach the subject with honesty rather than hostility. Türkiye’s record on refugees stands in sharp contrast to the narrative Mr. Rubin attempts to manufacture. Türkiye has hosted nearly 3.5 million Syrian refugees, the largest refugee population in the world, for over a decade often with limited international assistance. It has spent billions of dollars from its own national budget to house, feed, educate, and protect these individuals. These are verifiable facts acknowledged repeatedly by the United Nations, the European Union, and international aid organizations.

Mr. Rubin’s article conveniently ignores another set of facts: Greece has repeatedly been criticized by the European Parliament, human rights organizations, and even EU member states for the documented mistreatment of refugees and migrants in the Aegean and Mediterranean. Reports include the firing of live rounds near inflatable boats, unlawful pushbacks, and the abandonment of vulnerable people including women and children in open waters. These matters are not speculative; they are documented in official EU reports, UN investigations, and international press coverage. Yet Mr. Rubin elects not to mention even one of these incidents, preferring instead to portray Türkiye and Mr. Yıldiz as villains.

The imbalance and selectivity speak for themselves. Furthermore, to suggest that Ambassador Yıldiz would carry political loyalty into the United Nations system is a baseless insinuation meant only to discredit a highly qualified candidate. Ambassador Yıldiz has served as Türkiye’s representative to the Council of Europe, a Deputy Foreign Minister, and an experienced envoy in multiple regions. His record reflects diplomacy, not ideology; service, not partisanship. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees requires not merely a manager but a leader with lived experience confronting refugee crises directly, with both administrative competence and human empathy. Ambassador Yıldiz embodies these qualities more than any candidate Mr. Rubin mentions. His decades of firsthand engagement with displaced people provide him with a depth of understanding matched by very few in today’s diplomatic circles.

Demonizing Türkiye is neither constructive nor conducive to regional peace or international cooperation. Türkiye’s efforts to build a stable, cooperative neighborhood including its extensive refugee support infrastructure stand as a matter of public record. The attempt to smear Ambassador Yıldiz is not only unfair to an honorable diplomat but also harmful to the integrity of the global conversation on refugee policy.

In closing, I strongly urge AEI to consider the objectivity, accuracy, and fairness of material published under its name. Criticism is one thing; targeted campaigns built on selective information and inflammatory language are another. Ambassador Ahmet Yıldiz deserves better, and the international community deserves better analysis.

Respectfully,

Ibrahim Kurtulus

Community Activist

Cc: Founder: Lewis H. Brown, Republic of Turkiye UN Ambassador Ahmet Yildiz

AEI Board of Directors

December 3, 2025
Rebuttal to “Why Turkey Can’t Bring Peace to Gaza”

By : Ibrahim Kurtulus – Community Activist
Rize – Cayeli – Demirhisar Koyu – Republic of Turkiye

Anti-Türkiye propaganda by Sinan Ciddi and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD):

Frist and foremost the name is Turkiye Not “Turkey ” Mr Ciddi lets get it right.

The argument advanced in the referenced article rests on a shallow reading of Turkish foreign policy and, more troublingly, on the familiar pattern of marginalizing Türkiye’s role in its own region. The piece assumes that peace in Gaza is somehow the prerogative of external actors while denying meaningful agency to a sovereign nation that has, for decades, demonstrated both principled consistency and strategic capability in Middle Eastern diplomacy. Such claims reflect less a genuine analysis of diplomatic realities and more an ideological resentment rooted in outdated geopolitical illusions.

For years, there has been a chorus of commentators who mask their discomfort with an independent, self-confident Türkiye by framing their objection as a critique of President Erdogan alone. In truth, the position they oppose is not a govarnment, but the very ethos of the Republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk namely, the right of the Turkish nation to chart its own political, regional, and security course free from external tutelage. The attempt to present this as a struggle between “secularism” and “Islamism” is a false dichotomy deliberately constructed to obscure the real issue: the rejection of the failed Western neoconservative project that once aimed to engineer a compliant “model Muslim state,” complete with imported social hierarchies and externally sponsored religious leadership. Türkiye’s refusal to submit to such schemes is precisely what irritates these commentators. Their current rhetoric is simply the echo of old grievances.

The assertion that Türkiye is unqualified to support or facilitate peace in Gaza is historically inaccurate and strategically misleading. Türkiye has maintained one of the most sustained diplomatic, economic, and military relationships with Israel in the region, even during periods of political tension. A true partner does not merely smile politely; a real partner delivers difficult truths. Ankara has also long served, with the quiet acknowledgment of Washington, as an intermediary with Hamas precisely because Türkiye could speak credibly to all sides. To suggest otherwise is intellectual dishonest with one motive to use as a another weapon in the international campaign to de-legitimize the Turkish state and the Turkish people.

Moreover, Türkiye’s military and diplomatic competence is not rhetorical. The Turkish Armed Forces have led NATO missions in Afghanistan (commanding ISAF twice), supported international stabilization in Somalia, brokered the delicate normalization process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, assisted Bosnia in its darkest hours, and conducted counter terrorism and stabilization operations in Syria and Iraq. This is not theoretical capability it is proven operational leadership. Türkiye does not merely project power; it deploys capacity with legitimacy grounded in regional familiarity and cultural fluency.

Contrary to the article’s insinuations, Türkiye is not merely in the Middle East it is of it. That distinction matters. Unlike distant actors seeking influence through pressure or military impisition, Türkiye’s relationships with regional societies, institutions, and political actors are organic, historical, and ongoing. This unique positioning is precisely what makes Türkiye indispensable to any sustainable Gaza solution. Peace cannot be engineered from afar; it requires a mediator who understands the language literal and diplomatic of the region.

The article’s author, Sinan Ciddi, has unfortunately become a recurring voice in the international campaign to depreciate Türkiye’s strategic relevance. His analyses increasingly reflect personal disaffection rather than disciplined scholarship. Since departing institutional roles where policy required rigor over rhetoric, his commentary has grown more polemical, aligning closely with organizations that promote a narrow, ideological agenda rather than balanced security analysis.

Dismissing Türkiye’s role in Gaza does not strengthen diplomacy; it weakens the prospect of a viable, durable peace. Those who genuinely seek stability should recognize that Türkiye’s contributions will not resemble the models of the past because the region itself has changed. The task now is not to deny Türkiye’s role, but to engage with it seriously, constructively, and without ideological prejudice

October 31, 2025
Islamophobic Rhetoric by Mayor Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo

Statement in Response to Islamophobic Rhetoric by Mayor Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo

by Ibrahim Kurtulus Community Activist

In recent days, deeply troubling comments have been made by Mayor Eric Adams and echoed by political surrogates and supporters of former Governor Andrew Cuomo remarks that irresponsibly conflate the peaceful faith of millions of Muslim Americans with extremism abroad. Such rhetoric is not only misleading and factually incorrect, but it also fuels a climate of suspicion, hostility, and division at a time when unity and understanding are urgently needed.

Let us be clear and precise: Islam is not the cause of extremism. Muslims are not responsible for the acts of radicals.

The Mayor Eric Adams reference to Nigeria, for example, is demonstrably inaccurate. Violence in Nigeria is not a simple case of “Islamic extremism burning churches.” Nigeria faces deeply complex internal challenges ranging from ethnopolitical conflicts, criminal banditry, resource competition, and armed insurgencies involving multiple actors. Communities of all religions, including Muslims, have both suffered from and opposed violence. To reduce such human tragedy into a political talking point is irresponsible and profoundly misleading.

Yet what is even more alarming is the willingness of political actors to seize upon fear in order to divide New Yorkers for electoral gain. When public leaders speak carelessly, they legitimize the darkest impulses on our streets. And today we are witnessing a measurable rise in harassment, intimidation, and violence against Muslim Americans here in our own communities, in our own neighborhoods, on our own buses, sidewalks, and playgrounds.

What is perhaps most painful is the silence of those who should know better. Silence from those who claim moral authority. Silence from those who claim to value civil rights. Silence from those who pledge inclusivity yet remain mute when Muslim Americans are targeted. This silence is not neutrality. It is complicity. As Turkish Americans as Muslim Americans, as New Yorkers, and as people of conscience from all faiths and backgrounds, we speak today with one united voice:

Bigotry against any of us is a threat to all of us. An attack on you is an attack on me.

This nation was built upon the foundational belief in the inherent dignity of all people. Our diversity is not a liability it is our greatest strength. When hatred is directed at any community Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Sikh, Black, Asian, immigrant, LGBTQ+, or any other our very democracy is diminished.

We reject the use of religion as a political weapon. We reject rhetoric that dehumanizes. We reject fear as a tool of public leadership.

Instead, we affirm the following: Every person has the right to practice their faith without intimidation or shame. Our city is strongest when we protect one another.

We will not allow the peaceful religion of Islam to be defamed by those who seek division.

New York has long stood as a symbol of hope etched in the Statue of Liberty, echoed in our neighborhoods, and lived daily in our shared lives. We will continue to uphold the values of cooperation, respect, and mutual understanding. We will challenge stereotypes, confront ignorance, and stand up together against the hatred that threatens our society.

Hate leaves a scar on a city. But solidarity heals.

Today, we reaffirm our commitment to a just, inclusive, and equitable New York where all children may grow without fear, where all families are respected, and where our leaders speak with responsibility and truth.

We stand together. We speak together. And we will not be divided.

Ibrahim Kurtulus

Community Activist

October 27, 2025