{"id":96794,"date":"2016-11-17T06:11:32","date_gmt":"2016-11-17T05:11:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/content\/?p=96794"},"modified":"2023-04-27T13:48:40","modified_gmt":"2023-04-27T10:48:40","slug":"tayyip-ve-trumpt-iliskisi-ve-feto-nasil-gelismekde-ve-arka-planda-kimler-var-amerikadan-gozuken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2016\/11\/17\/tayyip-ve-trumpt-iliskisi-ve-feto-nasil-gelismekde-ve-arka-planda-kimler-var-amerikadan-gozuken\/","title":{"rendered":"TAYYIP VE TRUMPT ILISKISI VE FETO NASIL GELISMEKDE .. VE ARKA PLANDA KIMLER VAR ……..AMERIKADAN GOZUKEN"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Rubin: Trump Team\u2019s First Ethics Scandal<\/h1>\n

By Michael Rubin On 11\/16\/16 at 12:10 AM<\/p>\n

This article <\/em>first appeared on the American Enterprise Institute site.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s only been a few days, but already it seems Donald Trump\u2019s presumptive foreign policy and national security team could be weathering its first scandal.<\/p>\n

I have written about General Michael Flynn, the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and an important Trump adviser, and his sudden about-face on Turkey in both his assessment of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan\u2019s helpfulness in the war against terror and with regard to exiled Islamic theologian Fethullah G\u00fclen. G\u00fclen is a onetime ally of Erdogan\u2019s whose exile and perhaps execution the Turkish president now demands.<\/p>\n

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Former Defense Intelligence Agency Director and Donald Trump adviser Michael Flynn testifies before the House Intelligence Committee on “Worldwide Threats” on February 4, 2014. Michael Rubin writes that he sees a ethics scandal regarding Flynn and his sudden about-face on Turkey in both his assessment of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan\u2019s helpfulness in the war against terror and with regard to exiled Islamic theologian Fethullah G\u00fclen, whose exile and perhaps execution Erdogan now demands. Gary Cameron\/reuters<\/p>\n

What raised so many eyebrows was how sharply the op-ed diverged from Flynn\u2019s previous positions and how it appeared to be in complete conformity with the Turkish government\u2019s positions.<\/p>\n

Now it appears there is more to the story. From The Daily Caller:<\/p>\n

An intelligence consulting firm founded by retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Donald Trump\u2019s top military adviser, was recently hired as a lobbyist by an obscure Dutch company with ties to Turkey\u2019s government and its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n

The piece does not include a disclosure that Flynn Intel Group, the consulting firm that Flynn founded in Oct. 2014, just after leaving DIA, was recently hired to lobby Congress by a Dutch company called Inovo BV that was founded by a Turkish businessman who holds a top position on Turkey\u2019s Foreign Economic Relations Board. <\/em><\/p>\n

A review of Dutch records shows that the company was founded by Ekim Alptekin, an ally of Erdogan\u2019s who is director of the Turkey-U.S. Business Council, a non-profit arm of Turkey\u2019s Foreign Economic Relations Board. <\/em><\/p>\n

Members of the Foreign Economic Relations Board are chosen by Turkey\u2019s general assembly and its minister of economy. In the role, Alptekin helped coordinate Erdogan\u2019s visit to the U.S. earlier this year.<\/em><\/p>\n

Certainly, any sort of disclosure means an ethics omission. This comes on top of Flynn\u2019s attendance at the RT gala in Moscow and his leading chants of \u201cLock her up\u201d at the Republican National Convention. All should raise broader questions about his judgment.<\/p>\n

Michael Rubin<\/em> is a resident scholar at the <\/em>American Enterprise Institute<\/em>. A former Pentagon official, his major research areas are the Middle East, Turkey, Iran and diplomacy.<\/em><\/p>\n

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