{"id":94445,"date":"2021-11-05T09:21:17","date_gmt":"2021-11-05T13:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=94445"},"modified":"2021-11-05T09:21:17","modified_gmt":"2021-11-05T13:21:17","slug":"why-did-the-senate-foreign-relations-committee-fail-to-question-the-nominee-for-u-s-ambassador-to-turkey-about-terrorism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=94445","title":{"rendered":"Why did the Senate Foreign Relations Committee fail to question the nominee for U.S. Ambassador to Turkey about terrorism?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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PRESS RELEASE \u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

November 4, 2021 \u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
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For Immediate Release \u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n

AAHR
\n<\/b>Armenian Americans for Human Rights
\n<\/b>Post Office Box 351
\n<\/b>Belmont, MA 02478
\n<\/b>AAHumanRights@yahoo.com<\/a>
\n<\/b>Chair: David Boyajian \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman Menendez Fail to <\/b>Question the Nominee for U.S. Ambassador to Turkey about Terrorism \u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Several times this year, the\u00a0U.S. State Department<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Treasury Department<\/a>\u00a0have cited\u00a0Turkey<\/i>\u00a0as a financial base for ISIS and al-Qaeda.<\/p>\n

Turkey has long sponsored ISIS and other international terrorist organizations.\u00a0\u00a0No serious analyst disputes this.<\/p>\n

Turkey has armed, financed, and deployed terrorists in such locations as Syria, Libya, and Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n

On September 28, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) and Chairman Robert Menendez (D-NJ)\u00a0quizzed<\/a>\u00a0President Biden\u2019s nominee to be ambassador to Turkey, former U.S. Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ).<\/p>\n

The SFRC \u2014and particularly Sen. Menendez \u2014shocked observers by failing to ask Flake even a single question about Turkey\u2019s sponsorship of terrorism. \u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Since 2014, veteran State Department advisor\u00a0Dr. David L. Phillips<\/a>, Director of Columbia University\u2019s Program on Peace-building and Rights, has thoroughly\u00a0documented<\/a>Turkey\u2019s backing of ISIS<\/a>\u00a0and other terrorist groups.<\/p>\n

This year he\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0that if a \u201cnon-NATO country behaved like Turkey, it would warrant designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism,\u201d like Iran and North Korea.<\/p>\n

In 2014, Vice President Joe Biden\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0his\u00a0Harvard University<\/a>\u00a0audience that Turkey and others had been giving \u201chundreds of millions of dollars [and] tons of weapons\u201d to al-Qaeda, al-Nusra, and ISIS.<\/p>\n

According to Turkey\u2019s counterterrorism chief from 2010-2013, Ahmet S. Yayla, \u201cTurkey was a central hub for \u2026 over 50,000 ISIS foreign fighters, and the main source of ISIS logistical materials [including] IEDs,\u00a0making Turkey and ISIS practically allies<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The United Nations, the European Union Parliament, and others have documented Turkey and Azerbaijan\u2019s\u00a0deployment<\/a>\u00a0of terrorists and terrorist mercenaries against the Armenian region of Artsakh\/Nagorno-Karabagh last year.<\/p>\n

In a July 21 SFRC hearing, Chairman Menendez asked Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland about \u201cTurkey facilitating the transfer of fighters from Syria to Azerbaijan\u201d in 2020. Nuland sneered that she would discuss it only \u201cin another setting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Menendez has never revealed whether he subsequently met Nuland \u201cin another setting\u201d and, if so, what resulted.\u00a0\u00a0Chairman Menendez\u2019s lack of transparency is unacceptable.<\/p>\n

AAHR concludes that the SFRC, Chairman Menendez, and ranking member Senator James E. Risch (R-ID) are engaged in covering up Turkey\u2019s (and probably other countries\u2019) terrorist activities.<\/p>\n

The Senate, unfortunately, confirmed Mr. Flake on October 26 as ambassador to Turkey.<\/p>\n

Turkey is, in effect, a State Sponsor of Terrorism.<\/p>\n

For the SFRC and Chairman Menendez, therefore, to have not asked Flake\u00a0even a single question<\/i>\u00a0about terrorism is an abdication of their duties and a betrayal of the American people, especially our courageous men and women in uniform.<\/p>\n

#\u00a0\u00a0#\u00a0\u00a0#
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