Turkish Espionage Operations Target Congress

TURKISH ESPIONAGE OPERATIONS TARGET CONGRESS

"Sex and espionage certainly go together – that’s an old tradition."
~ Markus Wolf.

Rastî Blog
Sunday, August 09, 2009

Yesterday’s deposition of Sibel Edmonds in the Schmidt-Krikorian legal
battle seems to have gone off without a hitch. The day was
live-blogged by Brad Friedman and you can read all about it at The
Bradblog. Luke Ryland also has numerous posts at his place.

Here’s some backgrounder on the legal battle between Schmidt and
Krikorian:

Nationally renowned lawyer Mark Geragos will lead a legal team of
attorneys from across the nation to represent Democratic Congressional
Candidate David Krikorian in connection with a complaint initiated by
Ohio Representative Jean Schmidt before the Ohio Elections Commission.

[ . . . ]

Schmidt has brought charges against her likely Democratic opponent in
the 2010 election for what she claims are false statements made by
Krikorian in connection with her vocal opposition to Congressional
measures to commemorate the Armenian Genocide.

During the last election cycle, Schmidt received more than $30,000 in
contributions from individuals and political action committees
advancing the Turkish government’s position to deny the fact of the
Armenian Genocide and oppose Congressional measures to commemorate
what is widely acknowledged as the first genocide of the 20th
century. The trial on Schmidt’s charges is scheduled for Aug. 13
before the Ohio Elections Commission.

Since her election to Congress, Jean Schmidt has become an active and
vocal apologist for the Turkish government’s position on the Armenian
Genocide, and has solicited and received tens of thousands of dollars
in campaign contributions from Turkish Americans and affiliated
political action committees. David Krikorian has been working to
expose the connection between Schmidt’s actions as a Member of
Congress and her political contributions.

It would appear to be the same old story: Turkish lobby goes over the
top to cultivate assets th any Armenian Genocide resolution in
Congress. But there is something much darker going on here. Check out
these bombshells that David Krikorian dropped yesterday at the
deposition, via The Bradblog:

[Dan] Burton (R-IN), described as basically accepting bribes and
involved in espionage for the Turkish government…she could not
discuss the extremely illegal activities that Mr. Burton committed
against U.S. interests, as she put it.

Also, a current female Democratic [ed note: I misheard, he later said
he didn’t know if she was Dem or Rep] member of Congress who has been
blackmailed by the Turkish Government…called a ‘hooking
exercise’…she’s apparently bi-sexual and they bugged her apartment,
she’s married with children, and they set up a relationship with
another female who went in and had sexual relationships with her. And
they had all the episodes bugged within this current Representative’s
home and they blackmailed her. … She wouldn’t give her name, but her
photograph [is the one with the question mark on it in the "Sibel
Edmonds Rogue Gallery." ]

Later, Friedman asked Sibel for a clarification on the congresswoman
mentioned by Krikorian:

First, I asked if she specified whether the sitting bi-sexual, married
Congresswoman who had been taped sleeping with a woman, without
knowing, and then bribed by Turkish interests with the tape, to vote
against the Armenian Genocide resolution had been a Democrat or a
Republican. She said she is a Democrat, and that she testified to that
during her deposition.

Friedman characterizes the blackmail tactic used against the bi-sexual
Democratic congresswoman as a "hooking exercise"; however, there is a
more widely known term for this tactic in espionage circles. It’s
called a "honeytrap" or "honeypot" operation:

In espionage, a honeypot or honeytrap is a trap set to capture, kill
or compromise an enemy agent using sex as the lure.

[ . . . ]

The most common employment of this technique is by women, either
female intelligence agents or (if the purpose is intelligence
agencies, particularly in the Soviet bloc, are alleged to have
specially cultivated agents for this purpose. Not all traps are
carried out by women, however ‘ sometimes, women are ensnared by male
agents, and sometimes, same-sex traps are used. (The latter were
particularly effective eras or countries where homosexuality was
frowned on, and the very fact that an agent was homosexual was
material suitable for blackmail). . .

Obviously, a honeypot was set up for the congresswoman, according to
the description by Krikorian:

. . . [S]he’s apparently bi-sexual and they bugged her apartment,
she’s married with children, and they set up a relationship with
another female who went in and had sexual relationships with her.

"[T]hey set up a relationship . . . " Who is "they"? The Turkish
lobby. But this is an espionage operation, which leads me to believe
that those old Cold Warriors of the MÄ°T were the ones who
really set out this honeypot. Isn’t this the very reason why USAF
officer Douglas Dickerson and his wife, Melek Can, tried to recruit
Sibel, so that she could help them shield Turkish espionage activities
in the US?

According to The Bradblog, a reporter for Horizon Armenian TV,
Elizabeth Chouldjian, freelanced the deposition and managed to
question Jean Schmidt’s lawyer, Bruce Fein:

The reporter, Elizabeth Chouldjian, freelancing coverage today for
Armenian Horizons TV, is also with Armenian National Committee of
America, and she continue to press her points, and asked Fein if he
didn’t have a conflict of interest in this case. She had earlier told
me that Fein was a Board member of the Turkish Coalition of America,
Turkish American Legal Defense Fund and legal counsel for Assembly of
Turkish American Associations. She wondered if it was appropriate for
Fein to represent Schmidt, since he himself could be called to
testify, as a witness on behalf of the Assembly of Turkish American
Associations. Chouldjian had told me that he’s been flying around the
country, essentially trying to deny that genocide ever occurred, has
sued the state of Massachusetts to put Armenian genocide "denialist"
material in text books, is suing the Southern Poverty Law Center for
putting out an article last year called "State of Denial" which, she
says, focused on Turkish interests trying to block Armenian Genocide
resolution from being passed.

Conveniently for Schmidt, Bruce Fein is one of two attorneys listed on
the contact page for the Turkish American Legal Defense Fund (TALDF).

[Note: The other attorney listed at TALDF is David Saltzman, who has a
law partnership with Günay Ã-vünç, who happens
to be the current president of the ATAA and would-be mercenary-advisor
for Blackhawk Security, Inc. A "consultant" for Blackhawk is
Å?enkal Atasagun, a former MÄ°T
undersecretary. Interestingly enough, the domain name for the
Saltzman-Ã-vünç partnership is turklaw.net.]

According to a press release by the TALDF that features an interview
with TALDF attorney David Saltzman, and posted by the ATAA’s racist
president-elect, Ergun Kirlikovalı, we learn that it’s common
knowledge that the TALDF’s Bruce Fein is representing Jean Schmidt:

Recently, the TALDF has been retained to represent Representative Jean
Schmidt (R-OH) in her case before the Ohio Elections Commission in
which she alleges that one of her opponents in her last re-election,
David Krikorian, violated Ohio election law by lying about her
campaign funding (that it was derived from the Turkish government) and
that she has in effect been bribed to not favor Congressional
resolutions on the Armenian allegation of genocide. This case will go
to trial before the end of the summer. This is a particularly
important case because the TALDF feels strongly that Members of
Congress should not have to yield to intimidation by Armenian
activists who claim, without foundation, that the Turkish government
is behind any Member’s studied decision that the Armenian case
constitutes a genuine historical controversy, one which is best
studied by historians and not opined upon b members of Congress be the
targets of honeypot operations by the Ankara regime?

Saltzman goes on to explain TALDF’s funding:

The TALDF is supported by the Turkish Coalition of America, a
505(c)(3) public charitable organization. Donations to the TCA that
will benefit the work of the TALDF can be made by check and are
tax-deductible. Please see the TCA website for contact information.

The Turkish Coalition of America (TCA) is actually a 501(c)(3) and, as
such, is required to make its tax returns public. TCA’s 2007 filing
can be viewed here
ive/208/208364801/208364801_200712_990.pdf
[Many thanks to the friend who passed this along].

On page 1 of the return, one can see that the total revenue, including
assets, of the TCA is some $30 million. On page 4, one can see that
the TCA has $29,706,000 in investments. Page 18 explains where the
investments lie: in 600,000 shares of Hittite [Microwave]
stock. Furthermore, on page 5 of the return, one can see that
Yalçın Ayaslı is listed as the director of the
TCA. Coincidentally, Yalçın Ayaslı is the founder
of Hittite Microwave and, in 2008, his family donated more than
$300,000 to political candidates of both parties, "and particularly to
candidates supporting Turkey." And there’s more:

Yalcin Ayasli, whose family hails from Turkey and now lives in Nashua,
founded Hittite Microwave, a manufacturer of high-performance
integrated circuits for communications systems, in 1985. He built it
into a company that reported $45.5 million in revenue, with a profit
of $13.7 million, in the last quarter.

In 2007, about half of its revenue came from government contracts,
primarily the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force and NASA.

Although Ayasli resigned as chief executive in 2004 and as board
chairman in 2005, his family still controls about a third of the
company’s stock according to latest filings with the SEC.

Ayasli and other family members gave more than $330,000 during the
last election cycle, and for the most part nts were the Democratic
Congressional Campaign Committee ($74,000) and the National Republic
Congressional Committee ($72,000).

Nearly $39,000 went to the Turkish Coalition PAC, which at one point
gave Hittite’s address as its own, along with that of the Turkish
Cultural Foundation.

The groups support Turkey in its various disputes, including the
conflict in Iraq, supporting occasional Turkish military operations
against Kurdish groups that cross back and forth over the Iraqi
border. The groups also disputed the Armenian claim–and a
U.S. congressional resolution–that the Turks engaged in genocide
against the Armenians in 1915.

The Ayaslis spent nearly $14,000 to back Katrina Swett’s aborted
attempt to win the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination in New
Hampshire. Swett is the daughter of the late Congressman Tom Lantos,
who condemned Kurdish attacks in Turkey, though he also supported the
congressional resolution against the Armenian genocide. Swett bowed
out of the race after Shaheen declared her candidacy.

Nearly $11,000 of the Ayaslis’ money went to Virginia Foxx, R-N.C.,
who sponsored a resolution congratulating Turkey for celebrating
Republic Day. Foxx’s son-in-law is a Turkish businessman and Foxx
herself is a member of the congressional Caucus on U.S.-Turkish
Relations. She has been a leader against the Armenian genocide
resolution.

In his spare time, Yalçın Ayaslı also enjoys
escorting congressional staffers around Turkey on the American Turkish
Council’s (ATC) annual trips..

Members of the Ayaslı family have donated to Jean Schmidt.. In
the 2008 cycle, the Ayaslı’s donated $2300 to Schmidt and $2300
to Dan Burton, accoding to OpenSecrets. They’re still working on the
2010 cycle. The Ayaslı family seems to continually funnel the
money into the TCA, an organization which, for all intents and
purposes, the Ayaslı’s own.

Strangely enough, Yalçın Ayaslı is not mentioned
as the director of the Turkish Coalition of America’s website,
although both Bruce Fein and David Saltzman, als

At yesterday’s deposition, when reporter Elizabeth Chouldjian
questioned Bruce Fein about having a conflict of interest with regard
to the Schmidt-Krikorian legal battle, she was absolutely on
target. No wonder Fein "became very defensive". The question that
needs to be asked next is whether or not the TALDF is working pro bono
for Schmidt? If so, that means that the TCA is funding Schmidt’s side
of the legal battle. Isn’t that also a conflict of interest for
Schmidt, given that she’s been accused of taking Turkish "blood money"
and using her congressional seat for the interests of the Ankara
regime?

And why is it that the worthless American media is not reporting on
the very obvious Turkish espionage operations that are targeting
members of the US Congress? Or why isn’t the worthless American media
doing some deep digging to trace the financing of the multi-headed
Hydra known as the Turkish lobby? Why is the worthless American media
helping to hide this information?

UPDATE: I just came across a blog that refers to a Wayne Madsen Report
that has named the bi-sexual Democratic congresswoman mentioned
above. I don’t know if this information is correct and I don’t know
where the WMR got the name, but I know it wasn’t from Sibel
Edmonds. However, it comes as no surprise to me to learn that
congresswoman named is from Illinois. Once again, here’s what Sibel
had to say about Chicago, from the Vanity Fair article:

. . . in December 2001, Joel Robertz, an F.B.I. special agent in
Chicago, contacted Sibel and asked her to review some wiretaps. Some
were several years old, others more recent; all had been generated by
a counter-intelligence that had its start in 1997. `It began in D.C.,’
says an F.B.I. counter-intelligence official who is familiar with the
case file. `It became apparent that Chicago was actually the center of
what was going on.’

Mehmet Ã?elebi was based in Chicago and helped fundraise for
Rahm Emanuel back in 2002. The ATAA’s president, Günay
Ã-vünç (mentioned above) is also from Chicago rs in
Chicago, from the mid-1980s until right before the Susurluk scandal in
1996, as I mentioned recently in a post on Sibel Edmonds’ blog last
week. While he was living in Chicago–with a US green
card–Ã?atlı went by the name Mehmet Ã-zbay (later
Ã-zbey). Oh, yeah, Ã?atlı was also wanted by Interpol
at the time.

The Seminal, which is carrying the WMR information, has more about the
honeypot operation:

Perhaps the most explosive part of the deposition involved the Turkish
government being engaged in a sexual blackmail operation against a
sitting member of the House of Representative [sic]. In what the FBI
termed a "hooking process," an ATC female operative enticed a female
member of the House into a lesbian sexual encounter at a Washington,
DC townhouse. A Turkish intelligence surveillance team had placed
surveillance bugs throughout the townhouse, including the bedroom and
captured the lesbian tryst on tape, according to Edmonds’s
testimony. To ensure the surveillance team successfully completed its
technical surveillance operation, another Turkish operational team was
present outside the townhouse to make sure the surveillance team
carried out its task.

After the surveillance recordings were made known to the House member,
she changed her support for the Armenian genocide resolution and
announced her opposition to it.

[ . . . ]

The first sexual encounter between [the congresswoman] and the Turkish
lesbian prostitute reportedly occurred at a vulnerable time for [the
congresswoman], just after her mother’s death. The first sexual
encounter was followed by numerous others, according to U.S. law
enforcement sources.

Let me translate for you: "Turkish intelligence surveillance team" and
"another Turkish operational team" both mean "MÄ°T".

Then what do we make of the "ATC female operative" and the "Turkish
lesbian prostitute"? Does this mean the ATC is engaged in
human-trafficking operations in the US? Or is this something the
Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is running through it’s embassie
go along with

Turkish embassy heroin trafficking?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Stay tuned.

kish-espionage-operations-target.html

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

http://dynamodata.fdncenter..org/990_pdf_arch
http://rastibini.blogspot.com/2009/08/tur

Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS