Sassounian: Los Angeles Cancels $845,000 Contract with Turkey’s Lobbyist Gephardt Group

I wrote a column last August warning that the Armenian-American community and all people of good will would boycott the products and services of Anheuser-Busch, Boeing, Chevron, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, General Electric, Goldman Sachs, Google, Los Angeles Airport, National Football League, Port of Oakland, and United Airlines, unless these companies canceled their contracts with the Gephardt Group, one of Turkey’s notorious lobbying firms.

Ironically, former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt had championed recognition of the Armenian Genocide during his long years in Congress. Yet, soon after his retirement, Gephardt became a staunch opponent of Armenian issues by peddling Turkish denials of the Armenian Genocide. The latest contract on file with the U.S. Justice Department reveals that the Gephardt Group is paid $1.4 million a year to lobby for Turkey in Washington.

Documents filed by the Gephardt Group with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agent Registration Act indicate that Gephardt and his colleagues contacted dozens of House and Senate members last year to lobby against: 1) congressional resolutions on the Armenian Genocide and return of Christian churches by Turkey, and 2) revelations that Turkey supported Islamic jihadists during their invasion of the Armenian-inhabited town of Kessab in Syria.

More ominously, Justice Department records show that just before April 24, 2014, Janice O’Connell, Gephardt’s colleague, contacted Brian McKeon, chief of staff of the National Security Council at the White House, and Chad Kreikemeier, deputy assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs, to modify President Barack Obama’s annual statement on the Armenian Genocide, following then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s deceptive and disingenuous apology to all victims of World War I in Ottoman Turkey.

Justice Department’s records also reveal that Gephardt and O’Connell traveled to Istanbul and Ankara on Turkish Airlines on March 3, 2014, to meet Turkey’s national security advisor. Gephardt flew from Paris to Istanbul and Ankara at a round-trip cost of $1,513, while O’Connell flew from Washington, D.C. to Istanbul and Ankara at a round-trip cost of $6,986. The two lobbyists stayed at the Conrad Hotel in Istanbul for three nights at the cost of $710 each. While in Turkey, they spent $600 on limousine service.

Last month, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), Armenian Assembly of America, and Armenian Youth Federation (Eastern and Western U.S.) sent more than 200 letters to businesses, universities, and NGOs that are clients of the Gephardt Group and four other lobbying firms for Turkey: Dickstein Shapiro, LLC; Greenberg Traurig; Alpaytac; and LB International.

One such letter asked United Airlines to demand its lobbying firm end its contract with the Turkish government. If not, the letter read, the airline should terminate its own contract with the lobbying firm. If neither action is taken by Feb. 28, Armenian Americans would carry out a protest campaign against both the lobbying firm and United Airlines.

The efforts to counter Turkey’s lobbying firms already bore its first fruits. On Feb. 23, the ANCA Western Region announced that Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), a wholly owned entity of the City of Los Angeles, has decided to terminate its contract worth more than $845,000 with the Gephardt Group, after the ANCA called on Mayor Eric Garcetti last December “to end any ties between the City of Los Angeles and Dick Gephardt.”

ANCA-WR Chair Nora Hovsepian applauded “LAWA and City of Los Angeles officials for their principled stand enforcing a zero-tolerance policy against deniers of genocide. LAWA’s action reflects the highest standards of good governance and reinforces the proud standing of Los Angeles as a leader—nationally and internationally—on issues of genocide prevention and human rights. As a genocide denier, Gephardt does not deserve a single dollar from the citizens of Los Angeles, and should have no association with our city.”

According to U.S. government documents obtained by ANCA-WR, the Gephardt Group “had a contract worth over $845,000 with LAWA, which was agreed to in 2012 during the term of former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Since the approval of the contract with LAWA, the Gephardt Group has been drawing over $23,000 a month for its work for the airport, while simultaneously representing the interests of the Turkish government against the interests of the Armenian-American community.”

After this first major victory, Armenian Americans should continue urging the remaining 200 companies that are clients of the Gephardt Group and other lobbying firms hired by Turkey to terminate their contracts, because hiring genocide denialists is patently unethical and bad for business!

Harut Sassounian

Harut Sassounian

California Courier Editor
Harut Sassounian is the publisher of The California Courier, a weekly newspaper based in Glendale, Calif. He is the president of the Armenia Artsakh Fund, a non-profit organization that has donated to Armenia and Artsakh one billion dollars of humanitarian aid, mostly medicines, since 1989 (including its predecessor, the United Armenian Fund). He has been decorated by the presidents of Armenia and Artsakh and the heads of the Armenian Apostolic and Catholic churches. He is also the recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

3 Comments

  1. “I know I know, it was Genocide, I know the women were burned alive after being raped,I know the Children were bayoneted or enslaved, I know all that.

    How’s that gonna help pay for the new deck on my wine country house or keep the little woman in ermine and pearls?

    You know, maybe the Armenians should just pay me double what the Turks pay me. I’d like a nice place overlooking the water in Oahu. Nothing fancy.”

  2. This article tells you all you need to know about US politicians. They will say/do anything without letting principles get in the way

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