MESOPOTAMIA TURKEI SPECIAL Gulenists start lobbying again / Gulen & Mike Pence

 8 Jan 2020 – MESOP  – Supporters of exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen have started lobbying again after their main lobbying firm folded in 2018. The National Council On Civil Advocacy and its lobbyist Bilal Eksili registered effective Sept. 1, 2019, to lobby on “human rights, democracy, freedom of expression and religion, the rule of law, the protection of private enterprise and social justice.” The council’s lobbying registration lists as its Washington address the headquarters of the Rumi Forum, whose honorary chairman is Gulen.

Eksili previously ran the Washington Diplomacy Group, which represented the pro-Gulenist umbrella group Alliance for Shared Values as well as affiliated organizations Bay Area Cultural Connections, Raindrop Turkish House, Scioto Educational Foundation, Turkish American Society of Missouri and Huddled Masses before shutting down in July 2018. Eksili did not respond to a request for comment. He has come under fire by the media in Turkey, where Gulen is accused of masterminding the failed 2016 coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Eksili has touted his meetings with US political figures in a photo gallery on his website, including multiple photos with Vice President Mike Pence.

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