More Turkey Trouble for Mayor Adams

 THE CITY

Eric Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign accepted donations from three members of a foundation incorporated by Bilal Erdogan, a son of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and whose board members include Erdogan’s daughter, Esra Albayrak. The campaign is at the center of an FBI probe looking into whether it conspired with the Turkish government to accept illegal foreign contributions.

Adams on Wednesday acknowledged meeting Erdogan while he served as Brooklyn Borough President in response to questions from THE CITY. Under Erdogan, the U.S. State Department has repeatedly cited Turkey for widespread human rights violations including reports of arbitrary killings, torture, and the detention of political opponents, journalists and activists. 

Campaign records show that between 2018 and 2021 the Adams campaign received $6,000 from three U.S. citizens who are board members of the charity, the Turken Foundation, which registered as a foreign agent with the Department of Justice last year. Turkish opposition leaders have alleged that the foundation is a vehicle for the Erdogan family to stash away millions outside the country. (The Adams campaign returned $1,000 to one of the individuals for exceeding a $2,100 contribution limit.)

The Erdogan-linked group’s stated mission is to help house Muslim students in the U.S. and “promote cross-cultural relationships.”

In July 2018, Adams’ mayoral campaign also received $12,600 in contributions from two board members of the Turkish American Steering Committee (TASC), an advocacy group previously co-chaired by an associate of Erdogan’s political party. The Adams campaign had to give back more than $8,000 of those contributions due to campaign contribution limit rules.

 As part of their probe into potential foreign influence in the 2021 mayoral race, federal investigators are currently looking into whether the Turkish government used U.S. citizens as straw donors to mask foreign campaign contributors. Neither Adams nor any member of his campaign have been accused of any criminal wrongdoing.

The donors are all volunteers to the Turken Foundation and TASC and did not list those organizations as employers when making the contributions.

THE CITY contacted the three donors from the Turken Foundation. One of them, foundation treasurer Memis Yetim, said that a “close friend” of his, whom he declined to name, may have handled his donation, which lists him as living in the non-existent city of “Staten Island, NJ,” using the New Jersey street address where Yetim is registered to vote.

The Adams campaign submitted his donation to the Campaign Finance Board for public matching funds, according to campaign records. Only New York City residents are eligible to qualify for the City’s $8-to-$1 matching fund program.