Shortly after President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, left New York and headed back to Turkey, he made headlines in the U.S. media. However, the focus was not on Erdoğan’s meetings at the United Nations or his early departure from President Biden’s farewell dinner.
Instead, Turkey became a top headline due to a corruption investigation centered around New York’s popular mayor, Eric Adams. As is known, the FBI has been investigating Adams and his team for over a year.
I previously wrote about this under the title “FBI is After Erdoğan’s Men.” That investigation, which has been ongoing for a year, has now culminated, and for the first time in U.S. history, a sitting New York mayor has been accused of corruption.
The indictment has yet to be made public, but the leaked information suggests that the popular mayor is in serious trouble.
So, what is this investigation about, and how is it related to the Erdoğan family?
As I mentioned, we don’t know the details of the indictment yet. However, those following the case can roughly guess its contents based on the investigation’s trajectory. The investigation has been closely monitored by the U.S. media, particularly by The New York Times. Every move by the FBI, every arrest, and every house raid has made headlines.
It became clear how serious the investigation was when FBI agents pulled Mayor Adams aside at an event in Manhattan and seized all his electronic devices. Shortly before this, Adams’ campaign director’s house was raided, and boxes of documents were seized.
Taken to Turkey several times, given expensive gifts
Before continuing with the details, let me remind you: this corruption case being investigated by the FBI won’t reveal millions of dollars, watches worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, pianos given as gifts, or shoe boxes stuffed with bribe money.
In fact, the amounts involved in the case are so small that Erdoğan and the AKP elites wouldn’t even bother accepting them as bribes.
So, when the indictment is released, don’t be surprised and say, “Is that all the noise was about for such a small sum of money?” Because in the U.S., there have been many prominent politicians whose careers ended over a $50,000 gift watch.
Continuing with the case: it appears that Erdoğan’s regime and its U.S. extensions made significant “investments” in Eric Adams. The mayor was taken to Turkey several times, given expensive gifts, received complimentary airline tickets and upgrades from Turkish Airlines.
The names Türken and TÜRGEV also appear in the investigation
Another aspect of the FBI’s investigation involves several companies, foundations, and legal entities based in the U.S. For example, KSK Construction, based in Manhattan, was investigated for its donations to Eric Adams’ campaign.
The investigation also mentioned the Washington D.C. branch of Bahçeşehir University, Bay Atlantic University, the Turken and TÜRGEV foundations (known to be linked to Erdoğan’s family), and Turkish businessmen known to be close to Erdoğan.
Eric Adams had attended an event hosted by Emine Erdoğan and laid the foundation for the Turken Foundation’s building. Photos from these events have been widely published in the U.S. media. However, we still don’t know their connection to the investigation.
But I can say this already: the regime in Turkey, accustomed to all kinds of illegality, gets caught on the radar when trying to implement similar tactics in the U.S. Because here, there isn’t a judiciary that serves political interests or a media that acts as a palace’s servant.
You don’t need to be a U.S. expert to know that family foundations established with millions of dollars transferred from institutions like the Turkish Red Crescent, student dormitories built in places like Manhattan, mansions purchased, and companies and think tanks set up with questionable funding won’t escape the FBI’s attention.
In short, Erdoğan and his regime’s apparatuses are so toxic that they don’t just poison those who work closely with them—they even contaminate anyone who stands near them.
