2011-2012 has been a record election cycle for Turkish American political activism. With four weeks to go until the end of the cycle, the community has already made great progress in promoting balanced dialogue in the public arena.
Through increasing personal outreach to members of Congress and donations to the five Turkish American political action committees, the community’s involvement helped grow the Congressional Turkey Caucus and positively impact legislation concerning Turkey.
As the graph below shows, the Turkey Caucus increased its members from 62 in 2006 to an all time high of 157 in 2012.
The second graph highlights the increasing quantity of legislation that supports a strong Turkey – United States relationship compared to the decreasing quantity that seeks to hinder our good relations.
According to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), in this election cycle, the five Turkish American PACs* under the Ten Thousand Turks Campaign contributed over $305,000 to 130 candidates and political parties/committees. Nearly 80% of the candidates supported were elected.
*The five Turkish American PACs are as follows: Turkish Coalition USA PAC (TC-USA PAC), TC-New Jersey PAC, TC-California PAC, TC-Midwest PAC and TurkishPAC in Texas. None are affiliated or coordinate with TCA.
