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  • Balancing Hearts and Heads

    From: "Katia M. Peltekian" <[email protected]>
    Subject: Balancing Hearts and Heads

    Newsweek
    Nov 1 2008


    Balancing Hearts and Heads

    Turkish Americans typically vote Republican. This time, they are
    divided over which White House candidate should get their ballot.

    By Bahar Kader and Melis Ã-zpinar | NEWSWEEK
    Published Nov 1, 2008

    Engin Inel Holmstrom, a Turkish-born American citizen, has made up her
    mind: she will vote for Barack Obama. Holmstrom, a 72-year-old retired
    sociologist, has been living in the United States for about 50
    years. She supports the Democratic candidate, she says, because the
    world needs peace and America has to face its mistakes in Iraq. To
    her, a John McCain-win would mean the continuation of the current Bush
    administration and serve as a recipe for disaster.

    Not all Turkish Americans are as certain as Holmstrom. For the first
    time, the community'which has typically tended to vote Republican'is
    divided over which candidate to choose. On the one hand, they feel
    closer to the Republicans because they feel the GOP has a more
    balanced approach to Turkish arguments on issues such as the Armenian
    genocide allegations and the dispute over Cyprus. On the other, they
    believe a Democratic leader will be better placed to solve the
    financial crisis and work toward achieving a more peaceful world. Call
    it a case of heads for McCain, hearts for Obama. "Economic improvement
    can only be achieved with Obama," says Suduman Curbuz, president of
    the North Texas Turkish American Association. Nonetheless, he says,
    his group eventually decided to back McCain because of the candidate's
    support for Turkey.

    Almost 400,000 Turkish American live in the U.S., about 100,000 of
    them are expected to vote on Nov. 4. For many, say Turkish community
    leaders, the candidates' views on the Cyprus and Armenia issues will
    be decisive. Pro-McCain Turks say that Obama has made more promises to
    Armenian, Greek and Greek Cypriot lobbies than previous Democratic
    presidential contenders'among them, supporting passage of a
    U.S. Congressional resolution stating that the Ottoman Empire carried
    out genocidal attacks against Armenians in 1915. They also reject
    Obama's reference to Turkey as an "invader" of Cyprus after Ankara's
    1974 military intervention on the island. "If Obama is elected
    Turkish-US relations can be fundamentally damaged," says Kayaalp
    Buyukataman, the president of Turkish Forum, a grassroots organization
    with 300,000 members worldwide. Buyukataman, a McCain supporter,
    believes the 2008 White House election will be very important for
    future Turkish-U.S. relations.

    Kaya Boztepe, president of the Federation of Turkish-American
    Associations based in New York, also believes that most Turkish
    Americans will continue to tilt Republican. However, other members of
    the community argue that this bloc will be less solid than in the
    past. Among them is lawyer Ayla Simon, who feels that Obama will step
    back from his support of the Armenian genocide resolution if he wins
    the vote. "The White House makes those who are elected to live there
    realistic for political reasons," says Simon. "Obama will also support
    Turkey [to promote] world peace." Lincoln McCurdy, president of the
    Turkish-American Coalition (TCA), is also among those who are not
    concerned about Obama's comments on Turkey's need to acknowledge the
    Armenian genocide. "[Former U.S. president Jimmy] Carter had also made
    comments against Turkey in his General Assembly meeting speeches; but,
    when he came to the White House he was reluctant to make similar
    comments and he worked to lift military sanctions."

    While the Turkish vote may not play a decisive role in any of the
    battleground states, Turkish Americans are flexing their political
    muscle in other ways. The community donated close to a billion dollars
    to the candidates during the primaries and is becoming increasingly
    active in its lobbying of the Congressional caucus on U.S.-Turkish
    relations led by Florida Democrat Robert Wexler. According to McCurdy,
    this is the first time Turkish Americans have played such a strong
    political role. "Two states where the highest amount of donations
    obtained from Turkish Americans during the primaries were Texas and
    South Carolina," he says. "It is not a coincidence that 10 of the
    senators in the Turkish Caucus came from Texas and nine from South
    Carolina." Turks may not have drawn as much attention in the U.S. as
    ethnic blocs like Jews and Greeks, he says, but that could change
    after this election.

    This article was adapted from a feature in the inaugural issue of
    Turkiye NEWSWEEK, which launched in Turkey as NEWSWEEK's newest
    local-language edition on Oct. 27, 2008. Turkiye NEWSWEEK is published
    in collaboration with the Ciner Media Group.

    © 2008

    http://www.newsweek.com/id/166813
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