An Investigative Report

Did any WWC/Turkish-affiliated lobbying firm or person ask the WWC to give Davutoglu an award?

We don’t know the answers to these questions.  Only those corporations, lobbyists, and other figures, together with Lee Hamilton and WWC personnel, can answer them, preferably under oath.

In a phone message, Sharon Coleman McCarter, WWC Communications Director, said that the Center is honoring the Turkish Foreign Minister because of “public service to his country and the world.”  Turkey, or some Turks, may like its foreign minister, but, as this writer has shown, he has certainly done nothing to benefit “the world.”

McCarter also claimed that Davutoglu “is in the Wilsonian tradition” because, like Wilson, he has been in academia and government.  If you teach and then enter government service, you’re automatically “Wilsonian” and thus a candidate for the WWC award?  This is preposterous.

Insulting Previous Awardees

Who have the nearly 150 previous WWC awardees been?  Mostly Americans: philanthropists, doctors, members of Congress, former diplomats, architects, actors, and the like.

They range from James Baker, Dr. Denton Cooley, Betty Ford, Frank Gehry, John Glenn, and Amb. Howard Leach, to Janet Napolitano, Dolly Parton, Gen. Colin Powell (and his wife), Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Andrew Young.

There are also some foreign political honorees, such as former Indian President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, and some relatively non-controversial figures from Brazil and South Korea.

The threatening, blustering, genocide-denying Davutoglu, from a country with a wretched human rights record, would stand out in the Wilson Center’s Public Service roster like a sore thumb.

It would be an insult to previous awardees.

For its Public Service Award, the WWC had its pick of thousands of principled individuals from the US or elsewhere doing vital humanitarian work, including the recognition and prevention of genocide.  Instead, the WWC has engaged in the worst kind of political pandering by selecting Davutoglu.

The Smithsonian and the ATC

The rot may go even higher, up to the WWC‘s parent, the famed Smithsonian Institution, three-quarters of whose annual $1 billion budget comes from taxpayers.  It, too, is a member of the genocide-denying American Turkish Council.

The Smithsonian is supposed to be respectful of America’s multi-ethnic heritage and pay homage to our country’s history, part of which is Wilson’s support of Armenians and condemnation of Turkey for committing genocide.  There is no good reason for the Smithsonian to be a member of the ATC, which is primarily a lobby for Turkish-affiliated corporations.  It should withdraw from the ATC.

And what must the WWC do to return to its Wilsonian roots?

Reforming the WWC

The WWC must abandon its plans to honor Davutoglu.  Those who care about Wilson’s legacy — members of Congress, ordinary Americans, and those whose relatives were lost to Turkish genocidal acts — must contact the WWC and insist on this.

Congress and the Attorney General must launch investigations into possible conflicts of interest at the WWC, particularly regarding its corporate and Turkish connections.  The WWC director and staff must testify under oath.

Wilson Center personnel, and those affiliated with it, particularly scholars, must speak out publicly against pandering to corporations and lobbying organizations.

Those whose business or personal interests may conflict with their WWC role should resign.

The WWC must reject all tainted corporate cash.

Recognized genocide scholars should be invited to speak at the Wilson Center and write in its Wilson Quarterly. The WWC should create a principled program on genocide.

The WWC must establish a meaningful, ongoing dialogue with those persons and their descendants who have been victimized by Turkey’s genocides.

The WWC must return to its Congressional mandate by truly rededicating itself to Wilson’s “ideals, concerns, and accomplishments” and by advocating against genocide and for the human rights and dignity of all people.