By Paul Vartan Sookiasian, Sonya Dymova
Days before the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day in 2022, an undisclosed senior official in the Turkish diplomatic establishment repeatedly sought assurances that New York Mayor Eric Adams would refrain from making any public statements regarding the genocide, federal prosecutors allege in a 57-page indictment against the politician unsealed Thursday.
The charges include bribery, fraud, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations from Turkey.
“On April 21, 2022, the Turkish official messaged the Adams staffer, noting that Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day was approaching, and repeatedly asked the Adams staffer for assurances that Adams would not make any statement about the Armenian Genocide. The Adams staffer confirmed that Adams would not make a statement about the Armenian Genocide. Adams did not make such a statement,” the indictment said.
The mayor “engaged in a long-running conspiracy,” stretching back to 2014 when he was president of the city’s borough of Brooklyn, according to Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Williams said that Adams took campaign contributions from Turkish businessmen despite knowing “these contributions were attempts by a Turkish government official and Turkish businessmen to buy influence with him.”
The indictment alleges Adams accepted free travel from partially state-owned Turkish Airlines, luxury hotel rooms worth over $100,000, and illegal contributions to his campaign from several people connected to the Turkish government.
In exchange, prosecutors allege, Adams used his position as mayor to pressure the New York City Fire Department to fast-track approval of a new, 36-story Turkish consulate building in Manhattan in 2021. At the time, the building would have failed the inspection, according to the indictment.
The Turkish official, then Turkey’s Consul General in New York, who asked for the expedition – the same person that sought assurances on no statements regarding the Armenian Genocide – was desperate to open the new consulate building promptly, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was set to land in New York that September for the U.N. General Assembly, the prosecutors allege.
Much of the illegal dealings alleged in the indictment were arranged by Azerbaijan-native Rana Abbasova, who started out as an Adams volunteer in Brooklyn as his “Liaison to Eastern Europe Muslim Countries,” including Turkey. She accompanied Adams on his 2015 trip to Turkey and, at his direction, allegedly coordinated the illegal campaign contributions and improper personal travel benefits from Turkish sources. Upon becoming mayor, Adams appointed Abbasova to be Director Of Protocol For International Affairs.
As CivilNet reported in April, Abbasova also arranged a meeting for Azerbaijan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Elnur Mammadov and one of its U.S.-based lobbyists, Ezra Friedlander, at New York City Hall. The meeting came to wider attention amid the probe into Adams when it was discovered Friedlander never disclosed the meeting as he is required to do under U.S. law.
A later report by Politico revealed the meeting came just weeks after Abbasova and another city official visited Azerbaijan on city business. The “State Committee on Work with Diaspora of the Republic of Azerbaijan” covered up to $5,000 of expenses for the trip, which was said to be aimed at “fostering economic development and sharing best practices.”
Similar to the Turkish community fundraisers which funneled foreign donations to Adams, an Azerbaijani diaspora group also held one for Adams for his mayoral race.
According to the district attorney’s office, the investigation into Adams continues, and press reports state it is believed there are separate inquiries involving Adams and his senior aides still ongoing. Abbasova is reportedly cooperating with federal investigators.
Mayor Adams denies the charges and says he will not resign. “I look forward to defending myself and defending the people of this city as I’ve done throughout my entire professional career,” he said.
