Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RIVISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi
By U~urAhne!
Turkish Daily News
W ASHINGTON-
Evidently satisfied
- or less cross - with their perfonnance
in selling Turkey's case to
the American public, media and
pliticiansin contraSt'with the record
of the European countetparts, Turkey
has extended the contracts of two
leading Washington lobby finns.
But although getting another year's
contract from the Turkish government,
Fleishman and Hillard (F&H)
and Capitoline had to agree to serious
cuts in their fees.
It was not clear, however, if the
smaller purse was a result of the lessthan-solid
support Turkey received
from Washin~ton to its recent crossborder
operatIOnagainst the separatist
Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.
F&H's contract ended on March
31, and Capitoline's ended on April
30. F&H's contract was initially
extended by only.2 months due to the
fact thatTurkish Promotion Fund, the
multi-agency government board
which approves lobby accounts, did
not have a meeting scheduled when
F&H's contract expired.
"It's only due to such a mismatch
in timing that the F&H account initially
had to be extended on a temporary
basis," a Turkish officialtold the
Turkish Oaily News.
High-level representatives of both
fions are currently in Ankara, holding
the kind of inter-lobby conference
that' all lobby firms working for
Turkey in the United States and
Europe held three months ago in
London to coordinate their activities
on a global scale.
The representatives met with
Turkish Foreign Ministry officials on
Monday and some of them were also
to fly to Turkish Republicof Northern
Cyprus (TRNC) to see the island
republic for the first time. Their
TRNC visit fuels existing rumors that
a modest breakthrough could take
place in the Cyprus issue within the
next year.
Turkish officials in Washington
assured TON thatthey were "very
salisfied~:.with ..the.services .provided
both by,f&}{.Il\Vbich.is. responsible
fdr ,"media refations;"rand'Capîtoline,
which s~ecializes in "govermnent
relations. '
Yet, an informed source told the
TDN that, although their contracts
were renewed, both companies had to
accept a pay cut. F&H was paid
$525,000 every three months last
year. Capitoline, on the other hand,
received $487,500 during the last six
months of service.
An F&H source confinned that the
finn had taken a pay cut. The source
said that F&H would be paid about
$430,000 pcr quarter in the new contract
period, which represents a cut of
18 percent. Capitoline reportedly
also accepted a similar reduction in
paycheck but at this writing senior
company officials could not be
reached for confinnation.
TON also learned that both companies
will be subjected to a quarterly
"perfonnance review."
If they fail to pass the review, their
contracts might be reevaluated before
the annual contracts expire.
The F&H source could not confinn
the reported "performance revit;w"
clause in the new contract.
Another reported modification in
these two firms' contracts was the
authoritx given to F&H to do some
limited 'government relations" work
on Capitol Hill that was previously
carried out mainly, if not exclusively,
by the Capitoline team. An F&H
source confirmed the mentioned
change in their contract.
Other sources have told TON during
the last year that such overlapping
of responsibilities between the two
highly competitive PR companies
caused minor strains in their relationship.
With this recent rearrangement of
their job descriptions, it is expected
that Similar misunderstandings will be
avoided and the efficiency of the
overalloperation will increase.
The TON also learned that the
Greek Cypriots have hired Ed
Oerwinski to represent their cause in
Washington in addition to the
Manatos & Manatos company.
Oerwinski is a well-known name III
the capital.
He served in the U.S. House of
Representatives for 22 years as a
Republican Congressman from
ChIcago.
After 'Iosin~ his' seat-doe -to redistricting,
Oerwlllski was broughti:into
the Bush administration to work 'first
briefly at the Department of Veterans
AffalfS, and then at the State
Oepartment.
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