“Like New York City, Turkey has always been a crossroads of many cultures and a dynamic place to do business,” Adams said during his remarks, which were left off his daily public schedule and have never been reported.
These revelations — uncovered through a POLITICO review of thousands of pages of public schedules from his time as borough president and reams of social media posts — shed light on Adams’ unusually strong relationship with Turkey, which has drawn scrutiny from federal investigators. The FBI is looking for evidence the mayor’s 2021 campaign colluded with the Turkish government and accepted illegal campaign contributions.
The investigation, which touches people in Adams’ inner circle, threatens to undermine his ability to run the city during a time of crisis and makes him more vulnerable to challengers as he gears up for reelection in 2025.
The sprawling case has gripped New York politics as the mayor scrambles to fend off a cascade of negative headlines. Federal agents recently raided or conducted interviews at a dozen locations as part of the probe, CNN reported — including the home of Adams’ political fundraiser.
Days after the Nov. 2 raid, FBI agents approached the mayor on a city street, reportedly dismissed his security detail, and seized several electronic devices from him. Officials have issued at least one grand jury subpoena to a former city official, CNN reported. And last week, a City Hall staffer who previously served as Adams’ liaison to New York’s Turkish community was reported to the feds and then suspended after administration officials said she “acted improperly” — without specifying her actions — the New York Post first reported.
The staffer — Rana Abbasova, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter — flagged at least three meetings and events related to Turkey when Adams was borough president, the review of his schedules shows. Among them was a 2015 grand opening celebration for a Turkish restaurant in Brooklyn, which she marked as “important.”
As investigators pursue their case, more details are coming to light about the Turkish outreach of a politician who has made a habit of cultivating ties to the many ethnic communities across New York City. And some of those connections are with organizations now turning up in the probe.
On Nov. 2, for example, the home of a Turkish Airlines executive was among the locations raided by the FBI, according to CNN.
POLITICO’s analysis of Adams’ Borough Hall schedules turned up three mentions of the airline: Two planned banquets celebrating the carrier in 2019 and 2020, and a cryptic entry on Oct. 2, 2015 that simply read: “Reschedule 4 p.m. turkish airline. Rana my gifts.”
That same year, Adams took two trips to Turkey — one in August funded by multiple entities including the Turkish consulate, according to a financial disclosure obtained by POLITICO. Local news outlet THE CITY recently reported Turkish Airlines also chipped in for that trip, but that was omitted from the required annual disclosure. Four months later, the financial disclosure shows, an organization called the Association of Young Tourism Leaders funded another trip to Turkey for Adams.
The junkets were among a half-dozen trips the mayor has said he made to the country, including a 2017 sojourn with his son, Jordan.
Two years later, Adams attended a soiree at the ritzy Metropolitan Club in honor of 25 years of direct flights between Turkey and the U.S. One photo displayed in a lifestyle magazine shows Adams at the center of a throng of Turkish Airlines executives and flight attendants. Another reveals him holding hands with Mustafa Dogan, the airline’s vice president of sales for the Americas, and Öcal, the airline’s New York director.
Öcal was later named to the infrastructure committee of the mayoral transition team, which numbered around 800 people, a campaign spokesperson confirmed.
Earlier this year, a social media post shows Adams hobnobbing with a Turkish airlines executive during a reception tied to the United Nations General Assembly at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Turkish Airlines did not respond to requests for comment.
A spokesperson for the mayor had no comment and referred POLITICO to a Tuesday press briefing where Adams said that he is cooperating with the authorities but declined to provide detailed answers to most questions about the probe.
“Whatever the reviewers are looking for, we are fully cooperating with it,” Adams said. “And my role is to allow them to do…
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