Erdogan’s operative sets up new shop in the US, forced to register as lobbyist

Abdullah Bozkurt/Stockholm

A key operative from Turkey’s Islamist government has registered with the US Department of Justice as a foreign lobbyist, revealing his role in an organization advancing authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s influence across Europe and North America.

Murat Gezercan, a 54-year-old Islamist who became a naturalized US citizen in 2013, was registered as a lobbyist under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) in August 2024, according to documents reviewed by Nordic Monitor.

Filings submitted to the US Department of Justice reveal Gezercan’s declaration to act on behalf of the Germany-based Union of International Democrats (UID), an organization under the direct control of President Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The UID, often described as the long arm of the Erdogan government, is set to operate on US soil through a newly established entity named the Union of International Democrats Limited Liability Company. According to New Jersey state records, the organization was incorporated on August 16, 2024, with no declared capital and Gezercan is listed as its sole member. In his FARA registration, Gezercan explicitly identified Turkish President Erdogan as the foreign political party leader with whom he would be engaging.

UID registration as a foreign agent with the US Department of Justice:

The UID, currently under scrutiny by multiple European government agencies for its ties to the Erdogan administration, primarily works to propagate Erdogan’s worldview, which is rooted in a political Islamist ideology.

This ideology is defined by anti-Semitic and xenophobic perspectives coupled with a critical outlook on the West. It employs a pragmatic and Machiavellian approach, adapting to the conditions of the countries where it operates to advance its concealed objective of establishing a global Islamic empire.

The selection of Gezercan to head the UID’s American branch aligns seamlessly with this strategy. Gezercan has served as a key operative in the US, acting as the regional director for the Germany-based Islamist organization Islamische Gemeinschaft Milli Görüş (IGMG), which is linked to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The IGMG serves as the European branch of Turkey’s political Islamist grassroots movement, National View, an anti-Semitic and anti-Western organization that played a pivotal role in shaping and nurturing President Erdogan during his formative years.

Gezercan also served as the New Jersey representative for the Turkish-American National Steering Committee, a lobbying organization founded in 2016 with the support and endorsement of President Erdogan. Gezercan collaborates closely with Zafer Sırakaya, the former president of UID and current deputy chairman of the ruling AKP, in managing the external relations of Erdogan’s party.

Sırakaya visited the US in September to meet with Gezercan and his associates, marking the launch of the UID’s American branch.

Gezercan has lived in the US for nearly 30 years, becoming a naturalized citizen in 2013. He owns and operates a business called MG Fuel LLC, which runs three gas stations and attached convenience stores in New Jersey.

In his FARA registration, Gezercan listed his residential address as that of one of the gas stations located in Old Tappan, a borough in New Jersey’s Bergen County. The registration also identifies him as the sole member of the UID. He stated that the UID will operate on behalf of Erdogan’s party, the AKP.

Although he was required to detail his involvement with other pro-Erdogan entities in the US on behalf of the Turkish government, Gezercan simply answered “no” to the question in Section III of the registration form, which inquired whether he was engaged in or would be involved in additional activities that benefit the foreign principal.

The appointment letter issued by Kenan Hasan Aslan, the UID president, on July 26, 2024, reveals that Gezercan replaced Levent Ali Yıldız as the UID America Regional President. This indicates that the UID had previously been operating in the US without a FARA registration. Yıldız, another Islamist, is currently serving as the deputy chairman of the AKP in Turkey, overseeing social policies for Erdogan’s party. He spent nine years in the US, working on behalf of multiple pro-Erdogan entities.

The charter of the UID’s American branch, UID LLC, a New Jersey-based company:

In September 2024, Gezercan filed a supplemental declaration with the US Department of Justice, stating that no money had been received from Turkey’s ruling party because the previously submitted funding application had been withdrawn. This indicates that the UID had, in fact, sought funding from Turkey at the time of its initial registration, yet this application was not disclosed in the August submission, aside from the mention of a salary, which was not specified in dollar terms.

The UID was originally established as the Union of European International Democrats among Turkish diaspora communities in Europe by Erdogan’s longtime confidant Metin Külünk, who led an armed Islamist faction in Turkey during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 2007, Külünk was flagged by Turkish investigators as a suspect in the Islamist terrorist group, the Great Eastern Islamic Raiders Front (İslami Büyük Doğu Akıncıları Cephesi).

Külünk has managed to avoid legal repercussions, largely due to political protection from Erdogan. His name surfaced in a 2017 investigation by German police, which linked Ankara to a boxing club gang in Germany accused of targeting opponents of the Turkish government. According to the investigation, Külünk provided funding to the gang, Osmanen Germania, to purchase weapons, organize protests and intimidate critics of the Erdogan administration, as reported by German media. Police also suggested that Osmanen Germania had ties to the UID.