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A foundation with close ties to the family of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spent more than $48 million on lobbying and influence activities in the United States in 2025, Deutsche Welle's Turkish edition reported, citing data compiled by the US watchdog OpenSecrets from Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) files.
The TURKEN Foundation is a New York-based nonprofit organization founded in 2014 by the Turkey Youth and Education Service Foundation (TURGEV) and the Ensar Foundation, two Islamic educational charities that support students and boarding school projects in Turkey and abroad.
TURGEV is generally seen in Turkey as part of President Erdogan's family network, with several of his relatives having served on its board, which has led opposition politicians and analysts to describe TURKE as an extension of the US-based family.
OpenSecrets figures show that TURKEN's reported spending has increased significantly in recent years, from around $10.7 million in 2023 to $18.4 million in 2024, before rising to $48.2 million in 2025.
According to the Deutsche Welle report, the Ensar Foundation transferred about $25.3 million to TURKEN in 2025, while TURGEV sent another $22.9 million to cover the foundation's lobbying-related activities.
DW said that combined spending by TURGEV and Ensar through TURKEN amounted to approximately $77.5 million between 2023 and 2025, based on the summary of FARA files by OpenSecrets.
FARA records describe TURKEN as a tax-exempt educational organization that provides housing, scholarships, and cultural programs for primarily Muslim students in the United States, while also engaging in outreach and public relations activities on behalf of its Turkish directors.
TURKEN and figures associated with him have previously attracted attention in the American and Turkish media due to political donations and questions about transparency in how Turkish charitable funds are spent abroad.
DW said TURKEN, TURGEV and Ensar did not answer its questions about why lobbying spending had increased so significantly or what specific activities the 2025 spending covered.
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