Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist based in Stockholm, Sweden, has laid bare a sprawling and fast-expanding network of Turkish operations inside the United States in an article titled Turkey Ramps Up Covert and Overt Influence Operations in Washington.
Bozkurt sums up his findings this way: Turkey has dramatically ramped up its lobbying and influence operations in the United States, building out a sturdy and increasingly sophisticated network of registered agents, legal consultants, political advisers, party representatives, non-profit organizations and public relations firms working in tandem to shape Washington’s take on Ankara’s policies.
Notably, according to a report by the US Congressional Research Service (CRS) dated March 9, 2026, a total of 105 American lobbying firms worked for Turkey between 2001 and 2021.
Beyond lobbying, Turkey is carrying out a broader push to disperse its influence. Laura Loomer, a political activist and a close ally of President Trump, has said the CIA sits on irrefutable evidence that Turkey – the Erdoğan administration in particular – funneled money to podcasters to undermine the Trump administration’s Middle East policy. The CIA does have evidence that Turkish funding has gone to at least one female podcaster and at least one male podcaster, she wrote. She went on to state that Turkey is the single largest backer of the Muslim Brotherhood. Bozkurt notes that Loomer’s claim lines up with the Erdoğan government’s well-documented habit of covertly financing operations on US soil – from propping up Muslim Brotherhood-linked networks to running espionage efforts aimed at Erdoğan critics, such as members of the Gülen movement.