briefed, no. there's nothing there. i see they're using lawyers that are television lawyer. they took some guys off television. i'm not surprised to see it because adam schiff get his own questions. thank you very much everyone. [inaudible question] >> the house intelligence committee is holding its first open hearing of the impeachment inquiry against president trump. lawmakers are hearing testimony from william taylor, acting u.s. ambassador to ukraine, a deputy assistant secretary of state george kent. you can watch the abatement inquiry hearing live on c-span3, online at c-span.org, or listen live on the free c-span radio app. you can also catch the hearing at 8 p.m. eastern right here on c-span2. >> next, look into u.s.-turkey relations with a focus on the agenda of turkey as president.

this is 30 minutes. >> welcome back everyone. would like to continue and break in what's happening in syria in recent weeks and turkey's involvement in the country, but as the media has only recently i think we can say started focusing its attention on turkey's conduct in syria, i can tell you the investigative journal have been asking all the important questions along time ago and in a sense also sort of predicted what we're seeing now unfolding in the north of the country. so please join welcoming back mr. ahmet yayla assistant professor of homeland security, former chief of turkish national police counterterrorism and operations division, and fellow is broken on extremism at george washington university.

you gave -- would you like to say something before i even ask you? all right. you gave an incredible presentation this morning about how the turkish regime carries out influence operations on u.s. soil also touched a bit in the last panel on the military operations in syria and i would like to pick up from where we left last panel. what is the guiding principle in your view that's driving president erdogan in what is doing in syria now? >> after 2014 when the anticorruption operation in december 2013 redoubt against erdogan said family members and his close circles, erdogan realized he cannot -- if he leaves power. his understanding he has to stay in power regarding of what works in the past people were believing or claiming erdogan was doing whatever he was doing for the good of the islam and

the country, for the good of the religion and turkey however, in 2014 or after 2014 it became obvious that his main concern is himself. he basically uses his politics, the religion to make sure that he is going to be in power for a long time. that's reason he amended the constitution, that's the he's investing in different groups to guarantee future. >> so we are about one month after turkey launched a military operation in the north of syria. the war focus on what's happening in the northeast right now while also the oil is located. but we want to zoom in and talk a bit about the northwest, the idlib province. people recognize the name idlib thanks to the operation to kill al-baghdadi pick some people recognize idlib duty meeting

headlines on russian shelling on civilians. but turkey's influence and control over the idlib province is something that is been vastly underreported and sort of overlooked, not by you. so take us back five years ago, ahmet, the time in which you were still in turkey. .. not yet from the beginning. also a greater opportunity.

he is understanding is a shiite and over 70%. the continued operation. it had a grand influence. the second is -- he realized they were fighting against or the white in syria. it deemed them enemies. the only person that would believe that in there. speaking to people in egypt, tunisia and other continents or in europe the neck interesting

how you are talking about the leader, but he was the one who said no more. [laughter] >> yes. shifting from those times today. >> not only the terrorist that took them to syria. also, the influence operations. my organization led an aid operation. while at the same time, how's al qaeda for the corporation.

in fact who carries out an operation against from the city with the al qaeda to help the al qaeda? >> to simplify what you are saying here, describing one hand of the turkish government trying to operate against isis, but the other hand of the turkish government be the judiciary and then you have the regime who collaborate. >> yes. 2014. the operation brought by police chief. all the important people in the judiciary. judges for the people. police chief. some of the most intelligent sources make sure that those

operations would not be interrupted. today called the mit instruct. the introduction of police. the people have justified themselves as the intelligence. the medicine to syria. they ordered a search. what they found all the military grade weapons in those trucks. firing all of the people. the police officer chief. even the judges who signed off the search warrant. arrested journalists who wrote about these weapons in his newspaper. >> what happened to the

prosecutor?and on back. >> by these actions that you are describing, is the wand able to sway the public opinion in his favor? >> big time. he confiscated different media companies are shut them down. controlling the minds of people. 8% of the turkish population support isis. 10% knew it would be a conflict. now, according to to the media, 97% do not have the enemy of the turks. independent survey indicate around 90% of the the turks consider the united states as their enemy. hate against the united states. he believes that the cia and the united states are behind -- even

though he knows who was behind it. >> what is heard élan's approval rating approval rating in turkey? do you know it? >> he lost his symbol in the election. a huge blow to his operation. after the operation in northern syria, the support riced again. >> you know, doing what he is doing in syria as one. acting against the kurdish militia and repatriating refugees, sending them back to their country is one thing. at the end of the day, i believe citizens need care and the money they have in their pockets. delivering on that front.

>> from early 2010, making sure 1 million people getting some kind of aid. $15 billion a year to the people these people are his base. they will not be able to get this. he lost the election because he was using those and using the cities richest to distribute aid. >> i want to circle back to syria. there have been some links that we played. turkey's actions arming again

supporting elements over the years. these leaks were also authenticated ride the courts. i wanted to ask you, what has been the public's reaction once it was released. they understand what is happening. do people in turkey believe that these goals, fighting the militias and sending back refugees to their country, justifies the understanding, i would say, with the front or even isis? >> the answer to your first question is, most of the people believe that these are fake. particularly and talk. the anticorruption operation in 2013. over $1 million in cash. he came out and said it is alive.

he is a fake. other people in the world realized it. particularly through the case here in new york. the trials in the court. >> we will expand on these issues in the conversation. >> his support was believed, they do not believe what they hear. they are scared to talk about it they find themselves. he goes after your kids about these issues. there is a fear factor that plays very well among the turkish society. not to believe or not talk about these issues. >> the president will visit the white house to sweep.

we wanted your thoughts about the u.s. administration approach to turkey under president trump. you know president trump considers turkey to be an ally. hosting a major air berries. he also views turkey as an ally that could be pressured. that pressure has been valuable in the past. for president trump. do you think it is an effective approach to exert economic pressure when needed? but treat them as an important ally in the region, nevertheless. >> it will harm the turkish economic. the united states is our enemy. we should not trust them. they are killing an economic pool against me.

he will try to mobilize his face to support him and make him understand. this is a consequence of us being a muslim and turkish nation. i will take you as soon as i can he who put himself, again in this and claimed that he is trying to save the turkish people. of course they suffered economic need. the more they will think about it. it will help the turks to separate themselves. this is what was happening before. the economy and people are suffering. >> talking about how they received turkey. how is turkey perceiving the united states under the president.

what do his supporters think of this country? >> according to them, behind every problem that turkey is to experience as the united and the cia. because of the cia, the united states it is not an ally. it is an enemy. >> we remember the year 2017 before the turkish constitution rec room on trent referendum that resulted in him consolidating powers, he went to countries like germany. even austria to try to course the support of these exits in these countries. what about here in the united states. does president consider the turks living here in this country to be a crowd that he

should appeal to? >> american turks are not that fond of him. as the majority. that is the reason a special priority to reach out to the american turks see her in the united states. >> how is he doing that? >> through his influence operation and through different mosques. so far, among the turks. amongst muslims. >> after president trump welcoming to the white house, the day after he will also welcome the secretary-general of nato. nato allies have criticized the conduct in syria. also criticizing some of the conduct in syria. the so-called betrayal of the kurdish allies.

the matter the fact is, that company company is like germany, france, britain. some of them been experts. they don't really do more than a slap on the hand of that president. they voiced a lot of criticism, but practically not much is being done. they do not have enough leverage. why is that? >> the gatekeeper of the terrace every time the europeans try to do something, he comes up and says i will let the refugees, meaning i will let them go to europe. he cannot control the europeans. almost 4 million refugees in turkey he has the gatekeeper. >> not all of them terrorists.

>> refugees beyond the terrace. >> not like they really want to welcome these refugees. do you think turkey is still a partner to the values and principles that chase the nato alliance? >> i think we should separate. under him, we see a change. if we are late, we will list turkey as well. >> this is something i'm going to bring up i think and again the other panel. it is very easy to point your finger at the president and blame him for the shifts we are seeing in turkey. didn't really start with him? what other influences or, you know, attitudes that turkey received whether it is from the united states or the european union have drifted turkey in this way that we are seeing. drifting away from the west.

>> the first thing we should do to look at ourselves as turks, what did we do wrong instead of blaming others. >> that is an amazing responsible approach. >> particularly in the history the vast europeans. coming from the empire of times. losing the war in the first world war. what are we doing to help. instead of looking and blaming others, i think that we should look at ourselves. why are we behind the wall. corruption to our country. why we cannot catch up with the sign said education of the rest of the world these are things we have to go and find solutions of and set of fighting and trying to protect a regime.

claiming to be islamic. completely islamic. >> as time allows, i would would like to open from questions of the audience. we have time for two questions. you can also ask him about his presentation from earlier in the day about influence operations. [inaudible] a trend around the world as security detail. >> a moment for the translation. >> can everyone hear me now? >> your take on this notion that when he travels his security gates open freely, using violence against not only

protesters, but foreign security services that are there to actually protect them. based on your background, what you think about that? the first is israel. new turkish police that he established by his people that are loyal to him. just like the others that i mentioned in my presentation. if you are against that i will come up to you. professional police force. enforcing these types of professional businesses without any issues. without any conflicts with our partners in foreign countries. there is now this new considered the other law enforcement

agencies, secret services as they have enemies. we are seeing these types of conflicts. the second issue here is he ordered them to carry out these attacks. you clearly see in that video where he was sticking to his security chief. through the radio ordering his people to carry out that attack. it was through him. >> i am an intelligence analyst of a former diplomat. acting against this activity, we would certainly downgrade intelligence. certainly you guys shining a light is invaluable. knocking this guy down.

>> i think that the united states has a very fine line. not wanting to lose turkey. aligning itself with russia. i think that the best thing we can do. a nato ally. instead of working, we should find a way to isolate him and to pay for his crimes. >> you had mentioned to people who were friendly with kushner. who are these people and how did

they get close to kushner. >> finance in turkey. the son-in-law of turkey biggest outreaches companies. used to have the media company. the importance is through that connection, i think found a way to meet. i don't know. >> richard. retired. can you envision any scenario?

peaceful or otherwise in which turkey would break the yoke of the rule? >> 100%. he was skeptical about the turkish military. two of the turkish nation intelligence, it looks like any movement against will fail. again, it looks like because he is scared of the power. regardless of the turkish election. understanding the rule about how fair elections are. his candidate looked.

>> any other question? >> okay. >> you mentioned in your earlier presentation, connections particularly mac society care. what all of these groups have in common is an ideological connection to the muslim brotherhood. i was wondering if you could speak briefly about the relationship with the brotherhood. how it formed, how close it is and how to utilize that connection. >> the first is coming from the other times. exempting the ideas.

the second where they believe the muslim brotherhood. the islamic coming from elections or confiscation of the powers. must be enforced through the state power. the connection to the muslim brotherhood, his first political party leader having connection with the muslim brotherhood. he continued his connection with the muslim brotherhood elements. in egypt, he welcomes all the muslim brotherhood establishments. people, hierarchy. back to it symbol.

he used it as a procurer ready to claim the leadership because then, who would be able to survive the understanding. the logic of the american muslims close to the mother muslim brotherhood ideology, they truly believe that he is a representative today. what we see here in the united states, not exempting american muslims. instead, only a small portion because of the voices of our turks. they are not -- because they are not organized, we cannot hear them. they are people.

the approach meant. they cannot change. >> since we have to wrap up, let's take two more questions. >> thank you very much for your presentation. my name is amy from harvard. my question is, could you speak a little bit about to what extent the turkish intelligence is actually coordinating with the rebel groups that are now in that region of northern syria. some people say that those different groups are directly essentially be incarnated by turkish intelligence and others say they are not directly involved in everything that is

happening. if you could speak about that level that would be appreciated. thank you. >> we cannot blanket all of these groups. there are different levels. the turkish nation is extremely powerful. saluting older brothers and the family. because turkey is for the nation , they are powerful. turkey entered egypt last month. it is very well known in the community that turkish intel, turkish military and tell has deep connections.

>> quickly. >> thank you. a lot of talk about the turkish invasion. muslim brotherhood states. similar to the gaza strip. would that be a viable idea? you think is being implemented right now? >> i do not think that it is viable. it might be very problematic. intending to hold that piece of land for a long time. schools in different services. too early to talk about it.

i do not want to speculate. >> pleasure talking to you as always. great questions from the audience. the presentation from the morning is on the investigative journal website. you can follow up with that there. it is time for lunch now. we will be back at 140. 140. we will have a fascinating panel talking to us about some overlooked aspects of turkey's relationship with the u.s. come back to us. >> the house intelligence committee is holding its first open hearing of the impeachment

inquiry against president trump. rom acres are hearing testimony from william taylor acting u.s. ambassador to ukraine and deputy assistant secretary of state george kent. you can watch the impeachment inquiry hearing right now on c-span three, online@c-span.org or listen live on the free c-span radio app. you can also catch a reairing at eight pm eastern right here on c-span two. earlier today, turkey's president arrived to the white house. he and his wife greeted by president trump and the first the first lady. afterwards they spoke to reporters inside the oval office