BOYCOTTING TURKEY: The Why & How

A 101 for Fighting Against Today’s Most BRUTAL Dictatorship

The Why:

In a recent press briefing, US President Joe Biden made an historic announcement condemning the dictatorship of Turkey, specifically for their recent offensives in northern Syria. A portion of the briefing reads:

…The situation in and in relation to Syria, and in particular the actions by the Government of Turkey to conduct a military offensive into northeast Syria, undermines the campaign to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, endangers civilians, and further threatens to undermine the peace, security, and stability in the region, and continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. For this reason, the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13894 of October 14, 2019, must continue in effect beyond October 14, 2022. Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13894 with respect to the situation in and in relation to Syria.

And this is important, as many news outlets have been turning their attention towards Turkey’s increasingly problematic behavior. But it all starts with one man.

For those living under a rock for the last two decades, Turkey has quickly devolved into a brutal dictatorship, led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who came into power in 2003. Under his expansionist, pan-Turkic extremism, Erdoğan’s has racked an impressive list of barbaric acts. Under his tyranny, Turkey:

I. DENIED the Armenian, Greek, Kurdish, Assyrian, and Bulgarian Genocides occurring from 1890 to 1921 (resulting in over 4 million deaths)
II. CAUSED 31 conflicts with 9 countries and ethno-groups in just 10 years (2010–2020).
III. BANNED 180+ of their own media outlets (2016) and shortly thereafter earned the single worst ranking for jailing journalists (2018)

“Globally in 2016, one third of all imprisoned journalists, media workers and executives were in Turkey’s prisons, with the vast majority waiting to be brought to trial.” — Amnesty.org (2017)

IV. THREATENED all of Europe, stating:

“If you continue to behave like this, tomorrow in no part of the world, no European, no Westerner will be able to take steps on the street safely and peacefully.” — Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (March 2017)

If you read that last one too quickly, treat yourself to reading it again.

V. ATTACKED American protesters in Washington D.C. and given no charges (May 2017)
VI. HIRED over 4,000 ISIS Jihadist mercenaries to fight alongside Azerbaijan against Armenia, and denies it despite many having been captured and identified (Sept. 2020)
VII. CLAIMED “Jerusalem is Turkey” (Sept. 2020)
VIII. WITHDREW from Istanbul Convention — an initiative to protect women against domestic violence
IX. SUPPORTS the ‘Grey Wolves’ (‘Bozkurtlar’) — an anti-Semitic & anti-Christian hate-group (1968–2022) that in 2020 hunted Armenians on the streets of France.

X: SINGLE-HANDEDLY destroyed Turkey’s currency — the Turkish Lira — which went 0.75 to the US Dollar to 0.054 to the USD while enriching himself.

Just to name a cool ten. There is, of course, the whole destruction of northern Syria, occupation of northern Cyprus, and most recent threats to Greece, where Erdoğan stated:

“The islands you occupy do not bind us, we will do what is necessary when the time comes. As we say, we can come suddenly one night.” — Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Though comparing individuals to Hitler has become a trite tactic — especially in today’s hyper-woke cancel culture — Erdoğan is actually a viable candidate:

The How:

Okay, so Turkey is being led by an evil, racist, war-mongering psychopath with way too much power — and not nearly enough people know about it. The question, then, is what we can do about it?

There are three things we can do simultaneously, and are listed below, ordered by how impactful they are. The first are the easiest (and unfortunately) least impactful, but of course everything counts.

I. Social Media Route: Spread Awareness

Those who say social media campaigns don’t accomplish anything are clearly and consistently wrong — period. Social media has massively funded research for diseases, resurrected careers, and resulted in global awareness over a variety of issues. Campaigns working against Turkey’s tyranny have lost them PR firms (who were tasked with perpetuating their misinformation campaigns) and put pressure on drone-part manufacturers to stop doing business with the dictatorship.

So, how do we effectively spread awareness? A social media campaign should be three things:

1. Unified so that the metadata (the information that computers use to compartmentalize content) is consistent
2. Simple so that even the unattached layman can easily contribute
3. Catchy so that people want to be a part of it.

This campaign, organized by myself and designed by digital artist, Aram Spendjian, reached reached several thousand reshares and millions of views, despite its impossibly long hashtag: #IRecognizeTheArmenianGenocide

There are several trending hashtags that you can use, especially on Instagram and Twitter. These are eligible to go viral, considering their current standing:

#StopErdogan (IG: 62,878; TW: 22,468 Potential Impressions)
#StopTurkey (IG: 30,686; TW: 56,722)
#BoycottTurkey (IG: 6,210; TW: 67,441)

II. Political Route: Contact Your Leaders

The fastest way to engage your political leaders is to use one of the pre-made contact campaigns created by Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) and Armenian Assembly of America Action Center. Both of these resources facilitate reaching your speicfic leaders and letting them know where you stand on the issues.

III. Financial Route: Boycott Turkey

There is no more effective way to handle a dictator than to hit them where it hurts most: their wallet. Turkey has a huge export economy (much of which is in textiles) and a disproportionate amount goes directly into Erdogan’s purse.

Of course, the number one way to boycott Turkey is to simply check if something is MADE IN TURKEY and putting that item back on the shelf if it is. That being said, it’s perhaps helpful to know what companies are the primary financiers of this genocidal dictatorship in the first place.

While websites like Boycott Turkey have done a decent job at outlining some of the companies that Turkey owns, it doesn’t identify the many American and European companies that offer a large collection of products that are MADE IN TURKEY.

Thus, the following list (updated by your responses) will catalogue the companies that carry MADE IN TURKEY products. Feel free to comment any more that you know. NOTE that every company listed below is linked to their Twitter page (or Company Email if *starred* or Facebook if **double-starred**), and at the bottom of this list, is a templated Tweet and Email (feel free to revise/customize) where you can voice your concern for the company’s choice to fund a genocidal dictatorship like Turkey.

Let’s begin.

Turkish-Owned Companies: These companies should be, at all costs, completely avoided.

• ADL, Colin’s Jeans, Derimond, Godiva (YES, the chocolate company!), Koton, LC Waikiki, and Mavi

Clothing & Fashion:
Aldo, *AGoldE* (jeans are primarily made in Turkey), All Saints, Anthropologie, Armani, ASOS, Banana Republic, BCBG Max Azria, Bershka, Burberry, GAP, Good American, Guess, H&M (especially socks and underwear), Hugo Boss, Karen Millen, LuLu Lemon (Socks, especially), Marks and Spencer, Mango, Nike, *Peruvian Connection*, *Pull&Bear*, *Skims*, *Stradivarius*, *Ted Baker*, *Theory*, *Top Shop*, and *Zara*

Food:
Ferrero Rocher, Haribo**, Nutella, Sour Patch, and Swedish Fish

Home Goods & Other Products:
Crate and Barrel (Cotton Towels), HomeGoods (they have an entire section of ‘Made in Turkey’ home décor), Homesense, (Towels especially), Hotel Collection (Towels, especially), Parachute, Restoration Hardware, and TJ Max (Towels, especially)

Templated Email:

Dear COMPANY,

I have been a loyal customer for your brand, but cannot look beyond your decision to manufacture works in Turkey, a country led by a regime that actively threatens the west, denies genocide, and tortures its own people. As such, I am making the informed decision to no longer support your company with my business. I feel that you have the right to know why you are losing my business and the business of others like me.

Until this issues is addressed and remedied — by having your clothing manufactured elsewhere — I will not purchase your products. Please consider severing your ties with this genocidal regime, and instead manufacturing in the dozens of other countries, including those being most threatened by Turkey (Greece, Cyprus, Armenia, etc.).

It is never acceptable for a company to support brutal dictatorships, even if it’s merely through manufacturing goods and services.

Sincerely,

YOUR NAME.

Templated Tweet:

Dear @ [CompanyName], as a customer of your business, I am asking you to discontinue your MADE IN TURKEY products. I cannot in good conscience support a company that enriches Turkey’s increasing brutal dictatorship. We must all work together to fight tyranny. #BoycottTurkey