Kamil Ekim Alptekin (born 1977) is a

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

businessman with real estate,

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...

, and consulting interests. He is the current Chairman of the Turkey-U.S. Business Council (TAİK) and an advocate for improved Turkish-American relations. His payments to Michael T. Flynn for research and lobbying work against the

Gülen movement The Gülen movement () or Hizmet movement () is an Islamist fraternal movement. It is a sub-sect of Sunni Islam based on a Nursian theological perspective as reflected in Fethullah Gülen's religious teachings. It is referred to by its membe ...

were central to a

political controversy In politics, a political scandal is an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage. Politicians, government officials, Political party, party officials and Lobbying, lobbyists can be accused of various ...

American politics In the United States, politics functions within a framework of a constitutional federal republic, federal democratic republic with a presidential system. The three distinct branches Separation of powers, share powers: United States Congress, C ...

. Alptekin was indicted on December 12, 2018 on charges of conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government and making false statements to investigators. These charges were eventually dropped.

Early life and education

Alptekin was born in Ankara. His father Mustafa Sevinç was a bureaucrat, and his mother Zehra, a teacher. Kamil Ekim was born in Ankara but mostly raised in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, his parents left Turkey in 1981, when Alptekin was 4. He studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

and

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public university, public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of ...

, graduating in 2001.

Career

He received a nine-month fellowship to work as a staffer on the

United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs The United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, also known as the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a standing committee of the U.S. House of Representatives with jurisdiction over bills and investigations concerning the foreign affair ...

and for Representative

Tom Lantos Thomas Peter Lantos (born Tamás Péter Lantos; February 1, 1928 – February 11, 2008) was a Hungarian-born American politician who served as a United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative from California from 1981 until his deat ...

. He later worked for the

Democrats 66 Democrats 66 (; D66) is a social liberal and progressive political party in the Netherlands, which is positioned on the centre to centre-left of the political spectrum. It is a member of the Liberal International (LI) and the Alliance of Li ...

parliamentary group at the

States General of the Netherlands The States General of the Netherlands ( ) is the Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Netherlands consisting of the Senate (Netherlands), Senate () and the House of Representatives (Netherlands), House of R ...

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

. He held a one year fellowship at the

INTERPOL The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...

Counter-Terrorism Fusion Centre in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. He was a senior fellow with the Humanity in Action non-profit, and founder of the Frieda Menco Foundation. In 2005 Alptekin began a business providing

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to co ...

equipment and consulting services to the

government of Turkey The Government of Turkey () is the Central government, national government of Turkey. It is governed as a unitary state under a presidential system, presidential representative democracy and a Constitution of Turkey, constitutional republic wit ...

, including

video surveillance Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal ...

cameras for police helicopters. He is involved in real estate development along the

Bosphorus Strait The Bosporus or Bosphorus Strait ( ; , colloquially ) is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul, Turkey. The Bosporus connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and forms one of the continental b ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. He serves as an

Honorary Consul A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

to the

Republic of Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

Eclipse

When

Eclipse Aviation Corporation The Eclipse Aviation Corporation was the Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States–based manufacturer of the Eclipse 500 very light jet (VLJ), and also at one time proposed developing the Eclipse 400 single-engined jet. The company was founded ...

filed for bankruptcy, Alptekin and his partners attempted to buy it out with financing provided by the Russian state bank

Vnesheconombank Vnesheconombank or Vneshekonombank () is shorthand for the Bank for Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs, established in 1988 from the former Foreign Trade Bank of the USSR. It may refer to: * Vnesheconombank (USSR), a Soviet bank in activity from 19 ...

and a loan personally approved by

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

. The Russian government financing ultimately fell through, and instead Alptekin and his partners bought Eclipse Aviation for $40 million, using it to found

Eclipse Aerospace Eclipse Aerospace was an American aircraft manufacturer, maintenance and upgrade company. The company provided maintenance and upgrades to the Eclipse 500 fleet and was the manufacturer of the Eclipse 550. The company was formed specifically ...

. Under Alptekin, Eclipse Aerospace began producing the Eclipse 550

very light jet A very light jet (VLJ), entry-level jet or personal jet, previously known as a microjet, is a category of small business jets that seat four to eight people. VLJs are considered the lightest business jets and are approved for single-pilot opera ...

, partnering with

Sikorsky Aircraft Sikorsky Aircraft is an American aircraft manufacturer based in Stratford, Connecticut. It was established by the Russian-American aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky in 1923, and was among the first companies to manufacture helicopters for civilian ...

Inovo BV

Inovo BV, the Dutch corporation he owns, is the sole Turkish representative in Ratio Oil Exploration, which is the

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i firm exploring the

Leviathan gas field The Leviathan gas field is a large natural gas field in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel, south-west of the Tamar gas field. The gas field is roughly west of Haifa in waters deep in the Levantine basin, a rich hydrocarbon area ...

in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

. Ratio has denied that it has any affiliation with Alptekin or Inovo BV, though

BuzzFeed News ''BuzzFeed News'' was an American news website published by BuzzFeed beginning in 2011. It ceased posting new hard news content in May 2023. It published a number of high-profile scoops, including the Steele dossier, for which it was strong ...

has produced evidence documenting a relationship dating back to at least early 2016.

Lobbying against Gülenism

Following the

2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt In the evening of 15 July 2016, a faction within the Turkish Armed Forces, organized as the Peace at Home Council, attempted a coup d'état against state institutions, including the government and president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. They attempted ...

, Alptekin began soliciting

lobbyists Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agencies or judiciary. Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by various entities, in ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in order to reduce support for

Fethullah Gülen Muhammed Fethullah Gülen (27 April 1941 – 20 October 2024) was a Turkish Ulama, Muslim scholar, preacher, and leader of the Gülen movement who as of 2016 had millions of followers. Gülen was an influential Neo-Ottomanism, neo-Ottomanist, A ...

and the

. One of those firms was Flynn Intel Group, which was paid at least $530,000 for its efforts. According to U.S. prosecutors, Alptekin and Bijan Rafiekian worked on behalf of the

Government of Turkey The Government of Turkey () is the Central government, national government of Turkey. It is governed as a unitary state under a presidential system, presidential representative democracy and a Constitution of Turkey, constitutional republic wit ...

in order to secure Gülen's extradition.

Investigation and charges

As part of his investigation of

Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections The Russian government conducted Foreign electoral intervention, foreign electoral interference in the 2016 United States elections with the goals of sabotaging the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign, presidential campaign of Hillar ...

, special prosecutor

Robert Mueller Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013. A graduate of Princeton University and New York University, Mueller served a ...

assumed control of a

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

-based

grand jury A grand jury is a jury empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify. A grand ju ...

criminal probe into the relationship between Flynn and Alptekin's Inovo BV. In December 2018, Alptekin and Bijan Rafiekian were indicted on charges of a conspiracy to violate federal lobbying rules, and Alptekin was also charged with making false statements to FBI investigators. In April 2019, Alptekin was referred to in the ''Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election'', otherwise known as the Mueller Report. The report cited the result of the United States v. Bijan Rafiekian and Kamil Ekim Alptekin as a part of the criminal conduct of Michael Flynn. On 11 September 2023 the Prosecutors ultimately decided to drop all charges. In January 2025, Alptekin alleged on a

Twitter Spaces Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, imag ...

broadcast that Jim Biden had approached him in April 2023 with an offer to make his legal troubles disappear on the condition that he pay $3 million to hire

Eric Holder Eric Himpton Holder Jr. (born January 21, 1951) is an American lawyer who served as the 82nd United States attorney general from 2009 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Holder was the first African Ameri ...

as his attorney and that he change his testimony about Flynn.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alptekin, Kamil Ekim Utrecht University alumni Living people Turkish businesspeople Businesspeople in aviation 1977 births