Hellenic Resources Institute has reported that Senator Hillary Clinton, who currently leads her rivals to win the Democratic nomination for president next year, has appointed a Turkish businessman to serve as one of her delegates at next summer's Democratic convention, where the nominee will be formally chosen. Chicago businessman Mehmet Celebi, a longtime Clinton supporter, will serve as a delegate from the Midwest City next year.
Among a slate of over 100 delegates and alternates who have been appointed to attend the convention, Celebi joins a long list of distinguished names, including many ethnic names and that of noted Greek-American businessman John Catsimadis
Celebi has served on the Finance Committee of Hillary Clinton Presidential Exploratory Committee, according to an Internet site hosted by a Turkish-American non-profit group called TACA (with a disclaimer against any endorsement of political activities or politicians running for office) on 30 November 2007 at the URL http://groups.google.com.tr/group/TACA_Events/browse_thread/thread/eec4e62e51a567f1.
In June, Celebi was quoted in an Associated Press article about efforts to fundraise for Clinton in Chicago and enlist public endorsements from prominent members of the local community: "The major contributors could help Clinton draw support from Obama, . . .People will assume these big names must know something."
Bloggers supportive of Kurdish causes appear to be very vocal in their assessment of the relationship between Celebi and the Clintons, suggesting a connection between Celebi and an unspecified international monied network of dubious origin. See the "Rasti" site at the URL http://rastibini.blogspot.com/2007/06/hillary-horning-in-on-hastert.html for more information. Nevertheless, the bloggers cite several articles which have appeared in print in reputable national publications about the relationship between Turkey and America, highlighting illegal bribery of U.S. public officials by persons of Turkish descent.
