Dr. Oz Under Scrutiny For Alleged Political, Financial Ties To Turkish Government
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity doctor who recently announced his plans to run for United States Senate in a bid to replace retiring Pennsylvania senator Pat Toomey in 2022, is coming under fire for his alleged personal, financial, and political ties to the Turkish government.
According to National Review, the 61-year-old doctor and senate candidate has been vocal about his Turkish heritage in the past – so much so that some believe he has a responsibility to renounce his Turkish citizenship if he wants prove that his loyalty lies with the United States.
“I had the privilege, as the son of immigrant parents, to grow up American while staying deeply in touch with my Turkish roots,” Dr. Oz said in an interview in 2011. “I have a great deal of family back in Turkey, I lived there for a period as a boy, and I served in the Turkish military, which is compulsory for dual citizenship.”
Dr. Oz’s alleged ties with the Turkish Islamist government stem back to multiple encounters the television star had with members of the Turkish government – including President Recep Erdoğan in 2014.
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Besides President Erdogan, Oz also reportedly met with numerous members of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party, including Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gül in 2019.
Not even one year before their encounter, in which they stood arm-in-arm during a Turkish-heritage parade in Brooklyn, Gül was sanctioned by the United States government for leading “an entity that has engaged in serious human rights abuses.”
Oz also came under fire in 2017 when he chose to represent President Erdoğan’s bodyguards after they assaulted a group of Americans protesting the Justice and Development Party in Washington, D.C.
Aside from his alleged ties to the Turkish government, Dr. Oz has also come under scrutiny recently for false and dangerous claims he reportedly made in the past regarding weight-loss pills and COVID-19 cures.
“Information can harm — that’s the key thing we need to appreciate here,” said Harald Schmidt, an assistant professor of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania, regarding Dr. Oz’s promotion of the dangerous drug hydroxychloroquine that was once being pushed as a cure for COVID-19.
“His track record is pretty concerning. What we’ve seen so far does not instill confidence that this will help reasonable politics.”
