RE: Mercury’s Representation of Republic of Turkey and Los Angeles Community College District Action
Dear Mr. Goncharenko:
We were recently made aware that Mercury Public Affairs, LLC provides political and public strategy services to the Republic of Turkey, a country that has engaged in premeditated and unprovoked atrocities against the Armenian people. While we understand that the Mercury California office does not handle this specific work, this news is of great concern to the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) Board of Trustees, students, staff and faculty.
It is widely accepted that Los Angeles is home to the largest Armenian population outside of Armenia, with at least 250,000 residents in the greater Los Angeles
region.
We therefore must express out of grave concern and dismay that Mercury Public Affairs, LLC, headquartered in New York, is working under contract to represent the Republic of Turkey.
LACCD currently has a contract with your local office for advocacy services and will begin to exercise the 30- day termination clause in the contract through a formal notice to your office.
We have had a long-standing and productive business relationship with the Los Angeles office of Mercury LLC, but our District cannot sit idle and continue to do business with your firm that is contractually associated with the country that is assisting with this conflict. We therefore urge you to engage internally with your international colleagues and sever any and all business ties with the Republic of Turkey.
We hope that Mercury Public Affairs, LLC will take swift action to disassociate itself from the Turkish government.
LACCD’s student body is approximately 2 percent Armenian, representing nearly 5,000 students and we have
a significant number of Armenian faculty and staff.
