Trump Nominates Dr. Mehmet Oz, Erdogan Ally and Genocide Denier, to Run Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
ANCA Led a Coalition that Tipped the Oz’s Bid for Senate in 2022
President-elect Donald Trump will nominate Turkish-American Dr. Mehmet Oz, an outspoken denier of the Armenian Genocide and an ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
In a statement announcing Dr. Oz as his choice to lead the agency, Trump said that Dr. Oz would work closely with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee to head the Health and Human Services Department “to take on the illness industrial complex, and all the horrible chronic diseases left in its wake.”
Trump also emphasized that Dr. Oz had “won nine Daytime Emmy Awards hosting ‘The Dr. Oz Show,’ where he taught millions of Americans how to make healthier lifestyle choices.”
In addition to promoting certain dubious medical procedures and “cures” that had him in crosshairs with the medical community and health experts, Dr. Oz’s close ties with Turkey, especially Erdogan, emboldened him to become a vocal denier of the Armenian Genocide.
This prompted the Armenian National Committee of America, and its local Pennsylvania chapter, to lead a diverse coalition of Armenian, Greek, Jewish, Kurdish, and other allied Americans, to oppose his candidacy for the U.S. Senate in 2022.
Following the 2022 elections, the ANCA called Dr. Oz’s defeat to John Fetterman “a historic win.”
“With this historic win, the ANCA protected the U.S. Senate, the people of Pennsylvania, and our American democracy from an Armenian Genocide denier with deep ties to Turkey’s hostile Erdogan regime,” said ANCA Chairman Raffi Hamparian following the 2022 elections.
“This landmark victory was the result of more than a year of strategic planning and relentless community and coalition efforts – ranging from opposition research, voter-education, media outreach, get-out-the-vote, and other targeted electoral initiatives. We are gratified by Dr. Oz’s defeat,” Hamparian added at the time.
The ANCA national office, along with its Eastern Region and Pennsylvania local affiliates, teamed up with the Hellenic American Leadership Council to run a grassroots campaign calling attention to Dr. Oz’s genocide denial and close ties with Turkey’s Erdogan regime.
In the weeks leading up to the 2022 vote, the ANCA’s anti-Oz coalition led a series of protests in Pennsylvania and California, sounding alarm bells about Dr. Oz’s ties to the Turkish Government and his persistent refusal to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
