PoorJetPilot,
the problem is you think like an American when you are doing business in Turkey. Don't!
I would speculate that this has got nothing to do with your group. I was always curious about how they were going to make us get a Turkish license and make us part of the seniority list. According to the Turkish DGCA you can get validation for a year only and that could be done 3 years. You also need 500 hours in type.
Of course TK could have made an agreement with DGCA and get you in, before they close the doors.
The thing about Turkey is it's a dynamic country. Of course that could mean positive but also negative things. Dynamic in the sense of what we are experiencing here (changing the rules as we interview) is a bad thing. They are impacting people's lives, but they don't care.
I spend half of my adult life here in US and entire aviation career. I think our system is broke because of low wages and RLA, but it is still light years ahead compared to an airline like TK. No FOQA, no union, no ASAP, no CBA makes overseas jobs high risk.
The good thing is, this is not 2008. All the majors are hiring and I just moved up another 30 spots in my regional last month..
Keep applying left and right..