“The great Turk is governing in peace twenty nations from different religions. Turks have taught to Christians how to be moderate in peace and gentle in victory.”Voltaire’s Philosophical Dictionary
GENOCIDE RECOGNITION VOTE: PELOSI URGED TO RALLY HR252 DESPITE STATE DEPARTMENT OBJECTIONS
By Aris Ghazinyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
20.12.10 | 16:27
Genocide
US House of Representatives poised to take a vote on HR252
The US House of Representatives might be voting on House Resolution
252 condemning the Armenian Genocide as the Democrats yield the House
majority to the Republicans beginning next month.
In early December the Armenian National Committee of Armenia (ANCA)
called upon Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to put to full House
vote the Bill on Recognition of the Armenian Genocide (HR252) before
the current Congress’s term of office expires.
HR252 drafted by Adam Schiff and other pro-Armenian congressmen was
approved in April by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, however
was not put on the agenda for a full House vote, as the White House
administration feared harming relations with Turkey.
The resolution calls on the US President to “make sure that the United
States’ foreign policy reflects the true perception of human rights,
ethnic purges and genocide recorded in the protocols of the United
States in relation to the Armenian Genocide”, and during his annual
address on April 24 (the Commemoration Day of the Armenian Genocide
victims) to “characterize precisely the systematic and deliberate
annihilation of 1.5 million Armenians as a genocide”.
The ANCA office as well as show-business stars of Armenian descent
have made an appeal to Nancy Pelosi to hold a full House vote this
week before the lame-duck session ends this week.
Turkish Hurriyet Daily News reports that the Armenian, Jewish,
Kurdish and Syrian lobbies of the United States might join hands
against Turkey.
Along with the worsening of Turkish-Jewish relations, the newspaper
takes into account also the Erdogan administration’s anti-American
policy on Iran and Syria, as well as the attempt to make friends with
such radical groups as Hamas and Hezbollah.
In that highlight the newspaper points out that Turkey cannot rely
on the Republicans in the US Congress as before, because of their
absolute support to Israel.
“The feverish haste of the Armenian lobby in the US demonstrates their
hope to have the Genocide Resolution approved by the US Congress
this time around. They, most probably, have a big advantage,” the
newspaper writes.
However, as Hurriet Daily believes, a likely force-majeure aimed at
preventing the HR252 approval for “global strategic reasons” will
prevail despite the anti-Turkish sentiments in the USA.
It is known that Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu had a
telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
asking her to halt the adoption of the Armenian Genocide Resolution
at the US Congress.
Earlier Ankara was threatening to shut down the strategically
important airbase in Incirlik if the US Congress recognized the
Armenian Genocide.
In response, Los-Angeles-based descendants of Armenians who lost
their property during the Genocide, brought an action against the
Turkish government and two banks demanding monetary compensation of
$63 million.
According to three claimants their ancestors in Ottoman Turkey
possessed a 122 hectare premise, where the Incirlik airbase is
currently located.
Chapman University Professor, lawyer Michael Bazyler says the grounded
chance to bring an action came up last week, when the Ninth District
Court of Los-Angeles reconsidered its verdict and ruled that the
descendants of those Armenians who were killed in Ottoman Turkey can
count on compensation from insurance companies.
One way or another, as reported by Anadolu Turkish news agency,
Secretary of State Clinton assured Davutoglu that the US position on
the issue did not change and that all means would be taken to block
the bill.
Deputy Secretary of State Philip Crowley openly stated on December
17 that the State Department is categorically against the potential
congressional voting on the Genocide bill.
Kobe Bryant’s latest endorsement deal has some Lakers fans crying foul.
And now the drama is following him on the road.
Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant signed an endorsement deal with Turkish Airlines. Read more:
The hoops star inked a deal to be the face of Turkish Airlines as it announced a plan to launch non-stop flights between Istanbul and Los Angeles in March. Under the terms of the deal, Bryant will appear in a film for the airline, make visits to Turkey and get paid for the use of his image, NBC Sports reported.
But the large Armenian population in Los Angeles – many of them who happen to be Lakers fans – are furious over the endorsement and urged Bryant to drop the deal.
Armenian groups and many scholars argue that Turkey committed genocide by targeting the ethnic group during what they said was a massacre beginning in 1915. Today, Turkey refuses to officially admit the genocide took place, which has been a source of tension between it and many of its Western allies – including the United States.
By inking the deal, the Armenian Youth Federation argued, Bryant wasn’t properly acknowledging their community’s concerns.
“Armenian Americans hope that Kobe would balance what clearly looks to be a profitable business deal with a strong moral statement against Turkey’s violations of human rights, including, of course, its ongoing denial of the Armenian Genocide,” the group said on their website.
In a press release, Bryant said he had never actually visited Turkey, but called it “a country rich in natural beauty and thousands of years of cultural history.”
The group also pointed out that Bryant’s Lakers’ teammate Lamar Odom’s sister-in-law, Kim Kardashian, had recently come “under scrutiny in the Turkish press for tweeting about Armenian Genocide recognition.”
Earlier this month, Kardashian tweeted Nancy Pelosi to ask her to schedule a new vote on the Armenian Genocide Resolution, which would officially recognize the genocide.
Bryant’s camp has so far been silent on the controversy.
Since the endorsement was first noticed a week ago, Armenians across the world have joined in to protest the NBA star.
In Bryant’s latest game in Toronto, the Lakers were met with about 30 protesters from the city’s Armenian community, CPTV24 reported.
“Kobe,” protesters urged in their sign, “Do the right thing.”
Last week, Armenian Youth Federation (AYF), launched a public defamation campaign against the NBA Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant for his contract to promote Turkish Airlines. Simultaneously, Armenian special interest groups are pushing to bring the revisionist House Resolution 252, labelling the World War I ethnic strife in Ottoman Empire as “Armenian genocide”.
Both campaigns are launched amidst an investigation over the $163-million Medicare scam by an Armenian-American crime ring with links to Armenia’s officials. Moreover, U.S. diplomatic cables revealed the 2008 shipment of weapons from Armenia to Iran which were used to kill identified U.S. servicemen.
Join all Turkic-Americans today to speak up against racist targetting of the favorite basketball star, to stop revisionist legislation in the Congress, and to tell American taxpayers the truth they deserve to know.
Petition Text
Support Kobe against racism, stop attempts to legislate history, let taxpayers know the truth
Greetings,
On December 15, 2010, the California-based Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) launched a public defamation campaign against the Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant for his contract to promote the Turkish Airlines. The deal is part of the flagship carrier’s plan to introduce a lucrative Istanbul-Los Angeles direct flights by March 2011. Turkish Airlines, a Star Alliance member and publicly-held company with a considerable U.S. investment, currently carries millions of passengers worldwide, including on the flight routes from Istanbul to Washington, D.C., New York and Chicago.
The Armenian pressure group is demanding Bryant to reject the deal or to accept its one-sided interpretation of the historic World War I ethnic strife in Ottoman Empire as the “Armenian genocide”. In coordination, the Armenian-American special interest groups are pushing to pass the House Resolution 252 to legislate history at the “lame-duck” session of the Congress this week.
The limited ethnic agenda of these Armenian-American groups is sought to spoil U.S. relations with Turkey, a crucial NATO ally, to damage Turkish business interests, and to derail the Turkish-Armenian rapprochement initiated in 2008. The reconciliation, conducted in parallel with negotiations to resolve the long-standing Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, may open way to lasting security and peace in the South Caucasus, a vital region for U.S. interests.
It is also noteworthy that the actions of Armenian-American groups come amidst an investigation over a $163 million Medicare scam, the largest fraud in the history of U.S. health care system, by an Armenian-American crime ring with connections to Armenian government officials. In addition, the U.S. diplomatic cables published last week by the whistle-blowing site Wikileaks uncovered the fact of Armenia’s shipment of weapons to Iran in 2008. According to the information from the U.S. embassy in Armenia, the shipment to Iran, made not without the knowledge of Armenian President Sargsyan, ended up in the hands of Shiite militia in Iraq. At least one U.S. serviceman was identified to have been killed by an Armenian-shipped RPG in Iraq in the spring of 2008.
I join all Turkic-Americans to express my strong disapproval of the actions of Armenian-American groups. I strongly believe that instead of racist attacks against the favorite basketball star or attempts to legislate controversial history in the U.S. Congress, Armenian-American groups could better expend their efforts to address serious issues arising in their community. Moreover, their dedication to Armenian cause could prove more useful in securing the welfare of Armenian people and the development of their country in a sustainable peace with all of its neighbors and away from undesirable associations.
=========================================
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The season for the regular tension between Ankara and Washington came earlier than expected. We should not be surprised if Turkish-American relations soon enter “crisis management” mode.
The issue at hand will once again be the usual predicament: the Armenian genocide resolution. Every year it is the same story. The sense of déjà vu is becoming painfully cyclical. Despite this familiar routine, there are a couple of factors changing the dynamics this year.
The first one is the early timing. The Armenian issue usually enters the agenda before April 24, the date for “Genocide Remembrance Day.” Considerable pressure on the president of the United States begins usually a few weeks in advance by congressional attempts to pass a non-binding resolution first from the Committee on Foreign Relations and then from the floor of the US House of Representatives. Earlier this year, as you will remember, the resolution narrowly passed the House committee with just one vote. So, it was up to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, from the Democratic Party, to bring the resolution to the floor for a vote. Pelosi did not do so, probably because of the busy political agenda of the House and perhaps because the resolution did not have the support it needed to pass.
I was personally surprised that she did not try before the November mid-term elections. The circumstances appeared optimal around September. The Democrats desperately needed all the votes they could get from the American people. The Armenian lobby also must have had a sense of urgency. It was obvious that the Republicans would win and that chances of an Armenian genocide resolution would diminish. And, of course, most importantly, there was the dismal state of Turkish-American relations. After all, it is no secret that Turkey’s image in the American Congress hit an all-time low this year.
Over the last six months, two major developments poisoned Turkey’s perception among US legislators. The first was Turkey’s identification as a close ally of Iran. Turkey’s “no” vote in the United Nations Security Council concerning sanctions against Iran not only damaged its already tainted image in Congress, but it also infuriated the Obama administration. The day before Turkey voted no, President Barack Obama called Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and tried to convince him during a 45-minute conversation to vote either “yes” together with the transatlantic (NATO plus EU) community or in the very worst case abstain.
The fact that Turkey voted the way it did clearly demonstrated that Ankara was more concerned about its leverage with Iran or its relations with Brazil than setting back its relations with Washington on a very critical issue for which President Obama had spent considerable political capital. To expect that there would be no consequences for defying the American agenda in such a blatant way is naïve. In that sense, there is nothing surprising in the way the Armenian issue will become more difficult to surmount.
The second development, which somewhat unfairly turned Turkey’s image from bad to worse, is the Mavi Marmara incident. Despite the fact that Turkish citizens were killed by Israeli soldiers in international waters, the whole affair came to be seen by the US Congress as pro-Iran and pro-Hamas and as Turkey challenging Israel. Given the influence of the pro-Israel lobby in Washington and particularly in Congress, it should not be surprising that Turkey’s version of the story falls on deaf ears.
At the end of the day, on two crucial issues — Iran and Israel — Turkey is on the wrong side of the House of Representatives. Under such circumstances, the Armenian lobby should not face a major challenge getting its way in passing the genocide resolution. Now, just before Christmas, Pelosi must be calculating that there is one last chance before the new House, with its new Republican majority, begins the new year. We will see on Tuesday if the House of Representatives will have the numbers and the will to vote on this issue. The next couple of days will be critical. Needless to say, the whole situation is highly embarrassing for a country like Turkey, with such high ambitions on the world stage.
The American people have chosen a new majority in the House of Representatives. Americans have been clear about what they want: more jobs, less spending, and a more open Congress that respects and abides by the Constitution. and ofcourse america set sail to its own interests not TASNAK ARMENIANS DESIRE .
Contact wih Republican Leader / Meclisde cogunlukda olan Cumhuriyetci parti lideri ile e-mail temasi kurunuz. Office of the Republican Leader https://www.majorityleader.gov/
Dostlarim lutfen GECIKMEYIN VAKTIMIZ COK AZ KALDI ALNIMIZA LEKE GELMEMESI ICIN , Cocuklarimizin bu kara leke ile buyumemesi icin, TASARI AMERIKADA GECERSE DUNYA TAKIP EDER .. POLITIKACILAR OY PESINDE HAKIKATIN DEGIL ….. TURKISH FORUM
MECLIS BASKANLIGIMNI TESLIM ALACAK JOHN BOEHNER’E YAZINIZ
ERMENI KUKLASI PELOSI NIN GOREVI SONA ERMEKDE — PELOSININ SON CABASINI GERI DONDURMEK ICIN .. MECLIS BASKANLIGINI TESLIM ALACAK OLAN jOHN BOEHNERE ASAGIDAKI MESAJI VERILEN E-MAIL ADRESINDEN ULASTIRINIZ
Dr. Kayaalp Buyukataman, Baskan
Turkish Forum
================= MAIL THE LETTER BELOW =====================
We are writing to urge you not to be influenced by Armenian activits for yet another vote on H. Res.252.
The supporters of H. Res. 252, about the “Armenian genocide”, are attempting one more time to obtain the vote by US Congress.
Do you know who backs this resolution?
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is the branch of Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF).
Mourad Topalian, chairman of ANCA from 1991 to 1999, and who has still a prominent position in this umbrella, was sentenced by Ohio justice in 2001 for illegal storing of war weapons and explosives, linked to a terrorist organization.
Hampig Sassounian, member of ARF and of its terrorist wing (“Justice Commandos Against Armenian Genocide”, JCAG), was sentenced to life in 1984 for the assassination of Turkish general Consul in Los Angeles; Mr. Sassounian received, and still receives, a constant and unconditional support from both ARF and ANCA.
Such crimes and glorification of crimes should surprise nobody: on December 24, 1933, seven members of ARF assassinated brutally the archbishop L. Tourian during the mass, and were sentenced by New York justice for this crime; their lawyer’s cost were entirely paid by ARF.
Actually, ARF, especially in USA, supported vehemently the Nazi regime.
ARF turned to a pro-American and pro-Western position around 1948, but chose openly the Soviet side in 1972, and remained in such a position — with few clashes — until the end of 1980’s.
The Armenian Assembly of America (AAA) is dominated by Ramkavar party and includes the Hunchak party.
Both supported strongly USSR during the cold war.
The Hunchak party supported the Armenian Secret Army for Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) and the Ramkavar allowed some of his prominent members to support Armenian terrorism of 1970’s/1980’s. Why is this resolution unacceptable?
This draft, copy of propositions made in 2007 and 2008, is misleading, both from legal and historical perspective:
In a democracy, it is not the politicians who write history, but historians.
It is absolutely false to assert that all the historians use the “genocide” label; in fact, the majority of scholars with a specific qualification to deal with Ottoman history reject, or at least criticize, the “genocide” label for the Armenian case; the list includes Gwynne Dyer, Edward J. Erickson, Jacob C. Hurewitz, Bernard Lewis, Guenter Lewy, Justin McCarthy, Andrew Mango, Norman Stone, Malcolm E. Yapp and Gilles Veinstein.
In UK, in both houses, the efforts of the spokespersons (Supporting Armenian claims) have always failed because it is an accepted fact that the historians do not agree on these false claims and that thousands of Turkish people suffered massacres in the hands of Armenian terrorist/activist during the same period (see above sources).
In France, the majority of the most prominent historians created an association claiming the suppression of “memorial laws” and the end of ethnic lobbying in Parliaments:
This initiative was supported by the American Historical Association.
The French National Assembly, frequently mentioned by supporters of Armenian claims in USA and some other countries, published in 2010 a report, written by his president, Bernard Accoyer, concluding that no more “memorial laws” should be voted, especially about Armenian case.
There is no legal, ethical or historical reason to jeopardize the US-Turkish relations in accepting the claims of Armenian nationalist associations, whose fidelity to US values and interests is more than questionable. Respectfuly
YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS
============ YOU NEED NOT TO MAIL REMAINING SECTION ==================
The American people have chosen a new majority in the House of Representatives. Americans have been clear about what they want: more jobs, less spending, and a more open Congress that respects and abides by the Constitution.
===================
yeni meclis baskani olacak john boehner hakkinda
John Boehner, elected to represent the Eighth Congressional District of Ohio for a 10th term in November 2008, is a national leader in the fight for a smaller, more accountable government. Throughout his time as a small businessman, state legislator, and Member of Congress, John has been a straight-shooting and relentless advocate for freedom and security.As House Republican Leader and a staunch opponent of pork-barrel politics, John is fighting to eliminate wasteful spending, create jobs, and balance the federal budget without raising taxes. He has challenged Republicans in the 111th Congress to be not just the party of “opposition,” but the party of better solutions to the challenges facing the American people. Under the new House GOP leadership team John leads, House Republicans have formed “solutions groups” to develop principled alternatives on the issues that matter most to American families and small businesses, and launched the GOP State Solutions project, an initiative aimed at bringing reform-minded Republicans at the state and federal levels together to promote common-sense solutions from outside the Beltway.
Born in Cincinnati in November 1949 as one of 12 brothers and sisters, John has lived in Southwest Ohio his entire life. He and his wife Debbie have been married for 36 years. They have two daughters – Lindsay and Tricia – and live in the northern Cincinnati suburb of West Chester. After graduating from Cincinnati’s Moeller High School in 1968, John earned a bachelor’s degree in business from Xavier University in Cincinnati in 1977.
John’s first two terms in the U.S. House were marked by an aggressive campaign to clean up Congress and make it more accountable to the American people. During his freshman year, Boehner and fellow members of the reform-minded “Gang of Seven” took on the House establishment and successfully closed the House Bank, uncovered “dine-and-dash” practices at the House Restaurant, and exposed drug sales and cozy cash-for-stamps deals at the House Post Office. John also adopted a personal “no earmarks” policy upon taking office in 1991, a no-pork policy he maintains to this day.
Later, John was instrumental in crafting the Contract with America, the bold 100-day agenda for the 104th Congress that nationalized the 1994 elections. One of the Contract’s cornerstones – the Congressional Accountability Act, requiring Congress to live under the same rules and regulations as the rest of the nation – bears the unmistakable imprint of his drive to reform the House. The success of John’s reform-minded agenda earned him election to the House leadership after the GOP election victories in 1994. As House GOP Conference Chairman in the 104th and 105th Congress, John was a powerful voice in the fight to force Washington to stick to the strict spending limits in the Balanced Budget Act. In September 1999, as Vice-Chairman of the House Administration Committee, John joined House leaders to announce the first-ever “clean” independent audit of the House, a reform he first called for as a member of the Gang of Seven in 1992.
John has also long been a leader on education reform. In 1994, working with Rep. Dick Armey (R-TX), he secured passage of legislation allowing school districts to use their Title I funds for public school choice programs, under which parents could choose which public school their children would attend. Later, as chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, he co-wrote the bill establishing the first private school choice program in the District of Columbia, and worked with Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) to ensure parental choice provisions were included in the bipartisan No Child Left Behind Act to reinforce its goal of bringing greater accountability to taxpayer-funded education programs.
In 2006, Boehner authored the Pension Protection Act, the most sweeping reform of America’s pension laws in more than 30 years, which the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said “will make it possible for millions of Americans to save more now for a better future.”
On November 19, 2008, Boehner was elected by his colleagues to serve a second term as House Republican Leader. Boehner believes Republicans can earn back the majority in Congress by renewing their commitment to enduring GOP principles of freedom, security, and smaller government, and developing better solutions to the challenges facing the American people.
Once A Voice to End Genocide in Darfur, Kobe Bryant Now Promotes Sudan’s Ally in Denial and 20th Century’s First Perpetrator of Genocide
BY ALLEN YEKIKAN
In 2008, Kobe Bryant was a strong voice calling for an end to the genocide in Darfur, but today, he has signed a deal to represent the Republic of Turkey, which denies any genocide in Darfur and is the infamous perpetrator of the first Genocide of the 20th century.
In May 27, 2008 Bryant made a public service announcement through the Los Angeles-based non-profit Aid Still Required, urging action to unite to end the Genocide in Darfur.
“In Darfur hundreds of thousands have been murdered, mutilated, families torn apart. Please take a stand with us. We have the power to save lives, to restore lives,” Bryant said in the PSA, published on Youtube. “If we can unite people, who are willing to take a stand, miracles can happen.”
Since 2003, the Sudanese government in Khartoum has slaughtered half a million people in Darfur, while forcibly uprooting nearly 3 million more from their homes in February 2003. The Sudanese government, like the Republic of Turkey, denies it is committing genocide.
Turkey is among Sudan’s greatest allies, covering up its genocide and providing arms to the Sudanese government, led by Omar al-Bashir, who has been indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court.
In November 2009, Turkey came under intense international criticism for agreeing to host al-Bashir. Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, even defended his ally, refusing to arrest al-Bashir and denying the genocide in Darfur. According to Erdogan, there was no genocide raging in Darfur, the international warrant for his arrest was a “mistake,” and Bashir may simply have only “mismanaged the situation.”
As 2010 comes to an end, Bryant finds himself again in the headlines over the issue of Genocide. This time, however, not as the anti-genocide activist he seemed to be in 2008, but as what appears to be an accomplice to the denial of at least two genocides.
Earlier this week Kobe signed a two-year agreement with Turkey’s national airline carrier to serve as its “global ambassador,” effectively becoming the face and image of the company and its manager, the Turkish Republic.
Kobe’s decision has caused uproar within the Armenian-American community in the United States and especially within Southern California, which boasts the largest population of Armenians outside of Armenia, ranging between 600,000 to 750,000.
Armenians are angered that Bryant would sign a contract with a country that not only denies that the Ottoman Turkish government committed genocide against 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 , but also actively works to defend modern day perpetrators of the crime.
“We don’t understand how Kobe could forget about Darfur and overlook Turkey’s gross record on human rights and its complicity and support for the genocide there,” said Caspar Jivalegian of the Armenian Youth Federation. “It is troubling that the very country that perpetrated the first genocide of the 20th century and actively supports the first genocide of the 21st century, is now contracting a strong opponent of the Darfur genocide to represent its global brand.”
For Jivalegian, Bryant’s decision and his complete silence on the matter sets a very bad example for young fans who “look up to Kobe both on and off the court.”
“Kobe is not just a basketball player, he is local, national, and global a role model with a responsibility to set a positive example to the millions of people who look up to him and support him,” Jivalegian said, adding that Bryant made a poor play by signing a deal with a Genocide perpetrator after making a video calling for an end to genocide in Darfur. “This shows a disconnect between Kobe and the many communities that make up Los Angeles and the Lakers fan base.”
Armenian Americans hope that Kobe would balance what clearly looks to be a profitable business deal with a strong moral statement against Turkey’s violations of human rights, including its ongoing denial of the Armenian Genocide.
“Turkish Airlines is not like United or American–it was founded by the Turkish government, which still owns some 49 percent of the company. They are supporters of groups like the American Turkish Council who lobby against U.S. Affirmation of the Armenian Genocide,” said Jivalegian.
“Kobe is a champion on the basketball court, and we look to him to be a champion of human rights by speaking truthfully about the Armenian Genocide, supporting U.S. Congressional passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.252) – and ultimately dropping this ill-advised endorsement deal,” Jivalegian added.
