973) House Bill 499, the bill that would designate April 24th as “Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day in Ohio

Bravo Erol, for your civilized courage and determination. Thanks to your insistence, the Ohio House Speaker's letter below came into being. When most of our community members watch such events silently, you did something about it.

I am proud to know you, my friend... and thank you.

Ergun KIRLIKOVALI


----- Original Message -----
From: Erol Palantekin
To: Husted, Jon
Cc: Tolga Saygi ; Turkiye Sikago Baskonsoloslugu ; @ataa.org ; TAACO Email ; tacaf ; Isil Mustafa ; Ertugrul Mihcioglu ; Bulent Basaoglu ; @turkishembassy.org ; Daughters of Ataturk ; @ataa.org
Sent: Friday, September 01, 2006 11:24 AM
Subject: RE: HB499 Needs to be tabled

Speaker of the House
State of Ohio House of Representatives
Columbus OH 43016

Honorable Speaker of the House Jon Husted;

Your intentions of not passing this bill has made me extremely happy, which I will share with everyone that is concerned about this and similar bills, that keep coming back and back ever since 1984 as far as I can remember.

Should this again become an issue, please allow us to defend the opposing side, because the facts must be heard by historians and subject experts on this very specific matter.

It is a very serious accusation to be be making, and should it be made, in a differant forum, for example the World court, at the Hague, or United nations, not by trying to sway, public opinion, through Proclamations, using the legislative process to try and re-write history.

To me this is a exersize in abusing our right of Freedom of Speech. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but when it comes to a matter of a so called Genocide, due dilligence and facts from both sides need to examined and re-examined, this major project, goes well beyond the scope of our legislative process or mission.

The country of Turkey has never gone in front of either body to defend itself against this terrible accusation because the Armenians will loose. I am assuming their strategy is, tell a lie, over and over enough to a governing body and it will eventually become truth, along way, why not use the Freedom of Speech Act, especially, if no one really knows the facts being presented, maybe we can get one or two states to believe the lie and the rest will follow. But that still does not mean it ever happened.

Again thank you, Honorable Jon Husted for letting me know your intentions. I appreciate your honesty and quick responsive. Should the intentions change is there a possibility that we could be informed? Or perhaps a process, that we can use to be notified, or check ourselves ? I noticed this bill was introduced back in February of this year.

You have a great Labor Day weekend, you certainly made many people very happy!



"Husted, Jon" <@ohr.state.oh.us> wrote:

September 1, 2006

Erol Palantekin
Brighton Hill Lane
Dublin, OH 43016

Dear Mr. Palantekin:

I received your e-mail concerning House Bill 499, the bill that would designate April 24th as “Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.” I appreciate you taking the time to share with me your views.

Please know we are aware of your concerns. At this point, we do not intend to pass this resolution.

Again, thank you for sharing with me your thoughts.

Sincerely,

Jon A. Husted
Speaker
Ohio House of Representatives