2036) Letter To Congressman Tom Lantos

Dear Congresman Tom Lantos,

The members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs are respectfully urged to reject the House Resolution 106, instead recommend the House of Representatives to find alternate ways of resolving the Armenian issue, which, if passed, would create problems between the peoples of America with different heritages.

The Armenian Resolutions have been adopted or recognized over the past years by 19 countries and close to 40 States in the USA under the heavy pressure of well organized Armenian associations and lobbies around the world, unjustly and defiantly. A resolution presented to the US House of representatives, HR 106, if passed, would not only hurt the relations between Turkey and the USA, but also give the wrong message to the world on the US Congress itself.

Several newspapers reported that a similiar resolution was adopted by the Chilean Senate ealy this year. However, according to the newspapers, the Chilean President Michelle Bachelet sent a letter to the Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer stating that June 2007 document which referred to the incidents of 1915 as ''Armenian genocide'' was not legally or politically binding. Furthermore, the Chilean President in her later statement confirmed that the resolution would not be adopted by the Chilean parliament.

In order to understand the meaning of the document adopted by the Chilean Senate and their reason for such an action, I did a research on how the resolution came about in Chile and found out that the Resolution in Chilean Senate was brought by only a couple of Armenian supporters under the ''Proyecto de Acuerdo'' - Project for Agreement'' procedure which can be proposed by anyone and on any subject, even for a request to change a street name. Evidently this was supported by around 1,000 Armenians in Chile and also by a larger number of Armenians in Argentina and possibly by others, not the Chilean people. The resolution is not binding and has no meaning as far they are concerned, although the world is given a wrong message that influences those how do not know the truth.

The population of Chile is around 15 million with a sizable portion being the descendants of immigrants from the Ottoman lands in late 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly from Palestine and Syria and Armenians. Folowing the signing of the Friendship Treaty between the Turkish Republic and the Chilean Republic on Jan 30, 1926, Chile became the first country in Latin America to recognize the Turkish Republic, even before the United States of America's recognitaion in 1927. The first Chilean Ambassador to Turkey was assigned in 1941 and in 1955, Mr. Mordo Dinar became the Honorary Consul General of Chile in Istanbul. President Suleyman Demirel became the first Turkish president to Visit Chile in 1995 and Chilean President Ricardo Lahos visited Turkey in 2004, also the first time for a Chilean President

The United States of America is home to over 300 million people of every nationality and has a long historical realation with the Republic of Turkey. The long Resolution submitted to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, obviously prepared by Armenian participants, falsifes history and mis-represents the facts. The Resolution presents the tragic events through forged documents, such as the Sevres Treaty, which was never ratified by the Ottoman Government and rejected by the Turkish nation who fought a war of independence over it and replaced it with the Lausanne Treaty in 1923. The Resolution discrimates against the Turkish-Americans. Hopefully, a partisan and deceitful Resolution filled with unfair manipulation of history will be rejected by the Committee under your able leadership.

Respectfully,
Yuksel Oktay
A concerned Turkish American

5 October 2007