2060) Sample Letters & Info to Oppose H. Res. 106

A collaborative group of Turks in Turkey and the U.S. on Facebook prepared the letters below for Turks in Turkey to send to the U.S. Congress urging them to oppose or withdraw H. Res. 106. These letters are immediately below and can be used by anyone, living anywhere, if they are amended as needed. Please forward to anyone anywhere who would be interested in joining this effort. . .

Information on how to email them for those living outside of the U.S. are included at the top of each letter.

The efforts of the Armenian Diaspora is global, ours should be too. Please urge every Turk you know to send a letter. Please note, the letters we composed are deliberately intended to be non-confrontational and appeal to American sensibilities driven by American culture.

The letters make four very important points that Turks in Turkey wanted to express to the U.S. Congress: (i) you have not viewed this issue properly, (ii) we want justice, (iii) everyone behaved badly, but (iv) we all want peace. What is beautiful about this, and that we really liked, is that is in keeping with Ataturk's teaching: Peace at Home, Peace in the World. We purposefully do not admit or deny there was a genocide or rely on threats to persuade.

The letters do not argue Turkey's strategic importance to the U.S. This argument is already being received in western countries as an admission that there was a genocide because it does not address the main issue. We believe that arguments like that avoid addressing the real issue are weak. And, we felt this argument does not represent our position as individuals anyway.

The letter addressed to Tom Lantos may also be sent to other members of Congress. For a list of the members of the House of Representatives, please go to this link: http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/index.html . Those living outside of the U.S. may need additional information, such as a 9 number zip code, to email these letters to other members of Congress. They can obtain that information by contacting someone in the U.S. or they can send the letter by facsimile
__________________________________________________

Nancy Pelosi's Email Address: americanvoices@mail.house.gov

To the Honorable Speaker Pelosi:

As a citizen of Turkey, I am writing because I understand that you now have the authority to bring H.Res.106 to a full vote by the U.S. House of Representatives. I further understand that you are in favor of this resolution.

I know that the American people have worked hard throughout the years to achieve and maintain their democracy. While our democracy is much younger, like Americans, we Turks have also worked hard and struggled to build our democracy, and while it is imperfect like all other democracies, we continue to work every day to improve it. However, if the U.S. Congress adopts H. Res. 106, it is very possible that you may unwittingly undo all that we Turks have worked so hard to achieve since we first obtained our independence in 1923.

Unlike the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide stands disputed. The difficulty lies in the fact that the request to Turks to accept events that occurred during WWI focuses only on the last few years of an ongoing series of wars fought between 1820 and 1923 and waged between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Starting around 1820, the Russians and the Armenians on the Russian side systematically massacred and removed large masses of Turkic and Muslim people, estimated to be around two million, from the Caucauses and eastern Anatolia either into the Russian hinterlands or into central and southern Anatolia.

To start a review of this history in 1914-1915 is like reviewing WW2 starting only in 1943 and condemmning the Americans and Allies of terrible acts of inhumanity for the mass bombing of German industrial cities, without discussing the bombing of London and other English cities by the Luftwaffe.

The voices and stories of the dead Turkic and Muslim people are never heard when the focus is only on the last of these series of related events. As offered by Turkey's Prime Minister, a joint Armenian and Turkish review that includes other involved third parties from the period is the best way to achieve acceptance by all of the terrible horrors experienced by the Armenian and the Turkic people during that time span. It would also be the only fair way to remember all who sufferred and to improve relations between Turks and Armenians, which should be the ultimate and only goal.

Passing H. Resolution 106, however, is more likely to ensure that the wedge driven between Armenians and Turks as a strategy of war by others remains solidly in place.

Reconciliation and improved relations can only result after a fair review of the totality of events that led to the conflict between Armenians and Turks. It is this that would ultimately benefit both Turks and Armenians, and that is what we should all strive to achieve.

You have a unique opportunity to use your position and power to bring our people together again, but H. Resolution 106 cannot accomplish that.

I therefore urge you to reconsider your decision to bring H. Res. 106 to a full vote of the U.S. House of Representatives. Instead, I urge you to consider exploring other means for recognizing the horrors experienced by our forefathers that will lead to the reconciliation of relations between Turks and Armenians.

Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
______________________________ _____________________

To send Tom Lantos an email at his website ( http://www.house.gov/forml antos/issue_subscribe.htm) for your city and zip code enter the following:

City: Istanbul, Turkey (whichever city you live in)
State: (Don't enter anything here)
Zip Code: 94404-3644

To the Honorable Congressman Lantos:

As a citizen of Turkey, I am writing because I understand that you support H.Res.106.

I know that the American people have worked hard throughout the years to achieve and maintain their democracy. While our democracy is much younger, like Americans, we Turks have also worked hard and struggled to build our democracy, and while it is imperfect like all other democracies, we continue to work every day to improve it. However, if the U.S. Congress adopts H. Res. 106, it is very possible that you may unwittingly undo all that we Turks have worked so hard to achieve since we first obtained our independence in 1923.

Unlike the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide stands disputed. The difficulty lies in the fact that the request to Turks to accept events that occurred during WWI focuses only on the last few years of an ongoing series of wars fought between 1820 and 1923 and waged between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Starting around 1820, the Russians and the Armenians on the Russian side systematically massacred and removed large masses of Turkic and Muslim people, estimated to be around two million, from the Caucauses and eastern Anatolia either into the Russian hinterlands or into central and southern Anatolia.

To start a review of this history in 1914-1915 is like reviewing WW2 starting only in 1943 and condemmning the Americans and Allies of terrible acts of inhumanity for the mass bombing of German industrial cities, without discussing the bombing of London and other English cities by the Luftwaffe.

The voices and stories of the dead Turkic and Muslim people are never heard when the focus is only on the last of these series of related events. As offered by Turkey's Prime Minister, a joint Armenian and Turkish review that includes other involved third parties from the period is the best way to achieve acceptance by all of the terrible horrors experienced by the Armenian and the Turkic people during that time span. It would also be the only fair way to remember all who sufferred and to improve relations between Turks and Armenians, which should be the ultimate and only goal.

Passing H. Resolution 106, however, is more likely to ensure that the wedge driven between Armenians and Turks as a strategy of war by others remains solidly in place.

Reconciliation and improved relations can only result after a fair review of the totality of events that led to the conflict between Armenians and Turks. It is this that would ultimately benefit both Turks and Armenians, and that is what we should all strive to achieve.

You have a unique opportunity to use your position and power to bring our people together again, but H. Resolution 106 cannot accomplish that.

I therefore urge you to reconsider your support of H. Res. 106. Instead, I urge you to consider exploring other means for recognizing the horrors experienced by our forefathers that will lead to the reconciliation of relations between Turks and Armenians.

Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]

---

Source: FaceBook Community: Armenian Genocide is a HUGE LIE Ref: Lynn Esquire, Oct 14, 2007

---