2112) It is NOT Over YET . . and Never Will . .

Simply . . because . . See the item below, published yesterday:

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Campaign In Support Of Armenian Genocide Resolution To Be Held In US His Eminence Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate of the Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and citizen-activists from across the U.S. will be arriving in Washington, DC, this week to urge passage of the Armenian Genocide resolution, H.Res.106, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

To remind, the adoption of the resolution by the House Foreign Affairs Committee on October 10th sparked a firestorm of media coverage over the Turkish government's threats to retaliate against America, if the measure were approved by the full House of Representatives. Turkey has poured millions of foreign dollars into the U.S. political system, paying former Members of Congress to make its case and public relations firms to spin the media coverage against this human rights legislation.

In a first wave of community visits to Washington in the wake of the panel vote, advocates for this legislation – Americans committed to the growth of a genuine an anti-genocide constituency – are working with their elected officials to put America back on the right side of this fundamental moral issue. The ANCA, Armenian Assembly, and a range of other community groups are taking part in this effort.

"We are pleased to be joined by so many friends from across the country in helping to put America back on the right side of this fundamental moral and human rights issue," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. "We welcome their devotion and energy and look forward to working with them to encourage legislators to stand up against Turkey's efforts to exercise a veto over the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the U.S. Congress."

Activists from over 15 states, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Texas will be meeting with Members of Congress and staff in Washington, DC, with activists in remaining states reaching out to their Congressional district offices. The Washington DC advocacy effort, expands on the nationwide ANCA Call-in and write-in campaigns, which have been underway since the Armenian Genocide resolution was introduced in January, 2007, by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and spearheaded by Representative George Radanovich (R-CA), Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), Ed Royce (R-CA), and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA). In March, the ANCA joined with the Genocide Intervention Network in sponsoring the "End the Cycle of Genocide" Advocacy Days, calling congressional attention to the denial of the Armenian Genocide and the need for urgent action to stop the ongoing genocide in Darfur, Sudan.

This past Sunday, the ANCA hosted a special three-hour presentation on Horizon Armenian Television, titled "ANCA Special Project: Call for Justice", spotlighting the growing Armenian American community activism in support of H.Res.106. The special included remarks by His Eminence Moushegh Mardirossian, His Eminence Hovnan Derderian, Primate of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Glendale City Clerk Ardashes Kassakhian, and a of host community organization leaders urging ongoing grassroots activism in support of the Armenian Genocide resolution. Congressmen Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Brad Sherman (D-CA) both called into the program to offer personal insights into the path of this legislation.

Among the highlights of the program were updates from ANCA Chapters from across the United States, documenting their efforts to pass H.Res.106 and encouraging Armenian Americans to get involved locally and nationally. The unified voice of the Armenian American community in support of Armenian Genocide legislation was heard loud and clears throughout the broadcast, as citizen-activists from Los Angeles to New York called in to pledge their commitment to this human rights legislation.

The October 10th House Foreign Affairs Committee vote approved H.Res.106 by 27 to 21, despite a public call by President Bush, announced during a White House press conference, against the measure. In the wake of its adoption, over 5000 print, on-line and broadcast news items have covered this measure. H.Res.106 currently has over 200 cosponsors, while a similar measure in the Senate, led by Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and John Ensign (R-NV), has 33 cosponsors. www.defacto.am 2007-10-23

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I urge every Turk in Turkey who can write in English, or in Turkish and have their letter translated into English, to send a letter to at least one member of the U.S. House of Representatives. It must be calm, logical and state facts that are correct. In the U.S., due to the culture here, people are persuaded by facts not passion and not anger. There are very few Turks living in America compared to immigrants from other nations. Every interaction a Turk has with an American leaves a very big impression because it may be the only, or one of a very few interactions, that American has ever had with a Turk. In a very real sense, we are the unofficial "Ambassadors of Turkey" and we must always represent ourselves as we are, civilized, educated, rational and modern.

This is a very important time for Turks. Although the U.S. Congress Committee on Foreign Affairs voted to pass the Armenian Resolution, this only means that the full House of Representatives may consider and vote on the Armenian Resolution. The Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has said that she plans to present the Armenian Resolution to the full House within the next few weeks. This is the time for Turks to take effective action to persuade the U.S. Congress to vote against the Armenian Resolution. Each and every Turk, no matter where they live can and should participate in this effort.

What we need are letters that show that the Armenian Resolution currently being considered by the U.S. Congress is unjust. We need letters to explain that the Armenians waged war against Turks in an effort to establish a Greater Armenia that reaches well into Anatolia. They lost that war and now are trying to achieve their goal through popular opinion using forged documents (the Andonian papers) and false quotes (the Hitler quote). Although experts have concluded the Hitler quote is without foundation and the Andonian documents are notorious forgeries, the Armenian Diaspora still rely on these things as evidence of their alleged genocide.

Individual letters sent to Representatives in the Congress are read by each politician’s assistants or the politicians themselves. Letters do matter. They have an impact and make a difference. One Armenian website claims their Diaspora sent over 10,000 letters to Congress about this Resolution. The Armenian Diaspora is well funded and organized. They even pay hundreds, if not thousands, of people throughout the world to work on this issue. They are very serious and devoted to achieving their goal of a greater Armenia using a war of words. We Turks, as individuals, have not participated in large enough numbers in this war of words yet to have our story heard and understood. It is our responsibility to change this. No one else will.

What we need to do now is focus our time, effort, energy, our anger and our hurt on productive measures. We should not focus on other issues such as the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima or the massacres of Indians in America. The Japanese and Indians take care of their needs, and we must focus on ours: we need to refute the Diaspora’s genocide claims and reclaim an accurate version of our collective history. We need all Turks to write letters to members of the U.S. Congress that tell our "grandpa stories," that accurately explain the historical facts referencing third party impartial sources, such as the British, U.S., French and Russian archives, or renowned impartial experts in Ottoman history such as Bernard Lewis, Pierre Oberling, Dankwart Rostow, Stanford Shaw, Justin McCarthy, Norman Stone, Guenther Lewy, Heath Lowry, and Avigdor Levy.

These letters should be sent to as many members of the U.S. Congress as possible. They can be emailed, sent by facsimile or regular air mail. Each member of Congress has a website where their contact information can be found. A list of the members of the House of Representatives can be found here: http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/index.html. You may also send your letter to Congressman Tom Lantos who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee that just voted to pass the Resolution or Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Their addresses are below:

DC Address: The Honorable Tom Lantos
United States House of Representatives
2413 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-0512
DC Phone: 202-225-3531
DC Fax: 202-226-4183
Email Address: http://www.house.gov/formlantos/issue_subscribe.htm

WWW Homepage: http://lantos.house.gov/


DC Address: The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
United States House of Representatives
Office of the Speaker
H-232, US Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
DC Phone: (202) 225-0100
Email Address: http://www.house.gov/pelosi/contact/contact.html

WWW Homepage: http://www.speaker.gov

There are 70 million of us. Imagine what would happen if only 10% of Turks wrote a letter—that would be 7 million letters. Seven million voices speaking together would have an enormous impact. We can do this. It's our country, if we want to keep it, we must protect it. That means we need to stand up and have our voice heard. However, to do that, we must speak now. Our letters can do that.

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 on 1914-1915. 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]

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To send Tom Lantos an email at his website (http://www.house.gov/formlantos/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
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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 1914-1915. 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]

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Congressman Boehner is like Nancy Pelosi for the Republicans
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To email Congressman Boehner, go to this website: http://johnboehner.house.gov/Contact/

Enter the following 9 digit-zip code: 45373-3282

Click Submit

Enter your letter and the following:

City: Istanbul, Turkey (whichever city you live in)
State: OH
Zip Code: 45373

Enter ONLY the letter below.
___________________________________________________

To the Honorable Congressman Boehner:

I am writing to you to urge you to oppose 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 1914-1915. 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 oppose 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]

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