2440) U.S. Congressman Meets Convicted Terrorist

Please note: Although the following letter was sent (via e-mail, fax, and snail-mail) almost two months ago to both WDC and local offices (see contact information below) of Congressman HOWARD L. BERMAN (D, CA) to solicit an explanation of his strange conduct along with his views concerning war on global terrorism, no response to date was received. So, I decided to go public with my letter. . .

2221 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-4695
Fax: (202) 225-3196

14546 Hamlin Street, Suite 202

Van Nuys, CA 91411
Phone: (818) 994-7200
Fax: (818) 994-1050

Dear Congressman Berman;
The Armenian lobby recently deceived you into meeting with this terrorist:

Source:
Source: LAWEEKLY, June 14, 2006

[ See also ARMENIAN TERRORISM: THEN AND NOW - Part IV
and
FBI files on the Armenian terrorist Mourad Topalian



How does it look to ordinary American on the main street that at a time when our nation is engaged in a global war on terrorism, you should meet with a notorious, convicted terrorist right here at home?

Former Chairman of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)—now described as an "activist" by ANCA—Mr. Mourad Topalian was convicted in 2001 of federal crimes relating to terrorism and received a prison sentence of 37 months plus three years of supervised release – see: United States v. Mourad Topalian, Case No. 1:99, CR 358

He was found to have possessed explosives linked to a 1980 bombing in New York City. Federal Marshals discovered that for decades after, he stored machine guns and explosives at a storage locker dangerously near a daycare center, a school and gas station.

I am profoundly concerned that you—and possibly other Members of Congress and other elected U.S. officials—perhaps unwittingly, have been hosting meetings with known terrorists.

I realize and appreciate the fact that, as an elected official, one of your functions is to meet with constituent groups, you shake hands with hundreds of voters daily, and there is no way you can check the background of each and every person you are meeting. Granted. This letter, therefore, is not targeted at your honor or integrity, but those of others who surround you to the degree of suffocating you and who deliberately choose to “sneak in” “shady characters” into your personal space under the guise of “activist”.

I am referring to The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), which apparently has endorsed Mr. Topalian's terrorist past and has been giving him prominence in meetings with Members of Congress. These meetings, according to ANCA press releases and web postings

are aimed at influencing U.S. policy to turn against its allies in Eurasia (Turkey) the Caucasus (Azerbaijan.)

Moreover, such “meetings” steer clear not only of Mr. Topalian's heinous hate crimes, but also of the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Armenian military regime in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan—especially the Khojaly massacre of 1992.

Nor do such “meetings” address the crippled democracy in Armenia where, as demonstrated in the recent elections, at least 8 protestors were killed and scores injured and arrested on March 1. (Here is the New York Times editorial “Dark Days in Armenia”,

March 7, 2008: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/opinion/07fri2.html )

Since convicted felons and known terrorists are denied the right to vote in the U.S. by law, I feel, when the likes of Mr. Topalian come to lobby Members of Congress and other government officials, the least their sponsors should do is honestly disclose their true identity/background and ask for the elected official’s permission to bring them into the meeting. This would help avoid damage to the credibility and image of the Representatives and Senators such they are visiting. Indeed, American foreign policy decisions should not be made on advice from such dangerous felons and terrorists as Mr Topalian or hate-mongering lobbyists like ANCA.

PLEASE, If you are contacted by the Armenian National Committee the next time, ask them to disclose in writing prior to such meeting, “if any in the group, scheduled to meet with you, has ever been involved in terrorism, hate crimes, or other such felonies against Turks, Azerbaijanis, Georgians, Americans, and/or others.”

ANCA and its affiliates have been known to parade those in illegal separatist military regimes, like Messrs. Bako Sahakyan, Arkady Gukasyan, Ashot Gulian, Georgy Petrossian and others, whose hate crimes victimized innocent Azerbaijani civilians in 1988-1994. They still “thumb their noses” at international law and are paraded up and down the halls of the U.S. Congress by ANCA.

Two other ANCA “leaders”, Viken Hovsepian and Viken Yacoubian were granted U.S. citizenship not long ago, despite having been convicted of terrorist crimes. During their citizenship appeals, the FBI testified that if their 1982 conspiracy to bomb a building in Philadelphia succeeded, the number of deaths could have been a staggering 2,000 – 3,000. [U.S. v. Hovsepian, 307 F.3d 922 (9th Cir. 2002)].

For ANCA, apparently it is all too easy to embrace those who commit terrorist crimes on U.S. soil. Please take an honorable stand against known terrorists and convicted felons from among the Armenian special interest groups.

Reconciliation between Turks and Armenians will come from more research and dialog, not through the monstrous acts of Armenian terrorists, fraudulent acts of hate-based Armenian lobby groups, or ill-informed political resolutions they pen and ram through the system using politicians like you.

The Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has recently reiterated the need to focus on more research and dialogue among the scholars, repeating his 2005 proposal to Armenia—which is yet to be accepted by the Armenians.

This strange Armenian reluctance for open debate may be understood from the following : Brian Ardouny of the Armenian Assembly of America, in a videotaped interview for a documentary on THE ARMENIAN REVOLT clucked: "We don't need to prove the genocide historically, because it has already been accepted politically." Congress should reject that cynicism in defense of historical truth. [1]

No thanks to just this kind of blaringly irresponsible acts of some politicians and their boiler-plate, annoying, and misleading perennial resolutions, the image of the U.S. in Turkey hit all time low. Please, the next time you feel like taking the Armenians’ word for anything—much less meeting notorious Armenian terrorists eyeball-to-eyeball—you might wish to check with a world map to see how prominently Turkey is positioned: smack in the epi-center of that most resourceful tri-continental area, much larger than the United States, encompassing the Balkans, the Caucasus, the Middle East, with neo-silk route to Turkic Central Asia and precious energy lines from there .

And if anyone tells you that you can freely continue to insult and defame Turks, such as with your ill-advised support for the bogus Armenian genocide (HR 106), and still go to Turkey in desperation, to ask for their cooperation in Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Iran, or Russia, or Arab-Israeli conflict, or Lebanon, or Kosovo, or elsewhere, then please ask to get a second opinion, because someone is deceiving you again.

Thank you for your kind attention to the important matter of Armenian terrorism.

Sincerely,

Ergun KIRLIKOVALI
Son of Turkish-survivors from both maternal and paternal sides
ergun@turkla.com