TURKEY’S CONTRACT SEEKS TO BLOCK EVEN "DEBATE" ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

ArmRadio.am
01.06.2007 16:45

US Department of Justice files obtained this week by the Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA) reveal details about Turkey’s
new lobbying contract with DLA Piper, including a controversial –
although not entirely surprising – provision that seeks to prevent
even "debate" in the United States on legislation "that harms Turkey’s
interests or image."

According to the contract, Turkey is to pay DLA Piper $1.2 million for
the year and an additional $750,000 to The Livingston Group, headed
by Robert Livingston, a former Congressional leader who resigned in
1998 after a personal scandal.

"These new Department of Justice filings reveal just how deeply Dick
Gephardt has sunk, compromising his integrity by turning against a
human rights issue he energetically supported as an elected Member
of Congress," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. "We are
especially troubled by the provision in the contract that seeks to
export Turkey’s Criminal Code Article 301 to the United States by
requiring DLA Piper to prevent even ‘debate’ on issues Turkey considers
harmful to its image. This requirement, which falls far outside the
American democratic tradition, is, sadly, entirely consistent with
Turkish government’s efforts to suppress freedom of expression by
criminalizing speech that ‘insults Turkishness.’"

Earlier this month, Gephardt’s willingness to work as part of
Turkey’s denial campaign stirred controversy across Capitol Hill. In
a Dear Colleague letter, three leading Democratic supporters of
the Armenian Genocide Resolution informed their fellow Members that
the his opposition to this human rights legislation stood in sharp
contrast to his strong record of supporting this measure during his
years in Congress. The letter, written by Representatives Anna Eshoo
(D-CA), the only Armenian American in Congress, Frank Pallone (D-NJ),
the Co-Chairman of the Armenian Caucus, and Adam Schiff (D- CA), the
lead sponsor of the Armenian Genocide Resolution, was accompanied by a
copy of a September 2000 letter signed by then- Representative Gephardt
in support of the timely adoption of the Armenian Genocide Resolution.

As a member of the House, Gephardt cosponsored legislation recognizing
the Armenian Genocide, as recently as H.Res.193 in 2003, and dating all
the way back to H.J.Res.192, more than 20 years ago, during the 99th
Congress. In 1998, he offered remarks at the ANCA Armenian Genocide
Observance on Capitol Hill.