FORMER FBI TRANSLATOR GETS CHANCE TO REVEAL INFORMATION ABOUT SCANDALS AND ALSO DISCUSSES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AND KURDS
By Karwan Simek
Kurdish Aspect
Kurdishaspect.com
August 18, 2009
During the day of her deposition for a legal battle between
U.S. Representative Jean Schmidt and independent candidate David
Krikorian, the well-known FBI whistleblower and activist, Sibel
Edmonds, explained that the Armenian Genocide is not a thing of the
past so long as human rights abuses against the Kurdish population in
Turkey continue. Edmonds highlighted the genocide denial and Kurdish
issue in Turkey while she was being asked questions during the break
of her deposition. Edmonds said, "They think of it [the Armenian
Genocide] as something that happened a hundred years ago and should
be forgotten or shouldn’t matter today…But with what’s going on
with the Kurdish population today in Turkey ] you can see that it’s
not a matter of history; that it is being repeated."
Sibel Edmonds, a Turkish-American, is best known as the former
translator for the FBI who was incidentally fired after raising
allegations of security lapses in the FBI translator department. Sibel
Edmonds has been prevented from disclosing any of the information she
came across 7 years ago by the U.S. government after the Department
of Justice dismissed her case on the basis of national security;
this earned her a title among experts as the "most gagged women in
U.S. history."
However, a recent legal battle between Rep. Jean Schmidt of Ohio
and independent candidate, David Krikorian, has brought forth new
opportunity in the Edmonds case. This year, Schmidt filed a complaint
with the Ohio Board of Elections contending that a Krikorian in
2008 had slandered her with a charge that she accepted "blood
money" for her campaign, or cash from Turkish interests, to vote
against a congressional resolution that would recognize the Armenian
Genocide. Krikorian, an ethnic Armenian, in turn, took a deposition
from Edmonds on August 8, 2009, as part of his defense.
Edmonds claims to have classified information as evidence about her
case regarding various scandals involving U.S. officials. She has
spent seven years trying to get a court to hear her allegations that
foreign agents including the Turkish intelligence, had penetrated the
FBI, the State Department, the Pentagon and Congress. Prior to her
deposition, Edmonds notified the U.S. Justice Department and Attorney
General Eric Holder – appointed this year under President Obama –
of what she planned to tell Krikorian. With no response from the
Justice Department, and essentially no red light, Edmonds proceeded
with the deposition on August 8 of this year.
In response to her deposition and the legal battle between him and
Schmidt, Krikorian stated, "From my opinion, if I’m some of the current
members of Congress, I’d be very, very worried about the information
that’s going to come out of this."
Last year, while trying to get her case heard through the U.S. media
as a sort of last resort, Sibel Edmonds stated that the press tends
to stay away from stories that are critical of Turkey as a result of
Turkey’s strong lobbyist activities in the United States. She took
a risk in revealing part of her story to the U.K. Times after she
received no response from any major U.S. media network.
During a break on the day of her deposition on Aug. 8, Edmonds was
asked about her own opinions on the Armenian genocide. "As a person,
I have never denied it [the Armenian Genocide]. . . I accept it." She
went on to highlight Turkey’s current internal problems as a repeat of
past atrocities and also spoke about U.S. complicity in such matters:
"The United States is turning a blind eye on the Kurdish issue,
which is a big, major human rights issue in Turkey. ] [U]nless the
international community, including the United States, really takes
a strong and firm position on this, they’re [Turkey is] going to get
away with it and they’ll never respect human rights."