SCHIFF RESPONDS TO LETTER FROM LEADING TURKISH-AMERICAN INTEREST GROUPS BY CALLING FOR HOUSE PASSAGE OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

Yerkir
21.12.2009 12:47
Yerevan

Yerevan (Yerkir) – Yesterday, Congressman Adam Schiff sent a response
letter to Gunay Evinch of the Assembly of Turkish American Associations
and Kaya Boztepe of the Federation of Turkish American Associations
regarding the necessity to pass the House Armenian Genocide Resolution
(H. Res. 252). Mr. Evinch and Mr. Boztepe recently wrote to Congressman
Schiff asking that he withdraw his Armenian Genocide Resolution in
light of the recently signed Turkey – Armenian Protocols.

The protocols call for a commission to review the historical dimensions
of the enmity between Armenia and Turkey. In response, Congressman
Schiff states it is imperative that the Congress pass the Genocide
Resolution to prevent Armenia from being forced to accept an historical
whitewash in order advance relations with Turkey.

"In recent months, some, including some in our own government
have suggested that the commission is not intended as a vehicle to
review the history of the Armenian Genocide. Your letter honestly
characterizes it as a vehicle to continue Ankara’s decades of
denial, supporting my own interpretation of the Protocols’ commission
provision," Congressman Schiff wrote in his letter. "The best way to
ensure that the truth about the Armenian Genocide is recognized is
for the United States Congress to act to commemorate the victims now,
while a handful of survivors are still with us."