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    Categories: 2019

Turkish group in US to stage action in attempt to silence Armenian Genocide protest

News.am, Armenia
 
 
Turkish group in US to stage action in attempt to silence Armenian Genocide protest
 
Washington, DC-based allies of Turkish President Erdogan are doubling down on his May, 2017, attack at Sheridan Circle, attempting, once again, to prevent Americans from exercising their Constitutional right to freedom of _expression_, the Armenian National Committee of America reported.
 
The Turkish American Steering Committee (TASC) – taking a page from the playbook of the Westboro Baptist Church and neo-Nazi marchers in Charlottesville – is gaming America’s First Amendment, not to express its own views, but rather to obstruct the free _expression_ of U.S. citizens set to gather this April 24th at 4:30 pm in Washington, DC’s Sheridan Circle to protest Ankara’s denial of the Armenian Genocide.
 
TASC has a track record of using loud dance music, songs, shouting, and even air-horns to drown out speakers at annual April 24th demonstrations. This year they have, for the first time, secured the approval of the U.S. National Park Service to engage in their disruptive activities from an area adjacent to the Armenian Genocide protest, within the actual confines of Sheridan Circle.
 
 This traffic circle, across the street from the Turkish Ambassador’s residence, is infamous internationally as the site where, less than two years ago, Turkish President Erdogan’s bodyguards brutally beat peaceful American protesters. TASC Co-Chairman Gunay Evinch is among the lawyers hired by the Turkish Government to defend it in a lawsuit brought by victims of this attack.
 
The organizer of the Armenian Genocide protest – the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) Ani Chapter – was joined by the Armenian National Committee of America in arguing vigorously against the Park Service granting a permit for a counter-protest at Sheridan Circle, on Constitutional and public safety grounds. Over these strenuous objections, the Park Service has permitted TASC to occupy roughly a third of Sheridan Circle.
Emil Lazarian: “I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS