URGENT MESSAGE FROM ATAA: H.Res. 106 (Armenian Measure) coming for markup on October 10

Attached Message

From:	ATAA <assembly@ataa.org>
To:
Subject:	URGENT MESSAGE FROM ATAA: H.Res. 106 coming for markup on October 10
Date:

GRASSROOTS INFORMATION SERVICE

October 7, 2007  H.Res. 106 coming for markup on October 10 Dear Turkish American community member, On Wednesday, October 10, the Foreign Affairs Committee will be debating H.Res.106, "Affirmation of the United States Record on the Armenian Genocide Resolution." We cannot wait any longer to send a message to our Representatives in Congress about the negative impact that this legislation will have on Turkish American relations. It is our responsibility to combat negative and unproductive debate on an issue that has yet to be agreed upon by scholars, or decided upon in an international court. In short: IT IS TIME TO ACT. Thanks to the generous efforts of the Turkish Coalition of America, the Turkish American community and friends of Turkey can make their voices heard in an organized, systematic and legal fashion.  By visiting the link at the Turkish Coalition of America (TCA) web site: www.turkishcoalitionofamerica.org/action.html, Turkish Americans and friends of Turkey can send pre-written faxes to their Representatives, informing the Members of Congress of the negative impact that such legislation will have, particularly for Turkish American relations. We urge you, as an active member of the Turkish American community, to distribute the link to the TCA web site as widely as possible, and exponentially increase the weight of our voice with members of Congress. Should you be interested in writing a personal letter, you can find your representative by typing in your ZIP code at http://www.house.gov . As always, should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Allison Block, Advocacy Director by phone: 202.483.9090 or by e-mail: allison@ataa.org. Kindest regards,  Nurten Ural, President Assembly of Turkish American Associations

Assembly of Turkish American Associations | 1526 18th St. NW | Washington | DC | 20036

Personal Note from Attila "Tilly" Gokbudak (author of blog): All of us, who are Turkish-Americans, were outraged by the assasination of Turkish Armenian journalist Hrant Dink by a nationalist youth in Istanbul earlier this year. It was a horrifying, sickening crime. But, measures to take advantage of that tragedy are also unacceptable. Beyond the 'G-word Controversy," this measure, if passed, would likely be the first step for other claims by the Armenian diaspora, including reparations and territorial claims to areas, such as Kars, Malatya and Diyarbakir, which many partisan Armenian-Americans refer to as 'western Armenia.'

 I speak as someone who has tried to and continues to try to find common ground with Armenian-Americans. At some point, we have to realize that common interests outweigh ugly political disputes resulting from a highly-sensitive historical controversy. But, right now, the Armenian-American lobby ANCA and their actions suggest that the time for that is alas clearly not now.