Congressman George Radanovich California�s 19th Congressional District

To those who claim the Armenian Genocide happened too long ago to be relevant today, I would like to direct your attention to the following article:

Son of Journalist Convicted in Turkey

October 11, 2007

(AP) ISTANBUL, Turkey - The son of a journalist killed earlier this year after calling the massacre of Armenians genocide was convicted Thursday of insulting Turkey’s identity for republishing his father’s remarks.

Arat Dink, editor of the Armenian newspaper Agos, and publisher Serkis Seropyan each received a one-year suspended sentence for “insulting Turkishness,” said their lawyer, Erdal Dogan. He said they would appeal the sentences.

Dink is the son of ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was convicted of the same charge for calling the killing of Armenians during World War I genocide. He had appealed the conviction when he was killed by a Turkish youth in January.

The massacre of Armenians is one of the darkest periods in Turkish history. Armenians say up to 1.5 million people were killed in 1915-17 during the Ottoman Empire, before the birth of modern Turkey.

Turkey rejects the label “genocide,” maintaining that the death toll is inflated and insisting the killings occurred at a time of civil unrest.

The verdict for Dink and Seropyan came a day after legislators in the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of a nonbinding bill that declares the Armenian killings genocide _ over Turkey’s objections.

“The discriminatory mentality which turned intolerance into a state tradition has yet again declared criticism and expression of opinion an insult to Turkishness and a crime,” the group Human Rights Associated said in a statement.

The European Union has pressured Turkey, which aspires to join the 27-nation bloc, to scrap the controversial law on “insulting Turkishness,” saying it restricts freedom of speech.

Some Turkish leaders, including President Abdullah Gul, also believe the law has harmed Turkey’s EU bid.

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Tomorrow’s markup in the House Foreign Relations Committee is a key day for H. Res 106, a resolution that calls on the United States to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide that took place in the early part of the twentieth century. As a chief sponsor and former author of this same resolution in previous Congresses, I am well aware of the hurdles facing this legislation. Turkey has an incredible lobbying effort and has historically spent millions of dollars a year to keep this resolution off House floor. In 2000, nearly identical legislation was scheduled for a vote on the floor. I was headed up the stairs of the Capitol as then President Clinton called former Speaker Hastert and asked for the bill to be pulled, and a vote was never taken.

There is no excuse for a democracy such as ours to not properly recognize this abomination that took place 92 years ago. It is imperative that America is able to draw clear lines between good and evil, just and unjust—without that ability we are unable to address those inhumanities that are ongoing around the globe today such as in Darfur and Myanmar.

Hopefully, the members of the Foreign Relations Committee will take the courageous first step tomorrow and do what is morally right by voting to pass this resolution out of committee and allow for a vote on the House floor. The survivors of the Armenian Genocide who are still with us today deserve to see our country confront and defeat this campaign of denial. It is time for this House to set things right and officially recognize the Armenian Genocide.

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