Capitol Hill Event to Discuss Report:
"Turkish Views on U.S. Congress Armenian Resolutions"

Public Outreach Committee
May 17, 2007

In the midst of the debate on Capitol Hill surrounding the resolutions introduced recently in the House and Senate defining the deaths and suffering of Ottoman Armenians in eastern Anatolia in 1915 as genocide, the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA), and co-hosts The ARI Foundation and Terror Free Tomorrow, held a joint event to discuss Turkish public opinion regarding on the possible passage of the resolutions.

The title of the poll, “Turkish Views on U.S. Congress Armenian Resolutions” was the result of face-to-face interviews conducted in Turkey earlier this year.  Commissioned by the ARI Foundation in the United States and its Turkish affiliate, the ARI Movement in Turkey, and conducted by Terror Free Tomorrow, the poll was the first Turkish nationwide public opinion survey on the issue. The results clearly demonstrate the negative and damaging impact of potential passage of H.Res.106 and S.Res.106 on U.S.-Turkish relations.  The event was attended by legislative staffers, as well as members of the State Department, Pentagon, think tanks and media.

Event organizer, ATAA Capital Region Vice President Gunay Evinch, provided a brief summary of Armenian resolutions that have and have not passed in Congress, first citing three pieces of legislation dated 1916, 1919, and 1920 that found the conditions of war as the source of the deaths.  Evinch stated that starting in 1975 resolutions appeared that characterized the deaths as genocide: “Since 1975 at least eight resolutions have been dealt away by the U.S. Congress.  In the past, the main reason was geostrategic interests and national security in alienating a major NATO and Muslim ally.  Today, in addition there is the principled issue of whether legislating a prosecution and judgment in the form of politically motivated resolution is the right thing to do.”

 “Rarely does the Congress of the United States exclusively hold the key to America’s foreign relations with a critical ally,” remarked Mr. Ken Ballen, President of Terror Free Tomorrow. “But now, with Turkey, the only Muslim country in the world allied with the United States in NATO, the future of Turkish-American relations is solely in the hands of Congress.”

The key findings of the public survey show that 78% of those polled oppose any resolution by the U.S. Congress on the issue of the Armenian case, irrespective of the wording of the actual resolution. Follow-up questions of the participants illustrates that the reason behind the opposition to such legislation is that the U.S. Congress is not a neutral judge on this historical issue. Participants believed it is not the function of a legislature to judge, and that anti-Muslim feelings and domestic politics were the main impetus behind the current resolutions.

According to the poll, due to the perceived violation of the principle of fundamental justice and fairness in a legislature sitting in judgment of a foreign state and entire people, 83% of the Turkish public would demand that suspension of diplomatic and military relations with the United States.  Ballen emphasized the implication of this for the United States in Iraq.

The poll devoted a section to “Analysis and Recommendation,” where it is suggested that Congress should be concerned with building and promoting a neutral, independent and credible mechanism for reconciliation between the two countries, as opposed to further alienating the United States from Turkey and the broader Muslim world.

To read the full poll report, visit www.terrorfreetomorrow.org.

About Terror Free Tomorrow
Terror Free Tomorrow is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization, whose mission includes understanding popular support behind global terrorists and extremism. For more information visit: www.terrorfreetomorrow.org.

About ARI Foundation
The ARI Foundation is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization, whose mandate is to promote U.S.-Turkey relations based on critical thinking and analysis. For more information visit:www.arifoundation.org.

About ATAA
The Assembly of Turkish American Associations is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization, whose mission is to create an informed Turkish American community that can help foster US-Turkish relations, as well as educate Americans in government, the media and the public at large about Turkey and issues that concern Turkish Americans.  For more information visit: www.ataa.org.