Contact:
Nurten Ural, President ATAA
Allison Block, Advocacy Director, ATAA
Tel: 202.483.9090
E-mail: president@ataa.org

H.Res.106 Vote Suspended Indefinitely

Washington, DC, October 26, 2007 - Supporters of H.Res.106, the resolution in Congress that would have labeled the tragedies during the fall of the Ottoman Empire as "genocide" against the Armenians, announced on Thursday that they would not call for a vote on the measure. Though the resolution has been taken off the table, the resolution could be brought back sometime next year, according to a House aide.

"It has been exciting to see the determined efforts of the Turkish American community, particularly in the past month," said ATAA President Nurten Ural. "However, even though the resolution has been temporarily suspended, the Turkish American community should be even more determined in educating others about the Turkish American perspective on many issues."

Over the past few months, the Turkish American community under the leadership of a few Turkish American organizations, namely ATAA and the Turkish Coalition of America (TCA), have been persistently working together to communicate with members of Congress to educate them on the facts of H.Res.106, providing the Representatives with literature, historical documentation, DVDs and letters from influential officials. Many community members personally made visits to their Representative's local and Washington offices, as well as the continual flow of faxes, e-mails and phone calls.

ATAA will continue to be an integral part in equipping Turkish Americans with the resources to be public advocates for issues that are important to them, by continuing to hold grassroots networking events in more than 30 cities across the country, through its Leadership Conference November 16-17, and of course, as a resource center for documents, literature and other sources to reinforce the message on numerous issues.

In related news, H.Res.769 has been introduced in the House of Representatives, commemorating October 29 as Turkish Republic Day, "Congratulating the government and people of Turkey as they celebrate Republic Day, and for other purposes." The co-sponsors of the resolution are: Randy Kuhl, Ed Whitfield, Luis Gutierrez, Steve Cohen, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Dan Burton, Robert Wexler, Gresham Barrett, Peter Hoekstra, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Marilyn Musgrave, Steve Chabot, Roy Blunt, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Jeff Flake, Jeff Fortenberry, Todd Akin, Roscoe Bartlett, Joe Wilson, Luis Fortuno, and Eni Faleomavaega.