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Invitation from Houston Azerbaijanis:

"It is time to let the world know about Armenian war crimes, time to tell the world about Armenian terrorism, it is time to demand that those responsible for the Khojaly Massacre are punished. All these years we have been learning to defend... Let us take the lead now. We are inviting you to join us for the rally dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Khojaly Massacre. The rally will take place on Saturday, February 28 (the date may change depending on weather conditions) in the Galleria area from 1-3 p.m. We will be meeting at Starbucks cafe (intersection Westheimer/Post Oak) at 1:00 pm to distribute posters and flyers, and coordinate our actions."

 

Turks have been instrumental in the Jewish survival since the early period of the Ottoman Empire; beginning with the firman issued by the second Ottoman Sultan Orhan the first in 1332 that allowed them to settle in the Ottoman territories. Similar protection acts followed, including Sultan Beyazit the second's evacuation of the Sephardic Jews from Spain in 1492 and the young Turkish Republic's embracement of the Jews expelled from Germany. (Please click here for an informative article by historian Stanford Shaw.)

To commemorate some of these late efforts, the Turkish General Directorate of Post and Telegraph Organization (PTT) has issued two new stamps to honor the Turkish diplomats Necdet Kent (1911-2002) and Selahattin Ülkümen (1914-2003), who risked their own lives in order to save those of hundreds of Jews during the WWII. 

Read more: Stamps Honoring the Turkish Diplomats Who Saved Jews

Turkish Coalition of America (TCA) asks you to take action: 

"The Armenian lobby and its supporters in Congress have announced that Representatives Adam Schiff (R-CA) and George Radanovich (R-CA) along with Armenian Caucus co-chairs Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) are introducing another "Armenian Genocide Resolution," similar to the resolutions in previous years. The Armenian National Committee of America is asking Armenian activists to urge their representatives to become "co-sponsors" of this legislation.
 
This is the time for Turkish Americans and friends of Turkey to push back. Once a member of Congress signs on as a co-sponsor, he/she makes a near commitment to vote for it. NOW is the time to contact your member of Congress and warn him/her NOT to co-sponsor and NOT TO VOTE for this resolution, if it is introduced. A strong reaction from our community NOW is crucial.
 
TCA also urges all Turkish Americans to contact their community organizations and take the lead to activate the Turkish American grassroots by visiting members of Congress and their staff in their district offices with small groups and raise their concerns and objections on the issue. TCA, ATAA, FTAA and many other organizations are here to provide guidance to your local initiatives. Factual information, such as articles by historians and other documents on the subject can be found on these organizations' websites.

 To send a letter to your Representative, visit the ACTION ALERT here."



  

TurkishPAC is pleased to inform you about Professor Türkkaya Ataöv’s Houston seminar, "How to Come to Terms with One's Own Past",  sponsored by Turkish Heritage Society and Federation of Turkish American Associations (FTAA).

Professor Ataöv will also be visiting several other US and Canada cities for a series of lectures which will also be organized by FTAA and local Turkish-American or Turkish-Canadian organizations. Detailed information will be posted here as they become available.

Please click here for a short biography of Professor Ataöv and here for the abstract of his seminar, "How to Come to Terms With One's Past: A Probe into History Including Armeno-Turkish Relations".

Cornell, Ithaca, NY: February 10, 2009 (details)

New Jersey: February 11 2009 (details)

New York City: February 12, 2009 (details)

Rochester, NY: February 14, 2009 (details)

Toronto, CA: February 18, 2009 (details)

Montreal, CA: February 20, 2009 (details)

Washington DC: February 23, 2009 (details)

Pittsburgh, PA: February 25, 2009 (details)

Philadelphia, PA: February 27, 2009

Hartford, CT: March 1, 2009

Boston, MA: March 4, 2009

Chicago, IL: March 6, 2009 (details)

Bloomington, IN: March 09,2009 (details)

Atlanta, GA: March 11, 2009

Denver, CO: March 13-14, 2009

San Francisco, CA: March 16, 2009

Los Angeles, CA: March 18, 2009

San Antonio, TX: March 20, 2009 (details)

Houston, TX: March 21, 2009 (details)

Dallas, TX: March 23, 2009 (details)

Boca Raton, FL: March27, 2009 (details)

Ft. Lauderdale and Gainesville, FL: March 25-28, 2009

Below is an important announcement from Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA). For more information, please visit ATAA's website.

 

IT IS TIME FOR US TO ACT NOW!


Dear Friends and Members of the Turkish-American Community:

At the beginning of a new era "Yes We Can", as Turkish Americans this is our opportunity to join together and organize better than ever before to activate our community, to have our voices heard, to show our strength and to take action. Challenges ahead of us could only be overcome by uniting together and making sure that our local representatives know who we are.
 
Chaos always leads the way to opportunities to change for better.  It is our responsibility to catch this spark at this time and reach out the right way to the New Administration and members of the Congress and Senate to enlighten them on Turkish American community, on Turkish American relations and to remind them the importance of fostering this relationship.  It is critical to do this out reach well as they take office and send the message out before the inauguration, as there is reliable news that President-Elect Obama may use the g-word in his April 24 proclamation, and embolden Congress to pass a resolution.
 
As ATAA, we have sent out a letter to President-Elect Obama and will follow up with another letter. We are sending out letters from the ATAA to each member of the Congress and Senate to remind them of the importance of Turkish American relations and to congratulate the new members. 
 
We encourage you to send out letters to your Congress and Senate in your district offices and then to follow up with calling for an appointment and visiting them. Please also spread news about this campaign to Turkish Americans and friends of Turkey you know, to do the same.
 

To make it simple for you to send out letters you can use the CapWiz system provided by the Turkish Coalition of America.  Two letter templates have been provided and randomly appear on the Action alert page. Please click here and enter your zip code; and your name and address information on the following page. Your letter will be faxed automatically to your Representative.
It is the residents of this country that can make a difference in the Turkish American relations and it is up to you to take action. We must have every resident send a letter to their Congressman and Senator.
 
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at (202) 483-9090 or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
 
PLEASE KEEP US INFORMED OF YOUR FOLLOW UPS AND LET US KNOW IF WE COULD BE OF FURTHER HELP.
 
We thank you for your efforts.
 
Sincerely,

Nurten Ural, President
Assembly of Turkish American Associations

ARTIK HAREKETE GEÇME ZAMANI!

 
Sevgili Dostlarımız ve Türk-Amerikan Toplumunun Değerli Üyeleri,
 
Amerikan siyasetinde yeni bir dönemin baŞladığı bu günlerde, Türk-Amerikan toplumu olarak bizler de daha iyi örgütlenip beraberce harekete geçebileceğimiz ve sesimizi duyurabileceğimiz bir değiŞim sürecinin içine girmiŞ bulunmaktayız.
Önümüzdeki zorlukları toplumca bir bütün olarak atlatabilmemiz için yapmamız gereken ilk şey yerel düzeyde temsilcilerimizin bizleri daha yakından tanımalarını sağlamaktır.
 
Esas itibariyle iktidar değişiklikleri sırasında kendiliğinden ortaya çıkan bir takım fırsatları değerlendirebilen gruplar kendilerini daha iyiye götürecek bir sürecin kapısını aralamaktadırlar. Benzer bir süreci yaşadığımız bu noktada bizlere düşen sorumluluk yeni hükümete, Kongre ve Senato'nun yeni üyelerine ulaşmak, onları Türk-Amerikan ilişkileri, Türkiye ve Amerika'daki toplumumuz hakkında aydınlatmaktır. Bu hususta yeni seçilmiş olan başkan, başkan yardımcısı ve ekibine, Senato ve Kongre üyelerine ulaşmak için vakit kaybetmeden harekete geçmemiz gerekmektedir; zira güvenilir kaynaklardan aldığımız bilgilere göre yeni Başkan Barack Obama'nın 24 Nisan açıklamasında "soykırım" kelimesini kullanma olasılığı ve Kongre'nin yeni bir tasarı geçirme ihtimali çok yüksektir.
 
4 Kasım seçimlerinin hemen sonrasında bir bilgi notu ile sizlere duyurduğumuz üzere ATAA ofisinden önümüzdeki dönem baŞkanı Barack Obama'ya bir mektup göndermiştik ve bu günlerde yeni bir mektup göndereceğiz. Kongre ve Senato'nun yeni dönem üyelerinin tamamına tebrik mektupları göndermekteyiz ve Türkiye ile ilgili meselelerde bilgi notları iletmekteyiz. Sizleri de benzer mektuplar göndermeye ve yerel temsilcilerinizden randevu alıp, ofislerinde ziyaret etmeye davet ediyoruz. Bu süreci sizin için kolaylaştırmak için Turkish Coalition of America tarafından hizmetinize sunulan CapWiz programını kullanabilirsiniz. Hazırladığımız "Action Alert Page" içerisinde iki adet örnek mektup bulabilirsiniz. İmzalayacağınız mektuplar otomatik olarak temsilcinize fakslanacaktır.
 
Türk-Amerikan ilişkilerini gerçekten değiştirme kuvveti Amerikan vatandaşlarında ve yasal olarak Amerika'da ikamet eden Türk vatandaşlarındadır. Sorularınız için (202) 483-9090 numaralı telefondan veya This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. adresinden bize ulaşabilirsiniz. Mektuplarınızı gönderdikten sonra lütfen bizi bilgilendiriniz ve yardım edebileceğimiz hususları bildiriniz.
 
İlginiz için şimdiden teşekkür ederiz.
 
Saygılarımla,
Nurten Ural, President
Assembly of Turkish American Associations

 

 

Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) distributed the following press release today:

ATAA deeply regrets the one-sided apology that is being circulated in the internet and media by some scholars in Turkey. ...

Read more: Apology Inspired by Selective Morality Hurts More Than It Heals

TurkishPAC supports the "I Do Not Apologize" campaign, launched two days ago against the "I apologize" campaign initiated by some misguided Turkish  academicians. The latter was launched at the beginning of this week and led by some of the well known so called "Armenian Genocide" protoganists, including Ahmet İnsel and Cengiz Aktar.  They ask visitors to sign under a text, which apologizes to their Armenian brothers and sisters, for their sufferings in 1915 are denied! Even though no one denies the sufferings of the Ottoman Population, including the Armenians, during the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire into 30 individual states, these demagogues shamelessly blame all of us for  the denial of the Armenian sufferings.

The apologists, however, never mention the "Great Catastrophe" the Anatolian Turks, Kurds and Jews were subjected to by the Armenians and their foreign supporters, which started decades before 1915.

TurkishPAC condemns this hypocrisy and recommends that you enter the "I Do Not Apologize" web site,  and enter your name as the supporter of this campaign.

CNN REPORT INCORRECTLY CHARACTERIZES ARMENIAN TRAGEDY

IMMEDIATE CORRECTION REQUIRED
 
Dear Turkish Americans and Supporters of U.S.-Turkish Relations.  CNN will be broadcasting a program titled, "Scream Bloody Murder" on December 4, 2008, regarding genocides in the 20th century.  Though CNN's program advertisement does not list the Armenian case, we have learned that a small segment will discuss the events of 1915 in Ottoman Anatolia as a case of genocide.
 
TurkishPAC encourages all Turkish Americans to write to CNN.  The documentary program and reporter Ms. Christiane Amanpour's recent statements in The Armenian Reporter (November 29), that the events of 1915 constitute the crime of genocide, prejudices inquiry into this genuine historic and legal controversy by proclaiming a verdict when in fact the evidence has never been tested by a proper neutral arbiter.  In applying the term genocide and associating the Turkish and Armenian tragedies during Word War I with later crimes against humanity, Amanpour enflames hatred against Turkish people and Muslims, while ignoring the current research that is piecing together a historical narrative that is revealing that Ottoman Armenians engaged in a bloody revolt and that multitudes of Ottoman Muslims perished from causes nearly identical to those which took the lives of so many Armenians.  Please click on "read more" link below for a sample letter/email text, and for more dertails.

Read more: CNN Action Alert - December 08

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