PRESS RELEASE
ATAA President's Letter to the Ambassador of France
October 13, 2006
Dear H.E. Jean-David Levitte,
On behalf of the Turkish American community, I respectfully express our concern at
yesterday's decision by the lower house of your parliament to pass a bill that would
make it a crime to disagree with, oppose, debate or question the Armenian
allegation of genocide. We hope this bill does not become law, because the
enforcement of such would constitute a grave violation of freedom of speech,
particularly under the European Convention on Human Rights to which France is a
party.
At a minimum, such a law would alienate a strong ally and a vibrant population in a
critical region of the world. Worse, it could fully derail Turkey ’s European Union
aspirations.
Freedom of speech is a fundamental human right. One cannot understand the
complete story of the Ottoman Armenian Tragedy or find a lasting resolution without
the freedom to discuss just what happened during those difficult years. In this age
of information, the Armenian public advocacy system has sought to censor
information that challenges the Armenian point of view, particularly as experts
discover and expose evidence pointing in the direction that the actions of the
Ottoman Empire did not constitute genocide. Indeed, the ATAA is working to
protect freedom of speech as a litigant in the case of Griswold v. Massachusetts, to
reinstate into the teachers’ curriculum guide scholarly materials that question the
Armenian allegation of genocide; the materials had been removed under political
pressure from the Armenian lobby. I respectfully refer you to, http://www.ataa.
org/ataa/ press/051102arme nian1.htm , for more information on the actions the
ATAA is taking in the United States and worldwide legal arenas to protect freedom
of speech.
I renew my highest confidence in and compliments to you and your foreign mission.
The Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) is the national umbrella
organization for over 50 local Turkish associations and over 300,000 Turkish
Americans.
Respectfully yours,
Vural Cengiz
President