TCA Ranks Third in Groups Sponsoring International Congressional Travel
September 24, 2010, Washington, DC – According to a report by U.S. News and World Report, the Turkish Coalition of America ranks third in the list of American organizations sponsoring trips for members of Congress and staff in 2009-2010. The list is headed by the American Israel Education Foundation, an affiliate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The Aspen Institute, a non-partisan think-tank ranks second and the German Marshall Fund ranks fourth in the list.
Since May 2009, TCA organized and sponsored seven congressional delegation trips, taking 80 congressional staffers and five members of Congress to Turkey. Its last two trips included visits to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Macedonia.
The article reported: “The biggest spender on trips during the 111th Congress has been the American Israel Education Foundation (AIEF). Since January 1, 2009, AIEF has funded trips for 154 Congress members and staff, at a cumulative cost of $1,619,755. All of these trips were to Israel, with the stated purpose of educating Congress members and staffers about the U.S.-Israel relationship.
The Turkish Coalition of America, whose trips work toward “combating ongoing misinformation about Turkey” and “helping people understand why it is that the U.S.-Turkish relationship is so valuable,” has spent $545,710 on 85 trips for lawmakers and staffers during that time period.”
For a full version, please see: politics.usnews.com
Dear members of the Turkish American community and Friends of Turkey:
Call Your Congressman NOT to Co-Sponsor and to Vote AGAINST H.Res. 252
The so-called “Armenian Genocide Resolution,” H.Res. 252, has been scheduled for a vote at the House Foreign Affairs Committee on March 4, 2010.
We urge Turkish Americans and friends of Turkey to contact your member of Congress NOW and urge him/her NOT to co-sponsor and VOTE AGAINST this resolution.
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 and raise their concerns and objections on the issue. Factual information, such as articles by historians and other documents on the subject can be found here.
To send the already prepared letter to your representative please click here, simply add your name and address, and send the email. It will be matched and sent to your member of Congress automatically.
To send a custom letter, please first go to www.house.gov, enter your zip code (on the left corner of the top banner) to find your Representative, and click on his/her name to go to your Representative’s website. Once you go to your Representative’s web site just find and click on “E-mail” box, then fill out your name, address info and your message and send the email. To see a sample email by Erol Yorulmazoglu, M.D., click here.
It is a great disappointment to see that our Congress and our Government in Washington year after year dwell on the subject of the controversial and alleged Armenian Genocide, and holding the Republic of Turkey responsible for it. Our taxpayers’ contributions are being wasted in fruitless debates in our political arena at the expense of our national interests in the Near East. Our politicians are not historians but it is a great sadness to note that our politicians succumb to the pressures of certain lobbyist elements to accept their distorted historical events of Anatolia pertaining to the period of 1915-1916. If you must decide on this matter then I need to ask you to investigate this matter in an unbiased manner.
Please allow me to give certain undeniable historical facts to shed some light on this matter. Once these points become apparent, it will also become clear that the allegations do not have basis. However, it should be noted that no one can deny the fact that countless Armenians have suffered during the Great War (1914-1918). Yet, at the same time even greater number of Turks suffered casualties during this ugly war. All ethnic groups died for similar causes; Armenians were not an exception. The debate of specific cause for their losses is another subject matter that cannot be covered herein at this moment. Nonetheless, with this letter I will attempt to illustrate that the claims of the Armenian lobbyists are false in regards to the alleged Armenian genocide matter.
In the first part of this letter, I need to expose the historical falsehood for the alleged Armenian genocide; and this falsehood will show that the claims cannot be true based on historical information.
As you may know, the entire Armenian allegation of genocide is based on the information brought to the West by Morgenthau, the US Ambassador to Istanbul during 1915-1916. Yet, clearly Ambassador Morgenthau has admitted in his own book “Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story (1918)” that the information that he gathered came to him without investigation from his Armenian aides who worked for the goals of the Armenian Diaspora, which was scheming against the Ottoman Empire to create an independent state on the Turkish real estate. Thus, with this first fact (source of information) the credibility of this information is questionable. It should be noted that to this date there is no proven motive for the Ottoman State to commit such alleged crime as claimed by the Armenian Diaspora. (more…)
National Public Radio in South Dakota interviewed one of the Native American faculty members, Valerian Three Irons, who had participated on TCA’s trip to Turkey in November. Please check this page for clip of interview. Valerian will be speaking about his trip at South Dakota State University next week (January 15th). Please click here for press release.
You may have already seen the below Release. Please note President Obama refering to the Turkish American Community, highlighted in yellow. So we are and can make a difference. Yes we can. JOIN THE TACA GRASSROOTS EFFORTS in Chicago. Let us know if you are interested: grassroots@tacaonline.org.
For Immediate Release
December 07, 2009
Oval Office
1:25 P.M. EST
PRESIDENT OBAMA: I want to extend the warmest of welcomes to Prime Minister Erdogan. I’m glad that I, personally, and the American people have a chance to reciprocate the wonderful hospitality that was extended to me when I visited Turkey in April.
As I said when I had the great honor of addressing the Turkish Parliament in Ankara, I am strongly committed to creating the best possible relationship between Turkey and the United States.
Turkey is a NATO ally, which means that we are pledged to defend each other. There are strong ties between our countries as a consequence of the Turkish American community that has been established here. We have had the opportunity to work together during this recent financial crisis, given Turkey’s role as a member of the G20. And given Turkey’s history as a secular democratic state that respects the rule of law, but is also a majority Muslim nation, it plays a critical role I think in helping to shape mutual understanding and stability and peace not only in its neighborhood but around the world. (more…)
December 13, 2009
Contact Your Member of Congress Now!
To Support Rapprochement, Not Armenian Resolutions
Dear Friends and Members of the Turkish-American Community:
Please do your civic duty and help your community stand up for Turkish – Armenian peace, and against false accusations and anti-Turkish hatred. Do this for our future generation.
Extreme voices in the Armenian community are aiming to derail the critical rapprochement currently being undertaken by Armenia and Turkey. They are pushing for the passage of the infamous Armenian Resolution that falsely accuses Turkey, the Ottoman Empire and people of Turkish heritage of committing genocide.
To make it easy for you to correspond with your Member of Congress, you can use the Capwiz system provided by the Turkish Coalition of America(TCA). Four 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 and emailed automatically to your Representative.
Pass this on to your friends and mail lists.
TACA Grassroots - Public Outreach Program Committee
The people of the United States join the people of Turkey in celebrating the anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkey. The friendship between our nation is strong, and our alliance is enduring. More than fifty years ago, the United States and Turkey began a partnership based on shared values and mutual respect – a partnership and friendship that has deepened over the years as we have overcome many shared challenges. Turkish-Americans help to forge the bonds that join our nations in friendship, and they continue to contribute to our society, in a wide range of field including arts, athletics, education, business, medicine and science.
source: whitehouse.gov
