Turkish Lobbyist Attacks Armenian Americans

[Yervant1]

Bob is livid, his efforts are not producing any results. Do you think he might loose his Turkish income as front man for Turkish interests?

 

 

Turkish lobbyist attacks Armenian Americans

 

ArmRadio.am

25.03.2006 12:24

 

Turkey's top Washington, DC lobbyist, former Louisiana Congressman Bob

Livingston, in perhaps his most strident attack to date, has accused

Armenian Americans of seeking to impose a "tyranny of the minority" by

urging the Congress to adopt human rights legislation concerning the

Armenian Genocide, according to documents obtained this week by the

Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

 

"It's truly the height of hypocrisy for a paid foreign agent for

Turkey - a government that violates the rights of its citizens on a

wholesale basis - to try to diminish the role that American citizens

play in the formulation of our nation's foreign policy," said ANCA

Executive Director Aram Hamparian. "But, apparently, in the 'Alice in

Wonderland' world of Bob Livingston, other nations dictate US policy,

genocides remain unpunished, and foreign lobbyists get to silence

American voters. He would do well to spend more time encouraging his

Turkish clients to learn about democracy, and less time seeking to

abridge the democratic rights of Americans here at home."

 

In letters sent to Congressional offices last September, prior to the

House International Relations Committee's consideration of Armenian

Genocide legislation, Livingston, escalated his rhetoric to

unprecedented levels, arguing, in his capacity as a paid agent of a

foreign government, that he believed the measure "caters to a small

minority of citizens promoting the narrow goals of the minority at the

expense of America's broader interest." He went on, in an example of

overstatement rare even by Washington, DC standards, to contend that

Armenian Genocide legislation "is the truest expression of the tyranny

of the minority." The panel rejected Livingston's attack, voting 40 to

7 to approve the legislation.