As to the debate about a disputed Armenian genocide, today this issue has more to do with politics than with history. Armenia uses this dispute to stir up anti-Turkish sentiments and keep alive its territorial claims against Turkey. This issue should be left to historians and not politicians of different sorts to decide.

By the way, consider the following response by the UK government to an Armenian lobby inquiry in 2007 on whether deaths of Armenians in Ottoman Empire could be categorized as genocide: The response read:

“Neither this Government nor previous British Governments have judged that the evidence is sufficiently unequivocal to persuade us that these events should be categorised as genocide as defined by the 1948 UN Convention on Genocide, a convention which is, in any event, not retrospective in application”.

(Source: http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page13999)

LOS ANGELES—Nationally renowned lawyer Mark Geragos will lead a legal team of attorneys from across the nation to represent Democratic Congressional Candidate David Krikorian, in connection with a complaint initiated by Ohio Representative Jean Schmidt before the Ohio Elections Commission.
The Los Angeles based Geragos will be joined by Cincinnati attorney Christopher Finney of Finney, Stagnaro, Saba & Patterson Co. L.P.A. in defending Krikorian against Schmidt’s complaint before the Commission. In 2006, Finney was the lead attorney who successfully challenged Schmidt for making multiple false statements, including repeated public misrepresentations about having a second college degree.
Schmidt has brought charges against her likely Democratic opponent in the 2010 election for what she claims are false statements made by Krikorian in connection with Schmidt’s vocal opposition to Congressional measures to commemorate the Armenian Genocide. During the last election cycle, Schmidt received more than $30,000 in contributions from individuals and political action committees advancing the Turkish government’s position to deny the fact of the Armenian Genocide and oppose Congressional measures to commemorate what is widely acknowledged as the first Genocide of the twentieth century. The trial on Schmidt’s charges is scheduled for August 13 before the Ohio Elections Commission.
“The legal team my campaign has assembled combines the very best of local and national assets,” said Krikorian Thursday. “Mr. Geragos and Christopher Finney from Cincinnati are accomplished and respected attorneys and I welcome their participation and have complete confidence in their ability to present the truth and prevail in this forum.”
“Congresswoman Schmidt’s complaint isn’t about the 2008 election. It’s about the 2010 election. She’s threatened by my campaign and is using the OEC to hide her positions and hide who’s funding her campaigns. Just like she voted to bailout Wall Street while accepting thousands of dollars from the banking industry, she continues to deny genocide while accepting money from Turkish interest PACs. And, she wants the OEC to make me stop telling people about it,” added Krikorian.
“I stand by everything my campaign did during the 2008 election,” Krikorian said.
Since her election to Congress, Jean Schmidt has become an active and vocal apologist for the Turkish government’s position on the Armenian Genocide and has solicited and received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Turkish Americans and affiliated political action committees. David Krikorian has been working to expose the connection between Schmidt’s actions as a Member of Congress and her political contributions.
“Jean Schmidt’s active participation in the Turkish Government’s campaign to deny and cover up this internationally recognized crime against humanity is well documented and readily traceable” said Geragos, who, like Krikorian, is Armenian American. “Schmidt’s mertiless complaint against David is yet another attempt by the Turkish Government and its apologists to intimidate those with the audacity to speak the truth about this ongoing human right violation. David Krikorian understands that the Turkish Government’s attempt to suppress the truth about the most heinous crime known to humankind transcends the interests of Armenian Americans and is a cause for concern to all those of good conscience. David is a man of principle and despite Schmidt’s specious allegations, remains undeterred in his resolve to bring this important human rights issue to light.” said Mark Geragos who will serve as the lead attorney on the case.

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/05/15/z-apoh_electionscomplaint_05.ART_ART_05-15-09_B5_DCDSBME.html

Odd election claim to be heard
Opponent says winner denied Armenian ‘genocide’ of WWI
Friday, May 15, 2009 3:06 AM

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Rep. Jean Schmidt’s attorney noted even U.S. officials don’t call the killings “genocide.”

The state Elections Commission agreed yesterday to hear a case far outside the typical realm of Ohio politics, one involving claims of genocide, Turkish history, U.S. foreign policy and a growing and personal political rivalry.
At issue are comments made by an Armenian-American congressional candidate during the 2008 campaign. A Republican congresswoman from Cincinnati, Jean Schmidt, claims her opponent violated election law when he accused her of being a puppet of Turkish efforts to deny that the mass killings of Armenians during World War I constituted genocide.

The commission found probable cause yesterday that David Krikorian’s statements violated election law, voting unanimously to bring the case to a full hearing.

The 94-year-old killings in Turkey are an unlikely topic for a congressional campaign in America’s heartland, where Schmidt’s staunchly conservative values find favor among a large portion of her constituents. But for Krikorian, Schmidt’s comments that she doesn’t have enough evidence to call the killings of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians “genocide” make her morally unfit to serve in Congress. Krikorian refused to shake the hand of Schmidt’s attorney after the hearing yesterday.

“It is my right under political free speech to point out these facts that she denies the Armenian genocide,” Krikorian told the commission yesterday. He alleged that Schmidt had taken campaign donations from Turkish interests in return for “denying” the genocide.

“And, yes, I refer to it as blood money because where I come from, when you take money to deny the killing of innocent women and children, that is blood money. That’s exactly what it is. It’s reprehensible.”

But the dispute isn’t just about the past — Krikorian is challenging Schmidt again in 2010, but as a Democrat. He won 18 percent of the vote as an independent in 2008, a performance Krikorian claims has Schmidt worried enough about 2010 to file a “frivolous” elections complaint to discredit him.

Schmidt’s attorney, Donald Brey, rebutted all of Krikorian’s claims yesterday, taking particular issue with his equating Schmidt’s unwillingness to call the killings genocide with denial.

“She wasn’t a genocide denier,” Brey said. “She didn’t do anything as a quid pro quo.”

Federal Elections Commission records show Schmidt received $3,300 from the Turkish American Heritage Political Action Committee between January and October 2008. The committee was formed to defend Turkish heritage against “slanderous campaigns” carried out by ethnic groups in the United States to influence public opinion.

Schmidt’s unwillingness to proclaim what many history scholars regard as fact is also shared by the U.S. government. The U.S. foreign policy establishment’s careful positioning on the issue is driven by the importance of maintaining productive relations with a moderate ally in the Middle East.

In April, President Barack Obama refrained from branding the WWI-era massacre of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey a “genocide,” and instead referred to the killings that began in 1915 as “one of the great atrocities of the 20th century.” The careful words were a backtrack from Obama’s campaign promise to refer to the killing as genocide, which the Bush administration also declined to do.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland recognized the killings as genocide in 2007, and former President Ronald Reagan did so in 1981.

Turkey denies that the deaths constituted genocide, contending the toll has been inflated and that the casualties were victims of civil war. It says Turks also suffered losses in the hands of Armenian gangs.

Turkey and Armenia have had no diplomatic ties since closing their border in 1993 because of a Turkish protest of Armenia’s occupation of land claimed by Azerbaijan.

Oh and Catholic Trotskyst needs psycological help