Associated Press Worldstream
October 30, 2008 Thursday 12:36 PM GMT
US candidate gets funds over genocide dispute
PASADENA California
A contender for a seat in the House of Representatives has received
thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Turkish-Americans
opposed to the incumbent candidate’s support of a failed resolution
calling the 1915 killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks genocide.
Charles Hahn, who is seeking to unseat Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff,
received $5,700 from fundraising and contributions by Ergun
Kirlikovali, the Pasadena Star-News reported on its Web site
Wednesday.
Hahn has also received $2,300 from the national Turkish Coalition USA
Political Action Committee, which also opposed Schiff’s legislation.
Kirlikovali, who runs a Web site denying that a genocide took place,
said the main reason he and others supported the Republican challenger
was because they disliked Schiff’s resolution.
"I find Schiff’s stand racist and dishonest," Kirlikovali said. "I’d
like to support someone who can defeat him."
Schiff, whose district includes tens of thousands of Armenians, said
he found Kirlikovali’s involvement troubling.
"This is a pretty narrow special interest group that is devoted to
eradicating the memory of genocide," he said.
The resolution failed last year after inflaming U.S. tensions with
Turkey, which claims the deaths of as many as 1.5 million Armenians do
not constitute genocide. It says the toll has been inflated, and those
killed were victims of civil war and unrest as the Ottoman Empire fell
into disarray.
Hahn said he does not deny that an Armenian genocide took place, but
said he would not have supported Schiff’s legislation. He said he
would like to introduce legislation that Armenian- and
Turkish-American groups could agree on.