TURKISH LOBBYIST ACCUSES ARMENIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY OF SEEKING TO
IMPOSE “TYRANNY OF THE MINORITY”
YEREVAN, MARCH 25. ARMINFO. 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
U.S. 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 “cater[s] 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.
In July of last year, CongressWatch, an arm of Public Citizen,
released a 49-page report highlighting ethical concerns about the
Livingston Group’s lobbying efforts for the Turkish Government. The
report details the efforts by Livingston, to secure a “$1 billion
supplemental appropriation for Turkey. . . despite that country’s
refusal to allow U.S. troops to use its soil as a staging area for the
Iraq invasion. He also helped kill an amendment that would have
formally recognized the Armenian Genocide that occurred between 1915
and 1923.” The Livingston Group has received over $10 million in
payments from Turkey.