Number 57 | November 4, 2008
Washington, DC - The Turkish American Legal Defense Fund (TALDF) yesterday requested from Attorney General of Ohio, Nancy H. Rogers, to open a criminal investigation against David Krikorian, an Armenian American independent candidate against Representative Jean Schmidt.
The complaint by TALDF is based on Ohio law that makes criminal intentional falsehoods calculated to impact elections.
Krikorian’s allegations about the Congresswoman and her campaign supporters, posted on candidate’s website at krikorianforcongress.com/genocide.php, falsely accuse Congresswoman Schmidt of bribery and Turkish Americans who have made campaign contributions to her of paying bribes, i.e., that she bargained for campaign contributions from Turkish Americans in exchange for a promise to take official actions in Congress in opposition to perennial "Armenian genocide" resolution in the House of Representatives. Krikorian states on his website and other public statements that “Representative Jean Schmidt has taken $30,000 in blood money to deny the genocide of Christian Armenians by Muslim Turks.”
Congresswoman Schmidt has on numerous occasions voiced her opposition to such resolutions and maintains that the historical question is not appropriate for Congress to legislate. The Congresswoman, based on her independent research, does not believe the tragic events of World War I, in which both Armenians and Turks were killed in harrowing numbers, constitute genocide—an accusation that has never been proven in a court of law. Her conclusions accord with renowned Middle East scholar Bernard Lewis of Princeton University and other respected historians.
TALDF stated that the potentially criminal lies spread by Krikorian against Ms. Schmidt are emblematic of the religiously and ethnically bigoted campaign tactics that Armenian Americans regularly employ against congressional candidates. Other candidates for Congress that have been similarly attacked by Armenian American verbal thuggery in the 2008 election cycle include Steve Cohen (Tenn.), Virginia Foxx (N.C.), Charles Hahn (Calif.), Robert Wexler (Fla.), and Jill Morgenthaler (Ill.).
The Turkish American Legal Defense Fund was established to protect the legal right to freedom of expression of Turkish Americans and to oppose assaults from any quarter on the right of Turkish Americans to participate fully in the American political process, including voicing their opinions on issues impacting Turkish-American relations or otherwise. For more information on TALDF, visit www.taldf.org.