Last week, the World Affairs Council of Greater Cincinnati held a luncheon with the Turkish ambassador to the United States, Osman Faruk Logoglu. Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken attended the lunch and presented the ambassador with a key to the city. Both General Electric Aircraft Engines and Procter & Gamble count Turkey as a major customer.

The ambassador addressed the 40 attendees for about 20 minutes and then took a few questions. I asked the ambassador when the government of Turkey would officially recognize the Armenian genocide of 1915 and end its campaign of denial to suppress the truth.

For those who are not familiar with this event, the Armenian genocide was a dark period in the lifeline of humanity. Under the cover of World War I, the Turkish government - at that time known as the Ottoman Empire - implemented its plan to eliminate the Armenian population from the face of the earth.

More than 1.5 million (yes, million!) Armenian men, women and children were butchered at the hands of the Turkish government. This event is well chronicled by distinguished authors, historians and statesmen from many countries including the United States, France, Germany, Sweden and Great Britain, just to name a few.

The ambassador answered the question by saying that there was no genocide and that the event was largely Armenian propaganda. The ambassador needs to get his facts straight.

There are two resolutions before Congress, House Resolution 193 and Senate 164, which cite the importance of remembering past crimes against humanity, including the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, and the Cambodian and Rwandan genocides, in an effort to stop future atrocities. H.R. 193 was adopted unanimously by the House Judiciary Committee in May 2003 and has 111 cosponsors.

Despite broad bipartisan support, neither Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., nor House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. has scheduled a vote on the genocide resolution.

President Bush pledged his support in 2000 to officially recognize the Armenian genocide, which unfortunately looks like a broken campaign promise. The 50,000 Armenians who live in Florida will remember that broken promise this November.

For the record, neither Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio nor Rob Portman, R-Ohio, supports the House resolution. I wonder why not.

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David Krikorian of Madeira is a small business owner who operates two companies, DataSuites and Parody Productions.

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