If it does not pass in the general session this year Schiff plans to reintroduce it again next year. Schiff's bill failed in the 2007 congressional session, but was reintroduced this year and approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The total contributions make up more than 10 percent of his total fundraising. Hahn also received $2,300 from the national Turkish Coalition USA Political Action Committee, which opposed Schiff's legislation. All of the people contributing at the fundraiser listed addresses outside Schiff's district, with two listing addresses in Maryland and New York. Hahn raised about $5,700 from the fundraiser and from other contributions from Kirlikovali. Armenians and most historians have characterized it as a concerted government effort to eliminate Armenians from a new Turkish nation. The American-allied Turkish government has steadfastly claimed that the deaths of Armenians in the break-up of the Ottoman Empire during World War I were part of a civil war with casualties on both sides. Schiff's legislation has been controversial. "This is a way of sending a message and pushing back against that idea."
"This is a pretty narrow special interests group that is devoted to eradicating the memory of genocide," said Schiff. Schiff, who has been strongly supported by his Armenian-American constituents, brought the fundraiser to the attention to the local Armenian-language media because he considers the Kirlikovali's views troubling. government on record as officially recognizing that the genocide took place. Over the past two years, Schiff has sponsored legislation that would put the U.S. including "The ideology represents a sharp contrast to bills sponsored by incumbent Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena. The fundraiser was put together by Ergun Kirlikovali, an Orange County businessman who runs several Web sites. "We need to all work together in solving the problem." "I want to bring all sides of the issue to the party: Armenians, Turkish-Americans, the Turkish and Armenian governments," said Hahn. In recent weeks, Republican challenger Charles Hahn picked up thousands of dollars at a fundraiser thrown by a Turkish-American businessman who runs a Web site denying the World War I-era Armenian genocide took place. A centuries-old dispute between Armenians and Turks is playing a part in the race for the congressional seat that represents most of Pasadena.
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