In today's 
, Turkey's English Daily, Keith Ellison, the only devout Muslim
member of Congress, was asked about how he would vote on Armenian Genocide Resolution. An interesting question to pose to a Muslim, considering it was a jihad against millions of Armenians.
It was the genocide that preceded the Holocaust. The Mufti of Jerusalem practiced genocide first in the Armenian genocide -- the systematic genocide of the Armenian population under the Islamic Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. The use of massacres and deportations involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees led to a total number of Armenian deaths of one-and-a-half to two million. Mufti Amin Al-Husseini swore allegiance to the Ottoman Empire during the Armenian genocide [i] . [ii] He was an officer stationed in Smyrna and participates first-hand in the Armenian genocide. One and a half million Christians were slaughtered under the sword of Islamic Jihad by the Ottoman Army. Allegiance to Ottoman Empire and Islamic world take-over was echoed by Osama Bin Laden in his post-September 11 declaration. Osama Bin Laden makes direct reference to the end of Ottoman Empire and thus proclaims his allegiance to its notion of Islamic dominion.
Ellison's answer to the question of how he would vote on the House Foreign Relations Committee's Armenian Genocide Resolution, H. Res. 252, on March 4th, is particularly disgusting - not because he slithers out, "I am still developing my position. I would like to know how this affects Turkey and Armenia’s relationship. Is it going to help the relationship, improve it or degrade it? I need to know the answer on that before I decide on this resolution...." What difference does that make? A genocide is a genocide, no matter what. Period. What contempt the devout Ellison has for the Christian dead. It was jihad and Ellison is a believer.
But wait, it gets worse. He spreads taqiya and hate and lies for America. He goes on to equate America, the best of humanity with the worst of humanity, "America still has not recognized its own genocide or genocides that it commits."
He then goes on to extol the plurality and tolerance of the newly fundamental Islamicized Turkey. I kid you not. Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan rejected attempts to call Turkey the representative of moderate Islam. "It is unacceptable for us to agree with such a definition. Turkey has never been a country to represent such a concept. Moreover, Islam cannot be classified as moderate or not," Erdoğan said, speaking at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies.
Turkey is sliding backwards towards "pure Islam." It is abuzz with coup plots.
This time around 12 army officers have been formally charged for plotting to overthrow the government in 2003. Dozens more have been arrested in what seems to be a purge in the offing, and an effort to weaken the influence of the secular military.
It astounds me that this first time Congressman sits on the House Foreign Relations Committee. Now that's frightening.
Congressman Keith Ellison: 'Turkey is a country on the forefront'
I had a chance to have a conversation with Congressman Keith Ellison, the first Muslim congressman in the history of the United States, this week at the U.S. House of Representatives. Ellison won the open seat for Minnesota's 5th congressional district in 2006 and is also the first African-American elected to the House from Minnesota.
In addition to being the first and still-only Muslim congressman, Mr. Ellison is also member of the House Foreign Relations Committee, a key committee that will take the Armenian Genocide Resolution, H. Res. 252, to vote on March 4.
I was both curious to hear his story so far as a Muslim congressman, but also wanted to get in touch with him before the voting day and hear about his position over the issue first hand.
I started the interview by first asking his position on the resolution because of the urgency of the matter. He said: "I am still developing my position. I would like to know how this affects Turkey and Armenia’s relationship. Is it going to help the relationship, improve it or degrade it? I need to know the answer on that before I decide on this resolution... Is this resolution going to improve the well-being of people in Armenia or Turkey or anywhere?"
Congressman Ellison also said America still has not recognized its own genocide or genocides that it committed, yet tries to give lessons to the other countries. Ellison said: "And you know, we have not acknowledged yet the genocide that was committed against the Native American tribes."
Congressman Ellison basically was telling me that everybody should clean his or her own house first before telling others what to do. Ellison was clearly uncomfortable with the situation he is in and it was pretty obvious to see from his attitude while discussing the issue. Furthermore, it was also my impression from his statements that he does not find the U.S. Congress is suitable and qualified taking a such decision over the events that happened nearly 100 years ago and in a country that is half-way around the world.
Genocide is genocide. The polite conversation of barbarians.
I also asked him how he would describe serving in the U.S. Congress as a Muslim congressman and if there was any particular difficulty to that. Ellison said: "Being a Muslim in the Congress has been a very interesting perspective. I have been very well treated by my colleagues, other than some occasional bad behavior and some ignorant things said about Islam."
There was a huge controversy in America when the congressman first got elected and announced his intention to use the Koran instead of the Bible at his photo-op at the swearing in ceremony and this drew some criticism especially from some conservative columnists.
OT but related: Obama campaigned on the promise of recognizing the Armenian genocide, but reneged.
