US Armenian lobby group accused of violations
The Armenian National Committee of America, a group
of Armenians living in the United States, has been accused of
campaign-finance and lobbying violations.
The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a high-profile ethics organization, has asked US federal agencies to investigate the irregularities. In a seven-page complaint, it asserted that the Armenian-American group had failed to register either as a domestic lobbying group or as a foreign agent despite its political work and its close ties to the Armenian nationalist political party. The ethics group has documented evidence in support of its allegations.
The Armenian National Committee of America has some political weight in the U.S. and is known for lobbying for the recognition of the alleged Armenian genocide in Congress.
According to the ethics group, under US laws the Committee is not authorized to lobby for foreign groups in the country, support political leaders or provide financial aid to their election funds. The Committee has been engaged in lobbying activity for a long time although it did not receive permission to do so when it was registered by the government.
Moreover, the Armenian group is engaged in illegal propaganda against Azerbaijan. Thus, it has accomplished in reversing US state assistance for the major Baku-Tbilisi-Gars railway project that links Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, which restricts US assistance to the Azerbaijani government, also came into force due to the Committee`s efforts.
The group is also said to have committed financial fraud. Thus, it illegally received $200,000 from its endowment fund in 2005-2006. During the elections held in the U.S. late in 2008, the Committee backed the candidacies of Barack Obama for US President, Joe Biden for Vice-President, as well as those of 15 would-be senators and 211 members of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the US legislature.
The Committee describes itself as "the largest and most influential Armenian-American grass-roots political organization." It is active in regions with large Armenian-American populations, including New Jersey, Florida and California. Its allies are rallying renewed support for so-called Armenian genocide resolution that collapsed in the last Congress. US officials have opposed the resolution as an insult to Turkey, which denies that alleged mass deaths in the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923 amounted to genocide.
The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a high-profile ethics organization, has asked US federal agencies to investigate the irregularities. In a seven-page complaint, it asserted that the Armenian-American group had failed to register either as a domestic lobbying group or as a foreign agent despite its political work and its close ties to the Armenian nationalist political party. The ethics group has documented evidence in support of its allegations.
The Armenian National Committee of America has some political weight in the U.S. and is known for lobbying for the recognition of the alleged Armenian genocide in Congress.
According to the ethics group, under US laws the Committee is not authorized to lobby for foreign groups in the country, support political leaders or provide financial aid to their election funds. The Committee has been engaged in lobbying activity for a long time although it did not receive permission to do so when it was registered by the government.
Moreover, the Armenian group is engaged in illegal propaganda against Azerbaijan. Thus, it has accomplished in reversing US state assistance for the major Baku-Tbilisi-Gars railway project that links Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, which restricts US assistance to the Azerbaijani government, also came into force due to the Committee`s efforts.
The group is also said to have committed financial fraud. Thus, it illegally received $200,000 from its endowment fund in 2005-2006. During the elections held in the U.S. late in 2008, the Committee backed the candidacies of Barack Obama for US President, Joe Biden for Vice-President, as well as those of 15 would-be senators and 211 members of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the US legislature.
The Committee describes itself as "the largest and most influential Armenian-American grass-roots political organization." It is active in regions with large Armenian-American populations, including New Jersey, Florida and California. Its allies are rallying renewed support for so-called Armenian genocide resolution that collapsed in the last Congress. US officials have opposed the resolution as an insult to Turkey, which denies that alleged mass deaths in the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923 amounted to genocide.
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