WASHINGTON, DC - Ragip Zarakolu - a world-renowned Turkish dissident who has been persecuted and imprisoned for his principled stand for recognition and reparations for the Armenian Genocide - will be the featured speaker at this year's April 9th Capitol Hill remembrance of the 99th anniversary of this crime against all humanity, Armenian National Congress of America reported.
 
This year's observance, hosted by the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues and supported by the Armenian Embassy, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic's office in Washington, and Armenian American organizations, will take place on April 9.
 
“We welcome Ragip Zarakolu to America and look forward to his remarks on Capitol Hill, at the April 9th Congressional remembrance of the Armenian Genocide,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.  “Mr. Zarakolu represents the small but growing civil society movement within Turkey that - despite persecution, imprisonment, and even threats of assassination - is working to end their own government's denial of the Armenian Genocide and to help build a better future based upon a truthful and just resolution of this still unpunished crime.  It is this courageous message of truth and justice - not the official genocide denials of Turkish government - that should be encouraged and empowered by President Obama.”
 
Zarakolu is the longtime director of the Belge Publishing House, which has, since the early 1970s, courageously challenged legal restrictions (including Article 301 of the Criminal Code) and violent threats against public discourse about the Armenian Genocide, Kurdish issues, minority rights in Turkey, and other banned topics.