As Kobe Bryant prepares to celebrate his endorsement deal with Turkish Airlines at a Paramount Studios launch party, the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) calls on Kobe to recognize and understand the ramifications of becoming the face of the state-run airline and to take steps to correct this lapse in judgment, Asbarez reports.

"Turkey uses brutal violence against its Kurdish minority, whose demonstrations have been crushed time and time again.  Furthermore, Turkey continues to repress free speech and arrests journalists," the source writes.

Most shameful is Turkey`s decades-long attempts to distort and deny the Armenian genocide, it adds.

Last week Nelly Furtado tweeted that she would be donating the one million dollars she received, and representatives for Beyoncй Knowles have released a statement declaring that all monies she accepted from the Gaddafi family were donated to Haitian earthquake relief efforts,

This highlights the increasing need for celebrities and public figures to be sensitive and act with the utmost prudence and responsibility when sponsoring or endorsing products and events, the newspaper writes.

"We ask Kobe Bryant to use this unique opportunity to act as a responsible and dignified public figure and to donate the proceeds from his deal with the state-run Turkish Airlines to genocide and human rights education and awareness programs such as The Genocide Education Project," the AYF sates.