Citizens from across the United States are asking their Members of Congress to look into the controversial decision by the Woodrow Wilson Center to award Armenian Genocide denier, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, with their public service award, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

Through an ANCA Action Alert, Armenian American and other anti-genocide activists are expressing “profound anger and disappointment” over the Woodrow Wilson Center’s plans to travel to Turkey to bestow the award on Davutoglu, who had recently openly threatened the United States against speaking honestly about the Armenian Genocide.

“This award dishonors President Wilson's vision of justice for the Armenian nation,” explains the letter to Senate and House members. “Mr. Davutoglu represents a government that, in its aggressive denial of the Armenian Genocide and ongoing obstruction of justice for the Armenian nation, makes a mockery of the Wilson Center and its founding commitment to fostering scholarship commemorating the ideals and concerns of Woodrow Wilson.”

The letter makes special mention that “Mr. Davutoglu leads a Foreign Ministry that reflects and actively reinforces the anti-Armenian hatreds and intolerances that fueled the Armenian Genocide in the first place,” noting that the Turkish Embassy in Washington, DC hosted a group of demonstrators who insulted and mocked Armenians gathered on April 24th, Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, to mark the murder of 1.5 million men, women, and children, and the exile of a people from their ancient homeland.

The Woodrow Wilson Center receives one-third of its annual funding from Congress. Senators and Representatives are being encouraged to “formally investigate this matter and to share [their] concerns on this deeply troubling development directly with the leadership of the Woodrow Wilson Center.”