The U.S. Congress is currently considering a controversial bill that declares the 1915 to 1923 killing and deportation of the Ottoman Empire's Armenian population in Eastern Anatolia to be genocide.

Instead of passing this bill, members of Congress who seek justice for Armenians should focus their efforts on a separate bill that deals with the recent assassination of an Armenian-Turkish journalist, says a Duke University graduate student from Turkey who studies the history of the Ottoman-Armenian-Kurdish conflict.

"While I believe it is historically credible to call the 1915 massacres a genocide, the current international political climate means this bill would do little to advance justice, prevent further genocide or promote the stated American aim of supporting democracy in the Middle East," said Yektan Turkyilmaz, a graduate student in cultural anthropology.

"The effect of the ‘genocide' bill, even before being passed, has been to invigorate ultra-nationalists in Turkey who see the bill as evidence of America and Armenia conspiring to paint Turks as victimizers," Turkyilmaz said. "It does not strengthen groups in Turkey and Armenia open to better relations through dialogue.

"A better way to pursue those goals is proposed in another bill regarding Turkey, also currently in Congress," Turkyilmaz said. "That bill condemns the assassination this year of the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink and calls for the continuation of the investigation of his murder."

While researching the massacre in Armenia in 2005, Turkyilmaz was detained in an Armenian KGB detention center for several weeks without charges being filed. Turkyilmaz was released after Armenian officials intervened at the urging of several American leaders, including former Sen. Bob Dole, Sen. Richard Lugar and Duke President Richard H. Brodhead.