Opposition to Kobe’s sponsorship is ‘racism’

Turkish-American groups defended Kobe Bryant’s sponsorship accord with Turkey’s national airline against protests by Armenians in Los Angeles, while a company spokeswoman called for a separation between politics and sport.

Armenian-Americans have been lobbying the U.S. government for decades to classify the early 20^th-century killings of Armenians in Turkey as genocide. They are protesting the decision by the Los Angeles Lakers guard to become a “global brand ambassador” for the state-run airline, trying to force him to drop the deal.

Los Angeles has one of the biggest ethnic- Armenian populations in the world outside Armenia. Turkey rejects the genocide designation, and Turkish Airlines, or Türk Hava Yolları AO, has asked that the National Basketball Association player be separated from the political controversy.

“Kobe Bryant is a cultural figure, not a historian, and is in no way related to a sensitive and complex controversy over highly contested history,” CBS News quoted Fatma Yüceler, director of the carrier’s western U.S. region, as saying.

Turkish Airlines announced the partnership with Bryant as it began publicizing its first direct flights to Los Angeles from Istanbul, which start in March.

A spokeswoman for Turkish Airlines in Istanbul did not respond to requests for comment by phone and e-mail, and nor did Bryant’s agent in Los Angeles, Rob Pelinka.

The Assembly of Turkish American Associations, an umbrella group for Turkish-American interests, said the opposition to Bryant’s sponsorship was “racism.”
‘Harass athletes’
“Turkey is the seventh most-visited tourist destination in the world,” ATAA President Günay Evinç said in an e-mailed statement that was also posted on the group’s website. “It is a shame that Armenian extremists would harass athletes who support Turkish brands.”

Turkish Airlines is one of the fastest-growing and most profitable airlines in Europe. The company also sponsors the European basketball league and European soccer clubs FC Barcelona and Manchester United.

Terms of the deal with Bryant, the highest-paid player in the NBA, according to Forbes, have not been disclosed.

Bloomberg