Many in Los Angeles' large Armenian community want Bryant to dump the deal because Turkey refuses to recognize the slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians from 1915-19 by the Ottoman Turks as genocide.
In a statement, Turkish Airlines said, "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. The relationship between Kobe and Turkish Airlines is a business endorsement partnership, not a political statement."
