Glendale News Press
LATimes.com
March 1 2005
Local Armenian groups get settlement share
Armenian Educational Foundation is awarded more than $333,000 for
descendants of victims of Armenian genocide.
By Jackson Bell, News-Press and Leader
PASADENA — Two local charities received a sizable chunk of a
$20-million insurance settlement Monday for heirs of those slain in
the Armenian genocide.
Representatives from Glendale-based Armenian Educational Foundation
and Burbank-based Armenian Church of the North America Western Diocese
received checks for more than $333,000 each during a ceremony in
Pasadena on Monday.
New York Life last year agreed to settle the 1999 class-action lawsuit
filed by descendants of victims of the 1915 genocide. They accused the
insurance company of not paying out 2,300 policies purchased by their
relatives in the Ottoman Empire, officials said. The Turks are said
to have killed more than 1.5-million Armenians in what many consider
the first genocide of the 20th century.
“This is historic because it is the first case of its kind for
any money or resolution of the Armenian genocide,” said Brian S.
Kabateck, one of the attorneys who orchestrated the settlement and
whose grandparents survived the genocide. “And it’s probably the
oldest case in U.S. history since its inception 90 years ago.”
The money will benefit only the “poor and needy,” Kabateck said. It
cannot be used for administrative purposes by the organizations. The
groups have six months to determine how to spend the money, he said.
According to the settlement, nine U.S. charities that serve people
of Armenian descent will share $3 million. Individual relatives of
victims will receive the remaining $17 million.
The 55-year-old Armenian Educational Foundation provides scholarships
to needy students, funds after-school programs for as many as 1,400
Glendale and Burbank children and has helped rebuild schools in
Armenia, board member Haigoush Keghinian-Kohler said. The board will
meet this month to decide the best use for the money, Keghinian-Kohler
said.
The settlement will not only benefit the local community, but will
also help the healing process, she said.
“I am a child and grandchild of survivors,” Keghinian-Kohler said.
“Hopefully, my parents and grandparents will rest in peace, but not
completely until the U.S. and Turkish governments recognize that the
genocide did happen.”
Officials from the Armenian Church of North America Western Diocese
are planning to use the payment to help fund seminary school for
aspiring priests, Diocese Chairman Richard Mushegain said.
“Thousands of Armenian priests were killed during the genocide, and
there is a big shortage now in the United States,” Mushegain said.
“We want to honor the priests who died while benefiting those
coming up.”
Descendants of those who have outstanding New York Life
policies must file their claims by March 16 to receive their
share of the settlement. People can check their eligibility at