Armenian victims’ heirs to get checks
Some will see payment as the result of an insurance suit related to
genocide.
By Vanessa Colón / The Fresno Bee
11/12/06 05:53:14
Some heirs of Armenian genocide victims will get a surprise in their
Fresno mailboxes this week: a hefty check.
More than 30 descendants in Fresno might each receive a payment of
between $1,000 and $44,000.
The money comes from a $7.9 million settlement reached between New York
Life Insurance Co. in New York and heirs of genocide victims under the
Turkish Ottoman empire. Between 1915 and 1923, 1.5 million Armenians
died at the hands of the Turkish Ottoman empire. The settlement was
reached in 2004.
Anahid Eleazarian of Fresno is among those expecting a check. Her father
was a college professor who had a New York Life insurance policy.
Eleazarian was 3 years old when her father was captured and killed
during the genocide. Surviving family members moved to Lebanon, where
four of the six siblings stayed. She left Lebanon in 1947 for the United
States and settled in Fresno in 1949.
Now 94, Eleazarian said she doesn’t know how much money she’ll get but
she will share it with her brothers’ and sisters’ children. She says
she’s the only one among her siblings to see this day come. In her eyes,
the money is secondary.
Most important, she said, is that "they are acknowledging" the genocide.
The Turkish government says the deaths were the result of civil unrest,
not genocide.
William Werfelman, a spokesman for New York Life, said: "New York Life
has made many friends in the Armenian community as a result of the
positive outcome of this case. It is great to see another milestone
reached in the process."
The class-action lawsuit alleged the company owed unpaid life insurance
benefits. New York Life agreed to resolve more than 2,000 insurance
policies issued to Armenians before 1915 and contribute $3 million to
Armenian civic organizations.
Of the thousands of claims reviewed, only 2,515 could be traced to
Armenians who purchased policies before 1915. Payments depend on the
amount of the policy purchased. Armenians in Armenia will receive more
than half of the settlement ‘ $3.4million. Armenians in the United
States will share $2.6 million, and Armenians in France will split
$656,413.
More than 600 policies were not claimed because there are no heirs, said
Glendale-based attorney Vartkes Yeghiayan. That money will go toward
Armenian charitable organizations. Yeghiayan said it took a long time to
distribute the settlement money because documents had to be translated
from seven languages, including Arabic, Armenian and Turkish.
New York Life provided a list of names that was placed on a Web site so
families could determine whether their ancestors had purchased policies.
Only 11 heirs had a copy of the policy. The rest found out through the
Web site:
Documents such as birth certificates, death certificates and marriage
certificates were used to trace family lineage.
Following the New York Life case, the same lawyers reached a $17 million
settlement in 2005 between heirs of Armenian genocide victims and French
life insurance company AXA, Yeghiayan said. The lawyers are waiting to
get a list of names from AXA so families can find out who’s eligible to
receive money.
Earlier this year, the same attorneys filed a class-action suit against
two German banks, he said. They are seeking to recover millions of
dollars of alleged bank deposits of Armenian genocide victims.
Yeghiayan said of the New York Life settlement: "It’s nice to get one
out of the way."
The reporter can be reached at [email protected] or (559) 441-6313.