OYAK’S PARTNER AXA RELEASES LIST OF INSURED VICTIMS OF FORCED ARMENIAN EMIGRATION
CaÐri CobanoÐlu Ýstanbul
Today’s Zaman, Turkey
July 3 2007
Insurance company AXA, the French partner of the Armed Forces Pension
Fund (OYAK Group), has released a list of insured Anatolian Armenians
who lost their lives during the forced emigration by the Ottoman
Empire during World War I. The list includes 7,000 names.
In 2005, AXA had agreed to pay $ 17 million to the heirs of those
who died during emigration.
The list released on the Internet includes the policy numbers and
names of those who were insured by AXA at the time when they lost
their lives.
AXA at the time unleashed a wave of anger in Turkey after they agreed
in October 2005 to settle a class action lawsuit by descendants of
the victims of alleged genocide of Armenians under Ottoman rule.
The case was settled in a California court accusing the company of
failing to pay death benefits for the insurance policies purchased
by Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire prior to an alleged genocide.
Eventually, the case was settled for $17 million in the United States.
The influential Armenian diaspora at the time hailed the settlement
as a boost for their international campaign to have the World War I
killings of Anatolian Armenians recognized as genocide, an accusation
Turkey categorically rejects.
AXA made an announcement on their Web site,
, on which a notice of claim form
was also released and called on those who find their ancestor’s name
on the list to submit a written notice of claim no later than Oct. 1,
2007, to the Settlement Fund Board of AXA. An Armenian version of
the notice of the form was also put on their Web site.
It is expected that the number of heirs of those 7,000 persons may
reach tens of thousands.
The deal, which was harshly criticized by the Turkish public, also
dealt a blow to OYAK, an industrial venture representing the army
pension fund and AXA’s partner in Turkey since 1999. OYAK announced
after the deal that it was reviewing the situation in the light of the
"sensitivities of the Turkish people."
Recently, the sale of OYAK Bank, pending official approval, to Dutch
ING Group for $2.7 billion in cash has triggered a rumble of discontent
from various segments of Turkish society. Almost everyone considered
the sale to contradict what was previously said by the OYAK Group,
the parent conglomerate, which conducted a nationalistic — and
somewhat anti-foreign capital — campaign during its participation
in the privatization of Ereðli Iron and Steelworks (Erdemir) in 2005.
With the assistance of this atmosphere created through this campaign,
OYAK won the tender and became the biggest iron and steel producer
in the country.
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