For some, ADL’s reversal on Armenian genocide falls short
By Robert Mills, [email protected]
Article Last Updated: 08/22/2007 11:42:33 AM EDT
LOWELL — It’s not enough.
That’s what some local Armenians are saying after the Anti-Defamation
League’s about-face yesterday in which it acknowledged the Turkish genocide
committed against Armenians in the early 20th century.
While welcoming the ADL’s change in position, local Armenians say the
organization’s continued political opposition to a Congressional resolution
acknowledging the genocide makes the acknowledgement appear half-hearted.
Some even questioned whether it was merely an effort to respond to pressure
and outrage within the Jewish community, and not a real change of heart on
the part of ADL National Director Abraham Foxman.
"I’m not so sure that this is really a change of heart on his part," said
Joe Dagdigian, former chairman of the Armenian National Committee of the
Merrimack Valley. "To be honest, it sounds a bit like a plea bargain just to
get himself out of the corner he’s painted himself into."
The flap began earlier this month when Watertown disassociated itself from
the ADL’s
No Place For Hate anti-bigotry campaign over the issue.
The ADL then fired its New England regional director, Andrew Tarsy, after he
agreed the killings were genocide. That firing prompted the immediate
resignation of two board members on the ADL’s board of directors.
Yesterday morning, officials in Acton also decided to disassociate their No
Place For Hate program from the ADL, according to State Rep. Jamie Eldridge,
who is co-chairman of the No Place For Hate program in Acton.
"With the news that the national ADL reversed their position, we’re not
taking any action," said Eldridge, also a candidate for Marty Meehan’s
vacated 5th Congressional District seat.
The ADL’s reversal came in a statement released yesterday in which Foxman
said he had consulted with Nobel prize-winning Holocaust survivor Elie
Wiesel and other respected historians before deciding the killings "were
indeed tantamount to genocide."
Nevertheless, Foxman said the ADL still thinks a resolution before the U.S.
House of Representatives that would acknowledge the genocide "is a
counterproductive diversion."
It was that statement that left local Armenians saying the reversal seemed
half-hearted.
Pearl Teague and Aram Jeknavorian, co-chairpersons of the Armenian National
Committee of the Merrimack Valley, were delighted that support from the
Jewish community had driven the ADL to finally recognize the genocide.
They, along with Dagdigian, were not as pleased with Foxman, though.
They expressed dismay that by failing to support the congressional
resolution, which is co-sponsored by 220 representatives, the ADL seems to
still be looking at the genocide as a political issue and not a moral one.
Foxman cited concerns about the welfare of the Jewish community in Turkey,
and the importance of the strong relationship between Turkey, Israel and the
United States in explaining his belief that the congressional resolution
would be counterproductive.
Turkey has long claimed no genocide occurred, and that the killings were
collateral damage in a civil war. Up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by
Muslim Turks between 1915 and 1923.
Local Armenians praised the New England Jewish community, saying they
understand the issue and share their concerns.
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