JEWISH GROUP CHIEF REVERSES POSITION, CALLS ARMENIAN MASSACRE A GENOCIDE
European Jewish Press
Aug 22 2007
Belgium
Abraham Foxman, ADL’s national director:"Because of our concern for the
unity of the Jewish community at a time of increased threats against
the the Jewish people, ADL has decided to revisit the tragedy that
befell the Armenians."
NEW YORK (EJP)—The Anti-Defamation League has called a World War
I-era massacre of Armenians a genocide, a change that comes days after
the organisation fired a regional director for taking the same stance.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the New-York based ADL’s director
Abraham Foxman said that the killings of Armenians by the Turks
"were indeed tantamount to genocide."
The statement came after weeks of controversy in which critics
questioned whether an organization dedicated to fighting anti-Ssemitism
in the world and remembering Holocaust victims could remain credible
without acknowledging the Armenian killings as genocide.
Foxman said: "In light of the heated controversy that has surrounded
the Turkish-Armenian issue in recent weeks, and because of our concern
for the unity of the Jewish community at a time of increased threats
against the Jewish people, ADL has decided to revisit the tragedy that
befell the Armenians." Related story US Jewish group fires official
over ‘genocide’ of Armenians stance
He added:" We have never negated but have always described the painful
events of 1915-1918 perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire against the
Armenians as massacres and atrocities. On reflection, we have come
to share the view of Henry Morgenthau, Sr. that the consequences of
those actions were indeed tantamount to genocide. If the word genocide
had existed then, they would have called it genocide."
The ADL director said he consulted with his friend Nobel Laureate Elie
Wiesel and other respected historians "who acknowledge this consensus."
He expressed the hope "that Turkey will understand that it is Turkey’s
friends who urge that nation to confront its past and work to reconcile
with Armenians over this dark chapter in history."
Congress resolution
However, Foxman stopped short of saying that the ADL would support
a resolution pending in the US Congress to formally acknowledge the
Armenian genocide.
"We continue to firmly believe that a Congressional resolution on
such matters is a counterproductive diversion and will not foster
reconciliation between Turks and Armenians and may put at risk the
Turkish Jewish community and the important multilateral relationship
between Turkey, Israel and the United States," he said.
Both Jewish and Armenian-American leaders applauded Foxman for his
policy shift.
Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee
of America, said he believed that the ADL’s policy change and the
attention the debate has attracted would boost the profile of the
resolution in Congress this fall.
"I think it only helps the legislation," Hamparian said. "I think
it shows that even long-standing reservations about the genocide
itself are crumbling in the face of community pressure and facts. The
opposition is falling apart."