Jewish, Armenian leaders strive for healing

By April Simpson, Globe Staff | August 30, 2007

Political and religious leaders from the Jewish and Armenian
communities will launch a concerted effort today to heal rifts opened
by complaints that the Anti-Defamation League did not recognize
Armenian genocide.

The leaders will join survivors of both the Jewish and Armenian
genocides in a display of solidarity at the State House this
afternoon. Organizers said they want to send a message that the
slaughter of Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks in 1915 is
acknowledged by many Jews as genocide, despite decades of refusal to
do so by the ADL.

"In our community we use the phrase, ‘never again and never forget,’
and that doesn’t just refer to the Jewish community," said Councilor
Michael P. Ross, a member of the Boston City Council who organized the
event with state Representative Rachel Kaprielian of Watertown. "It
refers to the acknowledgment of all humanity and all genocide and all
intolerance. So it’s very important that we show the Armenian
community that there’s support."

It’s an important step, organizers said. "The most significant way to
stop genocide is to acknowledge it," said Representative Peter J.
Koutoujian of Newton, a Democrat whose grandparents immigrated to the
United States from Armenia to flee the massacres there.

The ADL found itself embroiled in controversy after the Town Council
in Watertown — home to one of the largest concentrations of
Armenian-Americans in the United States, with about 8,000 — voted
this month to withdraw from the league’s No Place for Hate program.
Watertown officials cited the league’s refusal to recognize the
Armenian genocide.

When the ADL’s regional executive director, Andrew H. Tarsy, defied
the national organization and publicly acknowledged the genocide, he
was fired. Then this week the ADL’s national leader, Abraham H.
Foxman, reinstated Tarsy and acknowledged that the mass killings were
genocide.

Today’s press conference at 5:30 on the State House steps is intended
to soothe ongoing animosities. But Watertown officials, citing ongoing
ADL resistance to an Armenian genocide resolution in Congress, said
they are not prepared to rejoin No Place for Hate.

Clyde L. Younger, president of the Watertown Town Council, said that
he will work to continue a similar program under a different name and
that he plans to contact local civic organizations and students for
help.

So far, the Town Council does not intend to rejoin the ADL program, he
said, because the league must do more to support the Armenian
community, including encouraging Congress to pass a genocide
resolution.

"That’s one reason why we revoked our association with the ADL,"
Younger said. "They’ve done some wonderful things in the past . . .
but what has happened now is a very significant issue for this
community."

Another council member, Angeline B. Kounelis, said Watertown will
continue as a tolerant and diverse community without the ADL program.

"The town of Watertown, the councilors, have enough to do without
having to delve into the national and international politics of the
ADL," Kounelis said.

Foxman, the ADL national director, maintained this week that the
genocide was an issue that Turkey and Armenia should address, not
anyone else.

Kaprielian said her Watertown constituents are deeply troubled by the
ADL’s refusal to support the congressional resolution.

She said many people in her community know Armenian genocide
survivors. The league’s acknowledgement of the genocide is a step in
the right direction, she said.

"To have that wholesale affirmation as we feel we’ve gotten has been a
positive turn of events on an otherwise bleak subject," Kaprielian
said.

Steve Grossman, a former ADL board member and a recognized leader in
the Jewish community, said today’s event will confirm ties between the
groups.

"Both of our peoples have been through genocides in the 20th century,"
he said, "and those experiences bind us more closely than ever
before."

April Simpson can be reached at asimpson@globe.com.

(c) Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

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