Armenian National Committee of Eastern Massachusetts
47 Nichols Avenue
Watertown, MA 02472
ancem@Hotmail.com

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
September 10, 2007
Contact: Sevag Arzoumanian
Tel: 617-233-3174

LOCAL HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL URGES BELMONT SELECTMEN TO CUT TIES WITH ADL

— Hearing Participants Cite ADL’s Opposition to Armenian Genocide
Recognition

BELMONT, MA – Over 100 residents applauded the Belmont, MA Human
Rights Commission September 6th decision to unanimously call on the
local Board of Selectmen to sever ties with the Anti-Defamation League
(ADL), citing their ongoing opposition to Armenian Genocide
recognition, reported the Armenian National Committee of Eastern
Massachusetts (ANC-EM).

Belmont Human Rights Commission (BHRC) Chairwoman Laurie Graham
presided over the town hall meeting which featured a groundswell of
poignant statements by residents of Armenian, Jewish and diverse
backgrounds citing that opposition to Armenian Genocide recognition is
offensive to local citizenry and runs counter to the most basic
principles of a local program promoting tolerance and human rights.

`We applaud the Belmont Human Rights Commission for standing up for
truth and human dignity by rejecting ties with the ADL – an
organization opposing Armenian Genocide recognition,’ stated Aram
Kaligian of the ANC-EM. `In Belmont and cities across Massachusetts,
we are seeing democracy in action – our diverse communities speaking
out, collectively, to support U.S. reaffirmation of the Armenian
Genocide, in our ongoing struggle to stamp out genocide around the
world.’

Excerpts from the BHRC hearing can be viewed online at:
of-belmont-human-rights.html

Belmont Armenian American community activist Lenna Garibian, a grand
daughter of genocide survivors, stated that the question at hand was
not about the reality of the Armenian Genocide but about the moral
imperative to speak openly and honestly about this crime against
humanity. `No Armenian should sit with a revisionist Turkish
historian… to discuss whether the genocide happened or not. The
world knows. Turkey knows. [ADL director] Abe Foxman knows. This was
a genocide," explained Garibian who went on to note that HRC decision
`sets a good tone moving forward, that Belmont will not tolerate an
equivocation of the truth, of justice."

That sentiment was echoed throughout speeches given during the
evening, with emphasis on ending Genocide and Holocaust denial in all
forms. Massachusetts State Assemblywoman Rachel Kaprielian cited the
resurging trend of Holocaust denial worldwide as survivors pass away
and a political gap between the younger and older generations
widens. `The survivors see what is coming down the road, just as their
parents saw it,’ explained Kaprielian. `You have so much power and
ability to say to our government, `This is fact’, while there are
still survivors alive,’ continued Kaprielian.

Speakers also focused on U.S. affirmation of the Armenian Genocide,
and overall commitment to ending this crime against humanity. Belmont
resident Joyce Barsam quoted author Samantha Powers from her Pulitzer
Prize winning book A Problem From Hell, stating `If only America had
been made of more upstanders, instead of bystanders- America would be
in a very different position today.’ Barsam continued, stating `I am
asking this committee to be upstanders instead of bystanders of the
Armenian Genocide. We hope you stand up for the truth and the human
rights that you are commissioned to support.’

Expressing concern about the ADL’s opposition to Armenian Genocide
legislation citing the safety of Jews in Turkey, Belmont resident Lisa
Sedrakian argued that `if Jews are affected in Turkey, it will be the
Turks to blame, not the Armenian-American community.’

Watertown Town Council Member and sponsor of the resolution severing
her town’s ties with the ADL Marilyn Petitto Devaney was forceful in
her demands that the National ADL end its campaign against the
Armenian Genocide Resolution. `I want the National ADL to stop
lobbying to kill the Genocide Resolution [in Congress and the House],
as they have done for years. This could be the year we prevail.’

Dr. Jack Nusan Porter, former Rabbi, Director of the Spencer Institute
and a member of the International Association of Genocide Scholars,
who has been an outspoken opponent to the ADL’s opposition to Armenian
Genocide recognition, stated `I fear for the future of the ADL. I
think this could tear it apart. You must send a powerful message to
sever ties with the ADL now.’

ANC Eastern Massachusetts Representative Aram Kaligian was clear in
the Armenian American community’s request of the BHRC members. `We
urge you to stand with the Armenian American and Jewish American
communities in helping the ADL national leadership come to the right
side on this issue,’ explained Kaligian, calling for unambiguous
affirmation of the Armenian Genocide and support for Armenian Genocide
legislation. Kaligian went on to urge attendees to `get the phone
numbers of the Town Selectmen here, and call them and let them know
how you feel about the ADL’s attempts to cast doubt on the tragic
events of 1915. . . And if you think that you might feel a little
uncomfortable calling up a stranger and telling him how you feel about
the denial of the Armenian Genocide, I want you to remember the
stories your grandparents told you about how they walked through the
desert. . . They had the courage to live through these atrocities,
the least we can do is have the courage to pick up the phone and call
our Town Selectmen and demand that they not tarnish the memory of our
grandparents.’

The BHRC voted overwhelmingly to sever ties with the ADL – a decision
considered seriously by two Belmont Selectmen present at the
proceedings. According to the Belmont Citizen Herald, Selectman Paul
Solomon said `he was in total support of the HRC’s position. `This is
in advance of the [selectmen’s discussion], but I will support their
stand.” Selectman Dan Leclerc stated he was `in the process of
processing [the decision.]’

The BHRC vote to sever ties comes as cities affiliated with the ADL’s
`No Place for Hate’ tolerance program throughout Massachusetts
reconsider their ties to an organization with a history of Armenian
Genocide denial and which continues to oppose Congressional Armenian
Genocide legislation (H.Res.106 /S.Res.106). Watertown was the first
to disaffiliate with the tainted NPFH program, followed by a
suspension of ties by Arlington, and decisions by the towns of Newton,
Needham, Newburyport, Bedford to cut ties if the ADL does not alter
its policies on the Armenian Genocide.

For complete information about the Abe Foxman / ADL controversy
surrounding the Armenian Genocide visit

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Memo rable Remarks from the Belmont Human Rights
Commission Hearing on Severing Ties with the ADL
Due to its Opposition to Armenian Genocide Recognition

Commissioner Conny Williams (Belmont)
Belmont Human Rights Commission
`I am suggesting that we sever our ties because
we think the ADL is inconsistent in its
proclamation of being against human rights
violations and of fostering No Place for Hate. I
would not want to express this with any
reluctance….The pain that I feel is that an
organization that is sponsoring this program
[NPFH] could take this stance that it has taken.’

Rachel Kaprielian (Watertown)
Massachusetts State House Delegate
`In communities like Belmont, like the other
communities that have NPFH, it isn’t just about
acknowledging the Armenian Genocide, it’s
acknowledging all genocides. Here, now, in the
future. This is an important moment in time. It
would be such an incredible experience to see a
resolution passed when there are still survivors left on Earth.’

Marilyn Petitto Devaney (Watertown)
Member of the Watertown Town Council
`I was asked by the Local NPFH committee in
Watertown to give them 90 days. The Armenian
community has been waiting for over 90 years and
they [ADL] have deprived the Armenian people from
the right to their history. Years ago there was a
resolution in Congress to recognize the
Holocaust. Who would be against that, who would
deprive them from having that resolution, but the
ADL has. They said [the ADL] that to have a
resolution in Congress would be
counterproductive. That resolution for the
Holocaust wasn’t counterproductive and this isn’t.’

Michael Collins (Belmont)
Belmont Against Racism Board Member
`We are very pained by this because on one hand
we have been people who have supported the goals
of the NPFH campaign, but having listened to
everyone here tonight we are going back to our
board and recommend that we would be supportive
of the Town severing its relationship with the
ADL, as much as we really want the work to continue.’

Dr. Jack Nusan Porter, (Newton, MA)
Director of the Spencer Institute and a member of
the International Association of Genocide Scholars
`People ask me `why would Abe Foxman want to do
this?’. I can tell you why. Abe Foxman sees
everything through the prism of Israel. The
Turkish government has played a kind of a
political blackmail and has influenced him
[Foxman] by saying that Israel will be harmed.
The Turkish Jewish community will be harmed. This
is blackmail, this is utter nonsense. The state
of Turkey could never enter the EU if it harmed
the head of a single Jew in Turkey and if it hurt
Israel. But it still uses these tactics and these
arguments and they work! My view is that you have
to send a powerful message now before the
November meetings in which you state
categorically that you want to sever ties with
the ADL at this moment. It’s not a question that
you are against No Place for Hate. We all are in
favor of this wonderful program, but you only
want to sever the ADL’s connection to it. If the
ADL changes its position you can always go back to the ADL connection.’

Aram Kaligian (Belmont)
ANC Eastern Massachusetts Representative
`We urge you to stand with the Armenian American
and Jewish American communities in helping the
ADL national leadership come to the right side on
this issue. We urge the Belmont No Place for Hate
committee to sever its ties with the
Anti-Defamation League until such time that the
organization properly and unambiguously
acknowledges the Armenian Genocide and supports
congressional affirmation of this crime against
humanity. Anything less would jeopardize efforts
to protect and uphold the civil rights and
dignity of the Belmont’s Armenian-American citizenry.’

Lenna Garibian (Belmont)
`I have two daughters at home, one is 7 the
other is 5. The thought of them – the image of
them wandering the desert together alone, without
me or my husband to protect them, terrifies me.
The thought of the two them holding on each
other’s hands, not knowing what to do, hungry,
weak, and scared—until one of them lets go of
the other, chills me. And the thought of one of
them having to live with that guilt for the rest
of her life, like my grandmother did, so enrages me.’

`For these reasons, it is impossible to accept
anything less than unequivocal genocide
acknowledgment and support from the ADL and
NPFH. However commendable some of its programs
are, the NPFH program has no business in this
town while the ADL holds to its position. And
finally, no, I cannot offer patience, to this
process, so that Mr. Foxman can return in
November with the right spin on the Armenian Genocide.’

David Boyajian (Newton)
`The question may appear to revolve around the
Armenian Genocide but it does not. It could be
about any genocide. It could be about any issue
of human rights that your sponsor distorted for
its own political purposes. The issue is simple:
if you, as a human rights commission are as
serious about human rights as your mission
statements say you are, you will sever ties with the ADL without delay.’

Luder Sahakian (Needham)
As the premiere human rights defender in the US,
the world community would have expected the ADL
to rigorously uphold settled history. Instead,
the ADL has for over 15 years consciously placed
politics over principle, it has parroted Turkish
policy, been complicit in genocide denial and
continues to oppose congressional resolutions
affirming the reality of the Armenian genocide. .
. The ADL has depleted its moral authority and
legitimacy and cannot be expected to credibly
sponsor and manage any anti-hate program so long
that it exercises a form of hate itself.’

Rev. Harutunian (Belmont)

`When the Armenians came to this country they
found a land of opportunity, particularly here in
Massachusetts. This country has offered us so
much, but one thing that the United States till
now has not offered has been that this would be a
land of healing for the Armenian people. Because
when you’re victim of a violent crime whether
it’s an individual, subgroup or a nation, until
the story is validated, accepted, affirmed, and
responded to with appropriate outrage, he crime
continues to scar [them] and that’s truly the
story of the Armenians. I can’t imagine a
community like this […] wanting to be associated
with an organization that is actively hurting our
own people in this community. I strongly ask you
to reconsider the association that we have with them.’

Lisa Sedrakian (Belmont)
`There can be no reconciliation between Turks and
Armenians without Turkey’s recognition of the
genocide and its acceptance of the Ottoman
government’s role in perpetrating that
genocide. There can be no reconciliation without
truth. I cannot stand by when the US its
relationship with Turkey based on ignoring the
truth about the Armenian genocide. We should
have the ADL’s true commitment and conviction
behind their position on the Armenian Genocide
before we, the town of Belmont, have a relationship with them.’

Joyce Barsam (Belmont)
`Every person in this room has a story, an
odyssey of how we happen to be here instead of
living in Turkey. I want to bring to the
committee’s attention a very important
distinction that Samantha Powers made in her book
`A Problem From Hell’. `If America had been made
up of more upstanders instead of bystanders, we
would be in a very different position today’. I
am asking this committee to be upstanders instead
of bystanders of the Armenian Genocide. We hope
you stand up for the truth and the human rights
that you are commissioned to support.’

Jirair Hovsepian (Belmont)
`The ADL has been operating in a selective manner
by which to defend human rights. It would pick
and choose which human rights issue to defend and
which to ignore, or even sidestep or diminish
some issues of human rights violations of the
magnitude of the Holocaust such as the Armenian
genocide. It would politicize a human rights
issue, while its `ultimate purpose is to secure
justice and fair treatment to all citizens
alike'(quoting from the ADL 1913 charter). The
ADL has lost the moral ground and cannot be
trusted to guide and protect the human rights
values of all our fellow citizens in Belmont.’

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Note to editors: Pictures available upon request