MASSACHUSETTS MUNICIPAL ASSOCIATION CUTS TIES WITH "NO PLACE FOR HATE" PROGRAM OVER STANCE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

armradio.am
09.04.2008 10:54

Expressing strong disapproval over the Anti-Defamation League’s
(ADL) unwillingness to unequivocally recognize the Armenian Genocide,
the Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA) severed ties with the
"No Place for Hate" (NPFH) program, a community-based program offered
by the human rights group.

In a statement issued today, the MMA Board of Directors expressed
disappointment with the ADL’s refusal to "clarify and strengthen"
its earlier statements concerning the Armenian Genocide at the ADL’s
National Commission meeting in November 2007.

"The Board believes that unequivocal recognition of the Armenian
Genocide is both a matter of basic justice to its victims, as well
as essential to efforts to prevent future genocide," stated the MMA,
a nonprofit, nonpartisan association that provides advocacy, training,
publications, research and other services to Massachusetts cities
and towns.

"The MMA feels strongly that it is imperative to speak with absolute
clarity on the genocide and that due to the NPFH program’s association
with the National ADL, the Association will no longer be a sponsor
of the program," the organization explained.

"The Massachusetts Municipal Association has made a just and rightful
decision," said Massachusetts State Representative Rachel Kaprielian
(D-Watertown), a member of the Assembly’s Board of Trustees who has
been working on this issue. "As Armenians across the globe continue
to fight for official recognition of the Genocide of 1915 committed
at the hands of the Ottoman Empire– this is another step on the long
path toward worldwide recognition of the Armenian Genocide."

"As a former member of this board, a former municipal official
and current State Representative, I am deeply heartened by today’s
unanimous decision," Kaprielian continued.

"The MMA did the right thing by disassociating with the ADL’s
"No Place for Hate" program because ultimately its credibility was
compromised by the ADL’s refusal to recognize the Armenian Genocide,"
said Assembly State Chair for Massachusetts Herman Purutyan, who has
also been working on this issue.

"I hope that the ADL will reconsider its position in light of today’s
events and recognize the Armenian Genocide."

Following repeated calls by members of the Armenian, Jewish and other
communities in Massachusetts and elsewhere, the ADL one of the oldest
and most influential Jewish organizations in the US, issued a statement
in August 2007 in which they categorized the events of 1915-1918 as
"tantamount to genocide."

The Assembly welcomed the declaration as a step forward, but urged the
ADL to unequivocally recognize the crimes and support congressional
affirmation of the Armenian Genocide resolutions, H. Res. 106 and
S. Res. 106, pending in the House and Senate respectively.