Armenian National Committee of Massachusetts
47 Nichols Avenue
Watertown MA 02472
617-926-1918
[email protected]
Press Release
October 20, 2008
Contact: 617-347-2833
ANC Responds to Watertown Town Councilor’s Remarks in Boston Globe After
Council President says he is comfortable with ADL assurances
Watertown, MA -The Armenian National Committee of Massachusetts has
asked Watertown Town Council President Clyde Younger to clarify his
remarks in the Boston Globe suggesting that he is `comfortable with
assurances from the Anti-Defamation League’s national leader, Abraham
H. Foxman, that the organization recognizes the Armenian genocide."
In a Sunday, October 19, 2008 article, entitled, `ADL fight appears
over,’ the Boston Globe reported that Younger has had a `change of
heart’ after receiving an October 3 letter from national ADL director
Abraham Foxman.
The ANC letter to Mr. Younger is below.
####
Dear Chairman Younger:
We were shocked to discover in today’s Boston Globe that you now feel
"comfortable with assurances from the Anti-Defamation League’s
national leader, Abraham H. Foxman, that the organization recognizes
the Armenian genocide." And imagine our surprise when we read that
the `ADL fight appears over!’ It was particularly disappointing that
this was the way by which the Armenian community first learned of the
letter you received from Mr. Foxman addressing an alleged change in
the ADL’s policy regarding the Armenian
Genocide. s/globe_west/west/2008/10/adl_statement_o.html
Wo uld you please share this letter with us, as we have not found any
evidence of a new ADL position anywhere in the public arena?
As you agreed at the September 23, 2008 Watertown Town Council
meeting, the ADL’s August 2008 statement, as well as its August 2007
statement, do not qualify as an unambiguous acknowledgement of the
Armenian Genocide.
A careful reading of the ADL’s insincere August 22, 2008 letter, which
was buried deeply on its web site and has since been removed, reveals
that the ADL states only that is has `referred’ to genocide, it is
by no means an unequivocal acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide.
Rather, it reads, `ADL has never denied the tragic and painful events
perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenians, and we have
referred to those massacres and atrocities as genocide.’ Moreover,
this letter provocatively accuses those who are working to end
genocide denial of `demonization.’
This letter apparently refers to the only other public – and now
infamous – ADL statement of August 21, 2007, which read, `the
consequences’ of the Turkish massacres and atrocities were `tantamount
to genocide.’ That statement was clearly not an acknowledgment of the
Armenian Genocide.
As you know, the ADL carefully crafted its August 2007 statement to
contravene the international legal definition of genocide. The
phrasing circumvents the `intent’ required by the 1948 United Nations
Genocide Convention by suggesting that Armenians died simply as a
`consequence’ of World War I conditions and not from a planned program
of extermination – which just happens to be Turkey’s position.
Judging the August 21, 2007 statement inadequate, Massachusetts cities
and towns, the Massachusetts Municipal Association, human rights
commissions, the Jewish community, and the Armenian community called
on the ADL to issue an unambiguous affirmation of the Armenian
Genocide at its national meeting in early November 2007. The ADL
refused to do so, releasing instead a dismissive one-sentence
statement reaffirming the ADL’s national policy that read, `The
National Commission of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today, at its
annual meeting, decided to take no further action on the issue of the
Armenian genocide.’
As you also know, The Massachusetts Municipal Association and 12 of
the 13 Massachusetts communities that dissociated from the ADL’s No
Place for Hate program did so after the ADL’s August 2008 statement,
judging it unacceptable.
The ADL not only has refused to explicitly acknowledge the Armenian
Genocide, but has for several years actively lobbied on behalf of the
Turkish government to deny the Armenian Genocide and to prevent
passage of a Congressional resolution formally recognizing the
Armenian Genocide. It continues to publicly voice opposition to a
Congressional resolution.
Although nation-states have national security and realpolitik
considerations when formulating policy, a human rights organization
simply cannot put politics above universal rights. Yet this is
exactly what the ADL does whenever a human rights issue conflicts with
the perceived interests of the state of Israel.
Mr. Foxman has admitted as much. In an interview with the New Jersey
Jewish Standard, published October 26, 2007, he explained his
reasoning regarding the Armenian Genocide:
`It was also very clear to me that after the United States the most
important ally Israel has is Turkey. It’s a country that not only has
promised to provide Israel with water until moshiach comes, but it’s a
country that permits Israel’s pilots to do maneuvers over its land.
And, so, to me, it was very clear that there are two moral issues, but
one trumps the other. And it was clear to me that I cannot save one
Armenian human being, not one. But if I do what the Armenians want me
to do, I will put in jeopardy the lives of Turkish Jews and Israeli
Jews.’
The ADL continues to engage in other forms of genocide denial as well.
It has, for instance, repeatedly endorsed Turkey’s proposal for a
joint commission of Turkish and Armenian scholars `to investigate what
happened in the past.’
In June 2008, the internationally respected anti-hate group Southern
Poverty Law Center (SPLC) issued an extensive intelligence report
documenting Turkey’s campaign of genocide denial
( /article.jsp?aid=935),
and condemned such calls for a `historian’s commission.’ The SPLC
pointed out that `a lie isn’t the other side of any story. It’s just a
lie.’ The report quoted Torben Jorgensen of the Danish Center for
Holocaust and Genocide Studies as saying, `When it comes to the
historical reality of the Armenian genocide, there is no `Armenian’ or
`Turkish’ side of the question, any more than there is a `Jewish’ or
`German’ side of the historical reality of the Holocaust. There is a
scientific side and an unscientific side – acknowledgement or denial.’
Human rights are universal and they must be respected and protected
for all people. Discrimination against any person or group on the
basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs or
disability must never be tolerated. And historical truths must be
upheld.
We would welcome a sincere, unambiguous acknowledgment of the Armenian
Genocide by the Anti-Defamation League. Rather, what we have observed
is an organization engaged in a double game: issuing disingenuous
statements that do not actually recognize the Armenian Genocide but
are crafted in such a way as to mislead the public, while continuing
to engage in genocide denial by promoting Turkey’s agenda with regard
to a historical commission and Congressional recognition of the
Armenian Genocide.
We would appreciate the opportunity to discuss this with you at your
earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
Sharistan Melkonian
Armenian National Committee of Massachusetts
47 Nichols Avenue
Watertown MA 02472