BATTLE OVER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MUSEUM IN D.C. GETS NASTY
By Michael Doyle
McClatchy Washington Bureau
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Feb 6 2009
DC
WASHINGTON — A nasty legal fight complicates plans for an Armenian
genocide museum, and it shows no sign of abating.
On Friday, attorneys for the warring parties who once were close
allies met again in a District of Columbia courtroom. There was no
peace agreement, only the prospect of many more months of wrangling.
"The clients are very hostile to each other right now," attorney Arnold
Rosenfeld advised a federal judge last year, a court transcript shows.
Rosenfeld represents the Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial Inc. On
a site two blocks from the White House, the non-profit organization
proposes to build "the premier institution in the United States
dedicated to educating American and international audiences about
the Armenian Genocide."
The museum potentially has high appeal in regions with large
Armenian-American populations. It’s been discussed since the mid-1990s,
and planners say they want the 35,000-square-foot facility open
before 2011.
But a bad falling out with a major donor has been diverting time,
energy and money. The one-time donor, retired millionaire businessman
Gerard Cafesjian, is suing to reclaim his donations. Cafesjian,
in turn, is being sued by museum organizers for allegedly trying to
interfere with their work.
The competing lawsuits now resemble a bad divorce, where mutual rancor
feeds on itself and prior intimacies become potential vulnerabilities.
"I must say, I’m very irritated," U.S. District Judge Colleen
Kollar-Kotelly warned lawyers in August, a court transcript
shows. "These cases are not a good use of judicial resources and,
frankly, probably not of your client’s resources, either."
On Thursday, in a ruling that keeps the lawsuits alive, Kollar-Kotelly
nonetheless characterized them as "very unfortunate."
"If you’re disputing about money, it’s going to become bitter," noted
Barlow Der Mugrdechian, coordinator of the Armenian Studies Program at
California State University, Fresno. "It’s not going to go away soon."
When completed, the museum will commemorate the events between 1915
and 1923, when by some estimates upward of 1.5 million Armenians died
during the final years of the Ottoman Empire.
Architects are already designing the project for the corner of 14th
and G streets in downtown Washington. The city’s Historic Preservation
Review Board last year gave conceptual approval to use of the existing
83-year-old National Bank of Washington building.
The Armenian Assembly of America initiated the museum planning and
in 2003 secured an agreement with Cafesjian and the Cafesjian Family
Foundation. There then followed a series of complicated transactions.
The foundation granted and pledged roughly $15 million to help the
Armenian Assembly buy the four-story National Bank of Washington
building and four adjacent pieces of property. The donation included
an agreement that if the museum isn’t developed by Dec. 31, 2010,
the Cafesjian foundation can get either its money or the property back.
Cafesjian is a World War II Navy veteran who made his fortune as an
executive at West Publications, a Minnesota company that handles legal
publications. He is described by his supporters as a well-meaning
benefactor.
"Cafesjian has dedicated his largess to the Armenian people, Armenian
nation, and Armenian causes," his attorneys stated in one legal filing.
But problems became apparent by October 2006, when a Cafesjian ally
filed legal documents that allegedly clouded the title of the museum
property. The museum organizers subsequently claimed Cafesjian was
"actively taking steps to delay the development" in hopes of regaining
the property for his own purposes.
Cafesjian filed his own lawsuit, claiming that the museum’s board of
directors deliberately shut him out from key planning decisions.
"Unfortunately, rather than becoming more cooperative, relations
among trustees were increasingly divisive," Cafesjian’s attorneys
summed up in one legal filing.
The bitterness is apparent in voluminous legal filings.
Museum organizers make Cafesjian out to be a profit-seeking egotist,
as they described his plans for a giant "Cafesjian Art Museum" next
door to a "grandiose" genocide museum that would feature an enormous
"Cafesjian Memorial."
Illustrating the prevailing mood, attorney Arnold Rosenfeld suggested
that Cafesjian, who turned 84 last year, might manipulate a health
excuse to avoid giving a deposition.
"Cafesjian’s health issues have occurred with particular frequency
at times when decisions regarding matters involving the (lawsuits)
have been required or when his presence with regard to the actions
has been important," Rosenfeld stated in a Jan. 30 affidavit.
Rosenfeld declined Friday to comment on the genocide museum lawsuits
when approached outside the courtroom. He had earlier asked the judge
to impose a gag rule on the two sides, noting that "all they do is
insult each other," but he indicated Friday no formal gag rule was
in place.
One of Cafesjian’s attorneys, Nancy Berardinelli-Krantz, likewise
declined to comment on the case. Representatives of the Armenian
Assembly were traveling Friday and could not be reached.
In coming weeks, the various lawyers and representatives will be
meeting again in Minnesota, Massachusetts, Florida and elsewhere
for a series of pretrial depositions, setting the stage for their
future jousting.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
