Armenian National Committee of Massachusetts
47 Nichols Ave
Watertown, MA 02472
Tel. (617) 347-2833
Email. [email protected]
PRESS RELEASE
June 10, 2009
Contact: Shari Ardhaldjian
Tel: (617) 347-2833
MASSACHUSETTS COURT DISMISSES LAWSUIT DEMANDING
INCLUSION OF GENOCIDE DENIAL IN SCHOOLS
WATERTOWN, MA ? In a major setback for genocide denial, U.S.
District Court Judge Mark Wolf today dismissed a case initiated at
the prompting of the Assembly of Turkish American Associations
(ATAA) that would have compelled the inclusion of historically
inaccurate Armenian Genocide denial materials in the Massachusetts
education curriculum, reported the Armenian National Committee of
Massachusetts (ANC of MA).
"Today’s judgment sends a clear message that the federal court
system cannot be abused by genocide deniers to spread their lies
across America’s classroom," said ANC of MA Chairperson Shari
Ardhaldjian. "We welcome this decision and the powerful precedent
its sets for the future of genocide education here in the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts and throughout the nation."
The ATAA, according to media accounts, solicited the assistance of
two local teachers, a student, and his parents to file the case
against the state of Massachusetts in 2005. In February of 2006,
the Armenian National Committee joined the Armenian Bar
Association, Irish Immigration Society, Jewish Alliance for Law and
Social Action, and the NAACP in filing an amicus brief in support
of the Massachusetts Commonwealth’s calls to dismiss the case.
In his opinion, Chief Judge Wolf dismissed the case stating that
the plaintiffs are "are not entitled to relief in federal court."
The dismissal at this early stage of the proceedings is viewed in
legal circles as meaning the cased lacked even minimal merit.
This case is part of a larger strategy by Turkish American groups
to use the legal system to harass human rights advocates on issues
relating to the Armenian Genocide. The most recent instance is the
lawsuit filed against the Southern Poverty Law Center for articles
detailing Turkish government efforts to manipulate U.S. academia to
deny that crime against humanity.
The Massachusetts Genocide teaching guide was mandated to include
the Armenian Genocide, following the August, 1998, unanimous
passage of House Bill 3629, "An Act Relative to the Instruction of
the Great Hunger Period in Ireland, the Armenian Genocide and the
Holocaust." ANC chapters throughout Massachusetts had worked with
bill authors, State Senator Steve Tolman and House Member Warren
Tolman in support of the measure, which stated that, "The Board of
Education shall formulate recommendations on curricular materials
on genocide and human rights issues, and guidelines for the
teaching of such material." The law specifically calls for the
teaching of "the period of the transatlantic slave trade and the
middle passage, the great hunger period in Ireland, the Armenian
Genocide, the Holocaust and the Mussolini fascist regime and other
recognized human rights violations and genocides."
The ANC of MA continued to work with the Massachusetts Board of
Education, providing information on peer-reviewed, teacher tested
resources for inclusion in the teaching guide. In June of 1999, the
ANC of MA protested the proposed inclusion of denial propaganda in
the teaching guide that lobby groups, among them the ATAA, had
pressured the Board of Education to add in its second version of
the guide. In a letter to Massachusetts Governor Paul Cellucci, the
chairmen of the state’s four ANC chapters argued that inclusion of
such websites "is directly counter to the intent of the law." The
letter went on to note that, "careless intermingling of genocide
denial with the documentary sources it aims to obscure, will only
serve to confuse students and undermine academic integrity."
In August of 1999, in a letter to the ATAA, made public as part of
the lawsuit, the Board of Education argued that "since the
legislative intent of the statute was to address the Armenian
Genocide, and not to debate whether or not this occurred, the Board
and Department of Education cannot knowingly include resources that
call this into question." By October of 1999, the denial material
was removed from the teacher’s guide.
In 2002, the ANC of MA again took action regarding the genocide
curriculum, when a revised version which was up for review in May,
against a proposal to remove the Armenian Genocide from the
curriculum and replace it with a euphemistic and evasive reference
to Armenian "slaughter." Community leaders again worked with
Department of Education Commissioner David Driscoll to ensure that
the proper terminology was maintained.
From: Baghdasarian