Ted Bogosian Loyal To His Untruths About Monte Melkonian
By Ara Manoogian
Hetq Online
[ 2010/05/03 | 14:15 ]
`Sile nce is one of the
hardest arguments to refute,’Josh Billings, a 19th century popular
American humorist, once famously said. But no matter how hard it appears
to be, I have no other choice but to start a dialogue with a wall of
silence, behind which Ted Bogosian the Truth Seeker has opted to hide. One circumstance, however, plays in my favor:
the more garrulous your interlocutor has been preceding his avowed
silence, the more vulnerable the latter becomes. This point was
brilliantly proven by Ted Bogosian himself just a few days ago in what
appeared to be a desperate attempt to stand corrected… by silencing the
truth.
It’s been roughly a month since Radio Open Source host
Christopher Lydon’s infamous interview with Ted Bogosian, an
award-winning Armenian-American director, documentarian and journalist,
was aired online and reposted throughout the web. The dissemination of
the radio interview served the noble agenda of spreading the word about
the heart of the Armenian cause – the Armenian Genocide and the Turkish
denialism. However, his headlong pursuit of big truths was regrettably
marred with loads of misinformation dishonoring Armenian national hero
Monte Melkonian, one of the most revered martyrs of modern Armenian
history who put his life at stake for the defense of fellow Armenians
and their victory in an unequal war. Mr. Bogosian spoke from the
viewpoint of a Truth Hound as he was presented at the onset of the
interview. He made a number of serious unsupported claims that Monte
Melkonian started a terrorist movement, selling arms and drugs,
masterminding the Orly Airport attack of July 15, 1983 in Paris, as well
as Turkish embassies in Europe and other businesses.
When the
dead cannot stand up for their own defense, someone alive has to. Having
spent over a decade researching the life and death of Monte Melkonian
but never once coming across evidence that would support any such claim,
I wrote Ted Bogosian an email on April 13, 2010. In my heartfelt
message, I kindly asked him to share the supporting evidence I assumed
he would have for the claims regarding Monte Melkonian he made in the
interview. In expectation of never-before-seen evidence I refrained from
repudiating any of his claims based on my own research.
Four days
of Ted Bogosian’s absolute silence and/or complete indifference – thus,
lack of supporting evidence for his claims – compelled me to set the
record straight based on existing evidence. I wrote an article and
submitted it to Hetq, a leading newspaper of investigative journalism in
Armenia. At the same time, I wrote Mr. Bogosian another email as a
reminder for a response to my previous letter. But no reply followed. As
a next step, I posted the whole article as a comment under his
interview at Radio Open Source website and Huffington post to make sure
he receives my message. Then I embarked on a mission to make sure my
refutation of Ted Bogosian’s untruths catches up with the speed at which
his interview with dubious truths was spreading online.
Although a
couple of people had already voiced their discontent with Bogosian’s
inaccurate claims about Monte Melkonian’s pre-Artsakh past prior to the
posting of my article, it is a bitter truth that the presentation of
someone as a Truth Hound is for the majority of people sufficient
evidence of the veracity of any statement uttered by him or her. For
many people these `truths’ become facts, and thus history is unjustly
rewritten.
I contacted Markar Melkonian, Monte Melkonian’s
brother, the co-author of My Brother’s Road, a biography of Monte
Melkonian, to get his commentary regarding Ted Bogosian’s latest
interview. He had this to say: `By far the most scurrilous of Bogosian’s
claims is his contention that Monte masterminded attacks such as Orly.
Not only was Monte not involved in this attack in any way, but as you
[Ara Manoogian – A.M.] quite correctly noted, Orly and similar attacks
drove Monte into desperate plans to kill Hagopian [Hagop Hagopian,
founder of ASALA – A.M.] and any of his henchmen who got in the way, in
order to stop such operations. With each outrage Monte became more
desperate, until he resolved to take steps against Hagopian, with the
full expectation that he would be killed in the process. Monte abhorred
Orly, the Istanbul bazaar attack and the Ankara Airport attack, both
because they took innocent lives, and because he believed such attacks
harmed the cause to which he had pledged his life.’
As Ted
Bogosian’s silence grew more deafening, and I received no confirmation
that he had, in fact, received my emails, I implemented a tactic I was
certain would repudiate an old Italian proverb: `Silence was never
written down.’ It was, in fact, on April 20, 2010. The tactic was to
register tedbogosian.com and tedbogosian.blogspot.com, then upload my
article debunking Ted Bogosian’s untruths about Monte Melkonian.
Immediately after that I sent an email to the address I still believed
belonged to Ted Bogosian, notifying him of the registration of
tedbogosian.com for exposing his lies about Monte Melkonian. Silence was
finally and immediately written down, as mentioned above, on April 20,
2010, as frugal as it was. Ted Bogosian wrote: `I will respond tomorrow,
Ara.’
The next day I received an email from Jeffrey K. Techentin
of Adler Pollock & Sheehan P.C. engaged to represent Ted Bogosian
with respect to my registration and use of and
The content of his email revealed
utilization of a more traditional tactic: when you can’t answer the core
question, you have to cloud the issue. To this effect Mr. Techentin had
this to say: `Mr. Bogosian has forwarded me the communications received
from you.Please refer any further communications directly to
me.Additionally, please note that Mr. Bogosian takes your threats very
seriously, and objects to your appropriation of his name for your own
purposes.’ The latter of the concerns is understandable and expected,
however, I was baffled by the respectable Truth Hound’s perception of my
pursuit of truth as a threat. I honestly expected his cooperation in
finding the truth wherever it leads. I must have been misled by Mr.
Bogosian’s bold statement in the same interview in question: `Every
single truth that gets revealed leads to another and other and other,
and we may never arrive at truth. But we’re obligated to try. That’s my
view.’
Having had them serve their purpose – making Ted Bogosian
speak out – I parked the domains. When it became clear that Bogosian was
unwilling to address the issue as seriously as he had taken the
non-existent threats his attorney had referred to, I decided to issue a
press release uncovering Ted Bogosian’s untruths on April 22, 2010. As I
had hoped, many media outlets responded to the cause by publishing it. I
should also note that I received scores of emails encouraging my
efforts. I’ll take advantage of this platform and say a big `thank you.’
Nonetheless,
one thing that the launch of the press release revealed for me was the
justification of my apprehension that there will never be a shortage of
people falling short of transcending stereotypical judgment, such as
this: if you are a terrorist, then you kill innocent people, sell drugs
and arms. How many people will question this? With this stereotype, one
will perhaps be right nine times out of ten. However, Monte Melkonian,
an exceptionally gifted person who preferred standing up and dying for
the rights of his nation at any cost over a brilliant academic career
awaiting him at one of the most prestigious European universities,
deserves to be more than just a negligible statistical error differing
from the expected value. This is my chief concern that has been fueling
my active stance on inhibiting public dissemination of Ted Bogosian’s
inaccuracies purported to be facts.
Later that day, Ted Bogosian,
as confirmed by Radio Open Source host Christopher Lydon, his friend of
35 years, posted a comment under the interview on Huffington Post: `I am
pleased that my conversation with Christopher Lydon has inspired such
informed comments. […] Finally, I pledge to correct any inadvertent
errors and omissions I may have made at Brown, as always. That is a
Truth Hound’s obligation. Thanks to everyone for listening.’
Mr. Bogosian fulfilled
his promise the next day by posting `corrections and amplifications’ in
the form of a comment at the Radio Open Source and, with some minor
difference, at Huffington Post, which reads as follows:
`CORRECTIONS
& AMPLIFICATIONS: Everything I told Open Source about Monte
Melkonian related to the period ending in April 1988, when `An Armenian
Journey’ premiered on PBS. I did not reference Monte’s exploits after he
left prison. While I still consider Monte and myself to be the `same
age’, he was, in fact, 6 years younger. Monte was an undergraduate at
UC-Berkeley, not a graduate student there. I could have named the
terrorist movement he started: ASALA-Revolutionary Movement. Finally,
while Monte was convicted of illegal weapons possession, he was not
charged with selling arms or illegal drugs. (I knew him to practice
healthful living habits during his imprisonment.) I stand corrected and
regret these errors and omissions.’
How can Ted Bogosian `stand
corrected’ if he has provided elusive responses to most of my questions
and ignored the others. Isn’t there anything to correct in the following
statement he made in the interview to Radio Open Source: `[Monte
Melkonian] having masterminded several bombings in Europe, at Orly
Airport’? I wrote as many as five paragraphs to tell the story behind
this bombing as I know it in an attempt to set the record straight that
Monte Melkonian not only was not involved in that attack but also did
his utmost to prevent it (for more details read claim #5 in `Ted
Bogosian And His Untruths About Armenian National Hero Monte
Melkonian’). At the same time, I requested evidence from Mr. Bogosian to
back up that claim. But instead of providing supporting evidence or
retracting the false statement, he has shrouded the issue with silence.
However, I’ll try to analyze each of Ted Bogosian’s responses pertaining
to the matter.
– `Monte was an undergraduate at UC-Berkeley, not a
graduate student there.
What Mr. Bogosian had stated in the
original interview was as follows: `And while I was at Duke, he was at
Berkley, and when I went to graduate school, he went to graduate school
in Beirut.’ Monte never went to graduate school in Beirut, he was
admitted to graduate school at Oxford but he never went there. Mr.
Bogosian’s latest response is simply inadequate.`I could have
named the terrorist movement he started: ASALA-Revolutionary Movement.’
This
correction refers to the following statement in the original interview:
`[Monte Melkonian] started an Armenian terrorist movement.’ I had
identified this terrorist movement with ASALA, which was founded by
Hagop Hagopian in 1975 and Monte Melkonian was recruited in 1980 (for
more details read claim #4 in `Ted Bogosian And His Untruths About
Armenian National Hero Monte Melkonian’). In his attempt to clarify this
statement, Mr. Bogosian identified that terrorist movement as
ASALA-Revolutionary Movement (ASALA-RM). I wonder what exactly made him
conclude that ASALA-RM is a terrorist movement.
ASALA fell apart
at Monte Melkonian’s initiative exactly because of the murderous
deviation of Hagop Hagopian. The Orly Airport attack masterminded by
Hagopian was the final blow to the unity of ASALA and the finishing
touch to the split spearheaded by Monte Melkonian. ASALA-RM, the
resulting splinter, in its early stage is best represented through the
following collectively written statement: `We do not believe in
benevolent friends, the inevitable triumph of justice, or covertly and
cleverly manipulating the superpowers.If we are to achieve national
self-determination, then we ourselves, the Armenian people, will have to
fight for it.We believe in the power of organized masses and in the
capacity of our people to determine their own future. We believe in
revolution.’ This movement that had no real members but quite a few
sympathizers became the personification of Monte Melkonian who
concentrated on raising awareness about the Armenian cause mainly
through writing.
In the times when there’s no definitive
international consensus on a legally binding definition of terrorism and
terrorist organizations, Mr. Bogosian is making hasty conclusions.
Personally, I am more inclined towards this viewpoint of a terrorist and
counter-insurgency expert Bruce Hoffman: `Terrorism is a pejorative
term. It is a word with intrinsically negative connotations that is
generally applied to one’s enemies and opponents, or to those with whom
one disagrees and would otherwise prefer to ignore.’ Labeling a
revolutionary movement as terrorist, while it seeks to unite the nation
to struggle for self-determination, is usually the signature of
governments targeted by such movements.
– `Finally, while Monte was
convicted of illegal weapons possession, he was not charged with selling
arms or illegal drugs.’
This correction refers to my criticism
targeting the following passage in his original interview: `…and [Monte
Melkonian] started selling arms and started selling drugs…’ None of the
abundant evidence I have researched about Monte Melkonian maintains this
claim. On the contrary, there are plenty of stories about Monte
Melkonian being a fierce opponent to drug use or sale (for more details
read claim #3 in `Ted Bogosian And His Untruths About Armenian National
Hero Monte Melkonian’).
Ted Bogosian’s response to my question is a
cunning way to steer away from the main point. His statement clearly
implies that not being charged with selling arms or illegal drugs does
not necessarily exclude the possibility of being involved in such
activity. It is neither a retraction nor a clarification, but rather a
fragile exit strategy due to lack of supporting evidence. I was not
questioning only the validity of the charges Mr. Bogosian ascribed to
Monte Melkonian’s case in the interview, but also his assertion that
Monte Melkonian was involved in such activity. I’m still waiting for
supporting evidence or unconditional retraction of these false
statements.
Silence is a text easy to misread, as science-fiction
writer Alfred Attanasio once said. Nevertheless, I want to believe that
Mr. Bogosian had no malice in ascribing all of the aforementioned
inaccuracies to Monte Melkonian, and I believe that his good will may
well be manifested by a full-fledged direct response to each of the
questions I singled out and any others he might be enthused to enlarge
on. If Ted Bogosian is a man of his word and believes `we’re obligated
to try’ to `arrive at truth,’ he must then fulfill his `pledge to
correct any inadvertent errors and omissions’ more elaborately with the
following options as guidelines: a) present evidence to support his
claims; b) retract the claims, for which he cannot provide supporting
evidence; c) make corresponding arrangements to have the parts of radio
interview that include the abovementioned misinformation about Monte
Melkonian removed.
Ara Manoogian is a human
rights activist representing the Shahan Natalie Family Foundation in
Artsakh and Armenia, as well as a member of the Washington-based Policy
Forum Armenia (PFA)
An online petition addressed to Ted Bogosian can be signed at