INSURER TO PAY $17 MILLION FOR ARMENIAN GENOCIDE CLASS-ACTION SUIT
By VOA News
Voice of America
Oct 13 2005
Photo: Armenians lay flowers at memorial to Armenians killed under
Ottoman empire
The French insurance company, AXA, has agreed to pay descendants of
some of the more than 1.5 million Armenians killed in Turkey under
the Ottoman empire.
Under terms of a settlement reached in a U.S. court, $17 million will
be shared by Armenian heirs of AXA’s policyholders who died in what
Armenians say was genocide.
This is the second lawsuit pertaining to the killings to be settled
in U.S. courts. In February, New York Life agreed to pay $20 million
to descendants of its Armenian policyholders who were victims of the
alleged genocide.
One of the plaintiffs’ U.S. attorneys, Mark Geragos, said the cases
are historic because they are the first to be heard for genocide
survivors. Mr. Geragos, who is of Armenian descent, said the ultimate
goal of the lawsuits is for the United States and Turkey to officially
acknowledge the genocide.