Armenian National Committee of America
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PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 18, 2005
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian, ANCA
[email protected]
Harout Mardirossian, ANC ~V France
[email protected]
Laurent Leylekian, European Armenian Federation (EAFJD)
[email protected]
TIME-EUROPE PUBLISHES APOLOGY FOR
DISTRIBUTING GENOCIDE-DENIAL DVD
— Prints Full Page Letter from ANC-France and Other Human
Rights Groups Demanding that TIME take Concrete
Steps to Reverse the Profound Damage it has Caused
— ANC-France Considering Legal Action
WASHINGTON, DC ~V Responding to months of protests organized by
Armenian National Committee branches around the world, TIME
Magazine’s European edition published, in its October 17th issue, a
brief apology to the Armenian community and all its readers for its
dissemination earlier this year of a 70-minute DVD advertisement
denying the Armenian Genocide.
TIME’s apology was printed alongside an extensive letter to editors
of TIME-Europe by leading Armenian, Jewish and human rights
organizations. This response was published under France’s “right
to reply” laws, which require a publication to provide editorial
space to those unfairly attacked in its pages. The controversy
over this issue began on June 5th, with the dissemination of a DVD,
funded by the Ankara Chamber of Commerce, which featured denialist
propaganda as part of a print and electronic advertisement package
promoting tourism in Turkey.
Joining the Armenian National Committee of France in writing to
TIME-Europe were the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations
of France, J’Accuse, Le MRAP and the Memoire 2000. In the letter,
they noted that:
“As representatives of French associations whose aim it is to fight
against racism, anti-Semitism and to preserve the memory of the
Armenian Genocide, we were shocked and disappointed to see that you
chose to include in your June 6, 2005 issue of TIME-Europe a DVD
spreading such the grotesque denial of the Armenian Genocide, and
leveling so many hateful allegations against the Armenian people.”
The letter was printed on a full page in the print edition and can
be read in its entirety on-line. Its authors identified specific
instances in the DVD of genocide denial, and stressed that, just as
TIME-Europe would rightfully not accept hateful Holocaust denial
advertisements, it should not have circulated similarly false
materials denying the Armenian Genocide. The letter concluded by
calling on TIME-Europe to take three specific steps to rectify the
situation it had created, including:
1) Disclose what, if any, official standards TIME Magazine employs
in accepting or rejecting advertising. For example, would TIME
have accepted a similarly hateful DVD denying the Holocaust.
2) Distribute, free of charge, a DVD prepared by the European
Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD) documenting
the history of the Armenian Genocide and the modern-day
consequences of this crime.
3) Donate the advertising revenues from this campaign to nonprofit
organizations raising awareness about the Armenian Genocide and
other instances of genocide.
Following the letter, TIME-Europe printed an apology for the
dissemination of the DVD, stating that they had failed to properly
review the DVD to establish its full contents before distributing
it to their subscribers.
“TIME regrets distributing the DVD and we are very sorry for the
offense it has caused. The so-called documentary portion of the DVD
presents a one-sided view of history that does not meet our
standards for fairness and accuracy, and we would not have
distributed it had we been aware of its content. Unfortunately, the
DVD was not adequately reviewed by anyone at TIME because it was
believed to be a benign promotion piece. We have since changed our
review process so as to guarantee more vigilance in future. We
apologize to the Armenian community, and to our readers.”
The letter was published according to the France’s “right to reply”
law, first adopted in 1898, which compels a newspaper or magazine
to allow an individual who has been defamed to provide a response
of equal length. The law was later expanded to audio-visual
material as well, with certain restrictions.
ANC of France Chairman Harout Mardirossian commented that the TIME-
Europe apology and printing of the letter to the editor was the
“the first result of a joint effort and long-term engagement by
associations fighting against racism, anti-Semitism and for the
defense of the memory of the Armenian Genocide.” Mardirossian
added, however, that the effort to rectify the situation has not
ended, noting that, “If TIME Magazine thinks that this “right of
reply” will settle the score on this issue, it is seriously
mistaken. A one-paragraph response does not match the outreach of
a 70 minute DVD and cannot address the humiliation and degradation
felt by Genocide `survivors and their descendants as a result of
this denialist propaganda.” continued Mardirossian.
In an interview with the Armenian Weekly, Mardirossian did not rule
out legal action in the TIME-Europe case, stating that “We, along
with our partners [J’Accuse, Mémoire 2000, Council of French
Armenian Organizations, Union of French Jewish Students] are ready,
if necessary, to initiate a lawsuit against TIME, as well as the
authors, producers and distributors of the DVD.”
Mardirossian added that the ANC-France had successfully taken on
similar anti-defamation cases in the past, including a recent court
victory against French encyclopedia company, QUID, whose 2002, 2003
and 2004 editions included historically inaccurate references
denying the Armenian Genocide. The recently published 2006 edition
of the QUID encyclopedia has removed all revisionist references,
and correctly characterizes the events of 1915-1923 as genocide.
In the months leading up to the TIME-Europe apology, the ANC of
France teamed up with the Armenian National Committee of America
and European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD)
in initiating an international letter-writing campaign to TIME-
Europe calling for swift action in response to DVD. Thousands
responded to the call to action, expressing grave concern that TIME
had sacrificed journalistic principles for a million dollar
advertisement campaign.
A parallel effort to address the TIME-Europe DVD misinformation
issue has also been pursued by the Switzerland-Armenia
Organization, based on violations of Swiss law.
To read the complete letter to the editor and the TIME-Europe
response, visit:
rticle/0,13005,901051017-1113684,00.html
[Scroll down to the article titled “Turkish Tourism DVD”]
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