Armenian Assembly of America
122 C Street, NW, Suite 350
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:
April 1, 2005
CONTACT: Christine Kojoian
Email: [email protected]
RE: Assembly Memo to Armenian-American Organizations
The Armenian Assembly would like to bring to your attention the
following memorandum from Board of Directors Chairman Anthony
Barsamian to Armenian-American organization leaders regarding the
irresponsible charges leveled against Assembly and fellow Armenians,
during this the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Also
attached is a correspondence from Executive Director Ross Vartian to
the editors of Asbarez Daily in answer to a recently published
commentary.
TO: Armenian-American Organizations
FROM: Anthony Barsamian; Chairman, Board of Directors
RE: 90th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
DATE: 3/30/05
_______________________________________________________________________
The Armenian Assembly deeply regrets that on the eve of April events
throughout the United States to commemorate the 90th Anniversary of
the Armenian Genocide, a series of false attacks have been made
against fellow Armenians. While the Assembly is compelled to respond
to each communication, know that this is precious time that should be
invested instead in our common efforts in support of 90th events
across the country. We trust and hope that this partisan
disinformation campaign will cease because we have much to do together
as a pan-Armenian community throughout the year on genocide
commemorations, on a congressional resolution and on genocide
education.
In messages to various audiences this past week, irresponsible charges
have been made, including:
1. In a letter to Armenian-American Organizations, the phrases
“acknowledgment without consequences”, “genocide without justice” and
“recognition without consequences” were attributed explicitly to a
“handful of Armenians”. No Armenian organization and no Armenian
individual would support Turkish admission of the Armenian Genocide
without just resolution. All Armenians assert that Turkey must bear
responsibility as the successor state of the Ottoman Empire. The
Republic of Turkey will one day acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.
Turkish admission will be followed by direct dialogue between the
governments of Armenia and Turkey to determine the consequences.
2. A communication sent out to Congressional offices in concert with
an editorial in Asbarez falsely asserts that a study commissioned by
the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) absolves the
Republic of Turkey for the crimes of the Ottoman Empire. This is not
the case, as the following quote from the Study indicates. “We
emphasize further that this memorandum addresses solely the
applicability of the Genocide Convention to the Events. It does not
purport to address the applicability to the Events of, or the rights
and responsibilities of concerned individuals or entities under, any
other rubric of international law or the laws of any nation.”
3. In an Asbarez commentary of March 24, the Armenian Assembly was
accused of “helping the Turks get away with the murder of 1.5 million
Armenians”. This concluding charge against the Assembly is outrageous
and malicious. As the entire community is well aware, the Assembly
has been in the forefront of every serious effort to pass a
congressional genocide resolution. The Assembly is also working side
by side with the all national Armenian-American organizations in
support of April 24 commemorations throughout the United States. And
finally, the Assembly is working collaboratively on the proposed
content and strategy for the next congressional resolution to affirm
the US record on the Armenian Genocide.
Once again, we genuinely regret this campaign. Together with all
Armenian-American organizations, the Assembly is ready to focus
instead on our vital work without further distractions.
###
March 30, 2005
Letter to the Editor
Asbarez Daily
Salpy Mardirossian Armenian Center
419 West Colorado Street
Glendale, California 91204
To the Editor:
RE: “The Big Why On the Eve of the 90th Anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide”
Your March 25th commentary on the above subject constitutes a new low
on misrepresentation of the facts and on the position of the Armenian
Assembly. Just in case some of your readers missed your irresponsible
core charge against our organization, you opined that the Assembly is
“helping Turkey deny justice to the Armenian people”. How is the
Assembly doing this? By urging Members of Congress to invoke a study
published by the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)
that affirmed the fact of the Armenian Genocide. The ICTJ study
declared that “the Events, viewed collectively, can thus be said to
include all of the elements of the crime of genocide as defined in the
Convention, and legal scholars as well as historians, politicians,
journalists and other people would be justified in continuing to so
describe them.”
As the Assembly has done over the decades of our support for
congressional reaffirmation of the truth, our organization references
third party judgments on the fact of the Armenian Genocide. In this
particular communication to Congress, we relied on four factors:
President Reagan’s 1981 Proclamation that affirmed the Armenian
Genocide, President Bush’s April 24 statements that employ the
textbook definition of genocide without using the word, the statement
of 126 Holocaust and Genocide scholars declaring that the Armenian
Genocide is an “incontestable fact” and the ICTJ statement quoted
above.
Neither the separate nor the combined effect of these citations in the
Assembly’s request to Congress to properly characterize this crime
against humanity as genocide can be fairly portrayed as “denying
justice to the Armenian people”. There can be no question that the
Assembly will continue to seek official, full and irrevocable
U.S. reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide – and the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation knows this as our organizations work side by
side on the 90th commemorative planning committees across the United
States and as the Assembly works collaboratively with the ANCA on the
Armenian-American community’s next effort in support of a
congressional resolution.
As to the Asbarez charge that the ICTJ findings “let Turkey completely
off the hook for Genocide,” the commentary fails to use the following
quotation regarding redress that contradicts the charge. According to
the ICTJ study, “It does not purport to address the applicability of
the Genocide Convention to the Events of, or the rights or
responsibilities of concerned individuals or entities under, any other
rubric of international law or the laws of any other nation.” The
Turkish government is not “off the hook” – not for its global denial
campaign, not for its intimidation of other governments and its own
citizens, not for its recent passage of a law criminalizing public
discussion of the Armenian Genocide and certainly not for dealing with
the consequences of its inevitable acknowledgment of the Armenian
Genocide.
Sincerely,
Ross Vartian
Executive Director
Armenian Assembly of America
The Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based
nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness
of Armenian issues. It is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership
organization.
NR#2005-038