PRESS RELEASE
Armenian National Committee
Eastern United States
P.O. Box 1066
New York, NY 10040
Contact: Doug Geogerian
Tel: 917 428 1918
Fax: 718 651 3637
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
Time Apologizes and Prints Letter Condemnding DVD Denying Armenian Genocide
Time Magazine European Edition printed a full-page letter in its October 17,
2005 edition, decrying the magazine~Rs inclusion of a DVD that included a
documentary, which denied the Armenian Genocide. The letter was written by
Bernard Jouanneau, the President of Memory 2000, which is described as
~Srepresentatives of . . .French organizations whose aim is to fight against
racism, anti-Semitism and for the memory of the Armenian Genocide.~T Mr.
Jouanneau is a leading lawyer and activist defending against anti-defamation
concerning the denial of the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide.
Directly following Mr. Jouanneau~Rs letter, Time~Rs editors expressed regret
for the offense caused by distributing the DVD. ~SThe 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,~T said the editors. Claiming that the
DVD was not adequately reviewed, the editors announced a change in their
review process to avoid such future incidents. They conclude by apologizing
to the Armenian community.
In his letter, Mr. Jouanneau asserts the magazine~Rs responsibility
regardless of whether or not the Turkish Chamber of Commerce misled them.
He says redress for distributing the DVD to 500,000 house holds across
twelve European countries should include 1) disclosure of officials
standards used by Time when considering the inclusion of an ad and whether a
similar DVD denying the Holocaust would have been acceptable, 2) free
distribution of a ~SDVD prepared by the European Armenian Federation for
Justice and Democracy (EAFJD) regarding the history and modern-day
consequences of the Armenian Genocide,~T and 3) a donation from the revenue
earned from the Turkish advertisement to a nonprofit organization dedicated
to informing the public about the truth of the Armenian genocide and other
genocides.
The letter describes in detail many of the ~Slies, racial defamation,
personal defamation and historical mistakes in this DVD, which contains all
the techniques of disinformation and propaganda.~T Jouanneau points out
footage of Justin McCarthy, a known revisionist of the Armenian Genocide,
who says that the survival of some Armenians proves that a genocide did not
take place. The letter strongly objected to the characterization of all
Armenians as terrorists and accusations that Armenians collaborated with the
Nazis to exterminate the Jews.
Mr. Jouanneau criticizes Time~Rs editors for contributing to Turkey~Rs
campaign to deny the Armenian Genocide. In doing so, Jouanneau condemns
Time for aiding Turkey~Rs precedent of having committed a genocide with
impunity. ~STIME magazine has helped embolden future perpetrators of genocide
with the knowledge that their crimes can be committed without consequence,~T
said Jouanneau.
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