Planners of Armenian Genocide Museum in Washington fight court battles
with major donor
By STEPHEN MANNING
Associated Press Writer
863 words (add material)
13 October 2007
01:57
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WASHINGTON (AP) – As diplomatic tensions flare over a House committee’s
approval of a resolution labeling the World War I-era killings of
Armenians in Turkey as genocide, another dispute has roiled plans to
build a museum and memorial to the victims.
In a series of lawsuits, the Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial and
its backers are wrestling with a major donor over control and finances
of the long-planned project honoring the hundreds of thousands of
Armenians who died between 1915 and 1917. The memorial would be the
first permanent exhibit dedicated to the subject outside of Armenia.
Museum organizers say the litigation will not affect the redevelopment
of a former bank just a few blocks from the White House. First conceived
in the 1990s, the museum recently signed contracts for design and
planning of the 35,000-square foot (3,250-square-meter) facility.
But a major funder, retired Armenian-American publisher Gerard
Cafesjian, has filed several lawsuits that seek to reclaim much of the
$15 million (euro10.6 million) in money and property he donated.
Cafesjian claims the museum has forced him out of the project and
significantly scaled it down.
"Mr. Cafesjian is the museum," said his attorney, Tim Thornton. "Gerry
Cafesjian is 90 percent responsible for everything the museum has."
The museum has countersued, claiming Cafesjian is meddling with real
estate titles for the bank and other property to be used for the museum.
The museum argues Cafesjian has tried to use the nonprofit venture for
personal gain, and is trying to get his contributions back to cash in on
a big increase in the property’s value.
"He has done everything he can to scuttle the building of the genocide
museum," said Arnold Rosenfeld, an attorney for the nonprofit group
behind the project.
The museum is intended to memorialize and study the killings of
Armenians in the Turkish Ottoman Empire during World War I. Armenians
claim it was a systematic genocide that killed 1.5 million people;
Turkey says the death totals are inflated and that the killings were
largely the result of internal civil strife, not organized mass murder.
Earlier this week, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a
resolution labeling the killings as genocide despite opposition from
President George W. Bush and Turkish-American groups. Turkish officials
condemned the vote and Turkey’s ambassador to the United States returned
to Ankara this week for consultations.
The Bush administration, worried about alienating a strategically
important U.S. ally, is trying to patch up diplomatic relations with
Turkey and has warned against passage of the resolution by the full
House.
Plans for the museum came out of the Armenian Assembly of America, a
Washington-based advocacy group that helped push for the congressional
resolution. According to court papers, assembly leaders in the 1990s
approached Cafesjian, who agreed to use his foundation to help buy the
bank for $7.25 million (euro5.1 million). Plans initially called for the
museum to open by 2002 at a cost of $40 million (euro28 million).
Cafesjian, born to Armenian parents in the United States, came from a
family that lost numerous relatives during the killings, according to
Thornton. He was a top executive for Minnesota-based legal publisher
West Publishing, retiring after it was sold to Thompson Corp. in 1996.
Now living in Florida, he is building an art museum named after himself
in Armenia.
In court filings, the genocide museum claims Cafesjian tried to dominate
planning of the Washington museum, proposing a $100 million (euro70
million) project on a much grander scale. He purchased several buildings
surrounding the bank that were eventually transferred to the museum for
his expanded plans.
By 2006, Cafesjian’s ties to the museum’s board had soured as he and
other directors sparred over governing issues, control of the project
and its scope. In April 2007, he filed suit in Minnesota, seeking a
return of his contributions. He has filed similar lawsuits in
Washington.
Cafesjian was not available for comment, Thornton said. The lawyer said
Cafesjian does not object to construction of a museum, but does not want
a "paltry" scaled down version.
"We have been completely cut out of the process," Thornton said.
The museum alleges in court filings that Cafesjian tried to use the
nonprofit for his own gain, tapping contacts of the Armenian Assembly of
America to build media, real estate and other business ventures in
Armenia. And they claim he is stalling the museum to use a clause that
allows donor property to be returned if the project is not completed by
2010.
Van Krikorian, chairman of the museum’s committee, would not comment on
the lawsuit. But he said Cafesjian’s claims to the museum buildings and
other contributions won’t threaten development of the project. Other
contributors have been found, and the museum plans a major fundraising
push now that planning work has finally begun.
"Plans are being implemented for a museum that the entire Armenian
community can be proud of well within the reach of 2010," he said.