Fresno Bee, CA
Feb 7 2009
Armenian museum mired in conflict
Donor, nonprofit battle over genocide center.
Friday, Feb. 06, 2009
By Michael Doyle / Bee Washington Bureau E-Mail
WASHINGTON — Another nasty fight is brewing around the Armenian
genocide, but this time it has nothing to do with diplomacy. It’s all
about money and control of a museum.
For years, plans have been in the works for the Armenian Genocide
Museum of America just two blocks from the White House. That alone
might be enough to make diplomats cringe. Turkey — a key U.S. ally —
regards the mere suggestion of genocide as an affront to its national
identity.
But this fight pits Armenian-Americans against one another. At issue
is a roughly $15 million pledge to help buy the four-story National
Bank of Washington building and four adjacent pieces of property.
Now the man behind the donation — retired millionaire businessman
Gerard Cafesjian — is trying to get his money back, saying he doesn’t
like how the project has proceeded.
The nonprofit organization behind the museum, meanwhile, says
Cafesjian has been trying to meddle with its project.
Each side has sued the other.
The dispute has been anything but diplomatic, and it shows no signs of
abating. On Friday, attorneys for the warring parties met again in a
District of Columbia courtroom.
"The clients are very hostile to each other right now," attorney
Arnold Rosenfeld told a federal judge last year, a court transcript
shows.
Rosenfeld represents the Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial Inc.,
which wants to build what it describes as "the premier institution in
the United States dedicated to educating American and international
audiences about the Armenian Genocide."
The museum potentially has high appeal in the San Joaquin Valley and
other regions with large Armenian-American populations. It’s been
discussed since the mid-1990s, and planners say they want the
35,000-square-foot facility open before 2011.
Judge is ‘very irritated’
Armenian genocide discussions often provoke political disputes,
including denials from Turkish officials and discomfort within the
U.S. State Department. When completed, the museum will commemorate the
events between 1915 and 1923, when by some estimates upward of 1.5
million Armenians died during the final years of the Ottoman Empire
before Turkey was founded.
The competing lawsuits now resemble a bad divorce, as mutual rancor
feeds on itself and prior intimacies become potential vulnerabilities.
"I must say, I’m very irritated," U.S. District Judge Colleen
Kollar-Kotelly warned lawyers in August, a court transcript
shows. "These cases are not a good use of judicial resources and,
frankly, probably not of your client’s resources, either."
On Thursday, in a ruling that keeps the lawsuits alive, Kollar-Kotelly
nonetheless characterized them as "very unfortunate."
"If you’re disputing about money, it’s going to become bitter," said
Barlow Der Mugrdechian, coordinator of the Armenian Studies Program at
California State University, Fresno.
Der Mugrdechian speculated that the legal dispute may have slowed
progress and undermined the proposed museum’s public visibility in the
Valley. He said many people still haven’t yet heard of the proposal,
though he predicted many would support it once they did.
Architects already are designing the project for 14th and G streets in
downtown Washington. The city’s Historic Preservation Review Board
last year gave conceptual approval to use of the 83-year-old National
Bank of Washington building.
The Armenian Assembly of America initiated the museum planning and in
2003 secured an agreement with Cafesjian and the Cafesjian Family
Foundation.