PRESS RELEASE
Date: September 4, 2007
Armenian National Committee of Eastern Massachusetts
47 Nichols Avenue, Watertown MA 02472
Contact: Sevag Arzoumanian
Tel: 617-233-3174
Email: [email protected]
ARMENIANS AND JEWISH LEADERS UNITE TO PROTEST GENOCIDE DENIAL
— Campaign begun in Watertown, Massachusetts spreads throughout
the Bay State
WATERTOWN, MA – Massachusetts State Representative Rachel
Kaprielian (Watertown) and Boston City Councilor Michael P. Ross
(District 8) hosted a demonstration at the State House on August
30th of the growing solidarity between the Jewish and Armenian
American communities in working against the denial of the Armenian
Genocide, reported the Armenian National Committee of Eastern
Massachusetts (ANCEM.)
The event featured remarks by Kaprielian and Ross, as well as State
Representative Peter Koutoujian (Waltham); Rabbi Ronne Friedman of
Temple Israel Boston; Rev. Gregory V. Haroutunian of the First
Armenian Church of Belmont; Holocaust survivor Israel Arbeiter, who
serves as President of the American Association of Jewish Holocaust
Survivors of Greater Boston; Armenian Genocide survivor Asdghig
Alemian, 97, of Weymouth, and; Nancy Kaufman, Executive Director of
the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston.
Among the broad range of Jewish and Armenian community leaders
present for the program were David Cohen, Mayor of the city of
Newton, and Mark Sideris, Vice Chair of the Watertown Town Council,
both of whom led efforts last month in their respective towns to
condemn Armenian Genocide denial by the ADL and called on the ADL
to support Congressional affirmation of this crime against humanity
by publicly backing HR106.
Kaprielian prefaced her opening remarks by emphasizing that, "We
are all here to say that we need to stop what is going on in
Darfur." Councilor Ross began by staging, "I’m a City Councilor in
Boston and I’m a son of a Holocaust survivor." "It makes sense that
we came together as community," stated Ross. "Not just because
we’re both small and active communities of Jews and Armenians, but
also because we’re people. We respect our cultures and support each
other, when we need to and when we don’t need to. We need to
support each other and back each other up."
Rabbi Friedman offered moving remarks placing the Armenian Genocide
and Jewish Holocaust in the context of historical memory and
present-day politics, quoting noted writer Maya Angelou, "History,
despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with
courage, need not be lived again."
Rev. Haroutunian thanked the Jewish community for its strength and
leadership in the No Place for Hate controversy, which precipitated
the Anti-Defamation’s League’s (ADL) controversial firing, and
subsequent re-hiring of Andrew Tarsy, the ADL’s New England
regional director. Tarsy was dismissed after speaking against the
ADL’s denial of the Armenian Genocide and its opposition to the
Armenian Genocide Resolution, and later rehired after the ADL
issued a "Statement on the Armenian Genocide" which backed way from
this denial by saying that the "consequences" of Ottoman Turkey’s
efforts against the Armenians were "tantamount to genocide." "It
has brought great light to the heart of God," Haroutunian said. "We
commend Andrew Tarsy for his actions. So many people in the Jewish
community demanded truth, not spin. After all, to deny the truth,
even in innuendo, is dangerous. I commend the Jewish American
community in Boston. You stood for something, simply because it is
right. We thank God for your community and we really do pray that
others will follow your example."
Holocaust survivor Israel Arbeiter spoke of his experience of
genocide, recalling, "I was a slave. I spent five years in a
concentration camp." He praised those present for their attendance,
"Let’s hope from this small gathering that more will blossom. Let’s
join hands and work together so that it will never ever happen
again."
Armenian Genocide survivor Asdghig Alemian remembered her own
experience, noting that, "I was five years old at the time the
Turks took me. My mother starved to death on the [death] march.
They called it Der Zor. They were told to take three days of food
and that they would be taken back home. It never happened."
"We must see acknowledgement by our government while there are
still Armenian Genocide survivors still alive," Kaprielian said.
Nancy Kaufman added that it
is the moral responsibility of Massachusetts citizens to ensure
that the state divests from Sudan and ensures that taxes do not
finance the ongoing genocide in Darfur. She said of the Armenian
Genocide and its legacy, "The Genocide represents the failure of
the international community to prevent the worst crime in the world
– the destruction of an entire people." Ross concluded the program,
saying to the Armenians present, "In the Jewish community, we say
you are all mishpucha [family]."
The State House demonstration was held in response to growing
public activism in response to the Watertown, Massachusetts – Anti
Defamation League controversy which erupted in recent months after
Boston area civil rights advocates, and local Armenian and Jewish
American community members expressed disappointment and outrage at
statements by ADL National Director Abe Foxman denying the Armenian
Genocide. The
Watertown Town Council set this process in motion last month by
highlighting the improper stance of the ADL and urging national
leaders to take up this issue.
In recent weeks, the ADL, under pressure from a campaign of
protests led by the ANC-EM, backed nationally by the Armenian
National Committee of America, and supported by leading voices in
the Jewish American community, backed away from its longstanding
policy of complicity in Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide.
The ADL continues to raise concerns among both Jewish and Armenian
leaders as the result of its continued use of euphemistic phrasing
and, most notably, its outright opposition to Congressional
recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Foxman, in a move that has
caused widespread outrage, apologized to the Turkish government for
any difficulty his organization’s statement on the Armenian
Genocide has created for the Turkish government, but has yet to
offer even a token expression of regret to the Armenian people for
his group’s longstanding and public record of denying the horrific
crime committed against them.
"We appreciate the leadership of Representative Kaprielian and
Councilor Ross," stated ANCEM spokesperson Joshua Tevekelian. "It
is through their commitment and the commitment of so many
individuals and organizations throughout our great state and
country, including the entire Massachusetts Congressional
delegation and an amazing number of Armenian and Jewish individuals
and organizations in calling for passage of the Congressional
Armenian Genocide Resolution, H.Res.106, that we will collectively
take an important step toward ending genocide denial and genocide
once and for all."
"Throughout this entire process, we have been heartened and
encouraged by the outpouring of support ` from Jewish American
individuals and organizations throughout New England – against all
forms of denial of the Armenian Genocide ` including,
unfortunately, the opposition to the Armenian Genocide Resolution
by the Anti-Defamation League," added Tevekelian.
####
Photos available upon request