HOVNANIAN, KRIKORIAN AND MATHEVOSIAN MUST NOT OBSTRUCT PLANS TO OPEN ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MUSEUM ON APRIL 24, 2015
August 24, 2011
In a July 26 press release, the Cafesjian Family Foundation (CFF)
announced its decision to go ahead with the laudable project of
building an Armenian Genocide Museum & Memorial (AGM&M), two blocks
from the White House, by April 24, 2015, on the 100th anniversary of
the Armenian Genocide.
APPO K. JABARIAN
Executive Publisher & Managing Editor
The project was initially put on hold because of a long-running legal
battle between former partners the CFF and the Armenian Assembly. The
court case came to a conclusion in January.
In February, Harut Sassounian, Publisher of The California Courier
wrote: “The most significant outcome of the protracted litigation
is Judge Kollar-Kotelly’s ruling that the reversion clause in the
Grant Agreement is ‘valid and enforceable,’ which means that CFF is
entitled to a return of the properties earlier donated to the Armenian
Assembly. Furthermore, the court ruled that CFF retains the right to
appoint one of four trustees to the AGM&M Board.”
To its credit, CFF had renewed its commitment in the court to construct
the museum. Judge Kollar-Kotelly’s ruling had finally paved the way
for the realization of the original plan. However, this noble plan ran
into several new obstacles caused by the Foundation’s former partners,
Hirair Hovnanian, Van Krikorian and Anoush Mathevosian who are key
leaders of the Armenian Assembly, and former officers of AGM&M.
As per the Judge’s decisoin, effective July, CFF took title to the
property assemblage for the future site of the AGM&M.
In order to register the title, CFF was obliged to pay some $2,000,000
in back taxes, penalties and recordation taxes from 2009 to the
transfer date of July 1 of this year that the officers of the AGM&M
refused to pay. By declining to pay property taxes over this period
of time, AGM&M officers Hovnanian, Krikorian and Mathevosian risked
the properties being auctioned off and encumbered the project with
over $260,000 in interest and penalties, stated the press release
issued by CFF.
“Regrettably, securing title to the properties just two blocks from
the White House does not pave the way for immediate launch of the
project to construct the museum and memorial in time for the centenary
date of April 24, 2015,” lamented the CFF. Legal maneuvers initiated
by Hovnanian, Krikorian and Mathevosian may hold up the construction
of the Armenian Genocide Museum in Washington, DC and may ultimately
cause missing the cornerstone deadline of April 24, 2015.
“The appeal process could take up to two years if the losing side
(Hovnanian, Krikorian and Mathevosian) stalls at every step. This
could have the intended consequence of blocking progress,” pointed
out CFF Board Member Ross Vartian.
In making matters even worse, the leadership of the Armenian Assembly
reportedly “has refused to vacate one of the buildings on the future
site of the Armenian Genocide museum and memorial.” The property
partially occupied by the Armenian Assembly, and others owned by
CFF are slated for demolition in preparation for the construction
of the museum. The said properties are adjacent to the historically
designated former “National Bank of Washington” building. CFF has asked
Judge Kollar-Kotelly to invalidate the Assembly’s lease so that the
project can move forward in time to meet the April 24, 2015 completion
deadline. However, the Assembly leadership has opposed CFF’s request,
indicating that the organization intends to remain on the premises
through 2015.
During four years of legal feud, the Assembly and AGM&M had accused
Gerald Cafesjian and John Waters (Vice President of CFF) for having
breached their fiduciary duties to AGM&M and the Assembly; that
Cafesjian breached his duty of good faith and fair dealing to the
Assembly, and that Cafesjian and Waters misappropriated the trade
secrets of the Assembly. The Judge found all of these charges to be
without merit.
Sassounian noted that for the first time in a federal court verdict,
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly began her 190-page ruling with the
chilling words of Adolf Hitler: “Who, after all, speaks today of the
annihilation of the Armenians?” She went on to explain that Hitler
was referring to “the largely successful efforts by the Ottoman
Turkish government to eliminate the Armenian population living on its
historical homeland during the World War I era, known today as the
Armenian Genocide.” The Judge further added: “The Armenian Genocide
is widely recognized as the first genocide of the 20th century. Of
the estimated 2.1 million Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire
on the eve of World War I, approximately 1.5 million were killed,
and hundreds of thousands more were deported. During this period,
the Armenian people were subjected to deportation, expropriation,
forced conversion, abduction, torture, massacre, and starvation.”
I therefore join several members of the Armenian American community
in appealing to Hovnanian, Krikorian and Mathevosian, the leaders
of the Assembly, to heed to the calling of martyred victims of the
Armenian Genocide and set aside their personal differences with
Cafesjian; and join the rest of the community in making this lasting
accomplishment a reality. The one and one half million martyrs of
the Armenian Genocide desperately need to be solemnly memorialized
by a museum in the nation’s capital on the 100th anniversary of the
1915-1923 crime against humanity perpetrated by Turkey.
The realization of this noble goal will most definitely be a living
memorial to the legacy of Hovnanian, Krikorian and Mathevosian, and
the Armenian Assembly along with all others involved in this project.
Conversely, their obstinate obstruction of this worthwhile project
because of petty personal vendettas against Cafesjian and CFF will
come back to haunt them.
http://www.armenianlife.com/2011/08/24/hovnanian-krikorian-and-mathevosian-must-not-obstruct-plans-to-open-armenian-genocide-museum-on-april-24-2015-2/