ARMENIANS AND JEWISH LEADERS UNITE TO PROTEST GENOCIDE DENIAL
armradio.am
05.09.2007 10:19
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.