Letter: ADL should acknowledge Armenian Genocide
Fri Sep 28, 2007
To the editor:
I am greatly concerned by Sharon Reidy's letter in the Sept. 20 issue of the Bedford Minuteman. Ms. Reidy accuses Armenians of a "political maneuver," of "scapegoating the ADL, as if the Jews had perpetrated the killings [of 1.5 million Armenians] rather than the Turks." She states that Armenian "protestors are demonstrating the very kind of intolerance and narrow vision that lead to situations of hate and violence."
Unfortunately, Ms. Reidy has apparently taken the bait of the ADL and its National Director, Abraham Foxman, in trying to pit Jews against Armenians. We Armenians have received the support of many Jewish groups and prominent Jewish individuals, as well as many Bedford residents, in calling on Foxman and the ADL to unambiguously acknowledge the Armenian Genocide and to support congressional legislation to the same effect. For fifteen years Foxman and the ADL have lobbied on behalf of the Turkish government against recognition of the Armenian Genocide in the US Congress. We Armenians, along with Jewish groups and others, are simply speaking out against Foxman's continued denial of the Armenian Genocide.
The only intolerance that we Armenians are demonstrating is an intolerance of human rights violations, genocide, and genocide denial. This is not a political issue. It is a moral issue. Genocide and genocide denial should not be tolerated, just as human rights violations should not be tolerated. We Armenians simply state that an organization that engages in genocide denial [the ADL] does not have the moral authority to sponsor human rights, anti-hate, and anti-bigotry programs. As many genocide scholars have noted, genocide denial is not only the highest form of hate speech, it is the final stage of genocide. In the words of Elie Wiesel, it is a "double killing."
Between 1915-23, 1.5 million Armenians were systematically and brutally exterminated, and the rest driven from their lands. Adolf Hitler himself cited the failure of the international community to prosecute the Turkish government for the Armenian Genocide as pretext to incite his generals when embarking on the Holocaust, when he stated "who today remembers the extermination of the Armenians?" Staying quiet about Genocide only signals to others that they can get away with murder.
Sona Gevorkian
Old Billerica Road
Letter: Takes issue with ‘scapegoat’ assertion
Fri Sep 28, 2007
To the editor:
I am writing in response to the letter to the editor printed in the Bedford Minuteman, Sept. 20, 2007 entitled, “Saddened by Political Maneuver.”
I am one of the Bedford Armenian-Americans who met with the violence prevention coalition and town selectmen to address the issue about which Ms. Reidy writes.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is not being “scapegoated” as Ms. Reidy suggests but rather taken to task regarding the inconsistency of its policy on the Armenian Genocide and its mission statement as a human rights organization. We are not asking that the ADL lobby on behalf of the Armenian Genocide resolution but that it simply stop lobbying against it. This would seem a reasonable request of an organization that has promoted awareness of other genocides, e.g. Bosnia, Rwanda, Jewish Holocaust. It is improper for the ADL to pick and choose which issues to advocate and which to obscure based on self-interest. It is unacceptable that the ADL, a human rights organization, aids Turkey in its campaign of genocide denial while sponsoring a program in Bedford designed to combat hate crimes, violence and injustice.
Ms. Reidy implies that by calling on the ADL to cease its lobbying efforts, “Armenians” are potentially endangering the lives of others. There are many ethnic minorities currently living in Turkey, Armenians included, and there is a great deal of concern for their welfare, but suppressing the truth to appease a potential aggressor, surely cannot be the answer. In fact I would contend that if the genocide were openly acknowledged and Turkey forced to accept responsibility, its government would no longer feel the need to threaten citizens, countries, and organizations to be complicit in its denial. The notion that denying historical injustices for fear of possible retribution is somehow acceptable or justifiable is cowardly, immoral and ineffective. It does not provide true safety in the end and does more harm than good by feeding the appetite of those who victimize. I think we have witnessed enough of this.
As for Ms. Reidy’s assertion that the town was “barraged” by our group in addressing this concern, this is inaccurate. This issue was addressed appropriately, going through the proper channels. If Ms. Reidy attended the selectmen’s meeting, I think she would have been pleased to see the respectful and beneficial discourse that took place.
This matter is of great importance to many who believe in basic human rights for all. I am proud that in Bedford we are making a statement that this act of discrimination by the ADL is intolerable.
Kathryn Eskandarian
Dewey Road
Letter: Thinking Globally and Acting Locally
Fri Sep 28, 2007
To the editor
I am writing in response to the Bedford Minuteman article in last week’s issue entitled, “Armenian Group opposes ADL stance”. As one of the Bedford Armenians involved in this situation, I wanted to address the question of why such an international issue is even being discussed in Bedford. There are two major reasons why our group of Bedford-Armenian residents is doing so.
First, as Bedford residents we wanted make aware the local Violence Prevention Coalition (VPC), the Selectman and our fellow residents the hypocritical position of the sponsor of the “No Place for Hate” Program, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). ADL bills itself as human right organization, but the organization does not unambiguously recognize the Genocide of 1.5 million Armenian’s by Ottoman Turkey in 1915. Further, the ADL’s lobbying in Washington DC works against Armenian lobby trying to get a commemorative resolution passed by the Congress.
Second, Armenian-Americans have worked for over 30 years to get resolutions such as the one before Congress (H.R. 106) passed, but have run up against the powerful arm of the Turkish lobby. This year it is not just a foreign government, but an American-based, supposed human rights group, the ADL. Armenian-Americans, need the World’s, the Nation’s and thus Bedford’s help to identify and then immobilize the unjust actions of this organization.
As the bumper stickers around town say “Think Globally, Act Locally”. Well this is just a great example of the sentiment of that phrase. I realize that the actions may come at very small cost to Bedford. What I should end with is that it would not come at the cost of the anti-violence programs, just the “No Place for Hate” name and placards.
Michael Bahtiarian
155 Davis Road
Bedford Minuteman Letters to the Editor: Published on September 28, 2007
