WATERTOWN TOWN COUNCIL CALLS ON BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD TO DISSASSOCIATE WITH CONTROVERSIAL ADL PROGRAM

Armenian National Committee of Massachusetts
47 Nichols Avenue
Watertown MA 02472
617-926-1918
ancem@hotmail.com

For Immediate Release
September 24, 2008


Contact: 617-347-2833

WATERTOWN TOWN COUNCIL CALLS ON BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD TO DISSASSOCIATE WITH CONTROVERSIAL ADL PROGRAM

Unanimously votes to call on the National ADL to End its Opposition to Armenian Genocide Reaffirmation

WATERTOWN, MA—
The Watertown Town Council unanimously voted last night in support of a resolution calling on Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Massachusetts to ends its endorsement of the Anti Defamation League's (ADL) controversial No Place for Hate (NPFH) program, citing the ADL's opposition to Armenian Genocide affirmation efforts, reported the Armenian National Committee of Massachusetts (ANCM).The resolution, introduced by Councilors Marilyn Petitto Devaney, Stephen Corbett, and Mark Sideris, was taken up during a regular Town Council session, which was moved in advance to the Watertown Middle School to accommodate the growing interest in this scandal.

The vote on the resolution was prefaced by the reading of a brief statement by Jay Curley, BCBS’s Senior Vice President for Public, Government and Regulatory Affairs, who was present at the Council’s request. Following Mr. Curley’s statement, all nine Town Council members asked detailed questions regarding the BCBS position.

BCBS’s Curley said that Blue Cross “firmly believes there can be no ambiguity about the genocide” and that it should not be hidden under confusing language. Curley, however, announced that BCBS intended to continue its partnership with the ADL “based on assurances” [that the ADL has recognized the Armenian genocide.] He followed that by stating that if BCBS finds out that is not the case, “we will withdraw support."

When asked by Councilor Corbett if this assurance was written or verbal, Curley said that they were verbal, noting that the assurances came from the New England ADL and that they were followed up by a letter from Foxman, which was "perfectly clear and unambiguous to us." Curley noted, however that BCBS was “disappointed” with the tone and tenor of the communication from Foxman.

The communication in question is the August 22, 2008, ADL letter that was buried on its web page and signed solely by its national director, Abraham Foxman, stating, “ADL has never denied the tragic and painful events perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenians, and we have referred to those massacres and atrocities as genocide.” This letter goes on to falsely accuse those who are working to end genocide denial of “demonizing” opponents of Armenian Genocide reaffirmation.

Councilor Devaney noted that BCBS’s “continued affiliation with ADL means not only complicity in genocide denial but also is clear discrimination.”

In addition, Councilor Vincent Piccirilli told Curley that citizens “of Watertown are somewhat dismayed with the talking around the issue and the failure to come clean.”

When asked by Councilor Sideris if BCBS would help get an unequivocal statement from the ADL on the Armenian Genocide, Curly responded, that getting involved in national politics “is not something we do.”

Councilor Jonathan Hecht answered by stating that by continuing to play these games, BCBS was undermining the effort to prevent future genocides.”

“The Watertown Town Council has taken a principled stand in calling for corporations to adhere to basic human rights principles,” stated ANCM chairperson Sharistan Melkonian. “It is unfortunate that Blue Cross Blue Shield finds the ADL’s disingenuous August 2008 statement as satisfactory when in fact it clearly indicates that the ADL is unwilling to come out with a simple, clear, unambiguous statement acknowledging the Armenian Genocide. We thank the Council and in particular Councilors Corbett, Sideris, and Devaney for their leadership and for sending a strong message to Blue Cross that human rights are absolute.”

Yesterday, twenty-five Armenian organizations and churches sent an open letter to BCBS Chairman Cleve Killingsworth calling on BCBS to end its endorsement of the ADL’s NPFH program.

“The ADL simply cannot portray itself as a universal human rights organization while it engages in genocide denial,” the letter read. “The ADL has an existential contradiction between its two missions as a human rights organization and as an ethnic advocacy group. Whenever these two purposes conflict, the ADL prioritizes its advocacy interests – not human rights. Acknowledging this contradiction, Mr. Foxman admitted, ‘there are two moral issues, but one trumps the other.’”

The Watertown Town Council passed a second resolution last night calling for a representative of the National ADL to appear before the Council at a future date.

Background

The ADL has for many years refused to acknowledge that the systematic massacre of 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1923 was genocide. To make matters worse, the ADL has actively engaged in efforts to oppose Congressional affirmation of the Armenian Genocide.

Only after intense pressure which started in Watertown, Massachusetts during the summer of 2007, did the national ADL issue its “Statement on the Armenian Genocide” referred to above. In addition, the ADL remains on the record opposing Armenian Genocide legislation (including the pending H.Res.106 / S.Res.106), arguing that short term geopolitical considerations related to Turkey-Israel-US relations should take precedence over the moral imperative of condemning genocide whenever and wherever it occurs.

The ADL convened its national meeting in New York City in early November 2007 at which time the issue of the Armenian Genocide was discussed. Upon conclusion, a one sentence press statement was issued that “The National Commission of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today, at its annual meeting, decided to take no further action on the issue of the Armenian genocide.”

The controversy first came to light on July 6 when the Watertown Tab published a letter that spotlighted ADL national director Abe Foxman's statements opposing Congressional Armenian Genocide legislation. The letter asked the local "No Place For Hate" chapter to disassociate itself from the ADL. NPFH is a national trademark of the national ADL.

The situation intensified in an explosive August 1 front page Boston Globe article in which the Armenian National Committee condemned Foxman's genocide denial and stated that the ANC would "call for the Watertown 'No Place for Hate' program to sever its ties with the ADL unless it denounces Foxman's position and acknowledges the genocide."

Later a community petition called on the Watertown No Place for Hate committee "in keeping with its principles" to urge the ADL to unambiguously acknowledge the Armenian Genocide and support Congressional affirmation.

Watertown then became the first town to end its relationship with the No Place for Hate Program by a unanimous vote of the Town Council, which set the stage for numerous other public meetings in communities throughout Massachusetts, where this issue was brought to the attention of human rights commissions and town and city councils.

Watertown was followed by twelve other Massachusetts municipalities including Belmont, Newton, Arlington, Northampton, Bedford, Lexington, Westwood, Medford, Needham, Newburyport, Somerville, and Peabody.

For complete information about the ADL controversy surrounding the Armenian Genocide visit www.noplacefordenial.com

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An open letter from the Armenian American community to Blue Cross Blue Shield

September 23, 2008

Cleve L. Killingsworth, Chairman and Chief Executive
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Landmark Center
401 Park Drive
Boston, MA 02215-3326

Dear Mr. Killingsworth:

We are writing to urge you to end Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts’s endorsement of the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) No Place for Hate (NPFH) program.

Although the ADL professes to secure the human rights of all people, it continues to deny the Armenian Genocide and actively works against its recognition. These unacceptable activities render the ADL unsuitable as a partner for tolerance education, regardless of other worthy functions it may perform.

On August 22, 2008, the ADL issued a confusing letter buried deeply on its web page and signed solely by its national director, Abraham Foxman, stating, “ADL has never denied the tragic and painful events perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenians, and we have referred to those massacres and atrocities as genocide.” This letter provocatively accuses those who are working to end genocide genial of “demonization.”

This disingenuous statement apparently refers to the ADL’s now infamous August 21, 2007 release – the ADL’s only other public statement on the Armenian Genocide – that said, “the consequences” of the Turkish massacres and atrocities were “tantamount to genocide.” This statement is not an acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide.

The 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group...” By employing the word “consequences,” the ADL – considered authorities on genocide and genocide denial – is, in fact, endorsing the Turkish claim that Armenians died simply as a consequence of World War I conditions and not as a deliberate, planned program of extermination. Moreover, the ADL does not even recognize the Armenian Genocide as an outright genocide, but simply an event “tantamount to genocide.”

Within days of its August 21, 2007, statement on the Armenian Genocide, the ADL apologized to Turkey in a letter to its government and endorsed Turkey’s call for a joint commission of Turkish and Armenian scholars to examine “the details of those dark and terrible days.”

The ADL’s own web page labels such calls as genocide denial, explaining that deniers “portray themselves as individuals and groups engaged in a legitimate, dispassionate quest for historical knowledge and ‘truth’ [who] seek to plant seeds of questioning and doubt.”

Most significantly, the ADL has for many years actively lobbied on behalf of the Turkish government to deny the Armenian Genocide and prevent passage of a Congressional resolution formally affirming the Armenian Genocide. It continues to publicly and repeatedly voice opposition to such a Congressional resolution. These actions are documented in the attached packet.

The ADL simply cannot portray itself as a universal human rights organization while it engages in genocide denial. The ADL has an existential contradiction between its two missions as a human rights organization and as an ethnic advocacy group. Whenever these two purposes conflict, the ADL prioritizes its advocacy interests – not human rights. Acknowledging this contradiction, Mr. Foxman admitted, “there are two moral issues, but one trumps the other.” Documentation is included in the attached packet.

Genocide is the most serious of hate crimes and genocide denial is the highest form of hate speech and the last stage of genocide. Indeed, the ADL’s web page states, “What is on the surface a denial of the reality of genocide is, at its core, an appeal to genocidal hatred.” Further, in its August 22, 2008 statement, the ADL proclaims, “All ADL’s anti hate programs classify genocide as the ultimate crime against humanity.”

How, then, can an organization engaged in genocide denial be allowed to instruct others on tolerance in community anti-hate programs?

Given the ADL’s failure to adhere to the most basic standards required of a human rights organization, Blue Cross Blue Shield has an obligation both to its subscribers and the larger community to end its endorsement of this national ADL program. Because Blue Cross Blue Shield’s initial endorsement of NPFH provided the momentum for many communities to adopt the program, BCBS has a special responsibility to end its corporate endorsement and financial support of this ADL endeavor.

Blue Cross Blue Shield should not be associated with genocide denial. Thus, we request that you rescind BCBS’s endorsement of the No Place for Hate program due to the ADL’s refusal to unambiguously acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, its engaging in the denialist tactic of proposing further study the Armenian Genocide, and its continued active opposition to United States formal recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

Thank you.

Armenian Assembly of America
Armenian Church of the Holy Translators (Framingham)
Armenian Cultural and Education Center
Armenian Democratic Liberal Party
Armenian General Benevolent Union
Armenian Independent Broadcasting of Boston
Armenian Library and Museum of America
Armenian Memorial Church (Watertown)
The Armenian Mirror Spectator Weekly
Armenian National Committee
Armenian Relief Society
Armenian Revolutionary Federation
The Armenian Weekly
Armenian Youth Federation
First Armenian Church (Belmont)
Hairenik Weekly
Hamazkyin Cultural
Holy Cross Armenian Church (Belmont)
Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church (Worcester)
Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church of Greater Boston (Cambridge)
Homenetmen General Athletic Union
Social Democrat Hunchakian Party
St. James Armenian Apostolic Church (Watertown)
St. Stephen’s Armenian Apostolic Church (Watertown)
Tekeyan Cultural Association of USA and Canada
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IN THE NEWS: Southern Poverty Law Center Exposes Turkey's Denialist Network

Intelligence Report Cites Tactics, Names Individuals


Montgomery, AL -- The internationally respected anti-hate organization, Southern Poverty Law Center, has exposed the Turkish government's multi-million dollar campaign of genocide denial in a groundbreaking, just-published intelligence report, "State of Denial." The report describes the "alarming success" of "a network of American scholars, influence peddlers and website operators, financed by the government of Turkey, who promote the denial of the Armenian genocide."

The SPLC reveals that the Institute of Turkish Studies at Georgetown University, created and funded by the Turkish government, also receives "sizable donations from American defense contractors that sell arms to Turkey, including General Dynamics and Westinghouse." The institute is a major component of the Turkish denialist network.

In an accompanying editorial entitled "Lying About History," the SPLC writes, "The claims of the Turkish government and the scholars who seem bent on supporting it are enough to make one ill." Several other articles and resources are linked to the report. The nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center monitors hate groups, defends civil and human rights, and provides anti-bias training through their educational program "Teaching Tolerance."

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