Maintaining the memories of genocide

The late J. Michael Hagopian escaped the mass murder that claimed the lives of as many as 1.5 million Armenians. Through his 12 films, the atrocity will remain visible to all who are willing to see.

Most who suffer unspeakably at the hands of others look for ways to forget, to resume a normal life as best they can. Some, however, assume the duty of witness in the hope that truthful memory will protect those who come after them. The passing of these heroic men and women ought not to go unremarked upon.

J. Michael Hagopian, who died this month in Thousand Oaks, was one such man. He was just 2 years old in 1915, when his parents hid him in a well behind their home because they believed they were about to be killed by Ottoman Turkish soldiers, who were massacring Armenians across eastern Anatolia. The soldiers ultimately passed them by because the boy's father, a physician, had treated his Turkish neighbors. The Hagopians immigrated to Fresno, escaping the mass murder that claimed the lives of as many as 1.5 million of their fellow Armenians in the 20th century's first genocide.

The toddler who was sheltered in a well went on to earn advanced degrees from UC Berkeley and Harvard and to become a distinguished teacher at UCLA and Oregon State. His great contribution, though, was a series of 12 moving — indeed, heartbreaking — films documenting the attempted genocide of his people. The most sweeping of these, "The Forgotten Genocide," was nominated for an Emmy in 1976. He appeared in one of his own films, "Voices From the Lake," recalling that his mother had told him, "You can kill a people, but their voices will never die."

The voices of the Armenians still are struggling to be heard in some quarters. Contemporary Turkey, which has no political connection to the Ottomans, continues to defy history and decency, and denies the mass murder was the result of anything but wartime civil strife. It is a claim refuted by every serious observer in that period. Raphael Lemkin, the Polish lawyer of Jewish descent who coined the term "genocide" in 1943, began his lifetime's work on the subject by studying the organized murder of the Armenians and that of Iraq's Assyrians in 1933.

Thanks to an agreement Hagopian reached last spring with USC's Shoah Foundation, his vast archive of firsthand testimony by Armenian genocide survivors and witnesses to the Ottoman atrocities will be preserved and made available for study by scholars. Because of his courage and the Shoah Foundation, the voices of the Armenians will continue speaking to all who are willing to listen.

Los Angeles Times, December 24, 2010

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SUPRISE -SUPRISE !!! U.S. Congress Avoids Vote On Armenian Genocide Bill

Representatives failed to adopt a resolution terming the World War I-era killings of more than 1 million Armenians in Ottoman Turkey a genocide as it wrapped up its final session late on Wednesday.
The two main Armenian lobby groups in the United States gave conflicting explanations for what is a serious setback for their decades-long genocide recognition campaign. The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) condemned the pro-Armenian Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders in the “lame-duck” House for not bringing the draft resolution up for a vote. The less radical Armenian Assembly of America insisted, however, that its passage was far from guaranteed because more than a hundred lawmakers mostly supportive of the measure have left Washington after approving a crucial spending bill on Tuesday. A senior Assembly representative told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that the number of absentees rose to almost 170 by Wednesday afternoon. He said Pelosi, the outgoing House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and other pro-Armenian congressmen “have really extended themselves in working to get the resolution passed in ways that most people will never know.”The Assembly’s executive director, Bryan Ardouny, likewise praised the “steadfast leadership” of these lawmakers, in a statement issued later on Wednesday. He said they “provided guidance and invaluable assistance throughout this process.”
U.S. -- Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi at a press conference in Washington, DC, 28Sep2008The ANCA put the blame squarely on the House leadership, however. “Armenian Americans are angered and disappointed by the failure of Speaker Pelosi and the House Democratic leadership to honor their commitment to allow a bipartisan majority to vote for passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution,” its chairman, Ken Hachikian, said in a statement. “Speaker Pelosi clearly had the majority, the authority, and the opportunity to pass the Armenian Genocide Resolution, yet refused to allow a vote on this human rights measure,” Hachikian claimed. Assembly leaders believe that the vote would have been too risky in those circumstances. They say the bill’s rejection by the House would have set back the recognition drive, the main focus of Armenian-American activism, by many years. The Turkish government, meanwhile, welcomed the defeat of the measure. “As decades-long friends and allies, Turkey and the U.S. will continue to work for global peace, prosperity and stability,” the Turkish ambassador in Washington, Namik Tan said, according to the Associated Press. Earlier this week, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent U.S. President Barack Obama a letter asking that he prevent a vote on what leading Turkish organizations in the U.S. denounced as “an anti-Turkish, anti-Muslim racist measure.” In a joint statement issued on Friday, they said it “unfairly accuses, judges and convicts people of Turkish heritage with this high crime without due process.”According to the Assembly, the key resolution sponsor, California Democrat Adam Schiff, intends to introduce similar legislation to the next, Republican-controlled House of Representatives, which is due to convene on January 5. Its incoming speaker, John Boehner, has strongly opposed such measures in the past. The Armenian-American community is now expected to turn the pressure up on Obama, who repeatedly promised to ensure official U.S. recognition of the genocide when he ran for president. “We are not going to give up,” the Assembly’s Ardouny was quoted by the Associated Press as saying. “We are going to press President Obama to hold to his commitment to unequivocally affirm the Armenian genocide.”

Armenians sue Turkey claiming U.S. air base land

By Harut SassounianPublisher, The California CourierOver the years, Armenians have gradually shifted their attention from the recognition of the Genocide to the pursuit of legal remedies for their massive losses suffered between 1915 and 1923.Several lawsuits have been filed recently in U.S. Federal Courts against Western insurance companies and banks. In July, Armenian-American attorneys sued the Republic of Turkey and its two major banks, seeking compensation for confiscated properties and loss of income.A new federal lawsuit was filed last week by attorneys Vartkes Yeghiayan, Kathryn Lee Boyd and David Schwarcz, along with international law expert Michael Bazyler, against the Republic of Turkey, the Central Bank, and Ziraat Bank for “unlawful expropriation and unjust enrichment.” The plaintiffs are Los Angeles-area residents Rita Mahdessian and Anais Haroutunian, and Alex Bakalian of Washington, D.C.The three Armenian-Americans, who have deeds proving ownership of properties stolen from their families during the Genocide, are seeking compensation for 122 acres of land in the Adana region. The strategic Incirlik US Air Base is partly located on their property.During the Genocide, the Turkish government initially placed all properties belonging to Armenian victims under seal. Subsequently, it directed the Ziraat Bank to hold all proceeds from the sale of seized properties in trust and for safekeeping on behalf of the Armenian owners. These properties were then transferred to the Turkish Treasury and placed under the administration of the Central Bank. The lawsuit accuses the Republic of Turkey, the Central Bank and Ziraat Bank of unfairly benefiting from the plaintiffs’ seized assets.The three Turkish defendants are currently engaged in commercial activities in the United States which grants jurisdiction to US courts. The Republic of Turkey operates several state-owned or controlled enterprises in the US, such as the Turkish Airlines and Tourism Information Office. Both the Central Bank and Ziraat Bank also have offices in the United States.In addition to seizing the Armenian plaintiffs’ property, the Turkish government has pocketed the rent paid by the United States for the Incirlik Air Base during the past 60 years. The base is operated by the Army and Air Force Exchange Service - a US Department of Defense entity. Several major American corporations, such as Baskin Robbins, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, and AT&T transact business and provide services on the base for US troops. These companies have also been profiting from Armenian-owned lands for many years.The lawsuit claims that the plaintiffs "are suffering harm from the loss of use and proceeds from their property.” Turkey and its Central Bank’s "continued unlawful use of the property causes a direct effect in the United States because a US commercial entity pays money" to Turkey to lease the Incirlik Air Base and "is engaged in a long-term business arrangement with defendants…."The lawsuit also states that the "plaintiffs’ action is additionally based upon their rights in property unlawfully expropriated by defendant Turkey in violation of international law, pursuant to a Turkish campaign of genocide…. International law prohibits the taking of property when it is done in a discriminatory way or pursuant to gross violations of human rights. Plaintiffs’ property was taken pursuant to the genocidal campaign of the Ottoman Turkish Empire to destroy, in whole or in part, Armenian Christians in Turkey."The plaintiffs assert that after the Genocide, the Turkish government transferred Armenian-owned "businesses, factories, shops, farms, and all other economic enterprises into Turkish Muslim ownership," Yet, the most shocking charge is the accusation that the Turkish authorities used "the proceeds derived from the sale of Armenian property to fund their deportation." It is noteworthy that beyond depriving Armenians of their lives and property during the Genocide, Turkish authorities strictly forbade the survivors from reclaiming their properties, by stamping their passports "Return prohibited."The Armenian-American plaintiffs estimate the current value of the property seized from their families to be $63.9 million, since their land constitutes 3.7% of the $1.7 billion “plant replacement value” of the Incirlik Air Base, according to the latest U.S. Defense Department data. The plaintiffs are demanding the current fair market value of their property as well as the accrued rental for the past 60 years, possibly totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. This lawsuit does not include the value of other Armenian properties in Incirlik, including a church and school.In the coming months, several other lawsuits are expected to be filed in U.S. courts against the Turkish government and other Turkish entities, including a claim for the Turkish Presidential Palace in Ankara, which is located on land owned by the Kassabian family.

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Erdogan sends letter to Obama concerning vote on H. Res. 252 in U.S. House of Representatives

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the country’s parliament that Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had sent a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama with respect to a possible vote on H. R. 252, the Armenian Genocide resolution, on December 21 in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Turkish Minister said that Ankara hopes that the U.S. President will display prudence with respect to H. Res. 252 also this time.
"We know that the U.S. House of Representative may vote on the resolution on December 21. And we, specifically, our Ambassador in Washington, have taken all the needed actions. We cannot allow the resolution to hang over the Turkish-U.S. ties like a Sword of Damocles," Milliyet paper quoted Davutoglu as saying.

Erdogan sends letter to Obama concerning vote on H. Res. 252 in U.S. House of Representatives

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the country’s parliament that Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had sent a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama with respect to a possible vote on H. R. 252, the Armenian Genocide resolution, on December 21 in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Turkish Minister said that Ankara hopes that the U.S. President will display prudence with respect to H. Res. 252 also this time.
"We know that the U.S. House of Representative may vote on the resolution on December 21. And we, specifically, our Ambassador in Washington, have taken all the needed actions. We cannot allow the resolution to hang over the Turkish-U.S. ties like a Sword of Damocles," Milliyet paper quoted Davutoglu as saying.