Jews and Armenian stand on alleged Genocide

Letters

I’m upset to read that the American Jewish Committee has, like the national ADL, been trying to prevent recognition of the Armenian genocide (“Denial of the Armenian Genocide does more harm than synagogue vandals,” December 26).

We read that Barry Jacobs of the AJC says his group will “champion to the best of our ability Turkish interests in the U.S. Congress.”  So the AJC is not just a Jewish lobby group but a Turkish one too?  Have AJC’s leaders told its members about its new client?

The AJC and ADL insist that we all remember the Holocaust.  Fine. More than 63 years after the Holocaust reparations are being paid, and these groups are still demanding that Congress pass various kinds of Holocaust legislation.  Fine.

But then the AJC and ADL turn around and lobby against the recognition of another people’s genocide?  This is hypocrisy of the worst kind and morally unacceptable.

However, Armenian Americans are partly responsible. The Armenian National Committee of America, Armenian Assembly of America, and other organizations should be taking the battle against the ADL and  No Place for Hate nationwide.  They have let everyone down.  What happened in Massachusetts – a dozen cities and the MMA stopped their No Place for Hate programs – should be happening in other states.  Armenian Americans need to wake up and fight.

Lily Ordoubeigian
Concord Road

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Larry Epstein in his letter of Jan. 16 [Watertown Tab] asks Mr. Boyajian to “direct his wrath, instead at the professional historians who disagree with him.”

Mr. Boyajian is able, I am sure, to speak for himself, but permit me to explain the difficulty that Mr. Boyajian will have with Mr. Epstein’s suggestion.

The professional historians agree with Mr. Boyajian. The professional historians who are associated with the International Association of Genocide Scholars agree with Mr. Boyajian. The professional historians associated with the International Commission for Transitional Justice agree with Mr. Boyajian. The 152 professional historians who placed an ad in the Washington Post calling on Turkey to accept the historical fact of the Armenian Genocide agree with Mr. Boyajian. The 56 professional Israeli and Jewish historians who issued a statement in 2001 calling on Turkey to accept the historical fact of the Armenian Genocide agree with Mr. Boyajian.

Perhaps, Mr. Epstein has in mind the handful of so-called scholars who are now or who have been in the pay directly or indirectly of the Turkish Government who, dancing to the piper’s tune, deny the historical fact of the Armenian Genocide.

The fact that the ADL — which has never been accused of being composed of historians — sides with Turkey and is lamentable perhaps, as I think Mr. Boyajian is suggesting, it should concern itself with the very real problem of anti-Semitism and not get involved in matters concerning the Armenians. I cannot speak for Mr. Boyajian, but I am sure that were it any ethnically related organization that steps away from concerning itself with its constituents and denies the historical fact of the Armenian Genocide, Mr. Boyajian would be just as concerned.

Anti-Semitism, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder and, perhaps, Mr. Epstein should change his eyeglasses.

I hope Mr. Boyajian doesn’t mind my taking off my jacket and jumping into the dispute.

Andrew Kevorkian
Philadelphia, PA

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Boyajian is no anti-Semite

Concerning Mr. Larry Epstein’s recent letters to both the Watertown and Newton papers, I feel he is way out of line suggesting that David Boyajian is an anti-Semite.