You have got to be kidding me.

The [Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs] has presented UNESCO with a draft resolution for the preservation of the memory of the Holocaust and prevention of its denial.

Oh, stuff it.

The historic proposed decision, concerned with preservation of the memory of the Holocaust and prevention of its denial, is part of a campaign conducted for the past three years by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in conjunction with international communities in general and with the United Nations[.]

Why is the ministry of foreign affairs doing this, and why is the UN indulging this juvenile "politics of gesture"? Relations with Iran are exquisitely sensitive at the moment, and as we know, Iran does not recognize the Holocaust. It is foolish and pointless to antagonize Ahmadinejad and the mullahs over something that happened sixty years ago. However regrettable the events of WWII may have been--and make no mistake, they were regrettable--we need to focus on today, and not waste our energies revisiting old tragedies. </satire>

The MFA has managed to harness 70 countries from all continents to the initiative, including one Arab state. Voting on the decision will take place at the 34th session of the UNESCO General Conference, to be held in Paris from 16 October to 3 November 2007.

So voting starts today. I hope everyone votes yea, but only after insisting on a brief amendment stating the obvious: that it is equally imperative to preserve the memory of other genocides, such as the Armenian Genocide, and to prevent their denial.

Meanwhile, in other news, Armenian-Americans continue to plead with Jewish- American organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee, as well as with the foreign ministry of Israel, to stop abetting Turkish efforts to destroy the memory of the Armenian Genocide.

Alik Arzoumanian, a granddaughter of survivors of the genocide, delivered this speech to the Massachusetts Human Rights Association last Friday:

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I do not know what horrors my great grandmother went through during the summer of 1915, because I have been told that every time she tried to tell what happened, she became sick for three days, so she rarely spoke about it. All I know is that her first newborn, a baby girl called Angel, died in her arms in the Syrian desert, and that a kind horseman saved her from drowning in the Euphrates.

Two days ago, the US House Foreign Affairs Committee adopted a resolution that acknowledges what happened to my great grandparents and countless others as genocide. As Turkey frantically multiplied its threats to discourage Congress from doing the same, in the face of such shameless bullying and blatant denial, I thought, for a moment, that I was exhausted of being Armenian.

I am exhausted of witnessing the denial of my history.

I am exhausted of being denied justice for so long.

And I am frankly exhausted of having to go town to town explaining how Abraham Foxman and the national ADL are complicit in Turkey’s denial campaign, and asking Human Rights Commissions to sever their ties with a human rights organization that has denied us, Armenians, our human rights.

On its website, the ADL correctly states that:

“On the surface, Holocaust deniers portray themselves as individuals and groups engaged in a legitimate, dispassionate quest for historical knowledge and truth" and that they “seek to plant seeds of questioning and doubt about the Holocaust”.

In his August 23 statement, Mr. Foxman stated:

“Although independent scholars may have reached a consensus about the genocide… there is room for further dispassionate scholarly examination of the details of those dark and terrible days.”

He means the Armenian genocide is open to debate.

By the ADL’s own standards, this constitutes genocide denial.

Mr. Foxman’s opinion about the Armenian genocide sounds eerily similar to the one held by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about the Holocaust, when the latter states that “Holocaust events need to be further investigated by independent and impartial parties”. Both are unacceptable and to be rejected by anyone who cares about the
human rights of all people.

What outrages me most are Mr. Foxman’s repeated calls on Armenians to take up Turkey’s offers of a commission that will “re-examine the shared past of both peoples”.

On September 27, Turkey’s Prime Minister met with Mr. Foxman – among others - "to reject allegations the Ottoman Empire committed an act of genocide against its Armenian citizens in 1915."

After the meeting, Mr. Foxman reiterated his opposition to congressional affirmation of the Armenian genocide.

He also repeated that Armenians should respond to calls from Turkey for a joint commission to investigate the past, knowing very well that,

1. The debate on the Armenian genocide has long been over.

2. Turkish historians on such a commission would be on the payroll of the Turkish state which does not only deny the Armenian genocide, but also suppresses attempts by Turkish intellectuals and human rights activists to speak the truth.

Just yesterday, Arat Dink, the son of Hrant Dink, the journalist murdered earlier this year because he dared to write about the Armenian genocide, was convicted of “insulting Turkishness” for republishing his father's remarks.

Armenians will only rest when Turkey recognizes the Armenian genocide and Ottoman Turkey’s role in perpetrating it.

As a human rights organization, the ADL has no right to stand in our way, alongside with Turkey, as we work to recover our human rights and dignity.

The ADL charter states that "its ultimate purpose is to secure justice and fair treatment to all citizens alike". As an Armenian-American, I am deeply offended that the ADL does not deem us worthy of justice and fair treatment.

As human rights commissioners, I am sure you believe, unlike Mr. Foxman and the national ADL, that Armenians DO deserve justice -- like any other people.

Therefore, I respectfully urge you to follow the example of Watertown, Belmont and Newton, and to withdraw from the ADL sponsored NPFH program in your towns, until the ADL reverses its position 180 degrees by unambiguously recognizing the Armenian genocide, and without casting any doubt on its historical truth, by apologizing to the Armenian community for not having done so earlier, and by expressing support for efforts seeking congressional affirmation of the Armenian genocide.

Until then, I think there should be no place for any ADL sponsored human rights program in any of our towns.

Alik Arzoumanian
Cambridge, MA