By Thomas C . Nash
Mirror-Spectator Staff

BOSTON — A federal judge ruled June 10 that a lawsuit over how the Armenian Genocide is taught in schools could not go forward.

The suit, filed in October 2005 by the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) alongside two high school teachers and a student against the Massachusetts Department of Education alleged that a curriculum guide distributed by the department limited free speech by not including resources that presented “contra-genocide” viewpoints.

A motion to dismiss the case, heard by Chief Judge Mark Wolf in the US District Court in Boston, had been under advisement since September 2006.

“Public officials have the right to recommend, or even require, the curriculum that will be taught in public school classrooms,” Wolf’s opinion stated. “Doing so is a form of government speech, which is not generally subject to First Amendment scrutiny. There is no requirement that such government speech be balanced or viewpoint neutral.”

The legal battle began after William Schechter, a now-retired teacher at Lincoln- Sudbury High School and one of his students, alongside Cambridge Rindge and Latin School teacher Lawrence Aaronson, raised issues with “The Massachusetts Guide to Choosing and Using Curricular Materials on Genocide and Human Rights Issues,” which includes teaching the Armenian Genocide as an established fact.

The guide, issued in 1999 following legislation from State Sen. Steven Tolman, does not forbid teachers from discussing other points of view. After a list of “contra-genocide” sources were later listed on the guide, however, Tolman successfully lobbied for their removal and has followed the resulting court case closely.

“When we put together the genocide curriculum, it was based on facts,” Tolman said after the ruling. “When this youngster and the Turkish Association were doing this we knew it was the same denial game. I’m excited that the system works. Justice prevails, it makes sense. The Turks have denied [the Genocide] forever and they have no merit.”

The motion to dismiss, filed by the Board of Education, argued that the three-year statute of limitations for the case had run out. Wolf disagreed, but said based on the arguments provided the ATAA would have to “resume their efforts to prevail in the political arena because they are not entitled to relief in federal court.”

The dismissal came as a relief to the Armenian-American community and other groups that filed amicus briefs to the judge, including the Armenian Assembly of America, Armenian Bar Association, Armenian National Committee, International Association of Genocide Scholars, Irish Immigration Center, Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The briefs were filed by law firms Wilmer Hale, Holland & Knight, K&L Gates and Erwin Chemerinsky of the Duke University School of Law.

Van Krikorian, one of the attorneys who filed the Assembly’s brief, said he was relieved by the ruling because it will help stem the likelihood of similar challenges being lodged elsewhere.

“This was such a blow to [the ATAA’s] plan, which was to get a favorable ruling here and then repeat the tactic in every school district across the country,” Krikorian said. “The result of the decision is it cuts them off, it destroys that plan.”

Despite the nearly three years spent waiting for Wolf’s ruling on Department of Education’s motion to dismiss, which left both sides wondering what the delay was caused by, lead attorney for the ATAA Harvey Silverglate said an appeal may be filed as early as next week.

Silverglate, a well-known First Amendment lawyer, maintains that the curriculum guide constitutes a “21st-century library” rather than a traditional curriculum since it is a listing of websites. According to Wolf’s argument, a library is subject to first amendment rights “government speech” does not afford curriculums.

Wolf’s opinion rejected Silverglate’s argument, stating that nothing restricted teachers from addressing “contra-genocide” sources.

“The Curriculum Guide requires neither students nor teachers to engage in any speech,” he stated. “Rather, local school boards can choose whether to adopt the Curriculum Guide. The complaint does not suggest that any of the plaintiff teachers have been compelled to instruct only in accordance with it.”

“Failing to include the websites among materials which may be presented to students is not tantamount to restricting access to them,” Wolf added.

The decision to dismiss the case, Silverglate said, is “absolutely and clearly wrong. I’m quite confident that this lawsuit will go forward.”

Attorney David Guberman, who represented the Department of Education, would not comment for this story.

By Thomas C . Nash
Mirror-Spectator Staff

WASHINGTON — The US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) announced it was continuing its one third reduction of a $235.6 million Armenian aid program this week, citing renewed doubt in country’s democracy following the widely-criticized May elections in Yerevan.

In a statement released following an MCC board meeting in Washington chaired by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the board said the MCC “will not resume funding for any further road construction and rehabilitation.”

“The responsibility for this outcome remains with the government of Armenia, whose actions have been inconsistent with the eligibility criteria that are at the heart of the MCC program,” Rodney Bent, the corporation’s acting executive director, said in the statement. “I do not anticipate that the Board will revisit this issue in the future.”

An MCC spokesperson confirmed that the $67 million in road funding will likely not be re-instated before the compact between the two governments runs out in 2011.

The statement came one day after the State Department again expressed its disapproval of the Armenian government’s human rights record. The funding has been on hold since the troubled 2008 Armenian presidential election, which resulted in violence and a government crackdown on opposition leaders.

US Ambassador to Armenia Marie Yovanovitch said last Tuesday that US Embassy officials observing the May 31 elections saw irregularities “throughout the city,” adding that a report on their findings will be released soon.

A report released by the State Department earlier this year painted a bleak picture of the Armenian government’s commitment to democracy, one of the benchmarks for MCC funding. In its annual survey of worldwide human rights, the Armenian report cites the government’s attempt to stifle dissent, often with violence or politically motivated imprisonment.

“The government’s human rights record deteriorated significantly during the year,” the State Department study stated, “with authorities and their agents committing numerous human rights abuses, particularly in connection with the presidential elections and the government’s suppression of demonstrations that followed.”

The State Department study can be found at www.state.gov under their 2008 Reports on Human Rights Practices page.

Armenian Assembly of America Executive Director Bryan Ardouny said that while the pressure is mounting to regain the withheld funding, since it is only a five-year program already three years in, the MCC program remains valuable for Armenia.

“The MCC compact between the US and Armenia is an important program and does benefit the people of Armenia,” Ardouny said, noting the signing of the five-year compact took place during the Assembly’s 2006 Advocacy Conference. “It was another demonstration of the US-Armenia relationship and the different ways the relationship continues to grow.”

The US aid suspension led the Armenian government in July 2008 to allocate about $17 million of its own funds to rural road construction envisaged by Armenia’s MCC compact. The economic recession led the government to secure in February a $25 million loan from the World Bank for infrastructure projects.

The MCC decision will not affect the $160 million portion of aid approved in 2006, which is slated to go toward Armenia’s irrigation networks.

Ardouny said he was optimistic that the full funding amount will be restored. “We’d like to see this program continued and we’d like too see it back on track,” he said.

Armenian Ambassador Tatoul Markarian did not respond to a request for comment.

(Material from RFE/RL was used in this report.)

WASHINGTON (Associated Press) — Corporate America typically hires lobbyists to pressure Congress on taxes and trade rules. But in an unusual — some say risky — move, five military contractors and an energy company have stepped into a fight over whether the US should label Turkey’s slaughter of a million Armenians nearly a century ago as genocide.

The six companies have strong ties to Turkey, a key strategic ally of the US in Mideast peace efforts and the fight against terrorism. None would state their position on the House resolution, but industry analysts and others said they likely lobbied against the measure to show support for Turkey, an important market for weapons and industrial products.

“They don’t want to be seen opposing a resolution that has a very evident human rights element,” said Rouben Adalian, director of the Armenian National Institute, a Washington research organization. “It would put them on the side of denying history and denying Genocide.”

BAE Systems Inc., Goodrich Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp., Raytheon Co., United Technologies Corp. and energy producer Chevron Corp. spent $14 million to lobby Congress in the first quarter of this year. Besides the Genocide resolution, the companies lobbied on Pentagon spending, climate change, taxes and more.

United Technologies, which sells Sikorsky helicopters to Turkey, says it provided information to lawmakers “that helped round out their understanding of the international trade and national security interests involved.”

But businesses lobbying against the resolution are not being “good corporate citizens,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., its lead sponsor.

Lobbying on human rights issues comes with risks, said Gerry Keim, associate dean at Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business. Several companies halted their efforts opposing restrictions on white minorityruled South Africa in the 1980s when antiapartheid activists applied pressure.

“Originally, they were concerned about markets in South Africa. Then they were concerned about markets here,” Keim said.

Other analysts say any public backlash against companies lobbying on the Armenia genocide resolution would be minimal because the firms serve governments, not individual consumers who could boycott their products.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee has not taken up the resolution and the Senate does not have a version. A spokeswoman for the House committee said its chairman has not decided when the resolution — or other pending bills — will be taken up as the House considers legislation on Pakistan, State Department funding and other matters.

President Barack Obama, before visiting a World War II-era concentration camp in Germany earlier this month, said the world has an obligation to stop genocide, even when it’s inconvenient. His administration is working to end the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan, he said.

While running for president, Obama promised to “recognize the Armenian Genocide” once in office, but he avoided the term during a speech in Turkey in April.

Putting the US on record that the killings of Armenians 94 years ago was genocide gives credibility to the drive for international support to stop killings in Sudan, Schiff said.

But pressure on the six companies to avoid offending Turkey is intense.

Among the ventures between US businesses and Turkey are a $3-billion contract from Northrop to a Turkish company to be a supplier for fighter jets. Goodrich Corp. and a Turkish firm agreed to a joint venture for maintenance and repair work on engine components. BAE Systems and a Turkish company jointly market and supply armored vehicles to the Turkish armed forces.

Chevron holds a stakes in a pipeline that crosses the country. Raytheon has agreed to sell to Turkey Stinger missile launcher systems valued at $34 million and is working to sell its missile defense systems.

Chevron said it lobbies on a range of interests, “including international issues that fall outside of a narrow energy policy focus.”

Representatives of the US subsidiary of London-based BAE Systems PLC and Northrop referred questions to the Aerospace Industries Association. The trade group defended Turkey as a key US ally and cited “large and growing commercial ties” between the two nations.

Raytheon and Goodrich did not respond to requests for comment.

Andrew Kzirian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee’s western region in Glendale, Calif., said backers of the resolution, which has been considered before, will not quit if it fails again.

“If you don’t call it out and call it for what it is, you have Darfur,” he said.

By Emine Ozcan

ISTANBUL (BIA News Center) — Nedim Sener, a reporter for the daily Milliyet newspaper who published a book about journalist Hrant Dink’s murder, faces up to 28 years in jail after police officers filed complaints against him.

The book, titled The Dink Murder and Intelligence Lies, deals with the police and national intelligence officers who have been accused of negligence in Dink’s 2007 murder. They are accused both of having prior knowledge of murder plans and of preventing the solving of the case with misleading evidence and fake documents.

“I published the incidents of negligence of these three important intelligence institutions of the state in the Dink murder case, giving names,” Sener said. “I have proven that fake documents were prepared. Documents marked as classified and containing lies were published in the book.”

Following the publication of the book, several police officers who filed criminal complaints against the writer: Ramazan Akyürek, then chief of police in Trabzon and still in office as police intelligence unit chief, Ali Fuat Yılmazer, then police intelligence unit manager and now Istanbul intelligence unit chief and Muhittin Zenit, the police officer who was responsible for police informant Erhan Tuncel, who is now accused of encouraging Ogün Samast to kill Hrant Dink.

Sener faces 28 years imprisonment. He stands accused of “targeting people
involved in anti-terrorism campaigns, revealing classified information, obtaining classified information, violating the secrecy of these communications, and attempting to influence the judiciary,” according to court documents.

“What they are trying to punish is the basic procedure of journalism, finding and publishing documents, finding out who are the public officials who have responsibility in Hrant Dink’s murder,” Sener said.

“It is very strange that the Trabzon gendarmerie command’s staff accused of negligence is facing up to two years imprisonment in a trial at the Trabzon 2nd Criminal Court of Peace, while no one from the Trabzon police force, which has also been described as negligent, is being tried,” he added.

The Istanbul 11th Heavy Penal Court is dealing with one of the cases against the journalists, in which he faces up to twenty years imprisonment. The court hearing is on 26 June. The Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance is dealing with a second case, where a sentence of up to 8 years is being demanded. The hearing was scheduled for June 10.

The 28 years that Sener faces are eight years more than the possible term for Samast, who is being tried for Dink’s murder.

YEREVAN — The Hayastan All Armenian Fund recently congratulated all the winners of the 2008 President’s Prize, including academics Vahakn Dadrian and Wolfgang Gust, who were awarded the prestigious prize for their contributions to the study of the Armenian Genocide as well as efforts to secure its worldwide recognition.

Gust received the President’s Prize for his groundbreaking research of German state archives pertaining to the 1915 Genocide. His landmark 2005 study, The Armenian Genocide During the First World War: Documents from German State Archives, reveals the deep-rooted relations between imperial Germany and the Ottoman Empire during the first part of the 20th century, particularly as documented in the secret correspondence of the German consul and ambassador in Istanbul with the Turkish government.

Gust’s 675-page volume includes 218 secret and top-secret telegrams, letters and communiqués, most of which have never been published previously.

A renowned journalist and scholar, Gust has long been dedicated to the study of the Genocide. An Armenian translation of his first work related to the subject, 1993’s The Armenian Genocide: The Tragedy of the Oldest Christian Nation, was published in Armenia in 2002. In recognition of Gust’s achievement, Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, bestowed on him the St. Sahag and St. Mashtots medal in 2001.

Dadrian, who has devoted his entire career to the study of the Genocide, received the President’s Prize not only for his past achievements but ongoing research within his field. Currently serving as director of genocide research at the Zoryan Institute, Dadrian is the author of numerous pioneering studies on the Genocide, German complicity, Turkish denial, parallels between the Genocide and the Holocaust and related topics.

The special category of the President’s Prize, Valuable Contribution to the Recognition of the Genocide, was instituted in 2005. The prize includes a certificate of achievement, a medal and a monetary award in the amount of $10,000. To date, nine scholars and public figures, including four Armenians, have received the President’s Prize in this category.

Ara Vardanyan, executive director of the Hayastan All Armenian Fund, said, “It’s a great honor to acknowledge some of the most accomplished scientists, scholars and artist of our time, and especially to be able to express our gratitude to those who have contributed so much to the field of Genocide recognition. The Hayastan All Armenian Fund is extremely proud of its role as organizer and coordinator of the President’s Prize competitions and awards ceremonies. We look forward to continuing to build on this tradition, thanks to the support of the Boghossian Foundation.”

Established in 2000 by the Boghossian Foundation, the President’s Prize promotes excellence in the Armenian arts, sciences and Genocide recognition efforts. It also includes the President’s Youth Prize, which awards young talents in various fields. Administered by the Hayastan All Armenian Fund, the juried annual prize is bestowed on recipients by the president of the Republic of Armenia, during a rewards ceremony held at the presidential residence. This year the prize was awarded to 21 individuals, for achievements in one of nine categories.