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Massachusetts Municipal Association Cuts Ties With NPFH Program Over

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  • Massachusetts Municipal Association Cuts Ties With NPFH Program Over

    MASSACHUSETTS MUNICIPAL ASSOCIATION CUTS TIES WITH NPFH PROGRAM OVER STANCE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

    PanARMENIAN.Net
    09.04.2008 20:44 GMT+04:00

    /PanARMENIAN.Net/ Expressing strong disapproval over the
    Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) unwillingness to unequivocally recognize
    the Armenian Genocide, the Massachusetts Municipal Association
    (MMA) severed ties with the "No Place for Hate" (NPFH) program, a
    community-based program offered by the human rights group, reported
    the Armenian Assembly of America.

    In a statement issued today, the MMA Board of Directors expressed
    disappointment with the ADL's refusal to "clarify and strengthen"
    its earlier statements concerning the Armenian Genocide at the ADL's
    National Commission meeting in November 2007.

    "The Board believes that unequivocal recognition of the Armenian
    Genocide is both a matter of basic justice to its victims, as well
    as essential to efforts to prevent future genocide," stated the MMA,
    a nonprofit, nonpartisan association that provides advocacy, training,
    publications, research and other services to Massachusetts cities
    and towns.

    "The MMA feels strongly that it is imperative to speak with absolute
    clarity on the genocide and that due to the NPFH program's association
    with the National ADL, the Association will no longer be a sponsor
    of the program," the organization explained.

    "The Massachusetts Municipal Association has made a just and rightful
    decision," said Massachusetts State Representative Rachel Kaprielian
    (D-Watertown), a member of the Assembly's Board of Trustees who has
    been working on this issue. "As Armenians across the globe continue
    to fight for official recognition of the Genocide of 1915 committed
    at the hands of the Ottoman Empire - this is another step on the long
    path toward worldwide recognition of the Armenian Genocide."

    "As a former member of this board, a former municipal official
    and current State Representative, I am deeply heartened by today's
    unanimous decision," Kaprielian continued.

    "The MMA did the right thing by disassociating with the ADL's
    "No Place for Hate" program because ultimately its credibility was
    compromised by the ADL's refusal to recognize the Armenian Genocide,"
    said Assembly State Chair for Massachusetts Herman Purutyan, who has
    also been working on this issue. "I hope that the ADL will reconsider
    its position in light of today's events and recognize the Armenian
    Genocide."

    Following repeated calls by members of the Armenian, Jewish and other
    communities in Massachusetts and elsewhere, the ADL one of the oldest
    and most influential Jewish organizations in the US, issued a statement
    in August 2007 in which they categorized the events of 1915-1918 as
    "tantamount to genocide."

    The Assembly welcomed the declaration as a step forward, but urged the
    ADL to unequivocally recognize the crimes and support congressional
    affirmation of the Armenian Genocide resolutions, H. Res. 106 and
    S. Res. 106, pending in the House and Senate respectively.
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