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Events in Turkey From 1915 Find Way to Los Angeles Federal Court
July 30, 2010, 12:05 PM ET
WSJ on the cases, trends and personalities of interest to the business
community.
By Ashby Jones
In recent years, most of the debate in this country concerning the
events that led to the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 has
revolved around whether they should be classified as genocide on the
part of Turkey.
But a lawsuit filed on Thursday in Los Angeles asks a different
question: whether the heirs of the Armenians whose property was
allegedly seized should be able to recover for their losses.
The suit was filed on behalf of two men of Armenian ancestry: Garbisn
Davouyan of Los Angeles and Hrayr Turabian of Queens, NY, and seeks
compensation for property allegedly seized by Armenians, along with
bank deposits and property.
The lawsuit claims the government of Turkey agreed to administer the
property, collect rents and sale proceeds from the seized assets and
deposit the receipts in trust accounts until the property could be
restored to owners.
Instead, the government has `withheld the property and any income
derived from such property,' the lawsuit said.
The defendants: the Republic of Turkey and two Turkish banks. Click
here for the AP story; here for the complaint.
Undoubtedly, there are some potential difficulties to suing over
activities that began about 100 years ago, namely a statute of
limitations.
The plaintiffs attempt to head this off entirely, arguing in their
complaint that the statute has yet to begin to run because, due to
`fraudulent concealment' on the part of the defendants, plaintiffs
were unable to bring their suit until now. Plaintiffs also claim the
`Defendants misconduct is ongoing.'
The lawyers bringing the case include Brian S. Kabateck and Richard L.
Kellner of the Los Angeles-based firm Kabateck, Brown & Kellner and
Mark Garagos of Las Vegas-based Geragos & Garagos.
A message left by the AP with the Turkish Consul General's office in
Los Angeles was not immediately returned. E-mails seeking comment from
both banks were not immediately returned.
Comments (5 of 5)View all Comments »
2:25 pm July 30, 2010
Kiazer.Souze wrote:
Turks are genocidal muslims. Look at how they occupy Cypruss to this
day. See how they blockade Armenia. They are bent on waging a soft
Jihad against its American master.
2:15 pm July 30, 2010
ahem wrote:
America is where people go to leave behind, fights over who did what
in 1915. The US courts ought to toss the suit. Its not our issue and
we ought not to make it one. People who think it is and ought to be
fought out here made the Old world so unstable. Always refighting the
squabbles of generations past. Let it go. Or deal with it somewhere
else. Nor should US taxpayers be underwriting this fight: its bad
enough that immigration cases are clogging our courts and adding to
the judiciary's budget. People who live here and pay taxes to raise
families and run businesses here should not be underwriting a
historical fight involving Turkey.
1:25 pm July 30, 2010
James wrote:
The issue will not go away until Turkey acknowledges its past. As the
international scholars of Genocide put it, it was Genocide.. Now its
time for Turkey and modern Turks to accept it so we can all move on.
12:51 pm July 30, 2010
Mert wrote:
As a Turk I believe Armenian Genocide was a terrible tragedy. We
should accept it and we should understand the pain of the Armenians. I
believe we should also pay reparations. But why doesn't America set a
precedent by paying reparations to American Indians and African
Americans?
12:33 pm July 30, 2010
the truth will never be forgoten wrote:
immagin if germans today said the jewish holocost is an alagation by
the jewish diaspora and america did everything to be on the sides of
germans. Committing a genocide is one ting, spiting on the victems
face and calling them liears is another shame on the uneducated money
hungry ppl who are duing this! Btw as we kno the jewish loby after all
they went threw for economic and poletical reasons do everiting to
crush the issue, I guess historry didn't teach them a leson yet they
chose to take part in denying 1.5 million peopls deaths. It really is
a tragedy how hiumans do this things
Search Law Blog About Law BlogFollow us: RSS twitter facebook
From: A. Papazian
July 30, 2010, 12:05 PM ET
WSJ on the cases, trends and personalities of interest to the business
community.
By Ashby Jones
In recent years, most of the debate in this country concerning the
events that led to the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 has
revolved around whether they should be classified as genocide on the
part of Turkey.
But a lawsuit filed on Thursday in Los Angeles asks a different
question: whether the heirs of the Armenians whose property was
allegedly seized should be able to recover for their losses.
The suit was filed on behalf of two men of Armenian ancestry: Garbisn
Davouyan of Los Angeles and Hrayr Turabian of Queens, NY, and seeks
compensation for property allegedly seized by Armenians, along with
bank deposits and property.
The lawsuit claims the government of Turkey agreed to administer the
property, collect rents and sale proceeds from the seized assets and
deposit the receipts in trust accounts until the property could be
restored to owners.
Instead, the government has `withheld the property and any income
derived from such property,' the lawsuit said.
The defendants: the Republic of Turkey and two Turkish banks. Click
here for the AP story; here for the complaint.
Undoubtedly, there are some potential difficulties to suing over
activities that began about 100 years ago, namely a statute of
limitations.
The plaintiffs attempt to head this off entirely, arguing in their
complaint that the statute has yet to begin to run because, due to
`fraudulent concealment' on the part of the defendants, plaintiffs
were unable to bring their suit until now. Plaintiffs also claim the
`Defendants misconduct is ongoing.'
The lawyers bringing the case include Brian S. Kabateck and Richard L.
Kellner of the Los Angeles-based firm Kabateck, Brown & Kellner and
Mark Garagos of Las Vegas-based Geragos & Garagos.
A message left by the AP with the Turkish Consul General's office in
Los Angeles was not immediately returned. E-mails seeking comment from
both banks were not immediately returned.
Comments (5 of 5)View all Comments »
2:25 pm July 30, 2010
Kiazer.Souze wrote:
Turks are genocidal muslims. Look at how they occupy Cypruss to this
day. See how they blockade Armenia. They are bent on waging a soft
Jihad against its American master.
2:15 pm July 30, 2010
ahem wrote:
America is where people go to leave behind, fights over who did what
in 1915. The US courts ought to toss the suit. Its not our issue and
we ought not to make it one. People who think it is and ought to be
fought out here made the Old world so unstable. Always refighting the
squabbles of generations past. Let it go. Or deal with it somewhere
else. Nor should US taxpayers be underwriting this fight: its bad
enough that immigration cases are clogging our courts and adding to
the judiciary's budget. People who live here and pay taxes to raise
families and run businesses here should not be underwriting a
historical fight involving Turkey.
1:25 pm July 30, 2010
James wrote:
The issue will not go away until Turkey acknowledges its past. As the
international scholars of Genocide put it, it was Genocide.. Now its
time for Turkey and modern Turks to accept it so we can all move on.
12:51 pm July 30, 2010
Mert wrote:
As a Turk I believe Armenian Genocide was a terrible tragedy. We
should accept it and we should understand the pain of the Armenians. I
believe we should also pay reparations. But why doesn't America set a
precedent by paying reparations to American Indians and African
Americans?
12:33 pm July 30, 2010
the truth will never be forgoten wrote:
immagin if germans today said the jewish holocost is an alagation by
the jewish diaspora and america did everything to be on the sides of
germans. Committing a genocide is one ting, spiting on the victems
face and calling them liears is another shame on the uneducated money
hungry ppl who are duing this! Btw as we kno the jewish loby after all
they went threw for economic and poletical reasons do everiting to
crush the issue, I guess historry didn't teach them a leson yet they
chose to take part in denying 1.5 million peopls deaths. It really is
a tragedy how hiumans do this things
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From: A. Papazian