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MARTHA COAKLEY CRITICIZED FOR ACCEPTING ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE AWARD
By Chris Helms, staff writer
Daily News Tribune
http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/x1689 206801/Martha-Coakley-criticized-for-accepting-Ant i-Defamation-League-award
Waltham, MA
Jan 14, 2010 @ 03:57 PM
In the fall of 2007, when Watertown was the epicenter of a movement
to call attention to the Anti-Defamation League's failure to call
the Armenian Genocide a genocide, Attorney General Martha Coakley
accepted an award from the ADL.
At least one Armenia-American wants Coakley, the Democratic nominee in
Tuesday's special election for the U.S. Senate, to give back the award.
"She accepted this award from the ADL in the middle of the campaign
against the genocide denials of the ADL," said David Boyajian of
Belmont. "It was major news at the time in the Boston papers and
the international press, so she had to have known about it. She went
ahead despite all this and accepted. She should not have done that
when there was such a cloud hanging over the head of the ADL."
A spokesman for the Coakley campaign said she supports a Congressional
resolution making it official U.S. policy to refer to the mass deaths
of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire as genocide. The
spokesman referred questions regarding the award to the attorney
general's press office.
Coakley accepted the honor in October 2007, two months after Watertown
cut ties with the ADL anti-bias program "No Place for Hate." At issue
was the ADL, a well-known civil rights group and strong opponent of
Holocaust denial, failing to acknowledge that the slaughter of 1.5
million Armenians by the Turks during World War I was genocide.
Watertown's action sparked more than a dozen other communities to
leave "No Place for Hate." In time, even the program's co-sponsor,
the Massachusetts Municipal Association, divorced itself from the
ADL program in protest.
It was during this furor that Coakley accepted the "Woman of Valor"
award from the ADL. In a press release issued at the time, Coakley said
"I am proud to be recognized by an organization that does so much to
better the community and to protect the rights of its citizens."
That makes Boyajian angry. He wrote a letter to Coakley which he says
she did not answer.
"I'm sure she knew the ADL was applying a double-standard," he said.
Boyajian said Coakley should not only return the award but also
ask the national office of the ADL to forthrightly acknowledge the
Armenian Genocide.
Boyajian said she should also support the Armenian Genocide recognition
resolution that each year is filed in Congress.
Polls show that Coakley goes into the weekend in a dead heat with
Republican Scott Brown. Boyajian said he didn't know if Armenian
Genocide politics would influence Armenian-American voters.
"I know that Armenians are concerned right now, but whether it has
an impact on the race, I don't know."
Sen. Ted Kennedy, whose death opened the seat, was well known as a
friend of Armenians and strong backer of Armenian Genocide recognition
by the U.S. government.
By Chris Helms, staff writer
Daily News Tribune
http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/x1689 206801/Martha-Coakley-criticized-for-accepting-Ant i-Defamation-League-award
Waltham, MA
Jan 14, 2010 @ 03:57 PM
In the fall of 2007, when Watertown was the epicenter of a movement
to call attention to the Anti-Defamation League's failure to call
the Armenian Genocide a genocide, Attorney General Martha Coakley
accepted an award from the ADL.
At least one Armenia-American wants Coakley, the Democratic nominee in
Tuesday's special election for the U.S. Senate, to give back the award.
"She accepted this award from the ADL in the middle of the campaign
against the genocide denials of the ADL," said David Boyajian of
Belmont. "It was major news at the time in the Boston papers and
the international press, so she had to have known about it. She went
ahead despite all this and accepted. She should not have done that
when there was such a cloud hanging over the head of the ADL."
A spokesman for the Coakley campaign said she supports a Congressional
resolution making it official U.S. policy to refer to the mass deaths
of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire as genocide. The
spokesman referred questions regarding the award to the attorney
general's press office.
Coakley accepted the honor in October 2007, two months after Watertown
cut ties with the ADL anti-bias program "No Place for Hate." At issue
was the ADL, a well-known civil rights group and strong opponent of
Holocaust denial, failing to acknowledge that the slaughter of 1.5
million Armenians by the Turks during World War I was genocide.
Watertown's action sparked more than a dozen other communities to
leave "No Place for Hate." In time, even the program's co-sponsor,
the Massachusetts Municipal Association, divorced itself from the
ADL program in protest.
It was during this furor that Coakley accepted the "Woman of Valor"
award from the ADL. In a press release issued at the time, Coakley said
"I am proud to be recognized by an organization that does so much to
better the community and to protect the rights of its citizens."
That makes Boyajian angry. He wrote a letter to Coakley which he says
she did not answer.
"I'm sure she knew the ADL was applying a double-standard," he said.
Boyajian said Coakley should not only return the award but also
ask the national office of the ADL to forthrightly acknowledge the
Armenian Genocide.
Boyajian said she should also support the Armenian Genocide recognition
resolution that each year is filed in Congress.
Polls show that Coakley goes into the weekend in a dead heat with
Republican Scott Brown. Boyajian said he didn't know if Armenian
Genocide politics would influence Armenian-American voters.
"I know that Armenians are concerned right now, but whether it has
an impact on the race, I don't know."
Sen. Ted Kennedy, whose death opened the seat, was well known as a
friend of Armenians and strong backer of Armenian Genocide recognition
by the U.S. government.