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Appeals Court Ends Armenian Genocide Museum And Memorial Challenge

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  • Appeals Court Ends Armenian Genocide Museum And Memorial Challenge

    APPEALS COURT ENDS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MUSEUM AND MEMORIAL CHALLENGE

    Modesto Bee, CA
    July 17 2014

    By Michael Doyle

    WASHINGTON -- A federal appeals court may have ended, once and for all,
    an extraordinarily protracted legal fight over a proposed Armenian
    Genocide Museum and Memorial.

    In a 37-page decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
    unanimously upheld a 2011 trial judge's order awarding the property
    intended for the museum to the Cafesjian Family Foundation.

    The three-judge panel's decision rejected competing claims by the
    Armenian Assembly of America, which had sought a new trial. Most
    poignantly, though, the appeals court voiced dismay over what it
    called the "morass of litigation" that has entangled museum plans.

    "More than seven years and millions of dollars in legal fees later,
    much of the parties' work to achieve their dream of a museum appears
    to have been for naught, which is regrettable," Judge Robert L.

    Wilkins wrote. "Whatever happens next, hopefully our decision today
    can at least serve as the last word on this dispute's protracted
    journey through the courts."

    Hirair Hovnanian, chairman of the Armenian Genocide Museum and
    Memorial, said in a statement following release of the ruling Tuesday
    that "we hope the Cafesjian heirs keep the promise Gerry (Cafesjian)
    made to the courts, which was to use this property to build a museum."

    At one time, the late Cafesjian Family Foundation founder Gerald
    Cafesjian was a benefactor of the Armenian Assembly. Together, they
    planned the museum and memorial marking the period from 1915 to 1923,
    when by some estimates upward of 1.5 million Armenians died at the
    hands of the Ottoman Empire.

    In downtown Washington, project supporters bought a four-story National
    Bank of Washington building in 2000. Cafesjian provided funding and
    bought adjacent properties, with a clause that the properties would
    revert to his control if the project wasn't finished by Dec. 31, 2010.

    Cafesjian and the Armenian Assembly subsequently had a falling out,
    leading to the seemingly endless court battles over control of the
    property.

    "With the benefit of hindsight, (the Armenian Assembly) may now think
    this deal improvident, but no sense of buyer's remorse can empower
    us to rewrite the plain terms of the contract to which they agreed,"
    Wilkins wrote.

    http://www.modbee.com/2014/07/17/3443336/appeals-court-ends-armenian-genocide.html


    From: Baghdasarian
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