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NEWS RELEASE
Armenian Bar Association
Contact: [email protected]
P.O. Box 29111
Los Angeles, CA 90029
Tel: 323-666-6288
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: http://www.armenianbar.org
The Armenian Genocide resulted in the loss of life and land and also
in the misappropriation of personal property, including works of art
belonging to the victims and survivors of the Genocide. Their
families and heirs remain the rightful owners of the plundered
artwork, some of which is in the illegal possession of Turkish
government-owned or controlled museums. If a pending Congressional
bill is enacted into law, the art and antiquities which were stolen
during the Armenian Genocide will enjoy undeserved protection from the
claims of their legal owners.
The United States Senate is now considering a bill (the Foreign
Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act), approved
overwhelmingly last month in the House of Representatives, which would
block legal claims to artworks on loan from abroad. The bill would
divest U.S. federal and state courts of all jurisdiction, with one
major exception and one monumental omission.
The exception is Nazi-looted artwork belonging to Jews. The omission
is Ottoman/Turkish-looted artwork belonging to Armenians.
The Armenian Bar Association questions why the Holocaust alone, among
atrocities affecting ownership, is being afforded special treatment.
To be sure, the lending and borrowing of artworks has been viewed as
the essence of cultural exchange between museums in the United States
and abroad. So prevalent is the practice that the U.S. government has
traditionally protected it with laws that shield the artworks from
being seized by anyone with a claim to legal ownership while the
artwork is on display in this country.
Nevertheless, in view of the potential denial of the property rights
of the descendants of the victims and survivors of the Armenian
Genocide, the Armenian Bar Association has requested that the bill's
sponsor, Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, act responsibly to
defeat the bill or to put Armenian Genocide-related claims on equal
footing with Jewish Holocaust claims.
Our letter to Senator Feinstein is attached above and appears below.
Armen K. Hovannisian
Chairman of the Board of Governors
Armenian Bar Association
__________________________________________________ _____________
Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20150
Dear Senator Feinstein:
The Armenian Bar Association is writing you to express
our concern about a pending bill, the "Foreign Cultural Exchange
Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act." We understand that the
art museums in the United States especially wish this bill passed.
When a museum owned by a foreign government lends
artwork or other cultural property to a museum in the United States,
it runsthe risk that an American citizen will claim title to that
artwork or cultural property on the grounds that it was stolen from
that citizen or his or her ancestors. We appreciate the hesitation
that foreign state museums have in lending anything to an American
museum if there is any danger that they will have to fight such claims
in court.
However, we are more concerned with the rights of
American owners. We are primarily concerned with the fact that an
American cannot easily seek to recover stolen property while it is in
a foreign country. Only if the property physically arrives in the
United States can an American citizen truly bring a claim.
The bill exempts foreign state-owned museums from these claims, with
the sole exception of claims for property stolen during the Holocaust
from 1933-1945. Notably, the bill does not similarly except claims of
property stolen during the Armenian Genocide from 1915-1923 which
should be afforded viability to the hundreds of thousands of your
Armenian-American constituents.
We know that many Americans of Armenian, Greek, and
Assyrian descent can bring colorable claims against Turkish museums
for property stolen from their ancestors. Moreover, many Americans who
have roots in countries once under Soviet Communist domination can
also bring colorable claims.
Why should this bill deny the right to bring claims to
all Americans except those regarding Holocaust claims? We think such
a singling out of one group could well be unconstitutional under the
United States Supreme Court cases of AIA v. Garamendi (Holocaust
insurance claims) and Movsesian/Arzoumanian v. Victoria Versicherung
(Armenian Genocide-era insurance claims).
Moreover, why indeed should the United States want to
grant exemptions to foreign museums at all? It is true that many
foreign state-owned museums might refuse to let property travel to the
United States unless they could obtain immunity. There would be a
loss to the Americans who would like to see these objects here.
However, we believe it is more important to protect the
rights of American citizens to have their and their families' property
returned to them. This bill would place the interests of foreign
museums over the interests of American citizens.
Very truly yours,
Armen K. Hovannisian
Chairman of the Board of Governors
Armenian Bar Association
Armenian Bar Association
Contact: [email protected]
P.O. Box 29111
Los Angeles, CA 90029
Tel: 323-666-6288
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: http://www.armenianbar.org
The Armenian Genocide resulted in the loss of life and land and also
in the misappropriation of personal property, including works of art
belonging to the victims and survivors of the Genocide. Their
families and heirs remain the rightful owners of the plundered
artwork, some of which is in the illegal possession of Turkish
government-owned or controlled museums. If a pending Congressional
bill is enacted into law, the art and antiquities which were stolen
during the Armenian Genocide will enjoy undeserved protection from the
claims of their legal owners.
The United States Senate is now considering a bill (the Foreign
Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act), approved
overwhelmingly last month in the House of Representatives, which would
block legal claims to artworks on loan from abroad. The bill would
divest U.S. federal and state courts of all jurisdiction, with one
major exception and one monumental omission.
The exception is Nazi-looted artwork belonging to Jews. The omission
is Ottoman/Turkish-looted artwork belonging to Armenians.
The Armenian Bar Association questions why the Holocaust alone, among
atrocities affecting ownership, is being afforded special treatment.
To be sure, the lending and borrowing of artworks has been viewed as
the essence of cultural exchange between museums in the United States
and abroad. So prevalent is the practice that the U.S. government has
traditionally protected it with laws that shield the artworks from
being seized by anyone with a claim to legal ownership while the
artwork is on display in this country.
Nevertheless, in view of the potential denial of the property rights
of the descendants of the victims and survivors of the Armenian
Genocide, the Armenian Bar Association has requested that the bill's
sponsor, Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, act responsibly to
defeat the bill or to put Armenian Genocide-related claims on equal
footing with Jewish Holocaust claims.
Our letter to Senator Feinstein is attached above and appears below.
Armen K. Hovannisian
Chairman of the Board of Governors
Armenian Bar Association
__________________________________________________ _____________
Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20150
Dear Senator Feinstein:
The Armenian Bar Association is writing you to express
our concern about a pending bill, the "Foreign Cultural Exchange
Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act." We understand that the
art museums in the United States especially wish this bill passed.
When a museum owned by a foreign government lends
artwork or other cultural property to a museum in the United States,
it runsthe risk that an American citizen will claim title to that
artwork or cultural property on the grounds that it was stolen from
that citizen or his or her ancestors. We appreciate the hesitation
that foreign state museums have in lending anything to an American
museum if there is any danger that they will have to fight such claims
in court.
However, we are more concerned with the rights of
American owners. We are primarily concerned with the fact that an
American cannot easily seek to recover stolen property while it is in
a foreign country. Only if the property physically arrives in the
United States can an American citizen truly bring a claim.
The bill exempts foreign state-owned museums from these claims, with
the sole exception of claims for property stolen during the Holocaust
from 1933-1945. Notably, the bill does not similarly except claims of
property stolen during the Armenian Genocide from 1915-1923 which
should be afforded viability to the hundreds of thousands of your
Armenian-American constituents.
We know that many Americans of Armenian, Greek, and
Assyrian descent can bring colorable claims against Turkish museums
for property stolen from their ancestors. Moreover, many Americans who
have roots in countries once under Soviet Communist domination can
also bring colorable claims.
Why should this bill deny the right to bring claims to
all Americans except those regarding Holocaust claims? We think such
a singling out of one group could well be unconstitutional under the
United States Supreme Court cases of AIA v. Garamendi (Holocaust
insurance claims) and Movsesian/Arzoumanian v. Victoria Versicherung
(Armenian Genocide-era insurance claims).
Moreover, why indeed should the United States want to
grant exemptions to foreign museums at all? It is true that many
foreign state-owned museums might refuse to let property travel to the
United States unless they could obtain immunity. There would be a
loss to the Americans who would like to see these objects here.
However, we believe it is more important to protect the
rights of American citizens to have their and their families' property
returned to them. This bill would place the interests of foreign
museums over the interests of American citizens.
Very truly yours,
Armen K. Hovannisian
Chairman of the Board of Governors
Armenian Bar Association