Time Apologizes For Offending Armenians

[Dave]

Six weeks ago, the Switzerland-Armenia Association (SAA) sent a letter of protest to TIME magazine expressing its "shock and disappointment" that TIME included in its European Edition (June 6, 2005 issue), as a paid ad, a Turkish DVD that denied the Armenian Genocide.

 

As the denial of the Armenian Genocide is a criminal offense under Swiss laws, the SAA threatened TIME with legal action, unless the magazine took nine corrective steps ranging from publishing a formal apology to disseminating, at TIME’s expense, a factual DVD on the Armenian Genocide, in the same seven languages as the Turkish DVD.

 

James Kelly, the Managing Editor of TIME, responded last week to SAA’s letter by stating: "We regret distributing the [Turkish] DVD as part of TIME’s European edition and are very sorry for the offense it has caused. The so-called ‘documentary’ portion of the DVD presents a one-sided view of history that does not meet our standards for fairness and accuracy, and we would not have distributed it had we been aware of its content. Unfortunately the DVD was not adequately reviewed by anyone at TIME because it was believed to be a benign promotion piece. I can assure you that we have changed our review process and will be much more vigilant in the future. We apologize to the Armenian community, and to our readers."

 

This is a fine letter that makes several very important points:

 

-- It expresses regret three times in the space of a few short lines;

 

-- It challenges the credibility of the Turkish DVD by referring to it as a "so-called ‘documentary’" that is "one-sided" and not meeting TIME’s "standards for fairness and accuracy";

 

-- It acknowledges that TIME would not have distributed the Turkish DVD had it been "aware of its content";

 

-- It accepts TIME’s negligence by admitting that the DVD "was not adequately reviewed by anyone at TIME";

 

-- It pledges to be "much more vigilant," should the Turks attempt a similar ploy in the future.

 

Clearly, this letter is an improvement over TIME’s initial wholly inadequate reaction to Armenian complaints. James Geary, the editor of TIME Europe, had callously responded that the magazine was "not endorsing any political organization or cause." Mr. Kelly’s letter, on the other hand, reinforces the e-mail Norman Pearlstine, the Editor-in-Chief of TIME, sent to a reader admitting that the contents of the DVD were "different from what we had been led to believe." In other words, Mr. Pearlstine acknowledged that TIME was tricked by the Turks.

 

Despite Mr. Kelly’s more understanding letter that included profuse apologies, the most critical element is still missing from his response to the Switzerland-Armenia Association. He expresses regret for TIME’s dissemination of the offensive DVD; acknowledges that the Turkish DVD was one-sided, unfair and inaccurate; admits that the magazine was negligent in not reviewing the DVD; and accepts that the DVD should not have been distributed by TIME.

 

Acknowledging its error and apologizing for it does not, however, go far enough in redressing the harm done to the psyche of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide. The Turkish DVD also tarnished the memory of the Armenian martyrs by casting doubt on the truthfulness of their agonizing eyewitness accounts.

 

Mr. Kelly and his superiors at TIME now have an obligation to undo the damage they have caused by their negligence. They need to take the nine steps suggested by the SAA. The least TIME could do is agree to disseminate free of charge, to the same 500,000 readers that received the Turkish DVD, a new DVD that accurately portrays the facts of the Armenian Genocide. Otherwise, TIME’s admission of mistakes and expression of regrets remain simply empty words devoid of any meaning and sincerity. It is too easy for TIME executives to pocket the one million dollars for circulating the Turkish hit piece and then simply tell the Armenians, "we apologize." A true apology has to be accompanied by concrete steps that include making amends to the aggrieved party -- the Armenians.

 

Until then, Armenians worldwide should continue their boycott of TIME magazine and resort to all possible legal measures accorded to them under European genocide denial laws to seek adequate redress. Kind words alone do not compensate for the damage caused by TIME’s negligent, insensitive and offensive act.

 

By Harut Sassounian; Publisher, The California Courier

[gamavor]

Good job, however if it was up to me I still would have taken legal action. We don't need apologies. We need money. Cash. The more the better.

[phantom22]

OK Gams,

 

You say money?

 

I have deeds to thousand of acres of land in what is now Turkey. These lands were never sold off by my family. When are you Armenian attorneys going to take our cases? I would be willing to give a % of anything recouped to an attorney who would be willing to take such a case to a world court.

[gamavor]

OK  Gams,

 

You say money?

 

I have deeds to thousand of acres of land in what is now Turkey. These lands were never sold off by my family. When are you Armenian attorneys going to take our cases? I would be willing to give a % of anything recouped to an attorney who would be willing to take such a case to a world court.

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Phantom, I don't want to disclose too much information and I don't think that this is the right place and venue to discuss this, but I myself am a heir of an estate that by modest "turkish" estimates totals 2.4 million dollars.

 

My advice is just find some decent turkish attorneys and see what you can do. In my case most of the property was nationalized by Ataturk's government due to a law that declares Armenians as out-laws and contra-revolutionaries. Fortunately we still keep the deeds which are written in arabic (before the Ataturk reform).

 

If you are not turkish citizen and if you have legal rights over property in Turkey the most you can get is 40% of the actual value.

 

Good luck!

[Dave]

Turkey would have to pay billions if it accepts its' responsability in the genocide. Ever single piece of land, every single uncultivated apples and cucumbers count. Every single cow counts. It would be easier for them to give us the amount of land equivalant to what Armenians owned prior to 1915.

 

Gamavor, Turkey knows very well what Armenians owned before the Genocide. Proof? Erdogan just gave the papers (which date from the 1600s) to Israelis and Palestinians, in order to help them stop their land disputes.

[karakash]

What happened to the topic of the House IR committee and passage of the genocide resolutions. Why did people have to write so many negative things about Jews and others. What was the point of all that. I didn't sign on all weekend and now I'm back at work Monday morning and I see that the thread has been closed...

[vava]

What happened to the topic of the House IR committee and passage of the genocide resolutions.  Why did people have to write so many negative things about Jews and others.  What was the point of all that.  I didn't sign on all weekend and now I'm back at work Monday morning and I see that the thread has been closed...

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Karakash, firstly welcome to HF,

 

The thread was closed for obvious reasons. I wish that we didn't have to take those kinds of steps - but sometimes we're obliged to. We may re-open the thread again, if we have time to clean it up a bit. If you have additional comments on that subject (and not Jews) you can either wait until such a time that the thread is re-opened, or you may start a new thread about the same subject (minus the racism, of course )

 

In the future, please address questions about a specific thread under a new topic in the help section, rather than an off-topic post in another thread.

 

Thanks for your understanding

[Arvestaked]

Denial shouldn't be against any law, however wrong it could be.

[Dave]

I agree with you, Arvestaked, but if deniers of other genocides are punished, I don't see why the denial of the Armenian genocide should be tolerated. Edited September 19, 2005 by Dave

[Arvestaked]

Granted I would not want there to be a double standard; that is worse. But the fact remains that neither should be punished by any government. Intolerance for such things should be a strictly social phenomenon. Edited September 19, 2005 by Arvestaked

[DominO123]

Granted I would not want there to be a double standard; that is worse. But the fact remains that neither should be punished by any government. Intolerance for such things should be a strictly social phenomenon.

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I agree, deniars should be debunked, not silenced.

[karakash]

Karakash, firstly welcome to HF,

 

The thread was closed for obvious reasons. I wish that we didn't have to take those kinds of steps - but sometimes we're obliged to. We may re-open the thread again, if we have time to clean it up a bit. If you have additional comments on that subject (and not Jews) you can either wait until such a time that the thread is re-opened, or you may start a new thread about the same subject (minus the racism, of course )

 

In the future, please address questions about a specific thread under a new topic in the help section, rather than an off-topic post in another thread. 

 

Thanks for your understanding

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Ok. Thanks for the information. I am new at this and haven't yet started my own thread.

[Arpa]

Ok.  Thanks for the information.  I am new at this and haven't yet started my own thread.

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C'mon Hovsep (Karakashian)!

Give us a break!

Are you imitating Khoja/Hagarag/AmericaHye/Phantom22?

 

First off, de-turkify your suranme of kara-kash(you may know what "khara" means in Arabic). You may already know that "sev" is the Armenian for black and "ounq" is the word for (eye)brow.

Have you ever thought about renaming yourself Sevunkian?

Edited September 20, 2005 by Arpa

[vava]

James Kelly, the Managing Editor of TIME, responded last week to SAA’s letter by stating: "We regret distributing the [Turkish] DVD as part of TIME’s European edition and are very sorry for the offense it has caused. The so-called ‘documentary’ portion of the DVD presents a one-sided view of history that does not meet our standards for fairness and accuracy, and we would not have distributed it had we been aware of its content. Unfortunately the DVD was not adequately reviewed by anyone at TIME because it was believed to be a benign promotion piece. I can assure you that we have changed our review process and will be much more vigilant in the future. We apologize to the Armenian community, and to our readers."

.....

 

By Harut Sassounian; Publisher, The California Courier

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Does anyone have the entire text of Kelly's letter to the SAA? It seems that only part of the letter has been used in this quotation. I want to make sure we're not taking his comments out of context.

[karakash]

C'mon Hovsep (Karakashian)!

Give us a break!

Are you imitating Khoja/Hagarag/AmericaHye/Phantom22?

 

First off, de-turkify your suranme of kara-kash(you may know what "khara" means in Arabic). You may already know that "sev" is the Armenian for black  and "ounq" is the word for (eye)brow.

Have you ever thought about renaming yourself Sevunkian?

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I made a mistake. I have started a thread before - the one under Armenian Apostolic Church relating to the death of Archbishop Shahe Ajemian.

 

As for "C'Mon Hovsep (Karakashian)!" - I am not Hovsep Karakashian and no one in my family is named Hovsep Karakashian.

 

The reason I use karakash is because that is my email was in college - the first eight letters of my last name. I know it is Turkish in derivation, like many other Armenian last names.

 

I have no idea who Khoja, Hagarag, AmericaHye, and Phantom22 are.

 

I just started writing on this site a few months ago. No need to accuse me of being someone else...lol

[Artaxias]

True, we are not jews. We should always give an opportunity to idiots so they can voice their denial. It gives us a chance to refute them and make them look even more stupid.

 

To Arpa: We need a thread where we can discuss deturkification of Armenian names and such.

[phantom22]

C'mon Hovsep (Karakashian)!

Give us a break!

Are you imitating Khoja/Hagarag/AmericaHye/Phantom22?

 

First off, de-turkify your suranme of kara-kash(you may know what "khara" means in Arabic). You may already know that "sev" is the Armenian for black  and "ounq" is the word for (eye)brow.

Have you ever thought about renaming yourself Sevunkian?

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Hey Arpa,

 

I NEVER post unrelated subjects in a thread. It is always that some other poster makes comments that are unrelated to the topic at hand, that I feel compelled to refute.

[vava]

Ok - let's all calm down before yet another thread goes awry....

[MosJan]

Two Turks arrested in Switzerland for Armenian Genocide denial 02.07.2007 16:59 GMT+04:00 http://panarmenian.net/news/images/ico_print.gif http://panarmenian.net/news/images/ico_mail.gif http://panarmenian.net/news/images/ico_rus.gif http://panarmenian.net/news/images/ico_arm.gif /PanARMENIAN.Net/ Two Turks were arrested in Switzerland for the Armenian Genocide denial last week. The Swiss police reported that the Turks were arrested at a conference during which posters denying the Armenian genocide were stuck to the walls and leaflets of similar contents were circulated. One of them is reported as initiator of the event, the other was crying out slogans before the conference participants, the RFE/RL reports.

 

The law providing for punishment for the denial of the Armenian Genocide was adopted in Switzerland in 1995. Turkish Workers’ Party leader Dogu Perincek was fined with $2.5 thousand and handed a 90-day suspended sentence equivalent to $7 thousand in 2007. The court also obliged Perincek to pay $280 to an Armenian organization. Late July the court of appeals of Vaud Swiss canton upheld the decision of the Lausanne court.