Armenian Americans Value Her Vigorous Defense of Armenian Genocide Education as Attorney General of Massachusetts
BOSTON, Mass.—Massachusetts Senate candidate Martha Coakley’s pledge to advocate on behalf of the views and values of the Bay State’s vibrant Armenian American community was welcomed today by Armenian National Committee (ANC) of Massachusetts chapters.
In a strong, signed statement issued to “Armenian Americans for Coakley,” led by State Representative Peter Koutoujian and Carolann Najarian, Coakley, who currently serves as the Commonwealth’s attorney general, pledged that “As your U.S. Senator, I will follow the strong leadership Senator Edward M. Kennedy showed on Armenian American issues. First and foremost is to support efforts to make the recognition of the Armenian Genocide a reality. In addition, I will support policies that keep U.S.-Armenia relations strong, including delivering U.S. assistance to both Armenia and Nagorno-Karabagh.”
“Armenian Americans have long valued Attorney General Coakley’s stand on Armenian issues, most notably her successful defense of the Commonwealth in the case of Griswold v. Driscoll, which ensured that the history and lessons of the Armenian Genocide can continue to be taught in public schools throughout Massachusetts,” said ANC of Massachusetts co-chair Ara Nazarian. “We welcome her pledge to continue to work in the tradition of Senator Kennedy’s support for our community’s advocacy priorities and are already working to ensure that each and every Armenian American voter goes to the polls next Tuesday fully informed about her stand on these vital issues.”
The special election to fill the Senate seat left open after the loss of Senator Edward Kennedy, a legendary champion of the Armenian Cause, will be held on Tues., Jan. 19.
The full text of the letter is provided below.
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Jan. 14, 2010
Dear Armenian Americans for Coakley,
I want to thank you for supporting my candidacy for U.S. Senate. You have my pledge that those issues important to you as Armenian Americans and as citizens of Massachusetts will be well represented if I am your next U.S. Senator.
It was an honor for me, as your attorney general, to defend the Commonwealth successfully in Griswold v. Driscoll, ensuring that the Armenian Genocide continues to be a part of the history curriculum in public schools throughout the Commonwealth. As your U.S. senator, I will follow the strong leadership Senator Edward M. Kennedy showed on Armenian American issues. First and foremost is to support efforts to make the recognition of the Armenian Genocide a reality. In addition, I will support policies that keep U.S.-Armenia relations strong, including delivering U.S. assistance to both Armenia and Nagorno-Karabagh.
I am pleased to have your support and your endorsement. We are close to the finish line and your community’s support is crucial in the closing days of this race. No matter what the pundits say, we need each and every vote on Tuesday. You have stood with me in the past and together we will succeed in bringing a new kind of leader to the U.S. Senate.
Again, I thank you for your support this coming Tues., Jan. 19th.
Cordially,
[signed]
Martha Coakley
These letters by Martha Coakley and the Armenian Americans for Coakley utterly fail to address the issue for which Coakley is under fire in the media: her acceptance of an award by the Anti-Defamation League in the midst of the battle in 2007 (and ongoing) against the genocide denials of the ADL and its work with Turkey to defeat Armenian genocide resolutions in the US Congress.
I would like to ask the persons who constitute the so-called “Armenian Americans for Coakley”, which I have never heard of before today, why they did not take Coakley to task when (1) she received the award from the ADL back in 2007 and (2) she made no public statement about the ADL’s genocide denial at that time or anytime but rather (3) she praised the ADL and (4) she has yet to address the issue of the ADL’s genocide denials.
We saw this sort of thing happen when certain Armenian American groups wholeheartedly and naively endorsed Barack Obama in the expectation that he would acknowledge the Armenian genocide.
The current issue is not about Scott Brown vs. Martha Coakley, or Republicans vs. Democrats, despite the attempts of some to depict it as that.
The issue of Coakley’s acceptance of the ADL award – when she knew quite well its stance against Armenians – has been around since 2007. I myself asked Coakley at that time to not accept the award at that time, and I never heard from her. She put her own amibitions above truth.
I think that Armenian Americans are quite able on their own to realize that she is no friend of Armenians and that, by having let her off the hook then and now, she has learned the wrong lesson about genocide denial.
The only question isCoakley’s having acted in an unprincipled manner by accepting the ADL award.
Coakley needs to give the award back to the ADL, demand that it change its stance on the Armenian genocide. Coakley must also apologize to Armenians.
Please see this local article which tells the story about Coakley (Martha Coakley criticized for accepting Anti-Defamation League award):
http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/x1689206801/Martha-Coakley-criticized-for-accepting-Anti-Defamation-League-award
Thank goodness for the non-Armenian media at times such as these.
And please visit http://www.NoPlaceForDenial.com – the website about the campaign against the ADL’s genocide denials.
What a weak letter to the Armenian-American community of MA!
1. Is she going to return her cherished award to the genocide-denying Anti-Defamation League?
2. If elected, will she support and vote affirmatively on the Armenian Genocide resolution in the Senate?
Simply put, I am not going to vote for her next week unless she forthrightly answers both questions and says yes to both questions. I encourage other Armenian-Americans to do the same.
Well done Mr. Boyajian and the Armenian Weekly.
Bravo commenters Boyajian and Armen above.
The ANC insisted Obama would deliver on his campaign promises re: the Armenian Genocide and insisted that Armenian-Americans vote him into office.
Obama failed miserably.
Now the ANC wants us to:
1) Ignore Coakley’s acceptance of an award from the racist, anti-Armenian ADL;
2) Back Coakley, who, once elected, could turn on her word, as Obama and others have done?
ANC, where is your spine? When will you represent the will of Armenian-Americans, as you claim to?
Where are Scott Brown’s forthright answers to whether he will support the Genocide resolution in Congress? Before we encourage people not to vote for Coakley, shouldn’t we consider that while her letter clearly isn’t as strong a statement of position as it could be, Scott Brown (and Joe Kennedy) have committed to exactly nothing. All three have had the chance to complete the ANC Questionnaire and take positions on Karabagh, Genocide, historical commissions and everything else. So far the only candidate to take a stand was Mike Capuano.
We need an Armenian American, whether Independant, Republican or Democrat, running for the senate. Otherwise, we are going to be sold down the street. Enough is enough. It is time to send a message to both parties. Don’t you dare settle around our interests. And, there will be severe political consequences if you do.
That includes, McCain, Lieberman, Byrd and the others.
The American Armenian community and most of our Armenian leaders have aligned themselves with the Democrat Party for many years. Perhaps it’s our political heritage that leftist tendencies dominate our community. I for one did not believe Clinton or Obama when it came to promises to recognize the Armenian Genocide. None of them delivered!!!!!! However, Armenian Americans choose to ignore that the Republican party has been more honest on the subject. Presidents Reagan, Ford and Bush 43 are the only Presidents to have acknowledged the Armenian Genocide by using the term “Genocide” or “Genocidal” in public acknowledgments. Despite all this our community leaders continue to choose to brownie up to the Democrat Party. Obama couldn’t have been more obvious in his treachery and yet I hear Armenians in this country make excuses for him. HOGWASH!!!!!!!!!!
It’s time we use our vote against the Democrats and perhaps we will be taken seriously. Punish Obama in 2012 and vote for the candidate running against him. I will never vote for another Democrat using the Armenian Genocide as a carrot.
A significant segment of the Armenian population together with the two lobby groups (ANC and AAA) need to wake up to to being used by politicians for votes. This is for the ANC and AAA: Please put your energies into strategies to pursue possible reparations as a result of the Genocide. The President using or not using the “G” word or the passage of a so called Genocide Recognition Resolution (as if it’s not recognized ) does not get us to any possible legal remedy.
Bravo Mr. Boyajian…It is very clear that endorsing Mr. Obama did not pay off. I don’t think that Armenian groups should endorse candidates and let us make our mind up on who we support. It’s time we do what’s right for the people at large and not for personal agendas. It would be best that Armenian groups do not follow the examples of other special interest groups and unions and blindly endorse and support candidates. Here in Massachusetts we have a strong chance to elect someone that is honest, genuine and will truly represent the people. Martha Coakley is resorting to dirty politics and lies, because she is losing in the polls.
Well said Chris J!
There is so much electricity and energy behind Scott Brown here in Massachusetts
ditto Vahan
Coakley has made a very deceptive and damaging claim in her letter.
Coakley claimed that “It as an honor for me, as your Attorney General, to defend the Commonwealth successfully in Griswold v. Driscoll, ensuring that the Armenian Genocide continues to be a part of the history curriculum in public schools throughout the Commonwealth.”
This is not true as anyone in Massachusetts knows. The defense of the genocide education law in Massachusetts was initiated by Coakley’s PREDECESSOR, Attorney General Tom Reilly.
Want proof? Read this short piece from the Boston Herald which explains that Reilly not only was the one who initiated the defense of the Massachusetts genocide law but also spoke out against the denial of the Armenian genocide:
http://www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=Deval_Patrick
The point is that Coakley has a terrible record with regard to Armenians. She has done nothing whatsover to help Armenians. Worse, as pointed out above, she accepted an award from the ADL while she was aware that it worked against Armenian genocide recognition. Amot!
Hye, so I voted for Obama/Democrat
– who promised ‘change’… and recognition of the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks in denials since by all their subsequent leaderships;
McCain/Republican stated his position: not with us on the Turkish Genocide of the Armenians
Further, and this bothers me most of all…
McCain takes on a Palin to run for the office of Vice President of the United States of America (thanks to God she is not).
Of late, it was being discussed in the news media that he’d not met with Palin (of any consequence)
a pretty face – therefore didn’t know what an airhead she is… and he shall have been a president!
– if McCain had won the presidency, and our Vice President shall have been Palin
– if McCain,whilst in office had been seriously ill, or, even passed away
– Palin shall have become the president of the United States of America!
This is addressed to those who complain that I voted for Obama – I had high hopes for his honesty,
I had high hopes for the cycle of Genocides to end… but, politcally, he’s just another politician,
promises, promises, unfulfilled. Politics, take over – Morality? Doesn’t exist… Why?
Manooshag
pol·i·ti·cian (pŏl’ĭ-tĭsh’ən)
n. An eel in the fundamental mud upon which the superstructure of organized society is reared. When he wriggles, he mistakes the agitation of his tail for the trembling of the edifice.
— from “The Devil’s Dictionary” by Ambrose Bierce
Manooshag, with all due respect if you were looking for integrity the right choice would have been Palin. She’s not as well read as I would like her to be but she came from the ranks and she challenged her own party’s corruption which in my book is a formidable sign of character. She learns very quickly, has convictions and is genuine. I remember how everyone used to mock Ronald Reagan as being a little stupid! Remember the term coined by the Democrats of Reagan, “The amiable dunce”. They did a job on Palin too. You see a leader doesn’t have to be an academic genius. A leader has to be someone who commands respect and is comfortable and open with their convictions. Margaret Thatcher was also considered to be dim when she first started. She was the daughter of a shopkeeper with no real world experience. She learned the ropes very quickly. The establishment never took her seriously. But dear Maggie, who by the way liked Armenians, knew what she wanted for Britain, the same way Reagan did for the US, and they executed on their plan effectively. That is leadership, having a plan and a set of goals, not doing what is the popular thing at any moment in time. You were right on McCain. Just another savvy politician without any vision or conviction. Personally, I’m glad Obama won because now Americans will understand what socialism is about and they will reject it.
For the record, Reagan stated the following on April 22, 1981:
“Like the genocide of the Armenians before it, and the genocide of the Cambodians which followed it,… the lessons of the Holocaust must never be forgotten.”
ps. I’m a Libertarian.
Hy Chris, then you’ll enjoy reading Palin’s book, now selling at $4.95…
Manooshag
What the Democratic party is doing in Washinghton, DC is nothing short of treason. So now we have a Democratic dictatorship. Never in my 70 years have I seen my country collectively taken away from the people and not one democrat take one step back. I never thought I would ever see the day!
Manooshag, heaven help us all if the messiah, Mr. Prez “O”, should pass on to his great reward while in office. We would then be represented and our precious freedoms protected by Joe, the blowhard, Biden. Now that’s a scary thought! Promises, promises that’s all one gets from politicians and as you have so aptly learned Obama’s promises re: the genocide were hollow…just window dressing to get elected. His was to be a transparent tenure. That too has not occurred. In view of Ms. Oakley’s track record, it doesn’t seem promising to expect that if elected she would put her muscle for recognition behind her promises. Good luck with that! And as for Sarah Palin…why not? Just maybe she might have delivered. I still hold out hope, like the old Greek philosopher with the lamp, for an honest man/woman. One more thing…Term limits.
Why don’t you all just give it a rest already!!!! Listen to yourselves! School children whine less than all of you!! You all could care less about a candidate, as long as they are for a “genocide” which even the UN says never occured! Jack the Ripper could run for office and say that he’s all for the so called “genocide”, and all of you would be falling all over yourselves trying to vote him in!! You wouldn’t even care what he’s going to do for the state or district which he’d represent. Pretty selfish on your parts, don’t you think (to hell with everyone and everything else, we want a hack that we can buy to do our bidding and dirty work for us)! Well, the historical commission will put an end to all of that soon enough! Manooshag, I see that you’re here too. Why am I not surprised!!
Armenians for Democrats, what a farce! , and to all Armenians who voted for Obama because of his promisses to recognize The Genocide, haven’t you learned your lesson yet, and now you want to vote for another Democrat? aside from the Genocide issue, why don’t Armenians please vote for Scott brown, who at least has not made any false promisses, and we as Armenian-Americans might have a chance to block the majority vote of Democratic senators from passing their absurd health care bill, and all other of their ingenious schemes, to spend -and -ruin our country.
Vahak, you’re right on! They are a bunch of clowns pandering for our vote with the promise of granting everyone’s wish. I still say Term Limits. That would at least give us a modicum of a guarantee that they have a finite time to get to work and get something done for us, the people who put their faith in them and got them elected to a job with perks and responsibilities. Then, too, there would be no Kennedys at whose shrine we would have to bow. Bah, humbug! This mess is the result of broken promises and ill gotten gain. btw/I’m one Armenian who didn’t vote for Mr. Fix It, Barak Obama.
Coakley may not have fully understand how serious we view the ADL’s constant lobbying on behalf of the Turkish government to defeat Armenian Genocide recognition in congress. It should be pointed out to her that numerous members of the ADL have opposed this immoral stance, and a number of prominent Jewish scholars both here and abroad acknowldge and support Armenian Genocide recognition. She should be made aware that a number of Massachusetts towns have disassociated themselves with the ADL’s No Place for Hate program , as has the Massachusetts Municipal Association. She should be asked to follow their example and disavow any connections or honors bestowed by the ADL.
I wouldn’t vote for another Democrat after Obama’s empty promises and delivering nothing. They all want our votes, then sayonara to you they say. I would agree with Vakak. At least Scott Brown didn’t make any false promises.
What fo0ls some Armenians are. All a politician has to do is mention the word genocide and he’s your best friend. I’m almost ashamed to be an Armenian-American.
How about considering the real problems America faces? You want to pay higher taxes, you want to treat terrorists as common criminals, you think there are no more terrorists in Afghanistan, you want to bankrupt America with unimaginable deficits, you want to pay more for medical care and get less, then go ahead and vote for a woman who makes empty promises about genocide recognition that she has no intension of keeping. She’s running a desperate campaign full of lies about her opponent. How can you trust such a person? I’m appalled at some of the stupid things this woman has said.
Fortunately Scott Brown will decisively win on Tuesday (the Armenian National Committee not withstanding). And that will be the beginning of the end of the Obama nightmare.
By the way, I have donated to Scott Brown’s campaign, but will never ever again donate even cent to the Armenian National Committee.
To Richard; Democrats have 60 senate votes already, and if this woman wins, Obama’s stupid health care bill will pass. We must not vote for this Coakly woman; she can keep her empty promises that will forever remain empty. We don’t need them nor do we need to vote for the Democrats.
Hye, richard gostanian, of the AAA? Manooshag
Mano,
I’ve never heard of the AAA. What is that?
Richard
Manooshag
I was never crazy about McCain. How many Armenians are there in Arizona? Not too many, so why would he make these statements?
Read this link:
http://www.reporter.am/index.cfm?objectid=126CCBF0-D073-11DE-8EAC0003FF3452C2
Hye, so you are facing a choice: coakley or brown. so far coakley is not to be trusted. but there will be votes for brown, who ‘hopefully’ is the better candidate. Well… now we are back to what I was ‘hopefully’ for with my vote for Obama… with either a McCain vs a Obama .
Genocide perpetrators are the winners… victims of all Genocides are the losers. The Genocide cycle continues in a world of ‘civilized’ leaders… but yet, how civilized are those who ignore Genocides?
And, as for the issues beyond the Armenian Genocide, ‘hopefully’ all the Republican/Democratic voters carry the ball for the citizens of the USA… as they have and shall continue ‘hopefully’.
Manooshag
Hy gostan, you are not Armenian… else you’d know. Manooshag
Thank you all for your comments. It helps me to become better informed on the issues. I campaigned very hard for Barack Obama along with the Armenian community. I was just wondering about helping Coakley as I got a letter from the Obama campaign. I am not in MA and don’t know much about the issues around this election.
Mano,
You are beneath contempt.
Gostan
The important issue is to not let the ObamaCare bill pass. Health care is definitely an important issue, but the way Congress has gone about it, rushing and pushing it down our throats and doing it all behind closed doors has made it a very bitter pill to swallow. There has been no transparency as was promised. So if electing Brown slows it down because of an upset in the balance of votes, so be it. Everyone everywhere needs time to read and think and act prudently. Giving the government more power over our lives is not the answer nor is it Constitutional. So while it would be a huge plus after so many years of longing for justice re: the Genocide, electing yet another senator who pays lip service to the victims of the Genocide only to get elected is ludicrous and even shameful. I am an American of Armenian parentage. I have heard the sad and evil stories. They are part of me. Tears come easily to me. Perhaps they are borne of the suffering of Armenian martyrs. Now, however, there are other matters that need to be dealt with in this great land we share. No more lip service. Truth in government. God is watching now as when a million and a half innocent souls were annihilated.
Manooshag and et al, if we don’t want to vote for Brown than I suggest at least all Armenians not to vote for Coakley either. I also voted for Obama because unfortunately he gave lip service and I also wished to believe him because of the Genocide recognition. Here right after his presidency he did worse for us than Bush. Now I don’t believe in Coakly for many good reasons, can you guess why? If we don’t want to vote for Brown because he didn’t say anything about the Genocide recognition; then at least let’s not vote for either one of them.
Chris J, I like your thinking. Scott Brown is the “Real Deal”. We need more like him. He is down to earth and he understands the working people. You will never be able to make sense to people like Manoosh. Palin is also very similar to what Scott Brown stands for. Growing up and coming from a Socialist country, I appreciate what this country has to offer. Obama is taking us in that direction. We need less Government control and more power to the people. The politicians forgot that they work for the people. Let’s hope Scott Brown does not get poisoned.