Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank representatives refused to meet Armenian Genocide heirs' attorneys

PanARMENIAN.Net - Three Armenian-American attorneys, Brian S. Kabateck, Mark J. Geragos and Vartkes Yeghiayan, are in Berlin, Germany seeking to meet with officials from Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank over lawsuits stemming from the 1915 Armenian Genocide in what is now Turkey. The banks have refused to meet so far. The attorneys filed a lawsuit last year against Deutsche and Dresdner Banks charging the two banks held Armenian families' money and assets that had been deposited in their banks before 1915 and retained assets looted by the Turkish government. (Varoujan Deirmenjian, et. al. v. Deutsche Bank, A.G., Dresdner Bank, A.G., et. al., January 13, 2006, Los Angeles Superior Court).



The attorneys met with German officials while in Berlin last week. The attorneys believe the meeting was productive. The content of the meeting is confidential. At a news conference after the meeting, Kabateck, Geragos and Yeghiayan discussed the present status of the suit against Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank and asked that the banks be good corporate citizens and sit down to discuss resolution of the claims against them.



"The German government has been very admirable in acknowledging the Armenian Genocide," says Kabateck, partner with the Los Angeles, California-based Kabateck Brown Kellner. "Turkey says it didn't happen. It is shameful that Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank are acting more in line with Turkey and do not feel obligated to return assets rightfully belonging to Armenians. It just adds to the disregard and degradation of a group of people that have suffered horribly."



Deutsche Bank's attorneys in the United States state that the banks will not meet with the plaintiff's attorneys until pending motions seeking its attorneys' disqualification for tampering with plaintiff's expert consultant are withdrawn. "Deutsche Bank's precondition to meet with us appears to be a tacit recognition of the strength of our expert tampering charges," says Mark Geragos, partner with Geragos & Geragos. "At this point, just about all the Armenians who lived through the genocide have passed away. The German banks probably think if they wait long enough, no one will be left to seek the assets that were theirs. Armenians are a very determined people. We do not give up. Now, it's up to Armenian descendants to make sure their ancestors are not forgotten," PR WEB reports.