Massachusetts Municipal Association cuts ties with NPFH program over stance on Armenian Genocide

PanARMENIAN.Net - Expressing strong disapproval over the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) unwillingness to unequivocally recognize the Armenian Genocide, the Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA) severed ties with the "No Place for Hate" (NPFH) program, a community-based program offered by the human rights group, reported the Armenian Assembly of America.



In a statement issued today, the MMA Board of Directors expressed disappointment with the ADL's refusal to "clarify and strengthen" its earlier statements concerning the Armenian Genocide at the ADL's National Commission meeting in November 2007.



"The Board believes that unequivocal recognition of the Armenian Genocide is both a matter of basic justice to its victims, as well as essential to efforts to prevent future genocide," stated the MMA, a nonprofit, nonpartisan association that provides advocacy, training, publications, research and other services to Massachusetts cities and towns.



"The MMA feels strongly that it is imperative to speak with absolute clarity on the genocide and that due to the NPFH program's association with the National ADL, the Association will no longer be a sponsor of the program," the organization explained.



"The Massachusetts Municipal Association has made a just and rightful decision," said Massachusetts State Representative Rachel Kaprielian (D-Watertown), a member of the Assembly's Board of Trustees who has been working on this issue. "As Armenians across the globe continue to fight for official recognition of the Genocide of 1915 committed at the hands of the Ottoman Empire - this is another step on the long path toward worldwide recognition of the Armenian Genocide."



"As a former member of this board, a former municipal official and current State Representative, I am deeply heartened by today's unanimous decision," Kaprielian continued.



"The MMA did the right thing by disassociating with the ADL's "No Place for Hate" program because ultimately its credibility was compromised by the ADL's refusal to recognize the Armenian Genocide," said Assembly State Chair for Massachusetts Herman Purutyan, who has also been working on this issue. "I hope that the ADL will reconsider its position in light of today's events and recognize the Armenian Genocide."



Following repeated calls by members of the Armenian, Jewish and other communities in Massachusetts and elsewhere, the ADL one of the oldest and most influential Jewish organizations in the US, issued a statement in August 2007 in which they categorized the events of 1915-1918 as "tantamount to genocide."



The Assembly welcomed the declaration as a step forward, but urged the ADL to unequivocally recognize the crimes and support congressional affirmation of the Armenian Genocide resolutions, H. Res. 106 and S. Res. 106, pending in the House and Senate respectively.