News

SYDNEY: The Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia) has condemned the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) refusal to adequately correct its use of the term ‘alleged’ as a qualifier for the Armenian Genocide, labelling the network’s response to community concerns as “unacceptable”.

ANC Australia wrote to the ABC last week, expressing serious concern about the ‘alleged’ qualifier being used when referencing the Armenian Genocide during the 28 August ‘Family Footsteps’ program, which broadcast the story of Joanna Kambourian – an Armenian-Australian who travelled back to the homeland of her ancestors to explore the rich culture of the Armenian people and the tragic history of the Armenian Genocide.

ANC Australia’s correspondence was followed by letters from the Armenian-Australian community, including one from Ms Kambourian herself, classifying the qualifier ‘alleged’ as deeply offensive and calling for a public correction by the ABC.

This week, the ABC responded to community concerns, claiming that, the Armenian Genocide “remains a matter of contention within the international community”.

The ABC letter read: “It is certainly true that many historians and governments have recognised the events as genocide, but others have disputed this categorisation.”

Despite apologising for any offense it may have caused, the ABC concluded their response by stating that the use of the term ‘alleged’ was valid.

ANC Australia has responded on behalf of the Armenian-Australian community seeking a correction for the original offence and subsequent response to community concerns. The letter read: “We find your attempt to justify the use of the offensive qualifier ‘alleged’ with respect to the Armenian Genocide, which is one of the worst crimes against humanity in modern history, unacceptable and no less repugnant than the original offence.

“Your letter suggests that the categorisation of the systematic extermination of approximately 1.5million Armenian civilians by the Ottoman Turkish Government as genocide is legitimately disputed and therefore warrants the qualifier ‘alleged’.

“...your very letter completely ignores the unequivocal position taken by the foremost Holocaust and Genocide scholars around the world who recognised and teach about the Armenian Genocide.”

ANC Australia concluded its letter to the ABC with a request to meet with relevant representatives in order to stress the importance of a public apology from Australia’s national broadcaster.

COMMUNITY NOTE: ANC Australia will keep you updated on its progress regarding this issue.




09.09.2008    ANC LETTER TO ABC RESPONSE

ATT: Parker Bourke
ABC Audience and Consumer Affairs
Corporate_Affairs4.ABC@abc.net.au


RE: DENIAL OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BY THE ABC


Dear Mr. Bourke,

We refer to your email to the ANC dated 8 September 2008.

We find your attempt to justify the use of the offensive qualifier “alleged” with respect to the Armenian Genocide, which is one of the worst crimes against humanity in modern history, unacceptable and no less repugnant than the original offence.

Your letter suggests that the categorisation of the systematic extermination of approximately 1.5 million Armenian civilians by the Ottoman Turkish Government as genocide is legitimately disputed and therefore warrants the qualifier “alleged”. Your letter has the temerity to refer us to Section 5.3 of the ABC Code of Practice that “Every reasonable effort must be made to ensure that factual content is accurate and in context and that content does not misrepresent other viewpoints”. Yet your very letter completely ignores the unequivocal position taken by the foremost Holocaust and Genocide scholars around the world who recognised and teach about the Armenian Genocide.

This overwhelming preponderance of genocide scholarship is more eloquently summarised in the letter dated 6 April 2005 to Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan from the International Association of Genocide Scholars, which represents the major body of scholars who study genocide in North America and Europe.  That letter was in response to the Turkish Prime Minister’s call for a commission of historians to “investigate” whether the Armenian Genocide occurred.  You may recall a similar “commission of historians” was held recently by the President of Iran to deliberate whether the Holocaust of 6 million Jews took place.

Given the dismissive tone of your response, we are compelled to bring to your attention the following pertinent passages of that letter as they appear to apply to the ABC as much as the Turkish Government policy of genocide denialism:

 “We are concerned that in calling for an impartial study of the Armenian Genocide you may not be fully aware of the extent of the scholarly and intellectual record on the Armenian Genocide and how this event conforms to the definition of the United Nations Genocide Convention.  We want to underscore that it is not just Armenians who are affirming the Armenian Genocide but it is hundreds of independent scholars, who have no affiliations with governments, and whose work spans many countries and nationalities and the course of decades. The scholarly evidence reveals the following:

On April 24, 1915, under cover of World War I, the Young Turk government of the Ottoman Empire began a systematic genocide of its Armenian citizens - an unarmed Christian minority population. More than a million Armenians were exterminated through direct killing, starvation, torture, and forced death marches. Another million fled into permanent exile. Thus an ancient civilization was expunged from its homeland of 2,500 years. ……….

The Armenian Genocide is corroborated by the international scholarly, legal, and human rights community:

1) Polish jurist Raphael Lemkin, when he coined the term genocide in 1944, cited the Turkish extermination of the Armenians and the Nazi extermination of the Jews as defining examples of what he meant by genocide.

2) The killings of the Armenians is genocide as defined by the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

3)  In 1997 the International Association of Genocide Scholars, an organization of the world's foremost experts on genocide, unanimously passed a formal resolution affirming the Armenian Genocide.

4) 126 leading scholars of the Holocaust including Elie Wiesel and Yehuda Bauer placed a statement in the New York Times in June 2000 declaring the "incontestable fact of the Armenian Genocide" and urging western democracies to acknowledge it.

5) The Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide (Jerusalem), the Institute for the Study of Genocide (NYC) have affirmed the historical fact of the Armenian Genocide.

6) Leading texts in the international law of genocide such as William A. Schabas's Genocide in International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2000) cite the Armenian Genocide as a precursor to the Holocaust and as a precedent for the law on crimes against humanity.

As to your comment – “…, but others have disputed this categorisation”, the above letter again relevantly states:

    “We would also note that scholars who advise your government and who are affiliated in other ways with your state-controlled institutions are not impartial. Such so-called "scholars" work to serve the agenda of historical and moral obfuscation when they advise you and the Turkish Parliament on how to deny the Armenian Genocide”.

Put another way, the position adopted in your response is no different to suggesting that because certain “historians”, like David Irving (and those who attended the aforementioned “academic” conference organised by the President of Iran), who contest the historical veracity of the Holocaust, the ABC is required by its Code of Conduct to refer to the Holocaust as the “alleged Holocaust”.

The position taken in your response also flies in the face of various “topical and factual content” on the Armenian Genocide broadcast by the ABC over the years (a sample of which is referred to in our initial email).  That content never used such offensive qualifiers in referring to the Armenian Genocide.  Has ABC TV Documentaries uncovered new evidence which turns on its head the above internationally respected genocide scholarship on the Armenian Genocide and the ABC’s previous practice?

We are, therefore, compelled to refer you to another section of the ABC’s Code of Conduct, namely Section 5.4 which states:

    “The ABC will correct a significant error when it established that one has been made.  When a correction is necessary, it will be made in an appropriate manner as soon as reasonably practicable” 

With respect, it is disingenuous to apologise for any offence caused as a result of the use of the term “alleged Armenian genocide” and still defend and try to justify that very offence.

The position outlined in your response raises more concerns for Armenian-Australian Community, most of whom are descendants of the survivors of the genocide, than the offensive qualifier which gave rise to our initial complaint. Whilst we appreciate that this offence is not intentional, we are extremely concerned that the ABC is unwittingly making itself an instrument of Armenian Genocide denial and obfuscation in the misguided guise of “impartial reporting”.

Accordingly, we request an urgent meeting with relevant representatives of the ABC to address the above concerns and to explain why an appropriate apology is required for the offence caused.

We await your urgent response.


Yours Sincerely,


Varant Meguerditchian
President


Cc:    Media Watch Program
    mediawatch@your.abc.net.au


09.09.2008    ABC STANDARD RESPONSE TO COMMUNITY EMAILS

Dear ___________

Thank you for your email regarding the episode of Family Footsteps broadcast on 28 August. In line with ABC complaint handling policies, your correspondence has been referred to me for response.

The ABC regrets that you were concerned by the use of the terms "alleged genocide" and "alleged Armenian genocide" in this program to describe the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I.

These terms were used by the narrator four times over the course of the program, in the following contexts:
- "During World War I, the Turks killed over one million Armenians in the first alleged genocide in modern history."
- "During that year [1915], refugees would have been fleeing the alleged genocide, and taking their treasured rugs with them."
- "Verjine Svazlian is an historian specialising in the alleged Armenian genocide."
- "Her Armenian experience also inspired Joanna to visit her grandmother in America, who herself was a refugee from the alleged genocide."

It is the ABC's understanding that the categorisation of these events as genocide remains a matter of contention within the international community. It is certainly true that many historians and governments have recognised the events as genocide, but others have disputed this categorisation. Family Footsteps is categorised by the ABC as topical and factual content for the purposes of our Code of Practice. The requirement for accuracy in such content is outlined in section 5.3 of the Code: "Every reasonable effort must be made to ensure that factual content is accurate and in context and that content does not misrepresent other viewpoints." On review, the ABC is satisfied that each of the statements quoted above met this requirement.

Nonetheless, please accept the ABC's apologies for any offence caused as a result of the use of the terms "alleged genocide" and "alleged Armenian genocide" in this program. Please be assured that your concerns have been brought to the attention of the ABC TV Documentaries department and ABC Television management.

Thank you for taking the time to contact the ABC about this matter. I have attached a link to the ABC's Code of Practice for your information:
http://abc.net.au/corp/pubs/documents/200806_codeofpractice-revised_2008.pdf

Yours sincerely

Parker Bourke
ABC Audience and Consumer Affairs


29.08.2008    ORIGINAL ANC AUSTRALIA LETTER TO ABC

ABC TV Documentaries
ATT: Stuart Menzies
Head of Documentaries
menzies.stuart@abc.net.au


RE: ABC FAMILY FOOTSTEPS PROGRAM - ARMENIA

Dear Mr. Menzies,


The Armenian National Committee of Australia wishes to express serious concern in relation to a recent ABC Television story. On Thursday 28 August, the ABC's Family Footsteps program broadcast the story of Joanna Kambourian, an Armenian-Australian who travelled back to the homeland of her ancestors to explore the rich culture of the Armenian people and the tragic history of the Armenian Genocide.

The program covered Joanna's journey as she learnt the ancient language, customs and history of the Armenian people. She also discovered the reality of the Armenian Genocide - an attempt to erase the Armenian people, their cities, churches and homes.

The coverage included a meeting between Joanna and an Armenian Genocide Historian who explained that in 1915, under the cover of WWI, the Turks began a systematic genocide of the Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire.

Unfortunately, throughout the program the narrator referred to the Armenian Genocide as the ‘alleged’ Armenian Genocide. ‘Alleged’ has become a qualifier used by Armenian Genocide deniers to distort and blur the historical accuracy and reality of the Armenian Genocide.

In legitimate academic circles, the Armenian Genocide has been classed as a foremost example of Genocide. It has been condemned by the International Association of Genocide Scholars and by the Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Further, the phrase ‘Armenian Genocide’ is used to describe the events of 1915 by prestigious media outlets including the New York Times, LA Times, The Washington Post and The Australian.

The Armenian Genocide has been recognised and condemned in Australia by the State Parliament of NSW, and internationally by prominent governments including those of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Russia, Switzerland and Argentina.

It is only in Turkey that restrictions apply to the use of the term Armenian Genocide. Under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, individuals, intellectuals, journalists and publishers can be prosecuted for insulting Turkey. Thus qualifiers such as ‘alleged’ or ‘so called’ are placed before mentioning the Armenian Genocide as a measure to distort the truth of the Armenian Genocide and avoid prosecution.

Fortunately in Australia, individuals, intellectuals, journalists and publishers are not bound by such restrictions. In April of the this year, the ABC Television’s Foreign Correspondent program broadcast an Eric Campbell story entitled ‘Armenia and Turkey – Ghosts of the Past’ ( http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2008/s2207929.htm ). During this, the tragic events that befell the Armenian people where truthfully described as the ‘Armenian Genocide’.

The Armenian Genocide was again described as an incontestable example of genocide during an interview which respected ABC radio-journalist Philip Adams conducted with genocide scholar Prof. Colin Tatz and bestselling author Prof. Peter Balakian (http://www.abc.net.au/rn/latenightlive/stories/2008/2217843.htm ). Also, an ABC News story (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/21/2222427.htm) earlier this year echoed the same position.

On behalf of the Armenian-Australian community, the Armenian National Committee of Australia questions why the ABC's Family Footsteps program referred to the Armenian Genocide as the ‘alleged’ Armenian Genocide?

The Armenian-Australian community expects a public correction for references made to the Armenian Genocide which were preceded by the word ‘alleged’, and we undoubtedly expect that the ABC will reaffirm its previously established moral and historically accurate position when referring to the Armenian Genocide.

In anticipation of your positive response, we thank you in advance.

Yours Sincerely,


Varant Meguerditchian
President


For more information on the Armenian National Committee of Australia and our representation, please click the following link: http://anc.org.au/about_us.