TIME PRINTS FULL-PAGE lETTER TO RECTIFY TURKISH DVD FLAP
18-10-2005 14:00:00 | USA | Articles and Analyses
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
TIME magazine came a step closer this week to properly
address a major dispute with Armenians worldwide over its
distribution of a Turkish DVD denying the Armenian Genocide.
In its June 6, 2005 issue, the European edition of TIME ran
a four-page ad placed by the Ankara Chamber of Commerce
promoting tourism in Turkey. As part of that paid ad, the
magazine included a DVD insert that had a 70-minute segment that
denied and distorted the facts of the Armenian Genocide. This
highly offensive material, hidden behind a couple of benign
segments on tourism in the DVD, was disseminated to half a
million TIME subscribers in a dozen European countries.
Initially, the editors of TIME did not seem to realize the
grave error they had committed by becoming accomplices to
Turkish denialists. They dismissed Armenian complaints about
this hateful and hurtful Turkish DVD by simply stating that TIME
did "not endorse the views of any organization or government."
However, when the Switzerland-Armenia Association wrote a
letter threatening to sue TIME for violating a Swiss law against
the denial of crimes against humanity and genocide, the
magazine's managing editor, James Kelly, wrote back stating that
no one at TIME had "adequately reviewed" the offensive segment
of the Turkish DVD. He apologized profusely and repeatedly to
the Armenian community and to all its readers. Mr. Kelly said
that the DVD presented a distorted view of history that did not
meet the magazine's "standards for fairness and accuracy." He
added: "we would not have distributed [the DVD] had we been
aware of the content."
The Swiss-Armenian group, however, was not satisfied with
this response. They wrote back pointing out that the magazine
had not addressed the issue of redressing the damage caused by
the malicious Turkish DVD to the descendants of the victims of
the Armenian Genocide.
Meanwhile, five French organizations hired an attorney in
order to pursue their legal rights under French laws that call
for the protection of "human dignity." Memoire 2000, the
Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations of France
(CCOAF), the Armenian National Committee of France (CDCA), J'
Accuse, and the Movement Against Racism and for Friendship Among
Peoples (MRAP) wrote a lengthy joint letter of complaint that
was published on a whole page in the October 17 issue of TIME's
European edition.
The French organizations requested that TIME distribute
free of charge an objective DVD on the Armenian Genocide and
donate the income from the Turkish ad to non-profit
organizations that advocate the truth about the Armenian
Genocide.
In an "Editor's note" published along with the letter, TIME
restated the apology that it had expressed earlier to the
Switzerland-Armenia Association. The note added that TIME was
publishing this letter "pursuant to French law ('droit de
reponse')" [right of reply].
The ANC of France (CDCA) stated in a press release that by
printing the letter and expressing its apology, TIME had
partially acknowledged its error. This right of reply "is the
initial result of a common and long-term initiative by the
associations fighting against racism, anti-Semitism and for the
defense of the memory of the Armenian people" said Harout
Mardirossian, Chairman of CDCA. "If TIME magazine thinks that
this right of reply settles all accounts, it is sadly mistaken.
TIME magazine's response does not redress the terrible suffering
of those who saw this sordid tool of denialist propaganda.
Taking into account the most heinous content of this DVD, our
demands for redress go far beyond this simple right of reply and
we intend to attain them," said Mardirossian.
The Chairman of CDCA reiterated the demand of the five
organizations for the magazine to disseminate free of charge to
its European subscribers an objective DVD on the Armenian
Genocide, and to have TIME donate the revenues from the Turkish
ad to non-profit organizations that advocate the truth about the
Armenian and all other genocides.
By acknowledging its error, apologizing for it and
publishing a full-page letter, TIME magazine has begun to take
responsibility for the pain and suffering it has caused to
Armenians worldwide.
TIME's executives and the representatives of French and
Swiss organizations now have to sit down together and consider
the proper ways to undo the damage caused by the Turkish DVD. As
has been suggested previously, one such way would be for TIME to
disseminate to its readers an accurate DVD on the Armenian
Genocide. Another possible step would be for the magazine to
donate the revenues from the Turkish DVD to non-profit
organizations. It would be wrong for TIME to profit from tainted
funds belonging to revisionists and denialists of genocide!