WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) was joined by Rep. George Radanovich (R-CA), Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), and a bipartisan group of twenty-six U.S. Representatives in urging the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) not to provide a broadcast platform for deniers of the Armenian Genocide, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

In an April 3rd letter, addressed to PBS Chief Operating Officer Wayne Godwin, the House Members addressed the growing controversy surrounding plans by PBS to broadcast a panel discussion including known Armenian Genocide deniers Justin McCarthy and Omer Turan following the airing this April of the documentary “The Armenian Genocide,” produced by Andrew Goldberg. The ANCA has formally protested PBS’s decision, and established an online WebFax program through which close to 10,000 individuals have already registered their protests.

In their letter, the group of legislators urged that, “PBS not provide a national platform to those who deny the Armenian Genocide… Despite the Turkish government’s concerted and well-financed effort to obscure and alter history, there is no serious academic dispute about the Armenian Genocide.” The letter closed by noting that, “Surely, PBS would not consider broadcasting a documentary on the Holocaust, followed by a panel that included Holocaust deniers. A commitment to balance does not mandate the inclusion of opinions that are objectively false.”

“We want to thank Representatives Schiff, Radanovich, Pallone, and Knollenberg for their leadership in giving voice to the growing Congressional opposition to PBS’s deeply flawed decision to provide public airtime to deniers of the Armenian Genocide,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “Clearly their concerns are being heard, as more and more PBS affiliates are deciding not to run this panel discussion.”

The full list of signatories is as follows: Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Shelley Berkley (D-NV), Jerry Costello (D-IL), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Bob Filner (D-CA), Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Rush Holt (D-NJ), Steve Israel (D-NY), Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), James McGovern (D-MA), Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), Michael McNulty (D-NY), Richard Neal (D-MA), C. L. Butch Otter (R-ID), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Donald Payne (D-NJ), Collin Peterson (D-MN), George Radanovich (R-CA), Steven Rothman (D-NJ), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Joe Schwarz (R-MI), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Mark Souder (R-IN), John Sweeney (R-NY), Edolphus Towns (D-NY), Diane Watson (D-CA), and Anthony Weiner (D-NY).

In addition to the signatories of this letter, a number of other legislators undertook individual efforts directly with PBS. Among these were Senator Boxer (D-CA), who shared her concerns with San Francisco’s KQED, which recently decided not to air the denial panel. Senator John Ensign (R-NV), the author of the Senate version of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (S.Res. 320), similarly urged Las Vegas PBS affiliate KLVX not to air the panel, stressing that, “to air this or any other denial would only serve to condone [the Turkish government’s] denial and to ignore the reality of those atrocious acts that were responsible for the loss of one and half million lives and for more than half a million survivors being exiled.”

On the House side, individual letters were sent by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and James Langevin (D-RI). In her letter, Rep. Lofgren expressed her hope that “PBS will evaluate this planned programming using the same standard it would employ if deniers were discussing either [the Armenian or Jewish] Holocaust.” Rep. Langevin noted that, “I imagine that those who deny the existence of the Holocaust would not be offered the same chance to air their views, and I question why the Armenian Genocide appears to be held to a different standard.”

On April 4th, Rep. Schiff hosted a Capitol Hill screening of the PBS documentary, “The Armenian Genocide,” to a standing-room only audience of Members of Congress, Congressional staffers, members of the media and Armenian American community activists. Rep. Schiff was joined by Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) and Rep. Pallone in offering remarks at the opening of the documentary, while director Andrew Goldberg led an insightful question and answer session at the conclusion of the piece. Among those in attendance were His Excellency Tatoul Markarian, Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to the U.S. accompanied by Embassy staff, as well as former U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Michael Lemmon and Pulitzer Prize winning author Samantha Power.

On March 29th, Rep. Pallone delivered a House floor speech urging PBS not to air the panel discussion, arguing that he “would not feel any different about this issue if we were discussing Darfur, Rwanda or the Nazi Holocaust. Genocide deniers should not have a forum. The quest for fair and balanced information does not give a license to propagate false, misleading and offensive information about historical facts that relate to genocide.”

The Washington Post reported on February 16th that, “Thousands of Armenian Americans are protesting the Public Broadcasting Service’s planned panel-discussion program about Turkey’s role in the deaths of Armenians during and after World War I. The 25-minute program has generated an outcry because the panel will include two scholars who deny that 1.5 million Armenian civilians were killed in eastern Turkey from 1915 to 1920.”

The full text of the Congressional letter and Rep. Pallone’s speech are provided below:

Text of Congressional letter to PBS

Mr. Wayne Godwin
Acting President and Chief Operating Officer
Public Broadcasting Service
1320 Braddock Place
Alexandria, VA 22314

Dear. Mr. Godwin:

We are writing to ask that PBS not provide a national platform to those who deny the Armenian Genocide. While we look forward to PBS’ broadcast of Andrew Goldberg’s documentary, The Armenian Genocide, on April 17th, we are disturbed by reports that PBS will follow the documentary with a panel discussion that will include two professors who deny the Armenian Genocide.

Despite the Turkish government’s concerted and well-financed effort to obscure and alter history, there is no serious academic dispute about the Armenian Genocide. Thousands of pages of documents sit in our National Archives. Newspapers were replete with stories about the murder of Armenians. “Appeal to Turkey to Stop Massacres” headlined the New York Times on April 28, 1915, just as the killing began. On October 7 of that year, the Times reported that 800,000 Armenians had “been slain in cold blood in Asia Minor.” In mid-December of 1915, the Times spoke of a “Million Armenians Killed or in Exile.”

Prominent citizens of the day, including America’s Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau, and Britain’s Lord Bryce reported on the massacres in great detail. Morgenthau was appalled at what he would later call the “sadistic orgies” of rape, torture and murder. Lord Bryce, a former British Ambassador to the United States, worked to raise awareness of and money for the victims of what he called “the most colossal crime in the history of the world.” In October 1915 the Rockefeller Foundation contributed $30,000 – a sum worth more than half a million dollars today – to a relief fund for Armenia.

Despite this overwhelming documentary and eye-witness proof of the Armenian Genocide, Goldberg’s documentary includes denialist views to present a comprehensive perspective. It is therefore completely unnecessary to include these discredited opinions in your panel; doing so only promotes the propagation of false and misleading views and undermines the credibility of PBS.

Surely, PBS would not consider broadcasting a documentary on the Holocaust, followed by a panel that included Holocaust deniers. A commitment to balance does not mandate the inclusion of opinions that are objectively false.

We urge you to stand by PBS’ commitment to public service and not give voice to those who would deny the deliberate murder of 1.5 million people. We ask that you that you reconsider the decision to include genocide deniers on your panel and that the panel either be re-taped without them or eliminated altogether.

Sincerely,

Text of Speech by Rep. Pallone

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
HOUSE
PAGE H1297
March 29, 2006

PBS: ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIALIST FORUM

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to express my extreme disappointment with the Public Broadcasting System’s decision to give a forum to Armenian genocide denialists following the April 17 broadcast of Andrew Goldberg’s documentary, “The Armenian Genocide.”

PBS should be commended for deciding to run Goldberg’s documentary. However, the documentary should stand on its own. I am troubled by the network’s decision to conduct a panel discussion immediately after the documentary that focuses on Turkey’s role in the death of Armenians during and after World War I.

The 25-minute panel discussion has generated an outcry because the panel will include two scholars who deny that 1.5 million Armenian civilians were killed in eastern Turkey from 1915 to 1923.

I urge PBS to reconsider the inclusion of the panel discussion. Despite the Turkish Government’s continued concerted effort to deny and alter history, there is no serious academic historian willing to dispute the genocide, or extermination, of 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923. There are literally thousands of pages of documents in our national archive confirming the Armenian genocide.

Prominent citizens of the day, including America’s ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau, and Britain’s Lord Bryce, reported on the massacres in great detail. Morgenthau was appalled at what he would later call the “sadistic orgies” of rape, torture and murder. Lord Bryce, a former British Ambassador to the United States, worked to raise awareness of and money for the victims of what he called “the most colossal crime in the history of the world.”

In October 1915, the Rockefeller Foundation contributed $30,000, a sum worth more than $.5 million today, to a relief fund for Armenia.

Mr. Speaker, it is important to note that despite overwhelming documentation and eyewitness proof of the Armenian genocide, Mr. Goldberg’s documentary includes denialist views to present a comprehensive perspective. This completely alleviates the need to include PBS’s panel discussion. It is exceptionally inappropriate for PBS to include these two nonobjective scholars on the public airwaves so they can spread their political propaganda.

And, Mr. Speaker, I would note that I would not feel any different about this issue if we were discussing Darfur, Rwanda or the Nazi Holocaust. Genocide deniers should not have a forum. The quest for fair and balanced information does not give a license to propagate false, misleading and offensive information about historical facts that relate to genocide.

It is said that PBS continues to defend its decision to provide air time to Armenian genocide deniers; however, it is encouraging to see a growing number of PBS affiliates refusing to air the panel. And I want to commend each of the 25 affiliates who have already announced their intentions to air the Armenian genocide documentary without the inclusion of the panel discussion.

Mr. Speaker, it is important that we urge PBS to maintain its commitment to public service, but no Member of Congress should accept PBS’s decision to give credence to the denial of the deliberate murder of 1.5 million people, and I hope that PBS will reconsider its current position.