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The size of the site used for Papazian's design is bigger than that used by Martinez and Johnson. Papazian additionally uses the sites of another three properties that are further up the street behind the bank. Are these additional properties that were bought by Cafesjian to extend the museum site, and which the current "regime" no longer wishes to use?
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Plenipotentiary meow! -
Thanks for the glimpse of Papazian's module, right off the bat I hate it which would only mean to me , either its xxxx or genius ."All truth passes through three stages:
First, it is ridiculed;
Second, it is violently opposed; and
Third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)Comment
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The proposal isn't really buildable as it currently stands - and I don't think it is meant to be. What it is, is an example of thinking about what the museum should be about - the proposal comes in an 80-page book, only half of which is devoted to presenting his specific architectural scheme. I can bet the current lot have barely a scribbled-on-the-back-of-an-envelope-worth of thoughts on what the museum should be about.Originally posted by Gavur View PostPlenipotentiary meow!Comment
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I noticed a difference in the site size from that used by Papazian.
Here is the disgraceful reason why it is different in size.
The Cafesjian Family Foundation, Inc.
15 South Fifth Street, Suite 900
Minneapolis, MN 55402
Contact: John Waters
Tel. (612) 359-8991
Fax (612) 359-8994
Email: [email protected]
PRESS RELEASE
November 27, 2007
New motion filed in lawsuit against Hirair Hovnanian and
others over Genocide Museum
CFF seeks to protect AGMM from irreparable harm and lost opportunity
Minneapolis, MN, Nov. 27, 2007 ` The Cafesjian Family Foundation
(CFF), on behalf of the Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial,
Inc. (AGMM), filed a motion today in an ongoing lawsuit in the United
States District Court for the District of Columbia. The court is being
asked to enjoin the Armenian Assembly of America, Inc. (Assembly), and
AGMM rogue trustees Hirair Hovnanian, Van Krikorian and Anoush
Mathevosian from attempting to develop the AGMM in contravention of
the organization's charter documents and the agreements that made the
undertaking possible in the first place.
`By this action, CFF seeks to protect AGMM from irreparable harm,'
said CFF Vice President and CFF-designated AGMM trustee John
Waters. `On November 3, 2007, the Assembly announced plans to develop
a museum on part of a site owned by the AGMM. It was a baffling
announcement, since the Assembly neither owns nor controls AGMM. The
Assembly-announced plan would diminish the project by confining the
development to a renovated bank building. According to an attorney
representing the Assembly, the rogue trustees apparently intended to
pay for the bank building renovation by selling off the adjoining
properties in disregard of fiduciary and contractual duties. The
injunction would enforce those obligations.'
`The AGMM should have a commanding presence,' said CFF Founder and
President Gerard Cafesjian. `We realized early on that a renovated
bank building would simply not do justice to the institution that the
community deserves and that the tragedy suffered by the Armenian
people warrants. We worked hard to acquire additional property so that
this project could be done right.'
Unfortunately the other trustees have blocked nearly every plan that
has been proposed. Assembly obdurance ultimately brought AGMM
development to a standstill.
Realizing that personality clashes were deadlocking AGMM governance,
Mr. Cafesjian resigned his position as Chair of the Board of Trustees
in September 2003 in hopes that the project could be
revived. Mr. Cafesjian removed himself from the board in order that
AGMM Trustees could move the project forward without the distraction
of Cafesjian's presence.
Unfortunately, Mr. Cafesjian's gesture did not produce the desired
result. Rather than committing to an appropriate project, the
dissident trustees lashed out at Mr. Cafesjian. At a meeting from
which the Cafesjian representative was virtually expelled, the
remaining trustees highjacked the project by delegating all board
responsibility regarding AGMM development to a committee that is
answerable to no one. Thereafter, a seven-year-old study, which had
previously been rejected, was passed off at the L.A. Assembly gala as
the new vision for AGMM. The rump group apparently intends to proceed
with this plan while excluding CFF from participation in the
development.
`Mr. Cafesjian has proposed a strong vision for AGMM,' said
Mr. Waters. `And he has contributed property, money and other
significant resources to move that vision forward. Other trustees,
apparently led by Mr. Hovnanian, oppose a bold vision. If they get
their way, the real estate would be dismantled, and over half the site
that we worked so hard to assemble would be sold, depriving the
community of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have the benefit of a
truly remarkable project.
`Mr. Cafesjian and the Cafesjian Family Foundation are unwilling to
stand by and let the AGMM's dream be downsized and the assets
squandered,' said Mr. Waters. `On behalf of those that have
sacrificed so much, the Cafesjian Family Foundation will continue to
fight for a proper development to commemorate the Armenian people and
their suffering.'Plenipotentiary meow!Comment
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Comment
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AGMA and Near East Foundation signed agreement of cooperation
19.06.2008 19:22 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian Genocide Museum of America (AGMA) and the Near East Foundation signed an agreement of cooperation on June 12 at the Foundation’s international headquarters in New York City, the Armenian Assembly of America told PanARMENIAN.Net.
Signing the agreement on behalf of the two organizations were Van Z. Krikorian, AGMA Trustee and Building and Operations Committee Chairman, and Shant Mardirossian, Near East Foundation Board Chairman. Also present at the signing were Near East Foundation President Alexander Papachristou, Dr. Rouben Adalian, Director of the AGMA, and Dr. Hayk Demoyan, Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute in Yerevan, Armenia.
"This agreement opens a treasure trove of historical Armenian Genocide era documents and artifacts for use in the museum’s exhibits," Krikorian said. "We are very pleased to be forging a partnership with the Near East Foundation to educate the public on one of the most significant periods of both Armenian and American history." The Armenian Genocide Museum of America is slated to open in 2010 in Washington, DC.
"The archives of the Near East Foundation house thousands of documents which exemplify the first international humanitarian undertaking of this sort by the American people," Mardirossian said. "Not only do the archives tell us the stories of countless Armenian orphans, but they deliver them through the journals, diaries, and writings of the Near East Relief workers. This museum, in the heart of Washington, DC, will serve as a tribute to their heroic efforts."
The Near East Foundation is the successor organization to the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief, which was founded in 1915 and later incorporated as Near East Relief in 1919 by an act of Congress. Near East Relief established and operated orphanages, hospitals, and schools throughout the Balkans, Caucasus, and the Near East to ease the suffering of the Armenian Genocide survivors seeking refuge from the Ottoman Empire.
"Near East Relief was at the forefront of America’s efforts to respond to the human suffering that occurred in the wake of the Armenian Genocide," Krikorian said. "Armenians in the United States and all over the world benefited directly or indirectly from this monumental undertaking."
According to Near East Foundation records, from 1915 to 1930 the Near East Relief administered $117 million worth of assistance and is credited with saving a million lives and providing vocational training to 132,000 Armenian orphan children.
"Millions of dollars were raised through appeals in the media, at public rallies, in churches and synagogues, and in schools," Mardirossian said. "Not only were funds raised, but hundreds of Near East Relief volunteers were on the ground ministering to the suffering survivors of the Genocide, delivering food, clothing, and materials, but most of all comfort and hope. Many risked their lives and several gave their lives for this noble cause. Their stories and memories should be preserved as an example of the American spirit."
This agreement with the Near East Foundation is the second cooperative agreement AGMA has forged in recent months. In April, the museum entered into a partnership with the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute at the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex in Yerevan, Armenia.
The resources and expertise from the genocide museum in Armenia and the valuable archival materials from Near East Relief will complement other artifacts and documents to be incorporated in the AGMA exhibits, which are being designed by the preeminent Washington, DC area firm of Gallagher & Associates.
The museum will be housed in the historic National Bank Building in Washington, DC, at 14th and G Streets, NW, just blocks from the White House. When completed, it will be the first international class museum in the Armenian Diaspora dedicated to preserving and honoring the memory of the victims and survivors of the Armenian Genocide. From 1915-1923 a centrally-planned, government-directed campaign subjected the Armenian population in Turkey to deportation, expropriation, abduction, torture, starvation, and outright killings. An estimated 1.5 million Armenians perished and tens of thousands became widowed, orphaned and homeless.
Today, the Near East Foundation operates development projects in seven countries in the Middle East and Africa and is planning a project in Armenia. In 1930, the organization re-defined itself. It gave the schools, orphanages, hospitals, and other facilities that it had founded to the countries where it operated, and it became a pioneer in the field of economic development. Current projects include agricultural innovation to combat climate change in Mali and Egypt, reforming primary education to include girls in Morocco, and assisting Iraqi refugees to support themselves in new communities in Syria and Jordan. The 100-member field staff all work in their own countries, so the Near East Foundation supports local professionalism while helping the region's poorest people.
"We are proud to continue the tradition of American assistance to communities in peril in the Middle East and Africa," said NEF President Papachristou. "We rely fully on the expertise and dedication of our colleagues who know best how to organize these communities to solve their own challenges."
The agreement between the AGMA and the Near East Foundation also anticipates the promotion of each other’s programs and projects.General Antranik (1865-1927): “I am not a nationalist. I recognize only one nation, the nation of the oppressed.”Comment
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Re: Armenian Genocide Museum of America
Posted to illustrate the background to the post that follows it.
Museum plans are stymied Armenian dream now under threat
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Dec 23, 2007
By Colleen Sullivan SPECIAL TO THE TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
WASHINGTON- Since it opened in 1993, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
has attracted more than 25 million visitors, the vast majority of them
non-xxxs. That number has astonished many observers: Many experts
thought that such a large museum devoted to so somber and discomforting
a subject would have difficulty attracting visitors.
It gave Anoush Matevosian, a member of the Armenian National Institute's
board of governors, an idea. A museum could open up a new front in the
struggle to gain wider public recognition and remembrance of the
Armenian genocide "No one had quite imagined constructing a museum
dedicated to this sad subject," said Rouben Adalian, director of the
Armenian National Institute. "The Holocaust Museum set an example which
can be emulated and learned from, and I think the Armenian-American
community was very much impressed and inspired by that example." But
building it would prove more difficult than anticipated.
The Armenian National Institute is a lobbying group devoted to
preserving the memory of thousands of Armenians massacred in 1915 by the
Ottoman Empire, an event Armenians describe as genocide. Turkey, the
Ottoman state's modern heir, vigorously objects to that description of
the event.
The institute and other Armenian groups have waged a worldwide campaign
to have governments recognize the killings as genocide; dozens of
governments have passed resolutions to that effect, including Russia,
Argentina, Sweden, and Canada. France passed a law in 2006 that made
denial of the genocide a crime.
A measure recognizing the genocide has languished in Congress since the
Clinton administration. In October, the nonbinding resolution passed the
House Foreign Affairs Committee on a 27-21 vote, but Turkish protests
and pleas from President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
succeeded in quashing the effort.
The need to preserve access to crucial bases and airports in Turkey to
supply the U.S. Army in Iraq was a factor cited by many opponents of the
resolution, but even before the war in Iraq, the desire of the U.S.
government to maintain Turkey as a close ally in the Middle East has
stymied Armenian activists.
Enter Gerard Cafesjian. A stout, balding man who wears a black eyepatch,
Mr. Cafesjian, 82, is a former executive and part owner of West
Publishing, a Minnesota-based legal database firm that was sold to
Thomson Corp. in 1996 for $3.4 billion. Mr. Cafesjian retired from West
following the sale, but still manages a wide array of business and
charitable ventures. He has a stake in a chain of restaurants, is one of
the producers behind last year's "Prairie Home Companion" film, and paid
for the restoration of a historic carousel at the Minnesota State Fair,
now known as the Cafesjian carousel.
He is better known in Armenia, where he operates a satellite TV station
- which has come under criticism for a perceived strong bias toward the
government of President Robert Kocharian. In Armenia, ground has been
broken on a museum, funded by Mr. Cafesjian and named after him, which
will house his extensive collection of Armenian art.
The institute approached Mr. Cafesjian in 1997 for help with the
genocide museum and in 2000 his family foundation contributed $3.5
million to help purchase the former national bank building on G Street
in downtown Washington, D.C., is just a short stroll from the White
House. Mr. Cafesjian also contributed $500,000 to the project in the
form of a promissory note.
Mr. Cafesjian helped to purchase additional lots adjacent to the old
bank. In 2002, articles appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles
Times and The Washington Post detailing the project and its goals,
including a $75 million, 115,000-square-foot project to be opened in
2008.
And then, silence. Public silence, anyway. Behind closed doors, there
was much to discuss. Mr. Cafesjian had hired an architect, Edgar
Papazian, to create a design. The rest of the museum board raised
questions about the scale and elaborate design of the proposal. While
the board wrangled, the project remained in limbo.
Then last year, Mr. Cafesjian sued to get his money back from the board.
Lawsuits have been filed both in Minnesota - where Mr. Cafesjian's
charitable foundation is run - and in Washington. He is seeking $15
million, more than half of the museum's endowment. Were he to win, some
of the land purchased for the museum would have to be given to Mr.
Cafesjian to settle the claim.
"We think the reason he wants the property back is that the value of the
property has increased significantly since he donated it," said museum
lawyer Arnold Rosenfeld of K&L Gates. "He wants the property back so he
can make a big profit."
Armenian community members in Central Massachusetts expressed
disappointment over the project delays.
"It's too bad that political games are being played," said Van Aroian of
Worcester and a member of Armenian Church of Our Saviour. "That's a
tragedy that hurts the memory of the people, including my mother's
family and my father-in-law's family."
He hopes the parties will resolve their differences. While he would love
to have a museum dedicated to the Armenian genocide, he said, it would
be more meaningful if it paid homage to all the other contemporary and
ongoing genocides.
"I would incorporate it with all evil acts of humanity in the past," he
said.
George Aghjayan, chairman of the Armenian National Committee of Central
Massachusetts, agreed a museum to educate people about the Armenian
genocide in particular, as well as genocides in general, is an important
and worthwhile goal.
"We're saddened that there are issues that are preventing the museum
>From moving forward," he said. "We think a genocide museum in the
capital would be fitting."
Even if he ultimately loses the court case, all the legal wrangling may
result in Mr. Cafesjian obtaining his wish. A provision in the original
grant returns the property he acquired to him if the museum isn't built
by 2010.
"By stopping them now, they can't possibly get the museum built by 2010,
and he'll get his property back that way," Mr. Rosenfeld said.
The museum board has taken action, hiring its own architectural firm,
Martinez & Johnson, and exhibit designers, Gallagher & Associates, to
get to work on the plans.
The new plans call for a 50,000-square-foot facility, with the bank as
its centerpiece but including a modern addition, in part to accommodate
disabled visitors. The museum planners are aiming to attract not only
Armenian Americans, but the broader public as well.
"In the case of the Armenian genocide, the United States played a very
constructive and positive role from the very beginning, and the fact of
the matter is we know the story of the Armenian genocide primarily
because of the way American witnesses documented and recorded the
events," Mr. Adalian said.
But as long as the case remains in court, even the extent of the
facilities cannot be fully mapped out, which is a threat to the broader
public role supporters envision the museum serving.
"There have been other people who have been subjected to genocide," Mr.
Adalian said. "And the problem keeps repeating itself into our own
times."
Colleen Sullivan reports for the Washington, D.C., bureau of Boston
University News Service. Lisa D. Welsh of the Telegram & Gazette staff
contributed to this report.
AAA ISSUES STATEMENT ON LEGAL BATTLE OVER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MUSEUM
PanARMENIAN.Net
February 9, 2011 - 21:47 AMT 17:47 GMT
Armenian Assembly of America issued a statement on The Armenian
Genocide Museum case.
"Last month the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC issued an
order and an accompanying 190-page Memorandum of Opinion regarding
the Armenian Genocide Museum case. Although the case is not over,
it is important for all members of the Assembly to understand the
ramifications of the Opinion. It is also important for all members
of the Assembly to know that we have worked tirelessly to build
a museum and permanent memorial to the Armenian Genocide in our
nation's capital. Nothing in the Opinion will stop us from continuing
these efforts.
This litigation began in April 2007, when Mr. Cafesjian and his
foundation sued the Assembly and the Armenian Genocide Museum &
Memorial (AGMM). In its Opinion, the Court rejected Mr. Cafesjian's
claims of wrongdoing against the Assembly and AGMM, and reduced Mr.
Cafesjian's representation on the Board of Trustees. Going forward,
the Judge decided that Anoush Mathevosian, Hirair Hovnanian, the
Armenian Assembly of America, and the Cafesjian Family Foundation will
each have one vote on the AGMM Board. The Judge also decided that Mr.
Cafesjian is not entitled to the payment of $500,000 that he claimed
he was owed from the AGMM.
However, the Court upheld Mr. Cafesjian's right to insist upon
the return of the real estate acquired to house the museum complex,
which was estimated at $40 million at trial. This right arose through
a reversionary clause Mr. Cafesjian included in the documents that
transferred these properties to AGMM. The clause stated that if the
museum was "not developed prior to December 31, 2010 in accordance
with the Plans" or "in substantial compliance with the Plans," then
at Mr. Cafesjian's "sole discretion" he could insist on the return
of his funds or the properties. The Judge concluded that the AGMM
was not developed prior to December 31, 2010, therefore entitling Mr.
Cafesjian to enforce his right of reversion. The Court also denied
the allegations of the Assembly and AGMM against Mr. Cafesjian, and
ruled that Mr. Cafesjian's indemnification for the legal fees will
be addressed in further court proceedings.
The Court is now going to balance Mr. Cafesjian's right to a return of
the properties against the principle enshrined in our bylaws that no
trustee can profit from a transaction with the Assembly or AGMM. We
will also ask the Court to consider the applicable IRS rules and
regulations governing non-profit entities, and the intention of the
parties at the time he obtained his right of reversion.
The Judge will begin considering these issues at a hearing on February
24. The Judge also encouraged the parties to resolve their differences
to "accomplish the laudable goal of creating an Armenian genocide
museum and memorial."
The Assembly is keenly aware that our members and the community have
many questions. Our attorneys continue to represent and advise us,
and while many have expressed their surprise and concern regarding the
reversionary clause and its validity, it is important to note that Mr.
Cafesjian should not profit from exercising it.
While this matter is pending, the Assembly must also address another
lawsuit brought by Mr. Cafesjian filed in January of this year. In
addition to suing the Assembly, Mr. Cafesjian is also suing Hirair
Hovnanian and Van Krikorian personally. That suit seeks the return
of $1,050,000 in trustee dues by Mr. Cafesjian, which he claims a
right to receive back due to an alleged lack of participation in the
governance of the Assembly."Last edited by bell-the-cat; 03-02-2013, 09:28 AM.Plenipotentiary meow!Comment
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Re: Armenian Genocide Museum of America
NEW TRIAL ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MUSEUM NIXED"The parties, through the three consolidated actions pending before the
court, have spent as much if not more time litigating who is to blame
for the museum's failure as they spent attempting to make the museum
a reality,"
Courthouse News
Feb 22 2013
By MATT REYNOLDS
(CN) - The protracted dispute over an Armenian Genocide museum and
memorial project that never got off the ground should not face a new
trial, a federal judge ruled.
The consolidated complaint had pitted the Armenian Assembly of America
and the Armenian Genocide Museum & Memorial against two former board
members, Gerard Cafesjian and John Waters, and the Cafesjian Family
Foundation.
Their struggle for control of the museum, and allegations over its
demise, stemmed from rising tensions between Cafesjian and Hirair
Hovnanian, both of whom collaborated on the project in the late 1990s.
"The parties, through the three consolidated actions pending before the
court, have spent as much if not more time litigating who is to blame
for the museum's failure as they spent attempting to make the museum
a reality," U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote Wednesday.
Cafesjian, a founding member of the museum's board of trustees, helped
purchase the museum site, a vacant National Bank building at 14th and G
Street in downtown Washington, D.C. He stepped back, however, after the
board later failed to reach consensus on how to complete the museum.
The Brooklyn-born philanthropist handpicked Waters, his right-hand
man, to succeed him, but the board excluded Waters from further
participation in the project after Cafesjian sued the assembly for
payment of an unpaid promissory note.
Kollar-Kotelly largely dismissed the series of claims and counterclaims
after a 12-day bench trial in November 2010.
In that January 2011 final judgment, Kollar-Kotelly found that
neither Cafesijan nor Waters had breached their fiduciary duties to
the assembly. She also cleared Cafesijian of bad faith claims and
said neither he nor Waters had misappropriated the trade secrets of
the assembly.
Nearly a year later, the assembly and the museum moved for a new trial
based on the alleged perjury of Waters. They said Waters had never
mentioned that Cafesjian agreed to award him a bonus and reimburse
his expenses if Cafesjian prevailed in the litigation.
The motion relied on claims and counterclaims pending before a federal
judge in Minnesota where Waters sued Cafesjian for more than $4.3
million in deferred compensation, $1.2 million in bonuses and more
than $500,000 in legal costs.
Cafesjian countered that Waters had embezzled several million dollars
from him over a period spanning more than a decade.
Refusing to order a new trial in Washington this week, Judge
Kollar-Kotelly said the assembly had a "full and fair opportunity to
present their case during the bench trial."
"The plaintiffs fail to show by clear and convincing evidence that
Waters committed perjury or otherwise committed fraud or misconduct
by not disclosing the compensation purportedly owed and/or promised
by Cafesjian," the 33-page opinion states. "The court did not rely
on Waters' credibility in rejecting the plaintiffs' claims at trial,
meaning the plaintiffs cannot show actual prejudice from any alleged
perjury or other misconduct by Waters," wrote Kollar-Kotelly.
"The plaintiffs fail to show by clear and convincing evidence that
Cafesjian actually promised Waters the litigation bonus, and in
any case the existence of the agreement would not alter the legal
conclusion that the defendants did not breach any duty by filing the
initial suit in this litigation."
In Minnesota, Waters alleged that Cafesijan had destroyed documents
from Waters' former office at Cafesijan's GLC Enterprises.
Though the assembly claimed "without elaboration" that the allegations
directly impacted the trial, it failed "to show by clear and convincing
evidence that the defendants destroyed documents relevant to this
litigation or otherwise engaged in discovery misconduct sufficient
to set aside the final judgment," Kollar-Kotelly wrote.
By some estimates 1.5 million minority Armenians were killed by the
Ottoman government during and after World War I. Regarded by some as
the first genocide of modern times, male Armenians were slaughtered
in what is now the Republic of Turkey, while women, children, the
elderly and sick were deported or forced on "death marches" through
the Syrian Desert.
Plenipotentiary meow!Comment
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Re: Armenian Genocide Museum of America
D.C. buildings linked to Armenian Genocide museum to be razed
Washington Business Journal (Washington, DC)
Apr 19, 2013
By Michael Neibauer, Staff Reporter - Washington Business Journal
The owner of three vacant commercial buildings in the heart of
downtown D.C., all tied inexorably to the sputtering Armenian Genocide
Museum project, has applied to knock them down.
What's better, a 5,700-square-foot vacant lot or three vacant
buildings? Pick your poison.
The Cafesjian Family Foundation of Minneapolis has submitted a request
to raze 1338, 1340 and 1342 G St. NW, all of which back up to the
historic but vacant National Bank of Washington building at 14th and
G, which it also owns.
Representatives of the foundation, recorded as the owner of the
properties in July 2011, did not return calls for comment. All three
buildings were briefly classified by the District in 2012 as blighted,
until the foundation successfully appealed.
The properties to be razed are worth a combined $8.2 million,
according to D.C. assessors, but the value is entirely in the
land. I'm not aware of any proposals to build anew.
The bank building has long been planned as the future home of the
Armenian Genocide Museum, a memorial to 1.5 million Armenians killed
in the final days of the Ottoman Empire. The G Street properties, too,
were to be part of the project.
But the foundation and the nonprofit Armenian Genocide Museum and
Memorial are tied up in prolonged litigation (another appeal was filed
March 25 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Circuit) over a relationship and donation gone bad, a lawsuit a
federal judge once described as `very bitter and very unforunate.'
Here's the gist.
The bank building was acquired by the Armenian Assembly of America
early in 2000 for $7.25 million, using funds provided by multiple
donors, most notably $4 million from the Cafesjian Family Foundation,
according to court documents.
Gerard Cafesjian, a wealthy former publisher and Armenian
philanthropist, separately purchased the G Street properties the same
year for about $5.5 million, with the idea of turning them into a
contemporary art museum to complement the genocide museum. But the art
museum was built in the Armenian capital of Yerevan instead, and
Cafesjian conditionally agreed to donate the G Street buildings to the
Assembly for an expansion of the genocide museum.
The grant agreement between Cafesjian and the Armenian Genocide Museum
nonprofit, an arm of the Armenian Assembly, set Dec. 31, 2010, as the
point at which the properties would be returned if they weren't
developed. And that's exactly what happened.
Between 2002 and 2007, when the first of many lawsuits was filed, the
relationships between the various parties soured, badly. Fundraising
efforts for the estimated $100 million museum project stalled, as did
attempts to hire an architect or develop a business plan, according to
a 190-page federal court ruling issued Jan. 26, 2011.
`The Court sincerely hopes that after years of fighting legal battles,
the parties can put aside their differences and accomplish the
laudable goal of creating an Armenian Genocide museum and memorial,'
U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote in her
exhaustive opinion.
It's certainly not looking that way.
The 50,000-square-foot museum complex is in limbo, and based on a
brief conversation I had with a museum representative, I'm less
confident than ever that a museum will open in the bank building on
14th Street, two blocks from the White House.
The raze, as I understand it, has little to do with the museum. More
likely, it is related to the District's attempted `blight'
classification, which would come with with a property tax rate six
times the standard commercial rate. Get rid of the building, get rid
of the tax bill.
The permit applications are under review by the Department of Consumer
and Regulatory Affairs. Workers were inside 1340 G on Friday clearing
it of asbestos in preparation for the demolition.Plenipotentiary meow!Comment
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Re: Armenian Genocide Museum of America
Debate over Armenian museum will continue at appellate hearing
Centre Daily Times
April 19 2014
By Michael Doyle
WASHINGTON -- The legal fight over a proposed Armenian Genocide Museum
and Memorial has lasted nearly as long as the horrors the project is
supposed to commemorate.
Soon, the bitter wrangling will reach a crucial crossroads.
On Monday, in a courthouse about 10 blocks from the run-down site of
the proposed museum, three appellate judges will sort through the
dispute, which has outlasted several of the key parties. The museum's
future might hang in the balance.
"There is no doubt we are committed to building the museum in
Washington, D.C.," Edele Hovnanian, the treasurer of the Armenian
Assembly of America's board of trustees, said Friday. "We are
absolutely committed."
The case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Circuit is still called Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial v.
Gerard L. Cafesjian, though this has become a misnomer. Cafesjian, the
businessman and philanthropist who won an earlier round, died last
year in Naples, Fla., at the age of 88.
Another man once at the center of the dispute, former Cafesjian
lieutenant John J. Waters Jr., was convicted last month in Minneapolis
of 25 felony counts relating to embezzlement from Cafesjian. Waters is
awaiting sentencing.
Years ago, Cafesjian, Waters and the Armenian Assembly of America
leadership were allies. They wanted to build a center marking the
period from 1915 to 1923, when by some estimates upward of 1.5 million
Armenians died at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.
In downtown Washington, project supporters bought a four-story
National Bank of Washington building in 2000. Cafesjian provided
funding and bought adjacent properties, with a clause that the
properties would revert to his control if the project wasn't finished
by Dec. 31, 2010.
Relations eventually collapsed and the first in a series of suits and
countersuits was filed in 2007. In 2011, U.S. District Judge Colleen
Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the property belonged to Cafesjian's
foundation, of which Waters once served as vice president.
"The court sincerely hopes that after years of fighting legal battles,
the parties can put aside their differences and accomplish the
laudable goal of creating an Armenian genocide museum and memorial,"
Kollar-Kotelly wrote in January 2011.
That hasn't happened.
Instead, the fight that Kollar-Kotelly said "quickly escalated into an
unfortunate exchange of accusations and allegations grounded in
suspicion and mistrust" has ground ever onward. Though the museum has
plans prepared and an online exhibit posted, the litigation has
hindered efforts to raise the $100 million or so needed for
construction and operations.
The Armenian Assembly of America has appealed its trial-court loss,
contending in part that Kollar-Kotelly had previously undisclosed
"ties" to the Cafesjian side. Kollar-Kotelly had contributed, as had
Cafesjian, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's purchase of expensive
modern glass art by an artist whom Cafesjian also sought for the
Armenian genocide museum.
"If the assembly had known of the shared and beneficial interest
between Judge Kollar-Kotelly and Cafesjian as investors in
contemporary studio glass art, it would have moved for Judge
Kollar-Kotelly's disqualification," attorneys for the Armenian
Assembly of America declared in an appellate brief.
Attorneys for the Cafesjian Family Foundation didn't address the
judicial recusal question in their appellate brief, which focused on
other parts of the dispute.
"I hope that the (appellate) decision will finally resolve the case,"
the foundation's attorney, John B. Williams, said Friday, while noting
that "there is always the Supreme Court."
The 30-minute oral argument Monday comes three days before the events
that traditionally recognize the genocide. In this, Congress has
likewise continued to struggle.
By a 12-5 vote, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a
resolution April 10 that's intended to "remember and observe the
anniversary of the Armenian genocide." That may be the resolution's
high-water mark.
Vigorously opposed by the Turkish government, and historically viewed
skeptically within the State Department and the Pentagon, this
genocide resolution has an uncertain future. Senate rules will make it
easy for a single lawmaker to block the measure.
Turkey questions the casualty count and denies there was a systematic
effort to exterminate the Armenian people. Some American diplomats and
military professionals fear antagonizing Turkey, a key NATO ally.
A like-minded resolution in the House of Representatives, authored by
freshman Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif., and backed by 50 co-sponsors,
hasn't moved since it was introduced last year. Visiting Turkey this
month, House Speaker John Boehner effectively called the measure dead.
"Don't worry," the Ohio Republican said, according to Turkish news
accounts. "Our Congress will not get involved in this issue."
In the meantime, lawmakers are participating in Armenian-American
community events, with Valadao and Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., expected
at a flag-raising ceremony Thursday at Fresno, Calif., City Hall and
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., joining the annual march through the Los
Angeles-area Little Armenia.Plenipotentiary meow!Comment
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