11/07/2011

US appeals court to rehear Armenian genocide claim


Πηγή: arabnews
By PAUL ELIAS (AP)
Nov 7 2011

SAN FRANCISCO: A federal appeals court is taking up the thorny issue of whether California law declaring there was an Armenian genocide in Turkey conflicts with US foreign policy.

Last year, a three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that state law allowed heirs of Armenians killed in the Turkish Ottoman Empire to pursue a lawsuit seeking life insurance payments.

On Monday, the court agreed to convene a special 11-judge panel to reconsider the decision.

Turkey describes the Armenian deaths as resulting from civil unrest that accompanied the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

Turkey’s supporters note that former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush defeated congressional legislation that would have recognized an Armenian genocide.

The heirs argue those presidential views were not official US policy.


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