Current.org Blog

"[W]e strongly feel that debating the Armenian Genocide is akin to arguing about the Jewish Holocaust in order to project a sense of balance," says an online petition circulated by Armenian-Americans who object to PBS's decision to pair the April 17 debut of The Armenian Genocide, a documentary by Andrew Goldberg, with a follow-up panel discussion. More than 11,000 individuals from around the world have signed the petition. NPR's Scott Simon moderates the half-hour follow-up show, in which scholars debate the Turkish government's role in the deaths of Armenian civilians during and after World War I, a sensitive topic in U.S. diplomacy, reports the Washington Post. In an online column defending a threatened boycott of PBS stations, Armenian activist and Publisher Harut Sassounian writes: "[R]emaining silent in the face of one-sided pressure on PBS by the Turkish government would be going along with Turkey’s offensive efforts to bury or tarnish the truth." In a column published today, Sassounian calls on supporters to ask their members of Congress to demand that PBS drop the panel discussion.