WASHINGTON D.C. - A U.S. federal appeals court has annulled a California law which enabled the heirs of Armenians that lost their lives during the incidents of 1915 to file claims against insurance companies.
The law, which was adopted by California Legislature in 2000, gave the heirs the opportunity to file claims in order to seek payment on the life insurance policies of their deceased relatives.
The law also claimed that the incidents of 1915 constituted a "genocide".
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has invalidated such law, describing it as an "unconstitutional intervention" in USA's foreign policy.
Judge David Thompson said in his decision that the U.S. federal state had ruled not to use the word "genocide" when describing the incidents of 1915 as such word had a political meaning.
ARMENIAN ALLEGATIONS AND TURKEY'S STANCE
Turkey has long been facing a systematic campaign of defamation carried out by Armenian lobbying groups. The Armenian diaspora has lately increased its organized activities throughout the world for the recognition of their unfounded allegations in regard to the events of 1915 as "genocide" by national and local parliaments.
Until today, parliaments of several countries passed either resolutions or issued statements on the Armenian issue.
Turkey is of the view that parliaments and other political institutions are not the appropriate fora to debate and pass judgments on disputed periods of history.
Turkey also encourages historians, scholars and researchers to freely examine and discuss this historical issue in every platform.
In this respect, in 2005, Turkey has officially proposed to the Government of Armenia the establishment of a joint commission of history composed of historians and other experts from both sides to study together the events of 1915 not only in the archives of Turkey and Armenia but also in the archives of all relevant third countries and to share their findings with the public.
Armenia has not responded positively to this initiative yet.