Last night, The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC editorialized a prescripted hit piece on Armenians instead of reporting on the devastating assassination of the Russian Ambassador to Turkey by a Turkish police officer. We thought she was smarter than that. This is unfair and irresponsible journalism.
The Armenian Assembly of America has already and immediately expressed to Rachel Maddow and The Rachel Maddow Show voicing our objection to her distasteful and misleading introduction of her segment, and we call on you to contact MSNBC as well.
Armenian Assembly Co-Chair Anthony Barsamian wrote immediately to Rachel Maddow:
“Your editorial piece did little to calm Christian hatred within Turkey, especially as it relates to the vulnerable minority Armenian community.”
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“We are deeply disappointed and surprised at your lack of knowledge and sensitivity towards these issues.”
If Rachel Maddow wanted to show the full story of Turkish terrorism, there are a few other points she should have highlighted:
Is it not a Turkish militant who attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II?
Is it not Turkey that has a history of state-sponsored terrorism targeting ethnic minorities in their own nation, especially towards Kurdish and Armenian civilians?
Is it not in Turkey where Turkish Armenian journalist and activist Hrant Dink was murdered?
Is it not Turkey that lets ISIS terrorists through its borders, leading to more attacks by the day?
Is it not Turkey that profits from ISIS terrorists and purchases their illegally obtained oil?
While Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan “strongly condemned this act of terror” on the “barbaric assassination of the RF Ambassador in Turkey Andrei Karlov,” Turkey and Azerbaijan are distracting the world. Turkey and Azerbaijan are distorting the news to deliberately distract the world from their own violence-prone policies.