Opinion
October 15-31, 2002
Year 13 No. 309

Astonishing Quest to Naturalize Armenian Terrorists
Bruce Fein - Terrorism in all its moods and tenses stalks the world like the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. As President George Bush sermonized, neutrality or indifference towards terrorism is not an option. If you are not affirmatively and aggressively against the terrorist enemy, then you are for them and will be dealt with accordingly.

In the face of the Bush anti-terrorism doctrine, a pair of convicted Armenian terrorists are boldly seeking American citizenship. They may capture that jewel to escape deportation unless the complete effrontery of the quest is brought to the attention of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the federal courts.

The astonishing tale is told in the decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in United States v. Hovsepian (September 30, 2002). In 1982, the Federal Bureau of Investigation thwarted a terrorist plot by Viken Hovsepian, Viken Yacoubian, and others to blow up the Honorary Turkish Consul General in Philadelphia. Both terrorists were Lebanese citizens and permanent residents of the United States. They repaid America's hospitality by joining the terrorist Justice Com-mandoes of the Armenian Genocide fanatically devoted to indiscriminate violence against Turkey to avenge the killings of World War I. Indeed, the JCAG scoffed at the sister terrorist organization, the Armenian Secret Army for Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), as insufficiently brutal. The FBI's estimated the casualties from the foiled terrorist bombing, keenly relished by Hovsepian and Yacoubian, at 2000-3000, a staggering Al Qaeda-like abomination.

The brothers in terrorism were convicted of federal crimes, sentenced, and released after serving their full prison terms. Since their release, neither has been convicted of a new crime and both have thrived within the Armenian community. Hov-sepian earned a doctor's degree in international relations from the University of Southern California in 1994, and then switched to managing a hedge fund with a New York based partner. Yacoubian earned a master's degree in psychology from Marymount University in 1988, and later entered a doctoral program at USC. At present, he presides as principal of the Rose and Alex Philbos Armenian High School and teaches as a professor at Woodbury University. Both have assembled glowing character references, many applauding their dedication to the Armenian American community.

In 1988 and 1990, Congress amended the immigration laws to subject to deportation any alien guilty of unlawful possession of a destructive device, which covered the crimes of Hovsepian and Yacoubian. Deportation proceedings ensued. But the two appealed to the notoriously quixotic federal district Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer to block their deportations. Amidst a flurry of court skirmishing, the twin terrorists filed naturalization applications with both the INS and Judge Pfaelzer. The INS denied the outrageous overture, akin to a killer pleading for adoption by the grieving family, but the District Judge granted the two United States citizenship.

Greater folly is scarcely imaginable! Federal law (8 U.S. Code 1427 (a))requires that an applicant for citizenship "has been and still is a person of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States." Neither Hovsepian nor Yacoubian come within a galaxy of satisfying those citizenship thresholds.

Affiliations are a chief earmark of moral character. Both were attached to the JCAC, a prime terrorist organization bereft of both morals and mercy. The two have never denounced the JCAC as thugs and brutes; they have never preached against Armenian terrorism against Turkey, Turkish officials, or Turkish Americans, whether in the United States or abroad. They have never disowned Armenian American hero Mourad Topalian, former Chairman of the Armenian National Committee of America, for his conviction in plotting the bombing of the Turkish mission to the United Nations. They have not taught ostracism or social stigma for Armenian Americans who revel in provoking antagonism towards Turkish Americans, such as disrupting innocent celebrations of Turkish culture on university campuses. Their silence speaks volumes about their continuing sympathy for Armenians who would employ violence, intimidation, or harassment to avenge "the Cause." To say nothing amidst a hurricane of evil is tacit approval, an observation especially true of Hovsepian and Yacoubian who are prominent role models and educators of the Armenian American community.

To choose violence and threats in lieu of free speech and the peaceful political processes of democracy is also to desecrate the principles of the United States Constitution. And to promote hatred and wrath towards one ethnic group in the United States, like whites inculcating revulsion of blacks during Jim Crow, shows that Hovsepian and Yacoubian prefer turmoil to good order in the United States and reject its uniquely inspiring creed: There is only one race in the country which unifies all. It is American.

By a frighteningly narrow 2-1 margin, the Ninth Circuit reversed Judge Pfaelzer's citizenship grant and returned the applications of Hovsepian and Yacoubian to the INS for an administrative appeal. But the case is destined to return to federal courts. They must be fully informed of the nature of Armenian terrorism and terrorist culture to avoid any further stumbling.

*Bruce Fein is an adjunct scholar of ATAA. The views expressed are solely his own.