SACRAMENTO, CA -- With overwhelming bipartisan support, the California State Assembly adopted Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian's measure - a movement long championed by the Armenian National Committee of America Western Region (ANCA-WR) and Armenian Youth Federation Western Region (AYF-WR) - calling for the divestment of California public funds from Turkish government controlled financial instruments, ensuring taxpayer funds are no longer used in this manner to aid and abet Turkey's century long obstruction of justice for the Armenian Genocide.
“I am humbled and grateful for my colleagues in the Assembly for joining with me to fight for justice for the 1.5 million Armenian souls who perished in the Genocide,” said Assemblyman Nazarian, the lead author of AB 1597. “If Turkey continues to fund Armenian Genocide deniers they must be financially punished.”
Assemblyman Nazarian opened State Assembly consideration of the measure, noting that: “The Republic of Turkey's unwillingness to recognize the Genocide and their unrelenting campaign to deny the Genocide, continues to discriminate against Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians and many other ethnic minorities who suffered at the hands of the Turkish Ottoman Government. California's investment in Turkish government bonds indirectly subsidizes Turkish denial of the Genocide. This bill continues California's commitment to act appropriately against countries that have a record of human rights violations and undermine democracy.” Other legislators who spoke out on the measure during full floor consideration include Assemblymembers Rob Bonta, Matt Debabneh, Laura Friedman, Chris Holden, and Marc Levine.
“We are truly grateful for the leadership shown by our 2016 Legislator of the Year, Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian, in introducing and guiding this unprecedented 'Divest Turkey' bill to a successful vote in the California State Assembly,”said ANCA-WR Chair Nora Hovsepian, Esq. “We are also grateful to the thousands of California Armenians who heeded our Action Alert to call upon their elected representatives to support AB1597 and to the AYF for initiating this Divest Turkey movement by successfully securing resolutions from all nine campuses of the University of California and for working with us side by side to educate our elected representatives and to mobilize our grassroots.”
AB 1597 prohibits the boards of the California Public Retirement System (CalPERS) and California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) from making additional or new investments, or renewing existing investments issued, owned, controlled, or managed by the government of Turkey. The measure notes that CalPERS and CalSTRS must liquidate any of the investments within six months of the passage of a federal law imposing sanctions on Turkey.
Currently, CalPERS and CalSTRS have invested more than $500M in Turkish government-owned or controlled investment vehicles, predominantly in Turkish government bonds.
