Two Armenian-American descendants of victims of Ottoman Turkey's 1915 pogroms of ethnic Armenians have filed what is described as the first lawsuit against the Turkish government for damages suffered by their families during the massacre.
Lawyers for Garbis Davouian, a resident of Los Angeles, and Hrayr Turabian, a resident of New York City, could ask for billions of dollars in reparations for property and associated incomes that they claim were expropriated illegally in connection with the crackdown. Lawyers hope to recover property and profits records to make their case.
Turkey’s Central Bank and its largest commercial bank, Ziraat, are also named as defendants.
Similar lawsuits have resulted in the New York Life Insurance Company and French insurer AXA paying up to $40 million in life insurance premiums on Ottoman-era policies to the relatives of slain Armenians.
Giorgi Lomsadze is a journalist based in Tbilisi, and author of Tamada Tales.
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