Armenian Bar Association accuses US federal official Mehmet Oz of  lying and denigrating  Armenian community

ArmInfo.  The Armenian Bar Association has accused US federal official Mehmet Oz (who holds dual Turkish citizenship and served in the Turkish army - Ed.) of lying and denigrating the Armenian community in the United States.

Mahmed Oz, who is the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and  Medicaid Services (CMS), has claimed that healthcare fraud in Los  Angeles County is linked to "foreign influence," including "Russian-  Armenian mafia." Many observers attribute Oz's statement to his  direct work for the Turkish lobby to denigrate the Armenian community  in the United States. In a statement, the Armenian Bar Association, a  leading international nonprofit representing lawyers of Armenian  descent, said Mehmet Oz is abusing his position by recklessly  attacking an entire community.

"Oz has underhandedly framed an entire, respected ethnic community  with bogus, ad hominem attacks with his sweeping and unconscionable  statements tying alleged hospice fraud in Los Angeles to a diverse  Armenian-American community. This is the same community which has  given this country its fair share of state governors and Supreme  Court Justices, federal, state and local legislators, public  servants, university presidents and professors, business leaders and  health-care innovators, pioneering astronauts and award- winning  artists, and one-million law-abiding residents. These are the same  families which have, for generations, faithfully served this country,  both as enlisted service-members and as responsible citizens," NGO's  statement reads.

The Armenian Bar Association demands Oz's course correction and  apology, and requests that the L.A.  Times consider making further  inquiries into Oz's flagrant malfeasance which trespasses probity and  tramples truth, all under the convenient cover of office. 

  The Armenian National Committee of America-West (ANCA-WR) recently  issued a statement on this matter. The statement emphasized that  fraud is a crime, and every proven fraudster-regardless of  background-must be investigated and prosecuted under the rule of law.  However, the rule of law requires individualized suspicion and  evidence, not insinuations based on language, culture, or ethnicity.  The statement from the community organization also noted that for  Armenian Americans-whose families carry the living legacy of the  Armenian Genocide and over a century of denial, erasure, and  dehumanizing propaganda-this kind of messaging is not an abstraction.  "It mirrors patterns historically used to stigmatize Armenians as an  "other," justify exclusion, and incite hostility. When such rhetoric  comes from a federal official,  tasked with safeguarding public  health programs, it is especially dangerous: it risks converting a  legitimate public integrity effort into a vehicle for stereotyping  and collective blame and scapegoating. Such rhetoric-especially when  amplified by a senior federal official-undermines civil rights norms  and fuels a climate of Armenophobia."