Kim Kardashian pens open letter to Armenian genocide deniers

20 Sep 2016 |

Kim Kardashian is taking aim at Wall Street Journal editors in an open letter, blasting them for running a "reckless" ad denying the Armenian genocide.The reality TV star, who is of Armenian descent, became outraged in April (16), when newspaper bosses published a full-page FactCheckArmenia.com ad, which led readers to a website carrying a statement denying the mass killing at the hands of Ottoman Empire (modern day Turkey) leaders.

The site featured the heading: "False: The events of 1915 constitute a clear-cut genocide against the Armenian people."At the time, WSJ chiefs insisted the advertisement, paid for by officials at the non-profit Turkic Platform, did not reflect editors' viewpoints, but that didn't stop Kim from chastising them on her website for allowing such a controversial statement to be printed.Now Kanye West's wife has spoken out about the issue once more in a scathing note published as a full-page ad in the New York Times on Saturday (17Sep16).In the message, funded by supporters of the Armenian Educational Foundation, the mother-of-two admits she is still troubled by the "lies" printed by such a "trusted publication".

She continued, "For the Wall Street Journal to publish something like this is reckless, upsetting and dangerous. It's one thing when a crappy tabloid profits from a made-up scandal, but for a trusted publication like WSJ to profit from genocide - it's shameful and unacceptable. Why is it every time we take one step forward, we take two steps back?""Advocating the denial of a genocide by the country responsible for it - that's not publishing a 'provocative viewpoint', that's spreading lies," she added.Kardashian went on to criticise editors' stance about accepting paid commercials detailing varying political standings, suggesting they would think twice about taking money for a post "denying the Holocaust, or pushing some 9/11 conspiracy theory".She concluded the letter by urging U.S. government officials to finally recognise the tragic event as genocide and help educate future generations."We must talk about it until it is recognized by our government because when we deny our past, we endanger our future," she implored. "When we allow ourselves to be silenced by money, by fear and by power, we teach our children that truth is irrelevant. We have to be responsible for the message we pass on to our children. We have to honor the TRUTH in our history so that we protect their future. We have to do better than this."Kim's remarks emerge over a year after she and her sister Khloe visited their family's homeland to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the genocide.