The indictment of New York City Mayor Eric Adams last month on allegations that he sold his position for favors, including keeping quiet about the Armenian genocide, is not the first time Turkish interests have been charged with going to considerable measures to influence New Yorkers' perceptions of that horrific period of history, which took place more than a century ago.

Protest In NYC.Photo byHrag Vartanian From Flickr

Ask Hrag Vartanian, a well-known member of the city's Armenian community and co-founder and editor of the online arts publication Hyperallergic.

Vartanian went back to the aerial erasure of history in the wake of reports that Adams had given in to pressure from a Turkish official in 2022 and decided to ignore the anniversary of the slaughter of over a million Armenians.

According to the prosecution, Adams performed several favors in exchange for cash contributions to his illegal campaign and free or heavily subsidized travel

Eric Adam Denies

Adams has refuted any misconduct, calling the 57-page indictment "lies," while representatives of the Turkish consulate in New York have not answered queries seeking comment.

However, experts on the genocide claim that attempts to sway schoolchildren's and New York officials' perspectives on the disaster date back decades. This is why the accusations of Turkish intervention make sense.

Although President Joe Biden formally coined the term "genocide" in 2021 to describe the tragedy, Turkish officials had long disputed the killings qualified as such.