The federal indictment against Mayor Eric Adams reveals not only a series of illicit dealings with Turkish government officials but also exposes his troubling willingness to take an anti-Armenian stance at the request of a foreign power, the quintessential genocidal state at that. Prosecutors allege that in 2022, days before the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day on April 24, Adams assured a senior Turkish official that he would refrain from making any public statement acknowledging the genocide. On that day, when we paused to remember the extermination of 1.5 million Armenians, the mayor of New York City remained conspicuously silent.
Adams’s complicity is clear: in exchange for lavish gifts, luxury hotel stays, and campaign donations from Turkish interests, he prioritized Turkish influence over moral and historical truth. The indictment details how Adams accepted over $100,000 in luxury accommodations, business-class flights from Turkish Airlines, and illegal foreign donations to his campaign — all while assisting Turkey in exerting its political influence within the U.S. and disregarding the Armenian community’s long-standing call for recognition of the Genocide.
The indictment alleges that Adams’s relationship with Turkey dates back to his time as Brooklyn Borough President and continued through his mayoral campaign. When pressured by Turkish diplomats to ensure the completion of a new Turkish consulate in New York before President Erdogan’s visit, Adams allegedly went as far as urging the New York City Fire Department to bypass standard safety regulations. This demonstrates an unsettling willingness to use his influence for the benefit of Turkish officials, including a key diplomat who played a role in seeking to suppress any acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide.
It is remarkable that a country that boasts the second-largest army in NATO, which has amply demonstrated its endless capacity for inflicting violence, more than a century later still vehemently refuses to come to terms with its past. None of its firepower defends Turkey from the strange power of truth. For all its history of unpunished and amply rewarded genocidal behavior, it still fears and fights a mayoral statement on Genocide Remembrance Day. That means that we Armenians and all those who stand with us are onto something, and that we need to keep fighting for justice.
Mayor Adams’s denial of the Armenian Genocide on Turkey’s behalf is more than a political misstep; it’s a betrayal of the city he represents and of its diverse communities. By silencing himself in the face of a crime against humanity, Adams has shown that foreign influence, if shrouded in favors and political donations, can sway even the highest office in New York. While the investigation into Adams’s dealings continues, New Yorkers and the city’s Armenian Americans must grapple with the disturbing reality that their mayor has compromised the office’s integrity for the benefit of genocidal Turkey, at the expense of justice and the remembrance of history’s darkest chapters.