Anti-Armenian Letter Targets Rockville Couple

A man caring for his aging parents in Rockville was already disturbed by an anonymous letter mailed to their home earlier this week. Now he’s troubled that authorities might not be able to do much about it.

“Right now I have no idea if this were a one-off incident or not,” Armen Sahagian said. “But it was very troubling to me because I have enough to worry about with my parents. While there's nothing threatening in there, I'm not going to assume there couldn't be something threatening. Do I have to be looking outside the window now, looking to see who's going to be coming next to my parents' house?”

The Sahagians are American-born citizens of Armenian descent.

Armen Sahagian said his parents, Ara and Salpee Sahagian, received a piece of mail last week containing a photocopied clipping of a newspaper article about the Tsarnaev brothers, the alleged masterminds behind the Boston Marathon bombings.

Handwritten next to the clipping was the phrase, “Another Armanian Bastard” and “XXX.”

The Xs pointed toward a portion of the article that quoted the Tsarnaevs’ uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, a Montgomery Village resident who said the brothers might have been influenced by an Armenian man named “Misha.”

While the clipping did not make clear where the article was published and did not elaborate further how “Misha” supposedly swayed the brothers, other news outlets have characterized “Misha” as an Armenian Muslim radical who influenced the Tsarnaevs negatively. 

The link between the brothers and "Misha" has since been discredited, said the Armenian National Committee of America, a Washington, DC-based organization that lobbies on the behalf of Armenian causes.

Why were the Sahagians targeted?

The mailing—postmarked May 4—had no return address, leaving the family no way of finding out who sent it.

It’s unclear why it was sent to the Sahagian household.

Ara Sahagian served in the U.S. Army and worked as an engineer for the Navy and Marine Corps for nearly 40 years.

Salpee Sahagian worked at the Library of Congress and was later an administrative assistant to late U.S. Sen. Mike Mansfield.

Armen Sahagian, Ara and Salpee’s only child, worked for the federal government for nearly 30 years. He lives in Silver Spring and spends part of the week at his parent’s home as a caregiver.

He said his mother has Alzhiemer’s. The family was very disturbed by the letter.

"I found that very degrading, insulting. I consider it hate mail," Armen Sahagian said.

Authorities: Harassing, but not hate mail

Armen Sahagian called Montgomery County police May 7. Police made record of the incident, but declined to take a formal report, said Officer Rebecca Innocenti, a police spokeswoman.

While the letter may have contained offensive language, it was not considered a criminal act, Innocenti said.

“It is still important for people to report it, so we have a record of it,” she said.

Sahagian said he also brought his concerns to the U.S. Postal Service, but was told that there was nothing they could do.

A U.S Postal Service spokeswoman, in an email responding to Patch, said the letter was “harassing in nature rather than a threatening communication.”

“Since the mailing is a form of harassment, local authorities should be made aware of the communication for local prosecutorial action,” Laura S. Dvorak, a USPS spokeswoman wrote.

What now?

Sahagian reached out to the Armenian National Committee of America after police and the postal service declined to take action in response to the mailing.

“That's one good thing about America,” Sahagian said. “If you can't get what you need one way, you try another way.”

The ANCA has been spreading the word about what happend to the Sahagians.

The organization denounced the act on the website of its Greater Washington chapter, where it posted a copy of the mailing.

"We call upon federal and local authorities to immediately investigate and fully prosecute those responsible for this hate crime," ANCA-Greater Washington spokesperson Sevan Kolejian said in the online press release. 

The organization hopes to find out if other Armenians received similar letters and has asked community organizations and churches to report any incidents.

“This was the first letter that I’m aware of,” said ANCA executive director Aram S. Hamparian.

"We're very upset," Hamparian. "It's totaly unwarranted."

Meanwhile, Armen Sahagian said he’s accepted the fact that there may not be a legal recourse for him and his parents.

“But I can at least bring this matter to people's attention,” he said, “let them know things like this do exist, they do occur and they shouldn't be tolerated.”