FIRM AGREES TO SETTLE SUIT OVER GENOCIDE $17 MILLION TO BE PAID IN PACT WITH ARMENIAN HEIRS.

Byline: Alex Dobuzinskis Staff Writer

A French insurance company has agreed to pay $17 million to settle a class action lawsuit filed by descendants of Armenians killed in the early 20th century in what is now Turkey.

French insurance giant AXA also agreed to call the killings genocide, an important term to Armenians trying to call attention to what they say were organized murders of more than a million people between 1915 and the early 1920s.

``Anytime we're able to bring attention to the genocide is significant,'' said Brian Kabateck, one of the plaintiff's attorneys. ``Because the rest of the world needs to understand what happened and the rest of the world needs to focus on an ultimate resolution of the genocide, which is recognition by the United States government and the Turkish government.''

Between 2,000 and 5,000 policies are believed to be covered by the settlement, including many in Southern California's large Armenian community, although the final number has yet to be determined.

AXA was sued because it bought L'Union Des Assurances de Paris, the company that sold policies to Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire.

The $17 million AXA settlement will be presented to a federal judge in Los Angeles next month for final approval. It is similar to one reached last year in which New York Life agreed to pay $20 million to resolve litigation arising from its failure to pay Armenian policyholders' relatives.

One key difference is that in its settlement AXA would follow the French government's lead in describing the events of 1915 to the early 1920s as genocide.

Armenians estimate that 1.5 million died when Armenian civilians living in the Ottoman Empire were forced from their homes or otherwise killed during and after World War I. The United States government and Turkey have not officially called the event a genocide, and Turkey argues that the number is exaggerated.

``I am not belittling their ordeal during that relocation: many perished, many terrible things happened, that's true,'' said Engin Ansay, the Turkish consul general in Los Angeles. ``But it was not a government decision or any decision on the part of the authorities to annihilate one whole nation.''

The case against AXA was brought on behalf of several lead plaintiffs living in the San Fernando Valley. One was Anik Arabian, who brought her uncle's life insurance policy with her to America, but who died after the lawsuit was filed in 2002.

Arabian was born in Greece, where her parents had landed after being driven into the desert. Many of her family died in what is now Syria, then a part of the Ottoman Empire.

``They were burying their kids with their bare hands, my grandfather and grandmother they buried ... six of them,'' said son Vagram Topadzhikyan, 60, of Glendale.

Under the AXA settlement, money from an $11 million fund will be paid to the closest relative of a policyholder on the company's list. Another $3 million will go to Armenian charitable organizations in France, and another $3 million for administrative and legal fees.

``We believe that this settlement is in the best interest of AXA Group and all of its stakeholders, and we are pleased to put this matter behind us,'' said AXA spokeswoman Joann Tizzano.

The plaintiffs' lawyers were Kabateck, Mark Geragos and Vartkes Yeghiayan, who are all of Armenian descent and also brought the case against New York Life.

The AXA settlement sets aside the same amount for claims payment and charity as the New York Life settlement. The only difference is the amount earmarked for legal and administrative fees was halved in the AXA case.

The deadline to file a claim in the New York Life settlement passed on March 16, and the claims are being analyzed. The company had agreed to pay on 2,400 policies, but claims were filed on 1,600 of them.

Alex Dobuzinskis, [phone]

alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com