Technology

Former Armenian Genocide Denier’s Channel Gets Exclusive YouTube TV Series

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YouTube announced it will add The Young Turks, a left-wing political YouTube channel, Thursday to its paid subscription service called “YouTube TV.”

The popular leftist YouTube channel got its name from a Turkish nationalist party in the early 20th century called “Young Turks” that was responsible for the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians. Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks founder and host, is of Turkish decent. He employs Armenian Ana Kasparian.

Uygur wrote articles in 1991 and 1999 denying the Armenian genocide.

“The claims of an Armenian Genocide are not based on historical facts. If the history of the period is examined it becomes evident that in fact no such genocide took place,” Uygur wrote in a 1991 article for The Daily Pennsylvanian. Armenian genocide denial is almost exclusive to the Turkish people.

Uygur also wrote there is no evidence for the Armenian genocide in a 1999 letter to Salon, calling the Armenian genocide claim “the product of excellent propaganda.”

Uygur has since rescinded The Daily Pennsylvanian article and the letter to Salon on April 22, 2016 — 25 years after his 1991 article — claiming he was just a 21-year-old “kid.” He believed he was a scholar of history at the time. He clarified that he is “most certainly” not a scholar of history in his retraction.

“Back then I had many political positions that were not well researched,” Uygur wrote. “I am going to refrain from commenting on the topic of the Armenian Genocide, which I do not know nearly enough about.”

He “should have been far, far more respectful of so many people who had lost family members,” he wrote. “Their pain is heart-wrenching and should be acknowledged by all.”

Uygur’s past writings haven’t served him well. He was outed from a far left political action committee, Justice Democrats, in December when his past blog posts surfaced. “Obviously, the genes of women are flawed,” he wrote on May 14, 1999.

The blog details Uygur’s life when he lived in Miami. He wrote about his inability to have sex with the “outrageously hot women” there. “[N]ot being able to have sex with them, after awhile, you begin to lose your mind,” he wrote.

The controversies surrounding The Young Turks don’t end with Uygur, however. Jordan Chariton, a liberal journalist that used to write for The Young Turks, was fired in November for financial misappropriation claims.

“We’ve seen [The Young Turks] build huge and engaged audiences over the years,” said Heather Moosnick, director of YouTube TV’s content partnerships, Variety reported Thursday. “In news and lifestyle, these are really compelling content areas for us. We’re excited to see them join the rest of the best of television, which YouTube TV already carries.”

“We were planning for a ‘YouTube TV’ before OTT (over-the-top) platforms even existed,” said Uygur in a prepared statement. “With YouTube TV, that vision is realized.”

The Young Turks will be producing four new shows for YouTube’s 24-hour linear channel TV service: The Damage Report, #NoFilter, Old School Sports and Happy Half Hour.

Editor’s Note: The original version of this article stated that Jordan Chariton was fired in light of sexual assault claims. This has since been corrected to financial misappropriation claims.

Follow Kyle on Twitter @KylePerisic

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