Author: Harut Sassounian

While it was widely publicized that Russia attempted to interfere in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, very little was reported about similar meddling by Turkey.

The US National Intelligence Council (NIC) released on March 15, 2021 a declassified report which confirmed Turkish hackers’ cyber-attack in the 2020 election on Joe Biden’s campaign website, to support Pres. Donald Trump.

This should not come as a surprise to anyone, given the warm personal relationship between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pres. Trump. Erdogan made weekly phone calls to the White House securing Pres. Trump’s agreement on many pro-Turkish issues. Erdogan was certain that Biden would not be as accommodating as Trump.

Abdullah Bozkurt, a dissident Turkish investigative journalist living in Stockholm, Sweden, confirmed the Turkish hacking scheme by publishing the details in the Nordic Monitor on March 25, 2021.

The NIC disclosed that the Turkish group RootAyyıldız hacked the Biden-Harris presidential campaign website in October and November 2020. “Hackers promoting Turkish nationalist themes breached and defaced a website previously established for a candidate in the US presidential campaign, according to US cybersecurity press,” the NIC reported.

“The Turkish hackers posted a nationalist and Islamist message that by and large repeated the narrative often promoted by ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) officials in Turkey, led by President Erdogan,” Bozkurt wrote.

The Hackers placed on the Biden-Harris website the photos of Pres. Erdogan and Sultan Abdulhamid II, named Red Sultan because of the massacres of 300,000 Armenians from 1894 to 1896.

“The hackers identified themselves as ‘Turkish Muslim Defacer’ and emphasized that they follow the Turkish president, described as ‘Reis’ (Chief) in the posted message, and are on the path of a Turkish Islamist jihadist campaign to dominate the world. The opposition political parties were alleged to have been supported by the US, and the hackers warned of further consequences if the US did not leave Turkey alone,” reported Bozkurt.

Here is the translation of the Turkish hackers’ message left on the Biden-Harris website:

“We made the ablution [used here as a means to clean oneself to get ready to be a martyr in jihad] before and set out on a journey, we said our own funeral prayer, we sharpened our blade for our brother. We made our pledge to the Great Sultan [late Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II, an authoritarian ruler revered by Islamist circles in Turkey]. We will kill for Reis [Chief — President Erdogan] anybody who sets their eyes on our [Turkish-Islamic] cause.

“Damn those who live for money and fame, greetings to those who live for the Islamic cause. From here, I warn the US-backed, so-called [opposition] political parties like the CHP [main opposition Republican People’s Party], HDP [pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party] and the Iyi [conservative/nationalist Good] Party.

“We’ll be your nightmare if you don’t take your hands off my [Turkish] state, my nation. We will make you afraid of walking in the street [in shame] by revealing your most private conversations.

“RootAyyıldız is not a group or organization but a patriot who fights alone. We hail anybody who fights for Turk and Islam. May Allah be our help. We do not use social media. Don’t be fooled by fake accounts.”

The hackers wrote under the photo of Erdogan and Abdulhamid II: “We are the ones who stopped the tanks with our bare hands on the night of July 15 [2016 failed coup]. We are those who killed death that night. We have been waiting for Archers’ Hill for 15 centuries [a reference to a scene in the Battle of Uhud fought by the Muslim Prophet Muhammad]! We are the keepers of that red [Turkish] flag that will never abandon its shadow on us.” Archers’ Hill is frequently mentioned by Erdogan in his campaign rallies.

Bozkurt added: “RootAyyıldız is believed to have connections to elements of the Turkish government, specifically with intelligence agency MIT and the police department. Its attacks on foreign governments, entities and individuals have coincided with the growing noise among Turkish officials who leveled harsh criticism and threats against such foreign governments, entities and individuals.”

Bozkurt ended his article revealing that the Turkish hackers group RootAyyıldız “also targeted the Greek government and institutions during the heightened tension between the two countries in August 2020. The official website of the Bihar Education Department in India was hacked in August 2019 by RootAyyıldız, which posted messages in praise of Pakistan and Islam. In October 2020, the group hacked the Armenian Football Federation’s website during the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan and posted messages in support of Azerbaijan.”

In a separate article by the Reuters news agency, titled: “Hackers acting in Turkey’s interests believed to be behind recent cyberattacks,” Turkish hackers attacked at least 30 organizations, including Albanian, Cypriot and Greek government email services, the website of the national security advisor of Iraq, embassies and security services as well as companies and other groups.

“The attacks involve intercepting internet traffic to victim websites, potentially enabling hackers to obtain illicit access to the networks of government bodies and other organizations,” Reuters wrote.

“According to two British officials and one U.S. official, the activity bears the hallmarks of a state-backed cyber espionage operation conducted to advance Turkish interests,” Reuters wrote.

These hacking efforts by the Turkish government-linked group are yet another example of the violation of international laws and conventions by Turkey.

The General Assembly of the United Nations held a meeting on May 5, 2021 on the topic of “Interactive dialog to commemorate and promote The International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace.” The meeting is usually held on April 24, the date designated by the UN to celebrate “Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace.”

UN delegates from many countries, including the representative of Armenia, made remarks during the meeting chaired by the President of the General Assembly, Volkan Bozkir, a former Turkish diplomat, and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Davit Knyazyan, the Deputy Permanent Representative of the Armenian Mission to the UN in New York, made the following statement during the meeting:

“Armenia is firmly committed to effective multilateralism based on the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, including non-use of force or threat of force and peaceful resolution of disputes. April 24 is the day, when the Armenian people worldwide commemorate and pay tribute to the victims of the Armenian Genocide, which is a stark reminder that the crisis of international order can lead to atrocity crimes.

“The global challenges caused by the pandemic are a test to multilateralism. Amidst the growth of hate speech, weaponization of the pandemic to unleash wars and violate human rights and justification of past genocides, the United Nations should serve as the guardian of international law, purposes and principles of the UN Charter and values of humanity. Strengthening the capacities of the UN to prevent and respond to these challenges is crucial for upholding human rights and human dignity.

“We would like to ask the heads of the principal organs of the United Nations: what measures can be identified to strengthen the prevention mechanisms of the United Nations in order to address the rise of hate speech, denial and justification of past atrocity crimes? And second, how to ensure efficient response of the UN system to incitement of violence and identity-based crimes on ethnic and religious grounds?”

After brief remarks by the UN Secretary General, the President of the General Assembly, Volkan Bozkir, responded to the Armenian Representative’s statement:

“In reply to my distinguished colleague from Armenia [partly answered by the Secretary-General], Genocide is a crime specifically defined in the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. What constitutes genocide and how that is determined are clearly established in the Convention. Accordingly, the crime of genocide needs to be determined by a competent judicial body. In other words, in order to describe an incident as genocide, a competent international tribunal must make a decision to that effect. The UN’s position on what constitutes genocide is naturally in line with the Convention, and it has been repeated many times by UN officials in the past, and, most recently, two weeks ago by the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, who reiterated that genocide needs to be determined by an appropriate judicial body, as far as the UN is concerned.”

There are several problems with Mr. Bozkir’s statement. First of all, he responded to Armenia’s remarks more like a Turkish diplomat than as President of the General Assembly, in violation of the norms of his UN position. This is the reason that Armenia’s UN Ambassador Mher Margaryan submitted on May 10, 2021, a letter to the UN Secretary General, to be circulated as an official UN document, expressing concern that Mr. Bozkir was “misusing” the May 5 meeting to deliver “an irrelevant, unsolicited interpretation” of the Genocide Convention. Amb. Margaryan stated that Mr. Bozkir’s “misplaced remarks… must be seen in the context of the official politics of denying the occurrence of the genocide of the Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire consistently promoted by the government of Turkey, as demonstrated by the fact that Mr. Bozkir’s remarks came to be immediately publicized by the state-run news agencies of that country framed in support of the official denialist narrative. Clearly, Mr. Bozkir’s actions are incompatible with the Code of Ethics for the President of the General Assembly.”

Foreseeing Mr. Bozkir’s conflicting allegiances, the Permanent Representatives of Armenia and Cyprus at the UN, Mher Margaryan and Andreas Mavroyiannis, sent a joint letter on June 2, 2020, to the UN Secretary General objecting to Bozkir’s nomination to his current post.

The joint letter, circulated to all UN member states, reminded them that Mr. Bozkir had assured the UN: “(a) to represent solely the Office to which he is elected, based on the Charter of the United Nations and the body of resolutions, decisions, rules and practices that will bind him as President of the General Assembly; and (b) to treat all Member States equally, upholding the spirit of multilateralism and the rules-based international order, at the core of which is the United Nations.”

Ambassadors Margaryan and Mavroyiannis pointed out that Turkey, the country nominating Mr. Bozkir, “threatens peace and security in its entire region by consistently violating the Charter of the United Nations and international law, including United Nations sanctions regimes, in order to realize its aspirations for regional domination. It does so by displaying a pattern of aggressive behavior towards its neighboring countries, encroaching on their territory, undermining their sovereignty and territorial integrity, questioning their sovereign rights and instrumentalizing the plight of refugees and migrants for political ends. By imposing and sustaining an illegal land blockade on Armenia for almost three decades, Turkey effectively impedes the transit through and access to the sea of the neighboring landlocked country. Turkey’s persistent policies of denying and attacking the memory and the dignity of the victims of the genocide committed in the Ottoman Empire 105 years ago continue to pose a security threat for Armenia and the wider region. Turkey invaded Cyprus and has continued to occupy more than a third of its territory for almost 50 years; continues to deny its very existence by insisting on not recognizing it, having unilaterally proclaimed an illegal, secessionist entity in the area that it occupies, which it tries to oppose the sole legitimate Government, despite the clear condemnation of its actions by the Security Council; is responsible for egregious violations of human rights in Cyprus, which it continues to deny despite being condemned by the European Court of Human Rights; and continues to violate Cyprus’ sovereignty and sovereign rights on land, sea and air on a daily basis. It is for these reasons that our delegations object to the election of Mr. Bozkir by silence procedure and request that the election of the President of the General Assembly at its seventy-fifth session be held by secret ballot.”

Despite his UN position, Mr. Bozkir is acting as the representative of Turkey since he held numerous posts in his country’s Foreign Service since 1972, including Ambassador to Romania, Consul General in New York, First Secretary of the Embassy in Iraq, and Vice Consul General in Stuttgart, Germany. He also served as Chief of Cabinet and Chief Foreign Policy Advisor to Presidents Turgut Ozal and Suleyman Demirel, and Deputy Undersecretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was also a member of the Turkish Parliament for nine years and Minister of EU Affairs.

Forgetting his commitments to the UN, Mr. Bozkir had a ‘Pavlovian’ response to the mention of the Armenian Genocide by Armenia’s representative. It is important to note that he has denied the Armenian Genocide several times while serving as a Turkish diplomat.

On May 5, 2021, Mr. Bozkir parroted the oft-repeated Turkish line that “the crime of genocide needs to be determined by a competent judicial body.” He was indirectly reacting to Pres. Biden’s recent acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide. First of all, the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey) was the first country to hold court-martial trials regarding the Armenian massacres (the term genocide was not yet coined) in Istanbul, in 1919-1920, sentencing to death the masterminds of the Armenian mass killings. Secondly, Pres. Biden along with the US Congress and over 30 Parliaments around the world have acknowledged the Armenian Genocide, not as a legal judgment, but as a political affirmation of the crime of genocide.

By claiming that “genocide needs to be determined by an appropriate judicial body,” Mr. Bozkir is ignoring UN’s own records. For example, the UN War Crimes Commission prepared a lengthy report in 1948, accusing the Turkish Government of committing the Armenian massacres. The UN report described these massacres as “crimes against humanity,” which cover “inhumane acts committed by a government against its own subjects. Mr. Bozkir is also ignoring the fact that the UN Sub-commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities adopted a report in 1985 in which the Armenian Genocide was mentioned as an example of genocide. I was present at that session and spoke in support of the UN report. Since the Genocide Convention was adopted by the UN, its acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide is an authoritative statement.

Fortunately, Bozkir’s one-year term at the UN will be over in a few months. By acting as a spokesman for Turkey, he is trying to secure another Turkish diplomatic post as he will soon be out of his current job.

The Armenian Patriarch of Turkey, Sahak Mashalian, once again issued a pro-Turkish statement, this time on the eve of the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, trying to please his Turkish masters and undermine Pres. Joe Biden’s April 24 acknowledgment.

We all understand that the Armenian community and the Patriarch in Turkey are hostages in the hands of the Turkish government. As such, they are under pressure to make pro-Turkish statements. However, there are red lines that no Armenian should cross, regardless of the circumstances or reasons. Our ancestors sacrificed their lives during the genocide, not succumbing to Turkish pressures and physical threats. The Patriarch, who is supposed to be a man of God, is obligated to tell the truth even if his life is in danger.

As I have suggested before, if the Patriarch does not want to get in trouble with the Turkish authorities, he should simply keep his mouth shut. He should not volunteer to issue statements on non-religious issues and not desecrate the memories of 1.5 million perished Armenians. We should not jump to the conclusion that every time the Patriarch issues a pro-Turkish statement he is necessarily doing it under duress. Furthermore, the Patriarch should ask himself if the Armenian community has received any benefits in return for his multiple pro-Turkish statements.

Certainly, the Turkish government has repeatedly exploited the Patriarch’s words to disseminate pro-Turkish propaganda worldwide. For example, on April 23, 2021, when it became known that Pres. Biden would issue his much anticipated acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide, the Anadolu Agency (AA), the official Turkish government’s news service, reported Patriarch Mashalian’s condemnation of Pres. Biden’s upcoming statement. The AA headlined its ‘news’ with the Patriarch’s words: “Using 1915 incidents for politics saddens Armenians.”

How could Pres. Biden’s acknowledgment of the genocide, welcomed by Armenians worldwide, “sadden Armenians?” On the contrary it saddened the denialist Turks and thrilled Armenians. Patriarch Mashalian should just stick to religious subjects and not pronounce judgements on other matters. Regardless of whether he is pressured by the Turkish government to make political statements or does it voluntarily, the Patriarch should refrain from taking such positions, saying that as a clergyman he only deals with religious subjects.

Here are excerpts from the pro-Turkish statement made by Patriarch Mashalian on April 23, 2021, to the Anadolu Agency which was publicized widely in the Turkish media:

“It saddens us to see that the suffering of our people and the suffering of our ancestors are instrumentalized by some countries for everyday political purposes. The tension caused by the usage of the issue in parliamentary agendas for decades has not served the rapprochement of the two nations. On the contrary, it provokes hostile feelings and delays peace. We, just like our predecessors and late Patriarchs, will continue to wish for peace, friendship and well-being between Turks and Armenians. We will encourage the rebuilding of relations based on neighborhood and common grounds speedily. We prefer to be one of those who hopefully expect the revival of neighborly relations, which are unique to these lands and exist in the traditions of the two communities, between Turkey and Armenia’s authorities. Dear Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during his time as both Prime Minister and President, has been the only top state official in the history of the Turkish Republic to give messages on this occasion. These messages show a spirit, sharing our pain and a certain respect for the children of our nation that lost their lives in exile. In our opinion, it would be appropriate to take these as positive steps towards rapprochement in the future. If only the joint history commission they [Turkey] proposed could have been established, then at least 15 years of progress would have been made. If only the [Armenia-Turkey] protocols could have been implemented, borders could have been opened. Then the resolution of the Karabakh [issue] could have resulted differently. We still do not think it is late. The project to build a six-country basin, proposed by our Dear President for Caucasia, can bring the peace of the century to the communities in the region.”

Leaving no doubt as to the pro-Turkish position of the Patriarch, Turkey’s Communications Director Fahrettin Altun endorsed his statement: “Sahak Mashalian, the Armenian Patriarch of Turkey, aptly noted that past sufferings must not be exploited for short-term political gains. [The Patriarch said]: ‘We will continue to live together, peacefully and as brothers and sisters, in this land.’”

Turkey’s presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin also expressed support for Mashalian’s remarks: “Abusing history for a narrow political agenda helps neither the past nor the present.” Interestingly, Pres. Erdogan sent a letter to the Armenian Patriarch on April 24, denying the Armenian Genocide and agreeing with the Patriarch’s words. It is not surprising that the Turkish government supported Archbishop Mashalian’s candidacy for the Patriarchal elections over other less subservient candidates.

The Patriarch must realize that by making propaganda statements on behalf of Turkey, he is losing the respect of Armenians both inside and outside Turkey. His anti-Armenian words are viewed as those of a sold out Turkish agent. The Armenian Church and Armenians in Turkey should pressure the Patriarch to resign since he has lost the support of the Armenian community and can no longer function as their religious leader.

The only countries around the world that criticized Pres. Biden’s April 24 statement were: Turkey, Azerbaijan, Pakistan and the unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. This places the Armenian Patriarch in the shameful company of the enemies of the Armenian nation!

The Genocide!

After the United States avoided the issue for forty years, ever since Pres. Ronald Reagan mentioned the Armenian Genocide in a Presidential Proclamation, Pres. Joe Biden used the term Armenian Genocide, despite the gag-rule imposed on the United States government by the denialist rulers of the Republic of Turkey! For  good measure, Pres. Biden used the word genocide not once, but twice, in his “Statement on Armenian Remembrance Day.”

Last year, when Biden was a presidential candidate, he promised to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. But, since Armenian-Americans were deceived so many times by previous presidents who had not kept their campaign promises, they were cautiously optimistic about Biden’s commitment.

Even though the United States had repeatedly recognized the Armenian Genocide starting from 1951 when the U.S government submitted an official document to the World Court; the House of Representatives adopted three resolutions in 1975, 1984, and 2019; the U.S. Senate adopted unanimously a resolution in 2019; and Pres. Reagan issued a Presidential Proclamation on April 22, 1981, Pres. Biden’s acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide in 2021 is a major step forward with several positive consequences:

1)    As the mass murder of 1.5 million people is a very emotional issue, the descendants of Armenian Genocide victims felt a deep sense of satisfaction that the genocide suffered by their ancestors is formally and correctly acknowledged by the President of the United States.

2)    This most recent and authoritative acknowledgment by the American President will enable U.S. Courts to go forward with lawsuits making claims by Armenians on genocide era-demands from the government of Turkey. In the past, such lawsuits were dismissed by Federal judges who claimed (wrongly) that since the U.S. government had not acknowledged the Armenian Genocide, individual states like California could not pass laws allowing these lawsuits to proceed. Nevertheless, if the courts decide that Pres. Biden’s statement on the Armenian Genocide is not sufficient to allow the filing of such lawsuits, then Armenian-Americans would be obliged to push for the adoption of a proposed law, not a commemorative resolution, which needs to be adopted by both Houses of Congress and signed by the President into law. That should be the final word on fulfilling the legal requirements for filing lawsuits against Turkey.

3)    As the United States is a superpower, pronouncements by the President have a major effect on other countries — particularly Great Britain, Australia and Israel. Therefore, it is expected that several countries would follow suit in recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

4)    Pres. Biden’s acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide comes at a particularly sensitive time for Armenians worldwide following the disastrous defeat in last fall’s Artsakh War by the hands of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Islamic Jihadist mercenaries. Pres. Biden’s April 24 statement will boost the spirits of Armenians and could create an atmosphere of goodwill by world powers towards the just resolution of Artsakh’s status and the protection of its population.

5)    The struggle for genocide recognition is also a political battle by the country that perpetrated that mass crime on one hand and the descendants of the victims on the other. The Government of Turkey, as in past years, did everything in its power to prevent the United States from acknowledging the Armenian Genocide. Turkey paid millions of dollars to American lobbying organizations to deny the genocide, pressured and threatened the United States with dire consequences should it acknowledge the genocide. Nevertheless, Turkey suffered a devastating political blow. Turkey’s arrogant President, thinking that no country can go against his wishes, was sternly put in his place by the President of the United States. I am sure Pres. Erdogan spent a sleepless night after Pres. Biden called him on April 23, advising him of his decision to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. Hopefully, the humiliated Erdogan understood that the world does not rotate around Turkey.

Let us now see what the Turkish government may do in retaliation. Will it temporarily recall its Ambassador from Washington, threaten to cut off commercial ties, or block the U.S. Government from using the Incirlik airbase in Turkey? I hope Erdogan will take all of these steps and many more. With such actions, Turkey will exacerbate U.S.-Turkish relations, provide worldwide publicity to the Armenian Genocide, and drive its failing economy into bankruptcy. This could lead to internal turmoil and the eventual removal of Erdogan from the presidency during the next election, if not sooner. Interestingly, in a lengthy televised speech to the Turkish nation late at night on April 26, besides his usual lies on the Armenian Genocide, Erdogan dared not announce any actions against the United States in retaliation to Biden’s April 24 statement. Thus, Erdogan displayed his utter humiliation and impotence.

As usual, not having been able to bully the United States to abandon its plans to recognize the Genocide, Turkish leaders are now resorting to their usual tricks by stating that the U.S. recognition does not mean anything. If it meant nothing, why did Turkey spend millions of dollars on lobbyists for several decades and pressure the U.S. government, threatening dire consequences?

Rather than continuing the lies and denials for over a century, it would be much better for Turkey to simply acknowledge the crimes of its predecessors, ask for forgiveness, and make amends for the horrendous damages caused to the Armenian people. Turkey would do well to follow the example of Germany after the Holocaust. Germany apologized for Hitler’s mass crimes, erected memorials for the Holocaust victims and paid billions of dollars in reparations. This is what a civilized nation does when its leaders commit a grave crime.

In the meantime, Armenians in the Diaspora and Armenia should pursue their demands through legal channels by filing multiple lawsuits against Turkey in various country courts and the European Court of Human Rights, seeking restitution for the damages caused by the Genocide. The Government of Armenia, on the other hand, should take Turkey to the International Court of Justice (World Court), where only governments have standing to file lawsuits.

Finally, this is the appropriate moment to remember and acknowledge a great friend of Armenians, former U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, John Marshall Evans, whose diplomatic career was cut short in 2006 after he told the truth about the Armenian Genocide during a visit to California. It would be only proper for the Biden Administration to appoint John Evans as the next U.S. Ambassador to Armenia. This is the least the U.S. government could do, after the President issues an official apology to him.

What’s next?

In 2015 the Catholicosate of Cilicia (headquartered in Antelias, Lebanon) filed a lawsuit against the government of Turkey seeking the return of its historic seat in Sis, Turkey (present-day Kozan district of the Adana Province), which was confiscated in 1921.

The Catholicosate had initially filed its lawsuit directly with the Constitutional Court of Turkey because the claim raised issues of historical property rights that lower courts would not have jurisdiction over. At the urging of the Justice Ministry, the Constitutional Court referred the lawsuit to a lower court. The Catholicosate then appealed the ruling to the European Court of Human Rights in 2016. The European Court rejected the Catholicosate’s 900-page lawsuit in 2017, finding it inadmissible because it had not first exhausted all local legal remedies, such as the lower courts in Turkey.

Therefore, the Catholicosate refiled its lawsuit in 2019, this time with a lower Turkish court in Kozan (Sis). After two postponements due to the coronavirus pandemic, a pre-trial hearing finally took place on March 30, 2021 in the Kozan Civil Litigation Court to decide whether a viable cause of action existed to proceed to trial.

The Catholicosate’s lawsuit against the Municipality of Kozan and the Turkish government’s Treasury Department is being defended by a group of international law experts, as well as Turkish lawyer Jem Sofouoghlu and Turkish Armenian lawyer Setrag Davouthan, who is serving as a consultant.

The Istanbul-based Jamanak Armenian newspaper reported that according to attorney Sofouoghlu the March 30 hearing was intended to clarify the applicant’s qualifications and authorizations and the possibility of the expiration of the statute of limitations. The Municipality of Kozan and the Treasury Department presented their counter-evidence claiming that the applicant does not have standing — is not a legal entity — and is a foreign litigant. The defendants also stated that, before the hearing could proceed, the applicant as a foreign entity must provide a letter of guarantee corresponding to 15% of the demand’s value, as required by the Turkish legal system. Sofouoghlu was quoted by Jamanak telling the Judge that the Catholicosate had already submitted the required documents to the court. The Judge agreed to go ahead and consider the substance of the lawsuit, meaning that the court rejected the objections raised by the Municipality and Treasury Department, and ruled that the lawsuit could definitively proceed. The next hearing is scheduled for May 6, 2021. Sofouoghlu said that he considers this a very positive development.

Now the trial will go through several presumable phases. Sofouoghlu anticipates that the court will first assemble the evidence presented by the Catholicosate of Cilicia. For this purpose, the corresponding work will be carried out through the official archives and property registers at governmental bodies. The investigative-exploratory phase then follows the collection of evidence. According to Sofouoghlu, the court, most probably later on, will reach the conclusion that it will be necessary to appoint an expert to carry out this task. Such experts are usually academics from one of the universities in the Adana region. Even though the courts always have the authority to carry out this work on their own, they prefer to appoint an expert.

At the end, should the Catholicosate’s lawsuit be rejected, as expected, by the lower Turkish Court, it will then be appealed to the Constitutional Court of Turkey and after its probable rejection there, a new, and this time proper, appeal could be filed in the European Court of Human Rights which hopefully will not dismiss it because of a technicality.

Even though this lawsuit is filed by the Catholicosate of Cilicia to recover its historic seat, it is in fact much more significant than this particular case. The lawsuit is related to the Armenian nation’s larger efforts to pursue its legal demands for the return of all properties and assets confiscated by the Turkish government during the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923. As Catholicos Aram I has rightly pointed out: “This is the time that we move from the stage of [Genocide] recognition to reparation.” He told the New York Times in May 2015: “After 100 years, I thought it was time that we put the emphasis on reparation. … This is the first legal step. This will be followed by our claim to return all the churches, the monasteries, the church-related properties and, finally, the individual properties.”

Shameful Story of Wounded ArmenianSoldier Ignored, Denied Medical Care

I read the heartbreaking experience of an Armenian soldier who was wounded in the recent Artsakh War and repeatedly denied medical treatment in Armenia. This is so shameful. The Armenian government should see to it that young men, who risked their lives to defend the homeland, have their wounds treated without any bureaucratic hassles and rude refusals.

Simon Hovhannisian, a soldier wounded in the 2020 Artsakh War, wrote an open letter in Armenian, published by Hetq (an investigative journal in Armenia) on April 3, 2021, describing how he was turned away from numerous medical facilities when he sought treatment. Regrettably, his nightmarish experience is not unique. Many other wounded soldiers have faced similar inexcusable difficulties when seeking treatment.

Hovhannisian wrote that on October 3, 2020 he went to the military center in Yerevan and volunteered to fight in the war. On Oct. 25, having received the proper authorization, he was transferred to the Mardakert military unit in Artsakh and served on the frontline from Oct. 27 to November 18.

On Nov. 10, shortly before the ceasefire, he was hit by missile shrapnel. During the next eight days, he tried to contact military officials seeking medical assistance for him and other soldiers. Facing indifference, he tried on his own to go to the military regiment. On the way, he encountered an ambulance and convinced the driver to take him and two others to a medical facility to get help. They were referred to the temporary hospital in Drmbon village, where he was told that he suffered a contusion. However, since there was nothing they could do for him, they suggested that he go to Yerevan.

Hovhannisian finally arrived in Yerevan after paying 45,000 drams (around $90) from his own pocket. He went to the military unit there, explained his situation, presented the documents and sought assistance to be admitted to a hospital. The military unit told him: “You are no longer registered with us. It is not our job. Go to the Military Commissariat.” The Commissariat in turn told him: “You are no longer in the service. You have to go to a civilian clinic.”

At the civilian clinic, he was told: “We do not have the appropriate specialist for your ailment. The ear, nose and throat specialist will return from his vacation in a month. Come back, he will check you. We don’t even know where else to refer you to.”

At the Commissariat, he was told: “My boy, I am already telling you for the second time, you are not on our list. Go to a civilian hospital.”

At the privately-owned Asdghig hospital, he was told: “You need to be seen by several specialists. If you need the state to cover your medical bills, then bring a document that you have government insurance. We will then serve you.”

He then went to the Kanaz hospital where he was told: “Your document from the Commissariat is old. Go get a new document, so we can give you fresh papers.”

At the Commissariat he was told: “Come back in two days to pick up your new document.” When he went back, the hospital told him: “You are already discharged from the military. We can’t give you such a document and can’t examine you.”

Tired of the run-around, the wounded soldier went to the Nayiri private hospital. After the examination, he learned that he had a contusion, loss of hearing, and concussion.

He paid for the medicines and the examination. He then found out that he was eligible for several government programs that could have offered him free medicines and medical care. He was also told that he could have applied for free military care for the handicapped.

So he applied to the Ministry of Social Services which promptly rejected his application. They said: “You are not on the list of the Defense Ministry.” He then phoned the Ministry of Social Services, explaining his problem. He was told to call another phone number. After two days of no one answering the hotline, he was given a third phone number. He called that number the whole day. Finally, in the evening, someone answered, and rudely said: “Why are you calling me? I do not deal with such matters.”

He called back the hotline. They told him: “Call the Defense Ministry.” No one answered there. He called the Defense Ministry’s Treatment Center. No answer. He sent an email. Again, no answer!

He then called the Military Commissariat. They told him: “Brother, why haven’t we received your papers from Artsakh until now confirming where you were?” He told them his whole story all over again. They replied: “We will inquire and call you.” They never called back!

He called again the Defense Ministry’s Treatment Center. He was told: “Give us the hospital’s medical evaluation, so we can add you on our list.” He responded that he could not provide that document since the hospital had refused to treat him. They told him to go to the Military Commissariat. He applied there one last time and asked for their assistance. He was told: “We have received no papers, all questions remain unanswered. If you want to solve your problem, go to Mardakert, pick up your documents and come back.”

The wounded soldier then wrote a letter to Antranig Kocharian, Chairman of the Parliament’s Defense and Security Committee, explaining his whole story. He received two ‘absurd’ phone calls saying: “Why did you write a letter? What is the problem?” He told them his story. They told him: “We need you medical evaluation.” He said he did not have it because they did not treat him. They told him: “We will call you,” but he never heard from them again.

The wounded soldier ended his sad saga with the following powerful words: “Now what? What’s next? Where are you, officials? Wake up! It has been more than six months. There are thousands of other soldiers like me…. Whichever office you go to, sitting with legs crossed, they are drinking coffee, writing posts on social media, saying how patriotic we are, and expressing their regret: ‘Sorry boys, you died for us.’ How did it happen that you got blinded in the last day of the war and you don’t give a damn about anyone’s pain and problems? You are suggesting that this wounded soldier go to Mardakert and bring back documents. In addition to psychological and security problems, I ask you, don’t you see the degree of your cynicism? Are you telling the same things to the parents and relatives of lost soldiers or a badly handicapped volunteer with no documents? Please solve not only my problem, but those of all of us without any delay. Otherwise, we are the ones that will send you to hell and I hope that the public is with us on this issue.”

This is very shameful. I am surprised that not a single Armenian official has apologized to this wounded soldier and others like him and arrange for their immediate medical care. Otherwise, when the next war happens, no young man will volunteer or want to serve in the army. Regardless of any partisan political issues, these wounded soldiers are the sons of our nation and they deserve the utmost care. They paid their dues to the homeland and now it’s the Armenian government’s turn to take care of them.