Author: Harut Sassounian

On the occasion of the 24th anniversary of Armenia’s independence, I had the honor of delivering the keynote address at the celebration organized by the Armenian Consulate in Glendale, California. Here are excerpts from my remarks reflecting on some of the accomplishments since independence, and the challenges that still lie ahead.

The most remarkable achievement in the early years of the Armenian Republic was the liberation and establishment of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabagh). As a result, a whole generation of Armenians under age 20, born and raised in independent Artsakh, has not spent a single day under Azerbaijan’s oppressive regime — and God willing — never will! Artsakh’s independence is an irreversible reality. Artsakh will never again be a part of Azerbaijan!

However, our challenges in Artsakh are not yet over. While it is true that we sacrificed much to win the war, we must now win the peace! This is not the time to let our guard down. Armenia’s border towns come regularly under attack from Azeri bombardment.

Armenians must take a series of important steps to ensure that Artsakh’s independence is secured. Artsakh must not only survive, but thrive! To accomplish this imperative necessity, we must first bolster Artsakh’s defenses. The best way to avoid war is to have a good defense.

For Azerbaijanis, recovering Nagorno Karabagh is a hollow luxury; but for Armenians, Artsakh is an existential necessity!

Besides reinforcing Artsakh’s defenses, Armenians need to replenish its population. We must create new facts on the ground so that the Azeri regime is convinced that Armenians, rather than abandoning Artsakh, are relocating there in larger numbers, thus making the return of that territory practically impossible.

Another key objective is putting Artsakh’s independence on firm legal grounds and gaining international recognition! The Armenian-American community has successfully countered the massively financed Azeri lobby in Washington and all 50 states.

Lastly, we must create better living conditions in Artsakh, by providing housing and jobs, so Armenians currently there, and those planning to relocate, can enjoy safe and comfortable lives.
However, none of these burdens should be borne alone by the people of Artsakh, but by the collective will of all Armenians and their supporters throughout the world.

To ensure Artsakh’s survival, we need a strong Armenia, which is also a necessity for the preservation of Armenian communities worldwide.

Now, almost a quarter century after independence, we must do everything in our power to ensure that the homeland is secure and prosperous.

Regardless of our ideological, political and religious differences, we must ALL unite under the banner of the Yerakouyn — the Tricolor. It matters not whether we agree or disagree with any particular leader. Government officials come and go, but the Armenian people and the homeland are everlasting!

However, we must keep in mind that the relationship between citizens and their government is a two-way street. Government officials are duty bound to create a social environment that is fair, conducive to a prosperous life, free of discrimination and intimidation. Citizens must have the chance and the choice, through democratic processes, to elect their preferred representatives without any interference from the authorities.
The political opposition, on the other hand, has the responsibility to hold the government accountable for its actions through constructive criticism and peaceful means, without risking the country’s stability and security.

Unfortunately, there is still widespread poverty and unemployment in Armenia. Immediate solutions must be found to feed the hungry, help the needy, and heal the sick, which will stem the tide of emigration — an existential threat to the homeland!

Despite the hardships that many Armenians continue to suffer from — some man-made, and others due to circumstances beyond government control, such as blockades by Turkey and Azerbaijan — we must acknowledge that there has been, over the past 24 years, a gradual progress in the living conditions of Armenia’s population.

Another successful accomplishment was the worldwide commemoration of the Armenian Genocide Centennial earlier this year. Thanks to the persistent efforts of the Diaspora in the last 100 years, and the Armenian government’s international diplomatic contacts in the past quarter century, the recognition phase of the Genocide is pretty much accomplished. We must now seek justice through restitution. The Turkish government must return everything that was confiscated during the Genocide and pay compensation for whatever cannot be returned.

The challenge ahead is creating a more efficient mechanism for coordinating the efforts of all 10 million Armenians from Armenia to Artsakh, and throughout the Diaspora.

One such approach would be to rename and transform the existing Centennial Committees in various countries as well as the Central Centennial Committee headquartered in Yerevan into permanent bodies responsible for:
1) Managing all pan-Armenian issues and crises affecting Armenian communities such as Syria;
2) boosting Artsakh’s security, economy, and autonomy;
3) halting and reversing emigration from Armenia; and
4) seeking restitution from Turkey for all human and material losses suffered by Armenians during the Genocide.

Turkey has not only refused to join its NATO allies in fighting against ISIS, but has trained, armed and facilitated the infiltration of thousands of terrorists into Syria and Iraq.

The British Guardian reported that, in May when U.S. Special Forces raided the compound of ISIS leader Abu Sayyaf in Eastern Syria and killed him, documents seized during the raid revealed Ankara’s close collaboration with ISIS. Hundreds of articles have been published around the world describing various aspects of Turkish assistance to ISIS. Daniel Pipes in his Washington Times article, “Turkish Support for ISIS,” reported that “Turks offered far more than an easy border crossing: they provided the bulk of ISIS’ funds, logistics, training, and arms.” Pipes also revealed that wounded ISIS fighters are treated in Turkish hospitals, and Turkey has paid $800 million to ISIS for illicit oil shipments.

Vice President Joe Biden confirmed Turkey’s sinister role in helping Islamist terrorists at a Harvard University speech last October: Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates “poured hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad — except that the people who were being supplied were all Nusra and al-Qaeda and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world.” The Vice President also revealed that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had told him privately: “You were right. We let too many people through.” Biden later apologized for his public remarks to soothe Erdogan’s wrath.

In an astounding revelation, Mitchell Prothero of McClatchyDC.com reported on August 24 that Turkish intelligence had alerted Islamist terrorists that a group of U.S.-trained fighters was about to cross from Turkey into Syria. Upon arrival, many of the 54 graduates of the $500 million U.S. training program were promptly intercepted and kidnapped by al-Qaida’s Nusra Front!

Last month, when Turkey finally agreed to join the war against terror and ‘allowed’ the United States to launch airstrikes on ISIS targets from Incirlik Air Base, U.S. officials’ initial delight turned into dismay when they realized that the Turkish military’s priority was attacking the Kurds in Iraq and Syria, not ISIS. By going after Kurdish militants, Turkey was in fact helping ISIS because the Kurds were the only reliable U.S. military partners on the ground.

Beyond wishing to undermine long-held Kurdish aspirations for an independent Kurdistan, by unleashing large scale bloody attacks against Kurds in Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, Erdogan is hoping that on November 1 Turkish voters would help his party regain the parliamentary majority it lost in the June elections. Unfortunately for Erdogan, the attacks on Kurds have created a widespread backlash among many Turkish citizens who lost their loved ones serving in the military, simply to boost the President’s political rating!

In desperation, Erdogan may well resort to one more trick in the coming weeks. Seeing that bombing Kurds is not generating the expected public support in the upcoming elections, he could order massive attacks on Kurds throughout Eastern Turkey. He would then use the excuse of an all-out civil war to declare a state of emergency, suspend Parliament, and rule with the iron fist of a theocratic Ottoman Sultan!

The United States and its NATO allies have an obligation to do everything possible to stop the monster they have created before he destroys everything on his path. Erdogan is a serious menace to his own citizens — Turks, Kurds, and others — as well as a destabilizing force to the entire region! The vicious attacks on the Kurdish population in Eastern Turkey makes the best case why Kurds deserve independent statehood and can no longer tolerate the brutal Turkish regime!

The Obama administration should follow the wise counsel of Eric S. Edelman, former U.S. ambassador to Turkey and under secretary of defense from 2005 to 2009. In a commentary published in The New York Times on August 27, Edelman suggests that the United States “restrict Turkey’s access to senior-level meetings; reduce intelligence cooperation; and withhold American support for Turkey in international financial institutions.” These steps and many others must be taken in the next few weeks before November’s parliamentary elections.

In an August 31 editorial, The New York Times Editorial Board described Erdogan’s political shenanigans as an attempt to “salvage his ambitions for continued authoritarian rule and greatly expanded powers.”

To bring the problem of terrorism in Syria and Iraq under control, restore stability in these countries, and stop the escalating bloodshed inside Turkey, the Turkish people must ensure that Erdogan’s party does not regain its lost parliamentary majority!

The latest report of The Human Freedom Index for 152 countries gives Armenia a surprisingly high score. The study was conducted jointly by the Cato Institute, Washington, D.C.; Fraser Institute, Vancouver, Canada; and Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, Berlin, Germany. The 108-page comprehensive report ranks countries according to personal, civil, and economic freedoms enjoyed by their citizens.

The rankings are based on 76 distinct indicators grouped in 12 categories: Rule of Law; Security and Safety; Movement; Religion; Association, Assembly, and Civil Society; Expression; Relationships; Size of Government; Legal System and Property Rights; Access to Sound Money; Freedom to Trade Internationally; and Regulation of Credit, Labor, and Business.

The top 10 countries according to The Human Freedom Index are: Hong Kong, Switzerland, Finland, Denmark, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Ireland, United Kingdom, and Sweden. The United States is in the 20th place.

According to the figures released last week for the year 2012, Armenia ranks 53rd in the world, much higher than most of its neighbors: Azerbaijan (126th), Turkey (62nd), Iran (152nd); and slightly behind Georgia (48th).

Armenia’s impressive overall ranking reveals an even more stunning score when one looks at the two major components of that ranking. Armenia occupies the 17th place in the world in Economic Freedom, and 70th in Personal Freedom!

The reason I qualified Armenia’s ranking as ‘surprising’ is that most people would not have expected it to have such a high score, given the persistent criticism of its leadership by Armenians within and outside the country. While it is true that the Armenian government has many shortcomings and deserves to be criticized, we should acknowledge that the authorities must be doing something right for Armenia to outrank in The Human Freedom Index such influential countries as:

Argentina, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Kuwait, Mexico, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Ukraine, and Venezuela.

The only explanation for this dichotomy between people’s perception of Armenia and reality is that its officials have done a bad job of promoting the country’s positive accomplishments. Otherwise, most Armenians would not have such a negative impression of their homeland.

To illustrate this point, let’s take Singapore, a country that successfully promotes its achievements and is universally praised as a model of good governance, rapid economic development, and prosperous living conditions. While there is no question that this Asian Tiger has an impressive record of accomplishments, it is surprising that Singapore — ranked 43rd in the world — is only 10 places ahead of Armenia in The Human Freedom Index. If one pays attention to all the hype about Singapore, one would expect that country to be ranked in the top 10, while Armenia should be ranked 100, given the constant critical comments it receives.

As they say, “perception is reality.” In fact, perception is much more important than reality, because people judge everything on the basis of their own impression, regardless of how different it might be from reality. For example, in the past several years Armenia has been ranked higher than expected on several global reports. Yet, the Armenian government has never publicized these respectable rankings, thereby failing to create a positive image for the country which would attract tourists and investors from around the world.

Many of the countries that Armenia outranks are much more prosperous, yet they fall far behind in The Human Freedom Index, which can only mean that a country’s wealth — multi-billion dollar oil revenue in the case of Azerbaijan — does not guarantee affluence or freedom for its citizens!

However, given Armenia’s relatively high ranking, its leadership can no longer use the excuse that the country’s development is handicapped due to limited financial and natural resources. Everything does not depend on money. Since Armenia is ranked 17th on Economic Freedom, there is no excuse for it to be ranked 70th on Personal Freedom. The latter index could be improved greatly without costing the state a single dollar. All it takes is caring government officials who are committed to improve the people’s welfare.

The biggest deficit of the Armenian leadership is not the lack of funds, but the lack of public trust. The authorities can regain the citizens’ trust by working diligently to better their living conditions, and only then, the public’s positive perception would match the reality of Armenia’s global rankings.

There has been a serious lack of coordination in dealing with critical global issues. Armenians around the world have repeatedly come under attack with Armenia or the Diaspora hardly lifting a finger.

In the aftermath of the US occupation of Iraq in 2003, Armenians along with millions of other Iraqis suffered great losses. While not much could have been done to secure their physical safety, there should have been an organized effort by the Armenian government and Armenians worldwide to assist those who left all their possessions behind and fled the country. Regrettably, nothing was done to help resettle Iraqi Armenian refugees in the Homeland or anywhere else.

Fortunately, the Armenian response was more vigorous during the still ongoing Syrian conflict. The Armenian Republic’s Diaspora Ministry assisted many of the 15,000 Syrian Armenians who moved to the Homeland, while Diaspora communities actively raised funds to help the destitute Armenians in Syria. However, the assistance provided has been woefully inadequate relative to the enormous needs of those remaining in Syria, and those who have escaped to Lebanon and Armenia.

There could be other unexpected man-made or natural disasters such as the devastating earthquake that struck northern Armenia in 1988, from which Armenians are still struggling to recover 25 years later!

What about the enduring threat to Artsakh? After years of bluffing, should Azerbaijan’s psychopathic President someday launch a full-blown attack on Artsakh, are Armenians around the world ready to rush to the rescue of their compatriots in the Homeland? Although the responsibility for defending the borders falls on the armed forces of the twin Armenian Republics, shouldn’t Diaspora Armenians have a coordinated contingency plan to confront such an existential eventuality? All necessary arrangements should be made in advance, so that when the attack comes, there would be an immediate counteraction.

Another critical issue needing Armenians’ immediate attention is the chaotic situation prevailing in Turkey and the possible dangers facing the Armenian community, in particular:

1) Total disarray in the Turkish government due to the ruling party’s recent loss of parliamentary majority and new elections scheduled for November 1;
2) Recurrent bombings of Kurdish regions in Northern Iraq by the Turkish Air Force, and violent clashes between the Turkish military and Kurds inside Turkey;
3) Worldwide criticism of Turkish President Erdogan’s autocratic rule, his support of ISIS terrorists, and draconian measures taken against political opponents.

This is the ideal opportunity for Armenians outside Turkey to join the anti-Erdogan international chorus. It is also the suitable time to cooperate with millions of Kurds opposing the Erdogan regime; but, this is not the right time to remain quiet when the Turkish regime arrests Fatma Barout, Co-Mayor of the Soor district of Dikranakert. Where is the outcry against the arbitrary arrest of this courageous Armenian woman? There has not been a single complaint from anyone in Armenia or Diaspora! Mayor Barout and her family were in Armenia last month to attend the Pan-Armenian Games. On that occasion, they visited the Genocide Memorial and Museum in Yerevan and paid their respects to the 1.5 million Armenian martyrs.

Armenians worldwide should also support the youth of Nor Zartonk (Renaissance) movement in Istanbul who are struggling against all odds to defend Armenian and other minority rights in Turkey. One of the group’s activists has complained that they were not even getting moral support from the Diaspora, let alone Armenia. Nor Zartonk members, who have been physically attacked by Turkish extremists, have been holding protests at Camp Armen during the last two months, demanding that the Turkish government return the confiscated Camp to the Armenian community.

Since Armenians are dispersed throughout the world, they could fall victim to other unfortunate incidents in the future. It is imperative that a single worldwide Armenian committee, composed of representatives of Armenia and Artsakh, and major Diasporan organizations, develops contingency plans for emergencies affecting Armenians in any part of the world. Holding fundraising events and meetings to put action plans together should be done before, not after, the occurrence of tragic events.

The Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee, during its upcoming Yerevan conference, could be renamed and transformed into a permanent pan-Armenian body that would deal with all aspects of Armenia-Diaspora relations, particularly emergency situations.

Thousands of articles have been published worldwide in the recent weeks exposing Turkey’s strategic trickery — using the pretext of fighting ISIS to carry out a genocidal bombing campaign against the Kurds who have courageously countered ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

The Wall Street Journal reported on August 12 that a senior US military official accused Turkey of deceiving the American government by allowing its use of Incirlik airbase to attack ISIS, as a cover for President Erdogan’s war on Kurdish fighters (PKK) in northern Iraq. So far, Turkey has carried out 300 air strikes against the PKK, and only three against ISIS! Erdogan’s intent in punishing the Kurds is to gain the sympathy of Turkish voters in the next parliamentary elections, enabling his party to win an outright majority and establish an autocratic presidential theocracy.

To conceal its deception and mislead the American public, within days of starting its war on the Kurds, Ankara hired Squire Patton Boggs for $32,000 a month, as a subcontractor to the powerful lobbying firm, the Gephardt Group. Squire Patton Boggs includes former Senators Trent Lott and John Breaux, and retired White House official Robert Kapla. The Gephardt lobbying team for Turkey consists of subcontractors Greenberg Traurig, Brian Forni, Lydia Borland, and Dickstein Shapiro LLP; the latter recently added to its lobbying staff former CIA Director Porter Goss. Other lobbying firms hired by Turkey are: Goldin Solutions, Alpaytac, Finn Partners, Ferah Ozbek, and Golin/Harris International. According to US Justice Department records, Turkey pays these lobbying/public relations firms around $5 million a year. Furthermore, several US non-profit organizations serve as fronts for the Turkish government to promote its interests in the United States and take Members of Congress and journalists on all-expense paid junkets to Turkey.

Among the US lobbyists for Turkey, perhaps the most questionable is Porter Goss, CIA Director from 2004 to 2006, who has agreed to sell his soul and possibly US national secrets for a fistful of Turkish Liras.

It is noteworthy that in a report Mr. Goss filed with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, he avoided answering the question regarding his compensation from the Turkish government. He simply wrote: “Salary not based solely on services rendered to the foreign principal [Turkey]”!

In the same form, filed on April 23, 2015, Mr. Goss described his services for Turkey as follows:

1) Provide counsel in connection with the extension and strengthening of the Turkish-American relationship in a number of key areas that are the subject of debate in Congress, including trade, energy security, counter-terrorism efforts, and efforts to build regional stability in the broader Middle East and Europe;
2) Educating Members of Congress and the Administration on issues of importance to Turkey;
3) Notifying Turkey of any action in Congress or the Executive Branch on issues of importance to Turkey;
4) Preparing analyses of developments in Congress and the Executive Branch on issues of importance to Turkey.

It is significant that Dickstein Shapiro LLP, Mr. Goss’s employer, misled the Justice Department, by reporting two days prior to the start of his employment and three days before the Armenian Genocide Centennial, that the former CIA Director had already met on behalf of his lobbying firm with nine members of Congress to discuss “US-Turkish relations.”

Most probably, hiring Porter Goss as a lobbyist for Turkey was a reward for his staunch support of Turkish issues, while serving as a Republican Congressman from Florida from 1989 to 2004. During the October 2000 debate on the Armenian Genocide resolution in the House International Relations Committee, Cong. Goss, the then Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, testified against the adoption of the resolution, using the excuse that it would harm US-Turkey relations. Nevertheless, the genocide resolution was adopted by a vote of 24 to 11.

It is bad enough that former Members of Congress are selling themselves to anyone who is willing to pay them. But, the Director of the CIA…? This is more than unethical; it is a grave risk to US national security. The American government must not allow the sale of its top spymaster to the highest bidder! What if North Korea offered him a higher price? Would Mr. Goss jump ship and lobby for an enemy state just to make a few more dollars?