Author: Harut Sassounian

www.TheCaliforiaCourier.com

A couple of years ago, when Armenians throughout the world began making plans for the Armenian Genocide Centennial, they had two major concerns: What kind of events to organize that would be most appropriate for this solemn occasion? And, how to conceal their plans from the Turkish government so it would be unable to undermine or disrupt them?

Little did Armenians know that inadvertently Turkish leaders would end up being their best ‘ally,’ and instead of disrupting Armenians’ Centennial plans, they would make such preposterous statements that would globally propagate the Armenian Genocide beyond anyone’s wildest expectations.

A Hollywood scriptwriter could not have done a better job than what Erdogan as Prime Minister and then President did to ensure that the Armenian Centennial is commemorated with the greatest possible audience in the world.

Long before the start of the Centennial year, Erdogan set the stage by undermining his own credibility and that of his country by making outlandish declarations: He claimed that Muslims discovered America before Columbus; that it was impossible for Muslims to commit genocide; and told TV host Charlie Rose that since there are still Armenians in Istanbul, there could not have been a genocide.

Erdogan went on to shut down Youtube and Twitter because he disliked some of their content; had a teenage student arrested for writing an essay the Modern Day Sultan didn’t approve; jailed journalists and cartoonists for criticizing his policies; prosecuted Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen’s followers and high-ranking military officers under the pretext that they were plotting against His Highness; ordered the shooting of peaceful protesters in Istanbul’s Gezi Park; and instructed his son during a secretly recorded phone conversation on how to conceal tens of millions of dollars in cash!

With his harsh statements and rude outbursts, Erdogan managed to antagonize leaders of many of the countries he dealt with, including the United States, France, Germany, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Greece, Cyprus, Russia, and Syria. In effect, he turned his foreign policy of “zero problems with neighbors,” to “zero neighbors without problems!”

At the start of this year, as the Genocide Centennial drew near, Erdogan shifted to high gear. He came up with the ‘brilliant’ idea of rescheduling the Gallipoli commemoration to April 24, and inviting leaders of over 100 countries to Turkey in order to steal the limelight away from the Armenian Genocide commemorations in Yerevan on that date. The Turkish President sought to rewrite history by accusing Armenians of changing the Genocide Centennial Date to April 24!

Such childish maneuvers did not go unnoticed by the international community. Countless articles were written exposing Erdogan’s dirty tricks. Instead of undermining the Armenian commemorations, the Turkish leader ended up propagating the Genocide Centennial, long before Armenians had organized a single event!

Then came the memorable sermon of Pope Francis on April 12, accusing Turkey of committing “the first genocide of the 20th century” against the Armenian people! In response, Erdogan recalled his Ambassador from the Vatican, and then, along with his normally cool-headed Prime Minister Davutoglu and the entire cast of Turkish officialdom started insulting the Pope, the Catholic Church, and even Argentina, the Pope’s birthplace! Thus, within a few days, Turkey’s leaders managed to antagonize over a billion Catholics around the world.

Erdogan warned the Pope that he would take additional actions against the Catholic Church, implying that he would convert Istanbul’s ancient Greek Hagia Sophia Church to a mosque. Should he take such an extreme action, he would be antagonizing the rest of the Christian world against Turkey.

Within days of the Pope’s history-making sermon, the European Parliament adopted yet another resolution acknowledging the Armenian Genocide. Meanwhile, Erdogan continued his anti-European and anti-Christian diatribe by accusing Europeans of being anti-Turkish and anti-Islam. Naturally, Europeans began to question how such a lunatic leader could ever join the European family of nations!

Thousands of newspapers, TV stations, and websites reported the Turkish leaders’ berserk reaction, and criticized their denial of the Armenian Genocide. The world’s attention to Armenians has been quite overwhelming with the extensive coverage of Kardashians’ trip to Armenia, the Pope’s remarkable sermon, and the European Parliament’s Resolution on the Armenian Genocide. Armenians could not have gained such immense publicity on the eve of the Armenian Genocide Centennial, if they had spent a billion dollars and hired 100 PR firms!

Given the candidness of Pope Francis, it was not surprising that he clearly acknowledged the Armenian Genocide during the Pontifical Divine Liturgy at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on April 12.

The only person who was clueless about the Pope’s true intentions was Mehmet Pacaci, Turkey’s Ambassador to the Vatican, who had bragged to the Turkish press two weeks ago that he had convinced the Pope to reject all Armenian requests for the Genocide Centennial.

The Turkish Ambassador claimed that he had managed to:
— Cancel the Pope’s April 24 visit to Yerevan;
— Convince the Pope not to celebrate Mass at the Vatican on April 24;
— Eliminate the words ‘Armenian Genocide’ from the Pope’s address during the April 12 Vatican Mass.

The Turkish and Azerbaijani media reported Amb. Pacaci’s contentions as a major victory for Turkish diplomacy and a devastating defeat for Armenians.

Amb. Pacaci’s false claims were simply intended to impress his superiors in Ankara about his ‘good work.’ The truth is that the Pope had neither planned to visit Yerevan on April 24 nor celebrate Mass at the Vatican on that date. The Turkish Ambassador’s third claim that the Pope would not use the term ‘Armenian Genocide’ during his April 12 address, but would only offer “prayers for all those who lost their lives during the tragic events of 1915,” also turned out to be false!

Contrary to Amb. Pacaci’s real or imaginary pressures on the Vatican, the Pope made an explicit and lengthy reference to the Armenian Genocide at St. Peter’s Basilica on April 12 which was broadcast worldwide on TV networks, the radio, newspapers, and the internet. In attendance were Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan, Catholicos Karekin II, Catholicos Aram I, Patriarch of Armenian Catholics Nerses Bedros XIX, and thousands of worshippers from dozens of countries. Here are excerpts from the Pope’s remarks:

“In the past century our human family has lived through three massive and unprecedented tragedies. The first, which is widely considered ‘the first genocide of the 20th Century’, struck your own Armenian people, the first Christian nation, as well as Catholic and Orthodox Syrians, Assyrians, Chaldeans and Greeks. Bishops and priests, religious women and men, the elderly and even defenseless children and the sick were murdered. The other two were perpetrated by Nazism and Stalinism. And more recently, there have been other mass killings, like those in Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and Bosnia. It seems that humanity is incapable of putting an end to the shedding of innocent blood…. Dear Armenian Christians, today, with hearts filled with pain, but at the same time with great hope in the risen Lord, we recall the Centenary of that tragic event — that immense and senseless slaughter — whose cruelty your forefathers had to endure. It is necessary, and indeed a duty, to honor their memory, for whenever memory fades, it means that evil allows wounds to fester. Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it!”

Pope Francis had repeatedly spoken about the Armenian Genocide as a Cardinal in Argentina, and had included three references to that issue in his 2010 book, “On Heaven and Earth.” On June 3, 2013, shortly after his election, Pope Francis described the Armenian Genocide as “the first genocide of the 20th Century.”

The Vatican had first referred to the Armenian mass killings on Sept. 10, 1915, when Pope Benedict XV sent a letter to Sultan Mahomet V, asking him to stop the wholesale massacres of innocent Armenians. Twice, on Nov. 9, 2000, and Sept. 27, 2001, Pope John Paul II and Catholicos Karekin II issued joint statements acknowledging the Armenian Genocide.

Not surprisingly, the Turkish government reacted angrily to the Pope’s latest reference to the Armenian Genocide, and immediately recalled its Ambassador from the Vatican. Amb. Pacaci may now get fired for having falsely claimed that he had succeeded in silencing the Pope on the Armenian Genocide issue. Meanwhile, the Turkish government’s overreaction and the Pope’s refusal to apologize for his remarks made international headlines on TV networks, websites and newspapers around the world.

The long-planned Turkish efforts to undermine the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide have been drowned out by the extensive media attention to the Kardashians’ maiden visit to Armenia and the Pope’s courageous reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide right before April 24.

I reported last month that the Americana shopping center in Glendale had banned three Armenian vendors from selling genocide-related T-shirts from their rented carts.

Shortly after my column was posted on the internet, generating a flood of complaints against the shopping center, Americana’s management issued the following statement on its facebook page: “We would like to apologize to our cart tenants Tina Chuldzhyan, Alex Kodagolian and Armin Hariri, for the regrettable misunderstanding regarding their cart’s merchandise. The cart tenant is more than welcome to have its product in question displayed on the cart.”

While Americana’s apology was welcome, this hastily posted note misrepresented its wrongful action by calling it a ‘misunderstanding.’ Strangely, the shopping center did not bother to contact the tenants to inform them that the ban on sale of genocide-related clothing was lifted.

Rejecting this half-hearted apology, several hundred irate Armenians held a protest at Americana for its unacceptable behavior toward the three Armenian vendors. The Glendale News-Press covered the protest and the controversy in a series of three articles following my initial column on this subject.

It is shocking that a major corporation in Glendale would behave in such a callous manner against its large Armenian customer base — close to 50% of city’s population — where two out of five City Council members including Mayor Zareh Sinanyan happen to be Armenian. Moreover, the City had accorded Americana’s owners generous financial subsidies to establish their business in Glendale.

Mayor Sinanyan had harsh words about Americana’s arrogance. He told the News-Press that he was dismayed with the “knee-jerk reaction” of Americana’s management and that the shopping center’s relationship with the Armenian community had been “tarnished.” The Mayor also expressed surprise that Americana could be “so insensitive” toward a large portion of their shoppers who are Armenians.

On March 13, the three vendors, Chuldzhyan, Hariri (rapper ‘R-Mean’) and Kodagolian, on behalf of their company, Pentagon Records, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Americana at Brand, Caruso Affiliated Holdings, and several other unnamed defendants, charging them with five different violations:

1) Constitutional and Civil Rights Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Section 1983: violation of speech protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution;
2) Constitutional and Civil Rights Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Section 1985(3): engaging in discriminatory conspiracy for the purpose of depriving plaintiffs of the equal protection of law;
3) Violation of Unruh Civil Rights Act — Civil Code Sections 51& 52: denying of plaintiffs’ full and equal advantages, facilities, privileges, and services because of their Armenian ancestry; and defendants’ discriminatory, arbitrary, and unreasonable conduct, without any legitimate business interest;
4) Violation of California Business and Professions Code Section 17200: defendants have unfairly discriminated against plaintiffs and engaged in unlawful business practice;
5) Breach of Contract: Americana breached the agreement by not allowing the three vendors to sell merchandise related to Shop1915.com, which includes merchandise related to the Armenian Genocide.

The Armenian vendors asked the court to impose compensatory, general, punitive, and treble damages on Americana. Richard Foster, the plaintiffs’ attorney, stated that he had filed the lawsuit “due to the outrageous conduct of the defendants… [which] is distasteful and disrespectful not only to my clients, but also to the Armenian community at large, especially just weeks before the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide.” Foster added that the “defendants are beneficiaries of considerable government subsidies and assistance, and, as such, must refrain from such discriminatory conduct.”

Only after the Armenian tenants filed the lawsuit, Americana sent a letter informing them that they are now “permitted to display for sale, and to sell the products related to the Armenian Genocide.”

The Armenian community and all Glendalians who care about protection of civil rights have to make it clear to Americana’s owners that they do not tolerate such unlawful and discriminatory behavior from a corporation that is the beneficiary of public funds and relies on an Armenian clientele for large portions of its sales revenue.

If Americana refuses to take remedial measures and fails to reassure community leaders that such misconduct will not be repeated, Glendale residents must boycott the shopping center, continue their protests, and urge the City Council to take decisive action, including the repeal of previously granted financial subsidies.

New York City, the unofficial Capital of the World, became the hub of major Armenian events last week on the eve of the Armenian Genocide Centennial.

On Tuesday, March 10, the 100 LIVES initiative was launched by Vartan Gregorian, President of Carnegie Corporation of New York, jointly with entrepreneurs Ruben Vardanyan of Moscow and Noubar Afeyan of Boston.

The organizers plan to collect the remarkable stories of Armenian Genocide survivors and their rescuers, including some Turks. The 100 LIVES project is establishing a $1 million annual prize to be given to those who risk their lives to save others in any part of the world. Prominent actor and activist George Clooney will award the inaugural ‘Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity’ in Yerevan on April 24, 2016. The winners of the prize named after Genocide survivor Aurora Mardiganian, who starred in a 1919 film called “Ravished Armenia,” are expected to transfer the $1 million gift to an organization that has inspired them in their humanitarian endeavor.

The selection committee of this special award is co-chaired by George Clooney and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel. The committee also includes former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, UN Secretary-General’s Advisor on Genocide Prevention Gareth Evans, human rights activist Hina Jilani, and Dr. Gregorian.

The initiators of 100 LIVES also plan to take on the monumental task of digitizing millions of Armenian Genocide-related documents stored in the archives of numerous countries.

Present at the launch were Hollywood celebrities, prominent journalists from CNN, CBS 60 Minutes, Time magazine, and PBS, and Who’s Who of New York. George Clooney and Ruben Vardanyan participated in a panel discussion moderated by Gwen Ifill, managing editor of Washington Week and co-anchor and co-managing editor of PBS NewsHour.

Here are brief excerpts from George Clooney’s comments:

“I got to learn about Armenia through a friend of mine named Bob Manoukian, who probably picking on my innocence at the time, said ‘you know some Senators, maybe you can talk to them to see if they can talk about the Armenian Genocide on the floor of the Senate.’ So I tried. That did not play so well, as you can imagine. We have some military bases apparently in Turkey, I did not know about. Incirlik — who knew? I was shocked. So you become sort of informed about Armenia through friendships. I was slow to the game on this one. Genocide — just because the word wasn’t invented for 30 more years, doesn’t mean that it did not happen! … My wife had no idea that I had been meeting with Ruben. She was in the middle of going to Strasbourg to the European Court to fight a real interesting Armenian battle. I went to park my car in L.A., and the valet guys are all Armenian, and they come over and say, ‘I want to kiss your wife … you don’t have to pay for parking.’”

The launch of 100 LIVES was covered by the global media, including the New York Times. I was surprised to find my picture shaking hands with George Clooney on the front page of The Hill newspaper, a major Washington publication. During my conversation with Amal Clooney, I thanked her for representing the Republic of Armenia, along with prominent international lawyer Geoffrey Robertson, at the recent European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

During the last weekend, the ‘Responsibility 2015’ Armenian Genocide Centennial Conference was held in New York City, lasting three days with the participation of over 50 renowned scholars, lawyers, authors, artists, journalists and activists from around the world, covering a wide range of issues related to various genocides. Among the prominent speakers were: David Balabanian, David Barsamian, Eric Bogosian, Chris Bohjalian, Israel Charny, David Gaunt, Aram Hamparian, Richard Hovannisian, Raymond Kevorkian, Charlie Mahtesian, Marc Mamigonian, Khatchig Mouradian, Mary Papazian, Geoffrey Robertson, Roger W. Smith, and Henry Theriault. I was honored to be included in such distinguished company, to speak on “Individual and Group Reparations.”

Among the presenters at the conference were several Turkish scholars who delivered highly informative papers on the Armenian Genocide.

Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan has invited several world leaders to Yerevan on April 24 to commemorate the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

The Presidents of France, Russia, Poland and Belarus have already accepted Pres. Sargsyan’s invitation. The White House has yet to make a public statement on whether Pres. Obama plans to travel to Armenia on this most solemn occasion.

A Century ago, Henry Morgenthau, US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, described the systematic annihilation of 1.5 million Armenians as “The Murder of a Nation.” Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish lawyer, told CBS that he coined the term genocide based on the mass crimes committed against Armenians during WWI and Jews during WWII.

Here are 10 reasons why Air Force One should make an auspicious landing in Yerevan’s Zvartnots International Airport on April 24.

1. Pres. Obama would pay tribute to hundreds of thousands of compassionate American citizens for having raised over $117 million — today’s equivalent of over $2 billion — to aid destitute Armenians in the aftermath of the Genocide. Initiated by Amb. Morgenthau and supported by Pres. Woodrow Wilson, Near East Relief helped rescue and care for 132,000 Armenian orphans. This massive charitable effort was the first international humanitarian outreach in U.S. history.

2. By visiting Armenia on this occasion, Pres. Obama would be reaffirming the longstanding US acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide — a settled historical fact recognized as genocide by:
— The US Government in a document submitted to the World Court in 1951;
— The House of Representatives in 1975 and 1984;
— Pres. Ronald Reagan in a Presidential Proclamation issued on April 22, 1981;
— 43 out of 50 U.S. states;
— Two dozen countries, including France, Italy, Russia, Canada, Holland, Vatican, Switzerland, Sweden, Argentina, Lebanon, Greece, Cyprus, Poland, and Venezuela;
— Several international organizations, including the UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities; the European Parliament; and the International Association of Genocide Scholars.

3. The Centennial could well be Pres. Obama’s last opportunity to regain the trust of the Armenian-American community by honoring his solemn pledge as Senator and Presidential candidate to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.

4. Pres. Obama could lay the foundation for improved Armenian-Turkish relations based on truth and justice, in line with a pending resolution in the House of Representatives, and his previous April 24 statements, declaring that “a full, frank, and just acknowledgement of the facts is in all of our interests.” Pres. Obama’s visit would also encourage Turkish human rights activists to continue their arduous task of assisting the Government of Turkey to reckon with the darkest pages of its past.

5. The U.S. President could take advantage of this visit to urge Turkey to lift the blockade of Armenia, while taking a glimpse at the biblical Mount Ararat just across the closed border.

6. In response to mounting attacks by Azerbaijan on Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), Pres. Obama could stress Washington’s strong support for a peaceful settlement of this thorny conflict.

7. Pres. Obama’s visit would help balance Armenia’s relations with the West, particularly after its membership in the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union, and in view of Putin’s planned trip to Yerevan on April 24. Armenia has enjoyed close relations with Western Europe and the United States, and has participated in international peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo and Lebanon. More recently, the appointment of former Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan as Ambassador to Washington, underscores the importance Yerevan attaches to its relations with the United States.

8. Since Pres. Obama, due to the Ukraine crisis, is not planning to travel to Moscow to take part in the World War II Victory Day celebrations on May 9, he would have the opportunity to meet with Pres. Putin in Yerevan, in a less conspicuous atmosphere.

9. Pres. Obama’s visit to Armenia would be a significant gesture of goodwill toward the Armenian-American community. Last week, 16 major Armenian-American organizations sent a joint letter to the President urging him to participate in the Armenian Genocide Centennial events in Armenia.

10. Pres. Obama would be making a historic first US presidential trip to Armenia, preceded by several high-ranking American officials: Secretary of State James Baker III in 1992; Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in 2001; and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2010 and 2012, when she laid a wreath at the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, as all U.S. Ambassadors have done on every April 24, since the country’s independence in 1991.

I reported last week on the Armenian-American community success in securing cancellation of Los Angeles City’s $845,000 contract with the Gephardt Group, for lobbying on behalf of Turkey against adoption of the Armenian Genocide resolution by Congress.

I expressed the hope that Armenians would continue their efforts to have the remaining 200 clients of the Gephardt Group terminate their contracts so that Mr. Gephardt would pay a steep price for his denialist lobbying.

Energized by their major victory in Los Angeles, Armenian-Americans should now expand their political activism to make an example of Cong. Bill Shuster (Republican-Pennsylvania) who has written an outrageous letter to members of Congress asking them not to support the pending Armenian Genocide resolution.

In a “Dear Colleague” letter sent by Cong. Shuster to all 435 House Members last month, he shamelessly urged them “to refrain from cosponsoring a resolution taking sides in a historical dispute concerning events which occurred a hundred years ago on the other side of the world.” I wonder how the Congressman feels about the Holocaust that also took place “on the other side of the world” more than 60 years ago!

In his brazen letter, Cong. Shuster casts doubt on the veracity of the Armenian Genocide, by alleging that there are “two competing narratives about what happened during the First World War to Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire.” In his twisted logic, the Congressman claims that “the events of 1915…did not constitute genocide,” because “over two million Ottoman Kurds, Arabs, and Muslims…also suffered in this conflict.” His reference to the suffering of “over two million Ottoman Kurds” during World War I is the latest lie scripted by one of the many lobbying firms working for the Turkish government.

The Pennsylvania Congressman also falsely claims that the Armenian Genocide resolution “would alienate one of our last allies in the region [Turkey] who is working hand in hand with US soldiers and our allies to combat ISIS.” Cong. Shuster must have been hiding in a cave for the last couple of years not to have known that this “important NATO ally” has orchestrated the infiltration of thousands of ISIS terrorists into Syria and supplied them with arms, ammunition and logistics. The Congressman ridiculously alleges that “adopting this [Armenian] resolution would be cataclysmic and undermine US interests.” If Turkey is such a good U.S. ally, why would it want to undermine America’s interests? Would passing a resolution condemning the Holocaust result in Germany — our other NATO ally — undermining US interests in Europe?

Cong. Shuster ends his letter by calling the mass murder of 1.5 million Armenians a mere “incident,” urging his colleagues “not [to] take sides in a battle to reinterpret history” and “to think twice before signing on to legislation that could cause significant damage to our relations in the region.” No wonder, the incongruously named ‘Turkish Institute for Progress’ immediately issued a statement applauding the Congressman’s letter denying the Armenian Genocide.

The Turkish Sabah newspaper reported on February 27 that two House members from New York, Democrat Yvette Clarke and Republican Lee Zeldin, have also announced their opposition to the Armenian Genocide resolution. It is noteworthy that the Armenian National Committee of America gave an F- grade to Cong. Shuster, and C- to Cong. Clark. Cong. Zeldin has not yet been graded by the ANCA as this is his first term in office.

Armenian-Americans have a year and a half until the next congressional elections to develop an effective plan to make an example of one or more of these three genocide deniers in Congress. If at least one of them is defeated, other members would think twice before playing the immoral game of genocide denialism.

Not surprisingly, Shuster, Clarke and Zeldin are three of the 130 members of the Congressional Turkey Caucus. In addition, Shuster is the Co-Chair of the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus. After one of these three unprincipled politicians is kicked out of Congress, the Armenian community should then devise a strategy to go after all 130 members of the Turkey Caucus, down from its peak of 157 members in 2012. Applying such pressure would cause more of them to leave the Turkey Caucus, and make others reluctant to join, once they realize that they too would be targeted for defeat.

Zero tolerance for genocide denialists in Congress!