Author: Harut Sassounian

I wrote a column last August warning that the Armenian-American community and all people of good will would boycott the products and services of Anheuser-Busch, Boeing, Chevron, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, General Electric, Goldman Sachs, Google, Los Angeles Airport, National Football League, Port of Oakland, and United Airlines, unless these companies cancelled their contracts with the Gephardt Group, one of Turkey’s notorious lobbying firms.

Ironically, former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt had championed recognition of the Armenian Genocide during his long years in Congress. Yet, soon-after his retirement, Gephardt became a staunch opponent of Armenian issues by peddling Turkish denials of the Armenian Genocide. The latest contract on file with the U.S. Justice Department reveals that the Gephardt Group is paid $1.4 million a year to lobby for Turkey in Washington.

Documents filed by the Gephardt Group with the Justice Department under the ‘Foreign Agent Registration Act’ indicate that Gephardt and his colleagues contacted dozens of House and Senate Members last year to lobby against: 1) congressional resolutions on the Armenian Genocide and return of Christian Churches by Turkey, and 2) revelations that Turkey supported Islamic Jihadists during their invasion of the Armenian-inhabited town of Kessab in Syria.

More ominously, Justice Department records show that just before April 24, 2014, Janice O’Connell, Gephardt’s colleague, contacted Brian McKeon, Chief of Staff of the National Security Council at the White House and Chad Kreikemeier, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs, to modify Pres. Obama’s annual statement on the Armenian Genocide, following Prime Minister Erdogan’s deceptive and disingenuous apology for all victims of World War I in Ottoman Turkey.

Justice Department’s records also reveal that Gephardt and O’Connell traveled to Istanbul and Ankara on Turkish Airlines on March 3, 2014 to meet Turkey’s National Security Advisor. Gephardt flew from Paris to Istanbul and Ankara at a round trip cost of $1,513, while O’Connell flew from Washington, DC to Istanbul and Ankara at a round trip cost of $6,986. The two lobbyists stayed at the Conrad Hotel in Istanbul for three nights at the cost of $710 each. While in Turkey, they spent $600 on limousine service.

Last month, the Armenian National Committee of America, Armenian Assembly of America, and Armenian Youth Federation (Eastern and Western U.S.) sent over 200 letters to businesses, universities, and NGOs that are clients of the Gephardt Group and four other lobbying firms for Turkey: Dickstein Shapiro, LLC; Greenberg Traurig; Alpaytac; and LB International. One such letter asked the United Airlines to demand the lobbying firm to end its contract with the Turkish government, if not, the airline should then terminate its own contract with the lobbying firm. If neither action is taken by Feb. 28, Armenian-Americans would carry out a protest campaign against both the lobbying firm and United Airlines.

The efforts to counter Turkey’s lobbying firms already bore its first fruits. On February 23, ANCA-WR announced that Los Angeles World Airports [LAWA], a wholly-owned entity of the City of Los Angeles, has decided to terminate its contract worth over $845,000 with the Gephardt Group, after ANCA called upon Mayor Eric Garcetti last December, “to end any ties between the City of Los Angeles and Dick Gephardt.”

ANCA-WR Chair Nora Hovsepian applauded “LAWA and City of Los Angeles officials for their principled stand enforcing a zero-tolerance policy against deniers of genocide. LAWA’s action reflects the highest standards of good governance and reinforces the proud standing of Los Angeles as a leader — nationally and internationally — on issues of genocide prevention and human rights. As a genocide denier, Gephardt does not deserve a single dollar from the citizens of Los Angeles, and should have no association with our city.”

According to U.S. Government documents obtained by ANCA-WR, the Gephardt Group “had a contract worth over $845,000 with LAWA, which was agreed to in 2012 during the term of former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Since the approval of the contract with LAWA, the Gephardt Group has been drawing over $23,000 a month for its work for the airport, while simultaneously representing the interests of the Turkish Government against the interests of the Armenian-American community.”

After this first major victory, Armenian-Americans should continue urging the remaining 200 companies that are clients of the Gephardt Group and other lobbying firms hired by Turkey to terminate their contracts, because hiring genocide denialists is patently unethical and bad for business!

When the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002, its founder, Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared like a devout Muslim seeking to eliminate corruption and improve the standard of living of Turkish citizens.

During the last 13 years, Erdogan gradually turned into a corrupt despot, assuming the airs of a modern-day Ottoman Sultan. Was he a wolf in sheep’s clothing to start with, or was he spoiled by the international community’s blind support and lavish praise? Notably, Pres. Obama had called Erdogan one of five world leaders with whom he felt especially close. Obama and other heads of state have finally realized that the monster they created is out of the bottle and out of control! The primary victim of misplaced trust in Erdogan was none other than Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad.

To show how arrogant Erdogan and Turkey’s top leaders have become, here are excerpts from their recent public pronouncements, as documented by The Middle East Media Research Institute:

In a speech on January 21 at the Parliamentary Union of Islamic Countries in Istanbul, Erdogan, sounding like an ISIS leader rather than President of a NATO member state, urged Muslim countries to “unite and defeat the successors of Lawrence of Arabia who seek to disrupt the Middle East.” He went on to accuse the West of plotting against the Islamic world and causing Muslims to kill one another.

During his recent visit to Djibouti, Erdogan boasted: “Turkey is a powerful country. If you [European Union] still see Turkey as a country that would beg at your [EU’s] door, Turkey is not a country to beg.” In response to earlier European criticism of media crackdowns in Turkey, Erdogan told EU leaders to “keep your insights to yourselves,” and added: “Take the trouble to come to Turkey, so that Turkey can teach you a lesson in democracy.”

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus, while accompanying Erdogan on his African trip, shamelessly played the race card, telling the locals: “For the first time since the Ottomans left, Africans are seeing a white hand that does not exploit, enslave or punch them in their heads; a white hand that does not exploit their mines, eliminate their values, assimilate them or see them as subhuman. They are seeing the white hand of Turkey, which sees them as equals and as brothers…. We are trying to help the rebirth of these black-skinned but warm-hearted people.” Kurtulmus was probably hoping that his African listeners would be unaware that Erdogan frequently uses the derogatory and racist term ‘zenci’(black) to describe lower class people!

Not to be outdone by Erdogan and Kurtulmus in arrogance or religious fanaticism, Prime Minister Davutoglu told a large Turkish gathering in Zurich last month: “Islam is Europe’s indigenous religion, and will continue to be so. Despite the roadblocks, prejudices and many provocations, Turkey will continue to walk on the road to EU membership…. With Allah’s grace, we will never bow our heads. We are the grandchildren of the heroes who fought at Gallipoli, who never bowed their heads. In 2002, when we came to power, they [EU] said that Turkey was too poor, too weak a country that would become a burden on Europe. Thank Allah, today Turkey is the rising power of the world…. We are not a burden for Europe. Turkey is the cure for Europe! Turkey is the cure for their disease of racism. We are the cure to their economic slowdown. We are the cure to their loss of power…. From Andalusia [Spain] to the Ottomans, and, half a century ago with the holy march of our people who came here from every corner of Anatolia, the sound of the azan [Muslim call to prayer] brought these heroes to Europe. The domes of the mosques with which they dotted this continent will be protected; we will continue to fight against the hands that reach out to harm them. I kiss the foreheads of my brothers who carried the Tekbir [the prayer call ‘Allahu Akbar’] to Zurich…. How holy those people were who came and sowed the seeds here which will, with Allah’s help, continue to grow into a huge tree of justice in the center of Europe. No one will be able to stop this!”

Davutoglu persisted in making absurd and arrogant statements last week, this time in Ankara, telling minority representatives: “We will teach a lesson to racists in Europe.”

Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin generated a major controversy after his January 28 speech at the UN General Assembly in New York.

As Speaker and member of the Knesset (Parliament), Revlin had led the struggle for many years to have Israel recognize the Armenian Genocide. But, after becoming President, like Pres. Obama, Revlin has been reluctant to reconfirm his principled position on this issue.

Last month, Pres. Rivlin delivered a powerful speech at the UN General Assembly’s annual International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. Regrettably, Israel’s President made two serious errors. He called the Armenian Genocide a massacre and, to balance those comments, referred to the Azeri deaths in Khojalu during the (Karabagh) Artsakh war.

Here is an excerpt from Rivlin’s UN remarks: “In 1915, when members of the Armenian nation were being massacred, Avshalom Feinberg, a leading member of Nili, the Jewish underground which cooperated with the Allies during the First World War, wrote the following, and I quote, ‘My teeth have been ground down with worry, whose turn is next? When I walked on the blessed and holy ground on my way up to Jerusalem, I asked myself if we are living in our modern era, in 1915, or in the days of Titus or Nebuchadnezzar? Did I, a Jew, forget that I am a Jew? I also asked myself if I have the right to weep over the tragedy of my people only, and whether the Prophet Jeremiah did not shed tears of blood for Armenians as well?’Avshalom Feinberg wrote that exactly 100 years ago — 100 years of hesitation and denial! But in the Land of Israel of that time, in the Jerusalem where I was born, no one denied the massacre that had taken place. The residents of Jerusalem, my parents and members of my family, saw the Armenian refugees arriving by the thousands — starving, piteous survivors of calamity. In Jerusalem they found shelter and their descendants continue to live there to this day.”

Distinguished scholar Yair Auron, Professor at Open University of Israel, was irate at his President’s choice of words, despite his personal friendship with him. Auron is a long-time advocate of Armenian Genocide recognition by Israel and author of several books on this subject. He is currently teaching at the American University of Armenia.

On January 31, while I was delivering a lecture on the Armenian Genocide at the newly-opened Komitas Museum in Yerevan, Prof. Auron approached me and asked if he could address the audience. After obtaining my consent, he read a personal statement, titled: “Apology to my Armenian brothers”:

“The President of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, made a remarkable speech with very touching sentences, identifying honestly and profoundly with the suffering of the Armenian people. But, intentionally, he did not use the term Armenian Genocide, neither in Hebrew nor in English.” Prof. Auron went on to disclose that Pres. Rivlin had told him personally that “he had not changed his opinion, but that he cannot declare it [genocide] as President of Israel. This, I can understand. But, in the last minute before the speech, somebody, probably from the Foreign Ministry of Israel, maybe even the Foreign Minister of Israel, Avigdor Lieberman, told him to include this terrible sentence: ‘Is our struggle, the struggle of this Assembly, against genocide, effective enough? Was it effective enough then in Bosnia? Was it effective in preventing the killing in Khojalu?’”

Prof. Auron continued his criticism: “Mr. President, you used the name of Khojalu in the context of genocide. You know well the difference between genocide and massacre. … Who proposed to you, Mr. President, who asked that you make this terrible error? You do not use the term genocide regarding the Armenian Genocide itself. Using the term genocide, in the context of one village in Nagorno-Karabagh, as if it was genocide, is unacceptable…. You do not dare to use the term genocide regarding the Armenian Genocide, and you define the massacre of this village, that I am sure you did not know its name just a few minutes before [your speech], as genocide. It is sacrilegious, and by it, you betray the legacy of the Holocaust and its victims.”

The righteous professor concluded his heartfelt remarks by pledging: “Let me, my Armenian brothers, apologize in my name and on behalf of many Israeli Jews. We are with you. We will not stop our struggle till Israel recognizes the Armenian Genocide.”

The Presidents of the Republics of Armenia and Artsakh along with leaders of major Diasporan organizations issued an unprecedented joint declaration last week, announcing the preparation of a comprehensive dossier of “legal claims” from Turkey to restore “individual, communal and pan-Armenian rights and legitimate interests.”

The declaration does not detail the specifics of Armenian demands, since a legal team headed by Gagik Harutyunyan, President of the Constitutional Court of Armenia, is in the process of finalizing a thorough analysis of Armenian claims against Turkey.

The January 29 declaration was issued during the session of the State Commission on the Coordination of Programs Dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide with the participation of over 50 regional Centennial Committees from around the world. Later that night, Pres. Serzh Sargsyan read the full text of the declaration during a somber wreath-laying ceremony at the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex in Yerevan.

When Catholicos Aram I inquired if the declaration would become the official policy of the Republic of Armenia, Pres. Sargsyan responded by assuring everyone that the adopted document would guide not only Armenia’s foreign policy, but all government officials!

Here are highlights from the Pan-Armenian Declaration:

– Condemning the genocidal acts against the Armenian people, planned and continuously perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire and various regimes of Turkey in 1894-1923, dispossession of the homeland, the massacres and ethnic cleansing aimed at the extermination of the Armenian population, the destruction of the Armenian heritage, as well as the denial of the Genocide — all attempts to avoid responsibility, to consign to oblivion the committed crimes and their consequences or to justify them — as a continuation of this crime and encouragement to commit new genocides;
– Considering the 1919-1921 verdicts of the courts-martial of the Ottoman Empire on that grave crime perpetrated “against the law and humanity” as a legal assessment of the fact;
– Appreciating the joint declaration of the Allied Powers on May 24, 1915, for the first time in history defining the most heinous crime perpetrated against the Armenian people as a “crime against humanity and civilization” and emphasizing the necessity of holding Ottoman authorities responsible, as well as the role and significance of the Sevres Peace Treaty of 10 August 1920 and US President Woodrow Wilson’s Arbitral Award of 22 November 1920 in overcoming the consequences of the Armenian Genocide:
– Reiterates the commitment of Armenia and the Armenian people to continue the international struggle for the prevention of genocides, the restoration of the rights of people subjected to genocide and the establishment of historical justice;
– Expresses gratitude to those states and international, religious and non-governmental organizations that had the political courage to recognize and condemn the Armenian Genocide as a heinous crime against humanity and even today continue to undertake legal measures to that end, also preventing the dangerous manifestations of denialism;
– Appeals to UN member states, international organizations, and all people of good will, regardless of their ethnic origin and religious affiliation, to unite their efforts aimed at restoring historical justice and paying tribute to the memory of victims of the Armenian Genocide;
– Expresses the united will of Armenia and the Armenian people to achieve worldwide recognition of the Armenian Genocide and elimination of the consequences of the Genocide, preparing to this end a file of legal claims as a point of departure in the process of restoring individual, communal and pan-Armenian rights and legitimate interests;
– Condemns the illegal blockade of the Republic of Armenia imposed by the Republic of Turkey, its anti-Armenian stance in international fora and the imposition of preconditions in the normalization of interstate relations, considering this a consequence of the continued impunity of the Armenian Genocide, Meds Yeghern;
– Calls upon the Republic of Turkey to recognize and condemn the Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire, and to face its own history and memory through commemorating the victims of that heinous crime against humanity and renouncing the policy of falsification, denialsm and banalization of this indisputable fact;
– Expresses the hope that recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey will serve as a starting point for the historical reconciliation of the Armenian and Turkish peoples;
– Considers the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide an important milestone in the ongoing struggle for historical justice under the motto “I remember and I demand.”

It is noteworthy that the Pan-Armenian declaration counters the persistent Turkish falsification that the claims against Turkey are being advanced by the Diaspora and not the Republic of Armenia. The unanimously adopted declaration clearly reflects that Armenians worldwide, both in the Homeland and Diaspora, are firmly committed to pursuing their just demands from the Republic of Turkey!

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Rimma Varzhapetyan-Feller, President of the Jewish Community of Armenia, recently wrote a scathing article titled, “World Jewry cannot become a tool in the hands of anti-Armenian propagators.” She criticized all those who engage in such propaganda for writing “ordered and one-sided articles…in pursuit of profits.”
Such writers attempt to exploit Israeli political circles and glorify Azeri-Israeli relations, which consist mostly arms-for-oil deals, in order to isolate and weaken Armenia.
Mrs. Feller mentions as examples of anti-Armenian propaganda recent articles by Maxime Gauin and Alexander Murinson in Haaretz, Arye Gut in JNS.com, and Alexander Murinson in The Hill.
According to Mrs. Feller, “The biography and activity of these authors leaves no doubt about the one-sidedness of their analysis. Maxime Gauin, who presents Armenia as an anti-Semitic country, himself publicly supports the ultra-right party of Turkey, the Nationalist Movement Party. Apart from its stated position supporting the denial of the Armenian Genocide, that party is known for propagating anti-Semitism and xenophobia. Yet, Gauin turns a blind eye to this.”
Feller further asserts that “Arye Gut has for quite a long time been at the service of the Azerbaijani propaganda machine, and is a member of the Azerbaijan-Israel International Association. Alexander Murinson takes as a reality his doctoral thesis that Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Israel are an entente alliance — and develops the idea that the enemy of one of these states is the enemy of all three.”
The head of the Jewish community in Armenia explains that anti-Semitism exists in every corner of the world, including Armenia. Such manifestations, according to Mrs. Feller, “never enjoyed the support either of authorities, or more or less influential social and political entities. The Jewish community feels itself protected in Armenia, and the authorities respect their rights, culture, and traditions.”
Mrs. Feller is also highly critical of Pres. Aliyev: “It is no secret what methods the dictator of Azerbaijan is using to mold opinions in the West; in fact, they’ve been mentioned by many highly influential publications, such as the New York Times in September 2014 and Foreign Policy magazine in June 2014. Influential international Jewish structures should not allow themselves to get involved in such speculations.”
Mrs. Feller mentions several examples of rampant anti-Semitism in Azerbaijan. “In the 1990’s, when bandits from the People’s Front of Azerbaijan organized and committed pogroms against the Armenian population in Azerbaijan, one of the slogans used was: ‘Azerbaijan will prosper without Jews and Armenians.’ No matter how hard the authorities of Azerbaijan try to present themselves as friends of Israel, they cannot be friends of the Jewish people. If there is anyone who doubts this argument, I urge them to read the publications on the numerous, flagrant human rights violations by the Aliyev administration, or, at least, the articles on the funding of anti-Jewish demonstrations in Europe. There is no doubt that Azerbaijan is using its relations with Iran and Israel, and presenting itself in Israel as the most reliable regional partner in its policy against Iran. Clearly, the leaders of Azerbaijan are playing a dangerous game if they think they will succeed in using Israel and world Jewry to promote their personal interests.”
The righteous Jewish community leader then condemns Cong. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) — who is known for his pro-Azerbaijani views — for inserting Arye Gut’s propagandist article in the Congressional Record. “This was overtly disrespectful, not only to the voters in Stockman’s district but also to American democracy. The promotion of ordered and false articles should not be allowed to echo from the rostrum of America’s legislative power. One should not be able to present hate propaganda and promote the agenda and interests of a dictator as an expression of freedom of speech, especially when it uses Jews, in particular, the Jewish community of Armenia.”
Feller concludes her article by rightly warning “the Jewish community of the United States to stay alert and condemn any attempt to exploit the Jewish factor in such a despicable way by certain political circles.”

Armenians are in the process of organizing thousands of events all over the world to commemorate the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

These events aim to remind the world about the mass atrocities committed by Ottoman Turkey from 1915 to 1923 with the expectation that the international community would compel the Turkish government to face its sordid past and restore the rights of genocide descendants.

There is, however, a faster and more efficient way — legal action — to accomplish this honorable objective. In recent years, several Armenian-American lawyers have filed class action lawsuits with some success against insurance companies in US Federal Courts. Various other lawsuits are still pending.

On the eve of the Centennial, both the Armenian government and some Diaspora groups are considering the possibility of filing lawsuits against Turkey in international courts. However, such serious legal action should only be undertaken by international law experts and not by well-meaning Armenian individuals or community groups. If mishandled, these lawsuits could have a lasting devastating effect on legitimate Armenian demands from Turkey.

Last September, His Holiness Catholicos Aram I of the Great House of Cilicia announced that he was planning to file a lawsuit in Turkey to reclaim church properties owned by the Catholicosate in Sis, Cilicia, prior to the Genocide. Should the Turkish court reject this lawsuit, the Catholicosate of Cilicia would then appeal the ruling to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Recently, the Turkish press reported that Armenian-American Zuart Sudjian had filed a lawsuit reclaiming the land that had belonged to her mother’s family — the Basmajians — on which Diyarbakir Airport is located.

I spoke with the 94-year-old Mrs. Sudjian in New York (not in California as reported by the Turkish press), who told me that after being forced to leave Diyarbakir following the Armenian Genocide, her family first moved to Lebanon, then Cuba (not Korea) and finally settled in the United States.

Sudjian family’s property was expropriated by the Turkish government in 1967, after putting an announcement in a local newspaper and claiming that the owners could not be found.

Several years ago, Sudjian’s attorney Ali Elbeyoglu filed a lawsuit on her behalf in Turkey seeking the return of her inheritance. The court turned down her request in April 2013, claiming that the 10-year statute of limitation had expired. The Court of Appeals reversed the lower court’s ruling and demanded a rehearing of the case, affirming that Sudjian could not have been aware of the legal announcement placed in a local Diyarbakir newspaper prior to the property’s confiscation. At a minimum, the Court declared that the ad should have been placed in a Turkish paper with nationwide circulation.

Attorney Elbeyoglu explained that the confiscation of Sudjian’s property violated the protection of private property rights as defined by the European Convention of Human Rights.

Even if Sudjian were to win her lawsuit, it is unlikely that the Turkish government would return the very valuable land worth tens of millions of dollars on which Diyarbakir’s military and civilian airports are located. That was the reason her lawyer told Milliyet newspaper that Sudjian was seeking compensation only for the value of her family’s property.

Lawyer Elbeyoglu also told Milliyet that winning Sudjian’s case would open the door for many more such cases. Significantly, the Turkish newspaper subtitled its article, “Hope for the Diaspora.”

The Turkish media failed to point out that if the Court of Appeals ruled against Sudjian’s claim, she could then take her case to the European Court of Human Rights. A positive ruling from ECHR would open the floodgates of lawsuits by Armenians worldwide whose ancestors had properties that were confiscated by the Turkish government during the Armenian Genocide.

There are countless other valuable properties in Turkey that were confiscated from Armenians, including:

— The Presidential Palace in Ankara, until recently occupied by Erdogan and previous Turkish presidents, is located on land owned by the Kassabian family.
— Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport is partly built on land owned by the Kevork Sarian family from Van.
— The US Air Base at Injirlik is located on land owned by several Armenian families who have filed a lawsuit in US Federal Court against the Turkish government.

These properties and thousands of others should be returned to their rightful owners as partial restitutive justice Turkey owes to the Armenian people.