Author: Harut Sassounian

Awash in billions of petrodollars, but lacking a moral compass, Azerbaijan has been busy handing out loads of money to anyone who is willing to heed its propaganda. Baku’s bribery scheme, known worldwide as “caviar diplomacy,” has now ensnared Washington’s movers and shakers. Apparently, there is no shortage of Americans who are eager to sell their souls for a fistful of dollars. As a novice in the field of lobbying, Azerbaijan has quickly learned the tricks of the trade from its ‘elder brother’ Turkey, a well-versed master of political deception. The website of the U.S. Dept. of Justice lists the names and amounts paid by various Azeri entities to 11 American firms: — Azerbaijan’s Embassy in Washington pays $35,000 per month to Patton Boggs “for advice and assistance on U.S.-Azerbaijan bilateral relations”; $18,250 per month to Melwood Communications to assist in “media relations and communications strategy”; $20,000 per month to the DCI Group for “public relations and media outreach, and building relationships with think tanks”; and $45,000 per month to The Podesta Group to carry out public relations. — The Livingston Group, named after former House Speaker Bob Livingston, who left public office in disgrace, has so far received close to $2 million for lobbying on behalf of Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry. — The International Bank of Azerbaijan pays Jefferson Waterman International (JWI) $25,000 per month “to develop relations with American institutions” and “media relations strategy.” JWI receives another $25,000 per month from “The Presidency of Azerbaijan” for counseling on media strategy. Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Finance owns 51% of the shares of the International Bank of Azerbaijan. — The Azerbaijan America Alliance has so far paid Fabiani & Company $2.4 million “for planning and executing strategies to encourage research and advocacy about the Azeri people, country, culture and international relations.” A recent gala dinner in Washington, hosted by the Azerbaijan America Alliance, was attended by 700 guests, including Obama administration officials, members of congress, and foreign diplomats. Notorious congressional opponents of Armenian issues attended the banquet, including Senators Saxby Chambliss and Richard Burr, House Speaker John Boehner and former Cong. Dan Burton.   — Roberti White LLC is paid $20,834 per month by SOCAR USA, the American subsidiary of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, to explore business opportunities in the United States. — Since money is no object, even the Consulate General of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles can afford to hire its own public relations firm. Over the years, it has engaged the services of Sitrick and Company ($50,000 per year); The Toolshed Group LLC ($35,000), founded by Jason Katz, former Director of Public Affairs for the American Jewish Committee; and The Potomac Square Group (amount undisclosed) “to provide media outreach…and interaction with editors.” Now comes yet another ex-congressman who is chasing Azerbaijan’s Almighty Dollar! Former New York Cong. Michael McMahon is handling public affairs/government relations for the so-called “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,” a territory recognized only by its occupying power — Turkey! McMahon, who served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee until his defeat in 2010, is leading the lobbying effort on behalf of Herrick, Feinstein LLP of New York which won a $200,000 per year contract to arrange congressional visits to occupied Northern Cyprus and improve its public image in the media. McMahon also handled the development and construction of Turkey’s expanded Consulate in New York City. It is, therefore, not surprising that McMahon’s name surfaced last week, trying to legitimize Pres. Ilham Aliyev’s falsified re-election in which he gained 85% of the vote, while his nine opponents collectively received the remaining 15%! While international observers criticized Aliyev’s re-election as “unfair and rife with fraud,” The New York Times quoted McMahon as stating that the vote was “honest, fair and really efficient. There were much shorter lines than in America, and no hanging chads,” a reference to the disputed ballots in Florida during the 2000 U.S. presidential race. Shockingly, The N.Y. Times fell victim to McMahon’s ploy, deciding to title its article on the fraudulent vote as “Observers Differ on Fairness of Election in Azerbaijan.” The Times thus equated one man’s pro-Azeri propaganda with the overwhelming evidence of widespread fraud confirmed by respectable international observers, such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Fortunately, The Times pointed out that “the split in assessments seemed to reflect an aggressive lobbying effort by the Aliyev government to portray the election as fair.”   Armenian-Americans cannot compete with Azerbaijan’s lavish handouts. They don’t have to. Since the truth is on their side, they do not need to spend millions on lobbying to present the facts as they are!

 

This column is devoted to Serge Samoniantz, former English editor of Asbarez newspaper for 10 years, and current editor of The California Courier for the last 25 years.

Serge is a modest person who has worked quietly most of his life, shunning any attention to himself. When I told him last Sunday night that he was about to be honored by Asbarez, Serge whimsically replied in his typical self-deprecating style: “Did they run out of people to honor?”

The occasion for honoring Serge was the banquet celebrating the 105^th anniversary of Asbarez, one of the world’s oldest Armenian newspapers. Asbarez began publication in 1908 in Fresno, California, and moved to Los Angeles in the 1970’s.

While my weekly columns receive considerable attention by being published in dozens of newspapers worldwide and posted on hundreds websites in half dozen languages, Serge quietly prepares The California Courier for publication each week. He is in charge of everything from news gathering to editing, layout, and advertising.

The management of Asbarez should be commended for honoring Serge. Even though he hasn’t worked for Asbarez since 1988, the newspaper’s current Armenian and English editors, Apo Boghigian and Ara Khachatourian, had not forgotten their former colleague and wished to express their appreciation for his good work a quarter century later. It is not very often that Armenian organizations remember their employees and organize banquets in their honor.

While it is proper to recognize those who donate considerable sums to Armenian institutions, since not much can be accomplished without their generous contributions, it is just as important to honor humble servants of the nation, who have devoted their entire lives to the community, such as teachers, journalists, and clergymen.

Making the celebration truly memorable was the surprise announcement that His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, had bestowed upon Mr. Samoniantz the Mesrob Mashdots Medal. His Eminence Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate of the Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church, read the special encyclical prepared by the Catholicosate, as he pinned the Medal of Honor on Mr. Samoniantz.

I was asked to introduce Serge at the October 20^th banquet, held at the Baghramian Hall in Montebello. Here are my introductory remarks which include a short biography of Mr. Samoniantz:

Serge was born in 1943 in Marseilles, France, where he lived until age 9. His family moved to San Paolo, Brazil, in 1952 and then to Massachusetts in 1961. He joined the Armenian Youth Federation and then the ARF Keri Gomideh in 1966, after moving to Montebello, California.

In 1964, Serge enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and was honorably discharged as sergeant in 1970. After completing his military service, Serge attended California State University at Los Angeles, graduating with a degree in History. He later received a Certificate from UCLA in Public Relations.

Starting in 1973, Serge assumed the editorship of the English edition of Asbarez for seven years. He then served as Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee, Western U.S., from 1983 to 1984. He then resumed his previous post as the English editor of Asbarez from 1985 to 1988.

In 1985, Serge and I were part of the ANC delegation in Geneva, Switzerland, successfully lobbying for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the United Nations.

In 1988, Serge joined the California Courier as editor where he has been employed for 25 years. He is a consummate journalist and a top notch professional. It has been a great honor and pleasure for me to work with him both as a close friend and colleague for a quarter century!

Serge is a quiet man and tireless worker. He has been a life-long activist in various social and political issues and a staunch defender of the Armenian Cause.

Sharing the joy of Serge’s honor was his family, including his wife Mariam, sister-in-law Laura Manukian, his son Raffi and wife Nano, and their two children, Emilly and Sebouh.

Congratulations to Serge Samoniantz for his unwavering dedication to Armenian journalism for the past 35 years and congratulations to the staff of Asbarez for their hard work and commitment to continue the legacy of those who founded the newspaper 105 years ago!

 

I just returned from a three-day conference in Yerevan where  40 Armenian activists, journalists, and representatives of political, religious and cultural organizations from 18 countries (Argentina, Armenia, Artsakh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Netherlands, Russia, Syria, United States, and Uruguay) attended closed-door briefings from senior government officials.

 

The attendees met with the Vice Speaker and chairs of all parliamentary committees, President’s Chief of Staff Vigen Sargsyan, Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian, Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan, Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobyan, National Security Council Secretary Artur Baghdasaryan, Constitutional Court Chairman Gagik Harutunyan, and President of Artsakh Bako Sahakyan

 

Since the briefings dealt with sensitive political and national security issues and were off-the-record, I can only disclose the general topics without attribution to a specific speaker or participant:

 

— Armenia’s decision to join the CIS Customs Union instead of signing the European Association Agreement;

— Threats to Armenia’s national security and efforts to neutralize them;

— Preparations for possible international legal action against Turkey to secure restitution for the Armenian Genocide;

— Plans for the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide;

— Status of signed but not ratified Armenia-Turkey Protocols;

— Superior morale of victorious Armenian soldiers — an advantage over Azeris in a renewed war with Azerbaijan;

— Diaspora’s participation in the economic development of Armenia and Artsakh.

 

The conference, organized by the Diaspora Ministry, provided the participants the rare opportunity to offer their critical assessment of the situation in the homeland and to openly question Armenia’s and Artsakh’s highest officials. The political leaders and their diasporan guests emphasized the urgent need for a framework or structure that would coordinate the efforts of Armenians in Armenia, Artsakh and Diaspora. During the conference and media interviews, I proposed the creation of a pan-Armenian committee which would include representatives from Armenia, Artsakh, and Diaspora, to deal expressly with the critical needs of Artsakh, similar to the Centennial Committee for the Armenian Genocide, except that the Artsakh committee would be of a permanent nature.

 

On September 21, the conference participants were invited to attend the special presidential reception in celebration of Armenia’s Independence Day. The evening ended with an impressive concert and fireworks show in Republic Square.

 

Prior to arriving in Yerevan, I attended the spiritually uplifting consecration of Moscow’s Armenian Cathedral, which reportedly cost tens of millions of dollars contributed by generous Russian-Armenian businessmen. The magnificent church structure and the nearby community center are expected to play a critical role in preserving the Armenian language and Christian faith for the two-million Armenians living in Russia. The September 17 consecration ceremony was attended by the Presidents of Armenia and Artsakh,Catholicos Karekin II, high-ranking Armenian clergymen from around the world, and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill. Pres. Putin did not attend due to his absence from Moscow.

 

On this august occasion, a series of concerts, receptions and banquets were held in Moscow hosted by the Armenian Diocese of Russia for the large number of guests from throughout the world. In appreciation, Catholicos Karekin II recognized the two dozen benefactors of the Cathedral by bestowing upon them the highest honorific medals of the Armenian Church.

 

While in Moscow, I attended several jewelry-related events, organized by prominent Armenian jewelers in Russia. For the first time in a hundred years, an Armenian, Gagik Gevorkyan, President of Estet Jewelry House, was elected head of the prestigious Russian Jewelers Guild. Mr. Gevorkyan sponsored the lavish annual Jewelry Charity Ball at his company’s headquarters in Moscow, attended by over a thousand jewelers and their families, including well-known Armenian jewelers from France, Canada, and the United States.

 

With a sense of great pride, I watched members of the Armenian Jewelers Association from Russia and North America address the distinguished guests at the International Jewelry Economic Forum and display their precious handiwork at JUNWEX, the XII International Jewelry and Watch Exhibition.

 

Before departing Moscow, I gave several TV interviews and participated in a panel discussion on Hayk Demoyan’s new book, “Turkey’s Foreign Policy and the Karabagh Conflict.”

 

Despite the hectic schedule, my journey to Moscow and Yerevan opened up important networking opportunities for closer collaboration between Armenia and the two largest diaspora communities of Russia and the United States.

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some thoughts regarding recent noteworthy news items:

 

— Prominent Los Angeles attorney Mark Geragos, during his appearance on CNN last week, chided the United States for its double standard on the Armenian Genocide. When panelists Christiane Amanpour and Anderson Cooper were criticizing Iran’s denial of the Jewish Holocaust, Geragos reminded them about Pres. Obama’s unkept promise to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. “Our greatest ally in that region is Turkey. Yet, Turkey denies the Armenian Genocide. Obama as a candidate would talk about it, ‘when I am in office, I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.’ He has been completely stultified when he is in. So there is a political dynamic here at play that is a little hypocritical,” Geragos asserted.

 

— During the German elections on Sept. 22, eleven lawmakers of Turkish origin were elected to the German Bundestag, the country’s lower house of Parliament, more than doubling their number in the previous legislature. Armenians should not blindly criticize these 11 Parliamentarians because some — whether of Turkish or Kurdish origin — may be sympathetic to recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

 

— The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) fined Turkey over $200,000 for expropriating a Turkish family’s house, without paying compensation. The Court found that Turkey had violated the family’s property rights. The family had exhausted all appeals to Turkish courts before turning to ECHR for justice. A reader posted the following ironic observation on the website of the Turkish Daily News: “It seems like the Court of Christian Europe treats Muslim Turkish people with more respect than the Muslim courts in Turkey.”

 

— Turkish Minister of EU Affairs Egemen Bagish claimed last week that “Turkey will probably never become a member of the European Union because of stiff opposition and prejudiced attitudes from the bloc’s current members.” Bagish is wrong, as usual! Turkey will fail to become an EU member not because of Western prejudice, but due to its refusal to bring its laws up to European standards.

 

— Thousands of Christians, including Armenians, have been kidnapped, killed or maimed by Al-Qaida terrorists in Syria and yet not a single word of condemnation has been issued by any European or American official. Even worse, Western leaders are supplying lethal weapons to the extremists so they can kill more innocent people. It is time for the public in the Western world to show its outrage by mass protests and harsh rebukes. The US Congress should ban the delivery of weapons to all foreign fighters in Syria. Last week, an Armenian Catholic Church and a Greek Orthodox Church were desecrated and robbed in Rakka, Syria. The Jihadists shamefully climbed over the dome of the Armenian Church and replaced the cross with their black flag!

 

— The dictator of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, regularly and unwittingly assists the Armenian Cause by making hateful announcements that create a negative impression about his country in the international community. Aliyev’s outrageous statement that “Yerevan and Zangezour are Azeri territories” and “the time will come and we will live there,” is the raving and ranting of a deranged man with a pathological personality. Aliyev is expected to be elected to an unprecedented third term on October 9, meaning that Armenians will continue benefiting from his ‘helpful’ statements for several more years!

 

— The war of words escalated at the UN General Assembly last week as the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan made opposing statements. Below are excerpts from Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian’s remarks, accusing Azerbaijan for:

 

a) “Increasing warmongering and anti-Armenian hate-speech on a daily basis”

b) “Unprecedented accumulation of offensive weaponry in massive scale”

c) “Using mercenaries closely linked to notorious terrorist organizations”

d) “Glorification of an axe-murderer Safarov by Azerbaijani leadership”

 

Armenia’s Foreign Minister further stated that “the recognition, condemnation and prevention of genocide remains a priority for Armenia and we will take necessary actions to prevent new occurrences of the crime of genocide, while keeping high on the agenda the issue of responsibility for the crime against humanity and its denial…. As a nation that has survived the first genocide of the 20^th century, Armenia unequivocally welcomes the clear position adopted by the UN member states in precluding any possibility of immunity or pardon for perpetrators of crimes against humanity.”

 

 

 

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With the approaching Centennial of the Armenian Genocide, there has been growing public interest in taking legal action against Turkey in international courts.

 

One of the leading experts in this field was Dr. Yuri Barseghov, Professor of International Law, who wrote scores of pioneering books and articles on Armenian claims. Shortly before his death in 2008, Prof. Barseghov of Moscow outlined the basis for legal action against Turkey in an article titled: “Ways and Means of Assigning Responsibility for the Armenian Genocide.”

 

Dr. Barseghov maintained that in 1920, “the Ottoman Empire admitted its responsibility for committing this crime” by signing the Treaty of Sevres, which unfortunately was not ratified due to the reluctance of the Allied Powers to pressure Turkey. Since then, despite the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by dozens of countries and international organizations, Prof. Barseghov believed that such acknowledgments “will not solve the problem of [Turkish] responsibility.”

 

Prof. Barseghov contended that “since Turkey stubbornly continues to refuse recognizing that it committed this crime, it is still necessary to solve the question of responsibility for the Armenian Genocide through competent international bodies by making such decisions mandatory for both parties [Armenia and Turkey].”

 

Dr. Barseghov did not believe that the United Nations is a practical vehicle for the resolution of the Armenian Genocide issue, since it is a highly politicized body. “Decisions of the General Assembly are not mandatory,” while the major powers, such as the United States and Great Britain, enjoy the privilege of veto power in the Security Council blocking any action against Turkey.

 

The problem of initiating litigation under the statute of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is that both Armenia and Turkey have to agree in advance to abide by the decisions of the Court. Neither country has so far “recognized the obligatory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice.” Since Turkey most probably would not agree to submit itself to such jurisdiction, Dr. Barseghov suggested that the Republic of Armenia as a sovereign state take advantage of “the unique opportunity” of filing a unilateral case against Turkey on its responsibility for the Armenian Genocide, “under Article IX of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.”

 

Dr. Barseghov expressed regret that no response was received from the Armenian government after the Armenian Institute of International Law and Political Science of the Union of Armenians of Russia — which he directed — several years ago submitted a study on this subject to Pres. Robert Kocharian and Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian.

 

Dr. Barseghov explained that “in order to start a case by this judicial procedure [Article IX], the Government of Armenia has to formulate its position on the questions of interpretation, application or implementation of the Convention on this basis on the question of responsibility of the Turkish state for the committed crime.”

 

Prof. Barseghov warned Armenian officials that “there exists a provision in International Law which is confirmed by the International Court of Justice in other cases: if a state has the opportunity to submit a dispute but does not take such action, it would mean that the state accepts the existing situation.”

Dr. Barseghov allayed possible Armenian concerns that the ICJ may object to filing such a case due to questions regarding the retroactivity of the Genocide Convention. He expressed his firm belief that the Convention applies to the Armenian Genocide even though it preceded the Convention. He noted that the ICJ in its Advisory Opinion of 1951 stated: “the principles inherited by the Convention on Genocide, unlike the treaty obligations established in it, were already part of common international law by the time these awful crimes were committed.”

 

Prof. Barseghov pointed out that arguments supporting the Convention’s retroactivity were put forward by the ICJ which has “twice given competent, exhaustive explanations on the fundamental basic questions of the applicability of the Convention including also its retroactivity.” Based on these rulings, Prof. Barseghov concluded: “the Convention applies also to crimes committed in the past whose consequences have not been eliminated.”

 

As announced during a recent conference in Yerevan, the Armenian government has formed a task force to prepare the legal file for a case to be brought against Turkey in international courts. The expert advice of Prof. Barseghov and other specialists should ensure that the lawsuit is properly prepared and presented to obtain long overdue justice for Armenian Genocide victims.