Category: Harut Sassounian

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.

Over a year ago, a handful of young Armenians formed the American Armenian Rose Float Association and embarked on an ambitious project that many Armenians had contemplated for a long time, but no one had tried. They decided to enter the first Armenian float in 126 years in the world famous Rose Parade in Pasadena, California.

Around one billion people in over 100 countries watch this spectacular Parade on television on the first day of each year. In addition, an estimated crowd of 700,000 spectators line up along the 5.5-mile Parade route, braving the record-breaking cold temperatures, as my family did on January 1. Some even sleep on sidewalks overnight to have a front row view!

Soon-after the start of the Parade, viewers in Pasadena and around the world heard the unmistakable sound of blaring Duduks and witnessed a beautifully decorated Armenian float with thousands of flowers, accompanied by a dozen elegant dancers in traditional costumes. The overall theme of this year’s Rose Parade was “Inspiring Stories,” and the Armenian float was certainly inspiring with its fitting title, “Cradle of Civilization.” The official catalog of the Parade published the following glowing description along with a picture of the float:

“Welcome to the ‘Cradle of Civilization,’ a float presented by the Armenian community to share their centuries-old rich cultural heritage with the United States and the world. The American Armenian Rose Parade float is a showcase of the contributions Armenians have made to this great nation and around the globe. Every item on this float, from the carpet, the tree of life and the birds and fruits, to the eternity sign and the Duduk (flute), symbolizes a specific aspect of the Armenian culture, including religion, education, industry, music, dance and beyond. The prevailing color is a specific red that is extracted from a worm found only on the mountains of Armenia.” More specifically, the float featured storks, peacocks, pomegranates, apricots, grapes, the Armenian alphabet, figure of an Armenian woman with traditional headdress and costume symbolizing “Mother Armenia,” and a partial church frame representing Armenian architecture. The float was awarded the prestigious “President’s Trophy.”

Riding on the 55 ft. long, 28 ft. high, and 18 ft. wide float were several celebrities, including Samuel Der Yeghiayan (first immigrant Armenian US Federal Judge), Gabriel Injejikian (founder of first Armenian day school in the U.S.), Flora Dunaians (noted humanitarian and philanthropist from Pasadena), prominent attorney Mark Geragos, television host Jill Simonian, former Pasadena Police Chief Bernard Melekian, and actress Angela Sarafyan. Amazingly, exactly 100 years ago, an Armenian businessman, Movses Pashgian, was the Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade in 1915!

Even though the float cost $300,000 to build, it was well worth the money, as Armenian culture, for the first time in history, was showcased to over one billion people around the world, at the bargain price of less than a penny per person! Just days before the Parade, the Armenian float organizers were still $110,000 short of their goal. Fortunately, they received a few more donations in recent days, leaving a current balance of $90,000. Those wishing to help cover this deficit can make a tax-deductible contribution by visiting www.aarfa.org.

Given the extensive TV coverage on American and international channels, the Armenian float received numerous positive comments in the social media and websites around the world. Some TV networks even commented that 2015 coincided with the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

Since Armenians regularly bring up the genocide issue in their interaction with ‘odar’ circles, most non-Armenians know that Armenian are a victimized nation, but are unaware of their rich cultural heritage and ancient civilization. The world should know that despite the Young Turks’ sinister efforts to eliminate the Armenian people, they have succeeded not only to survive, but to thrive!

This is particularly important for young Armenians who need to grow up with positive role models to look up to and take pride in their heritage rather than feeling like downtrodden victims who seek pity. The Rose Parade float did a magnificent job in celebrating Armenian culture and promoting its image worldwide.

Energized by the tremendous popular reaction to their participation in this year’s Tournament of Roses, the organizers pledged to have an Armenian float in the Pasadena Parade every year from now on!

Here is a surprising news item being disclosed for the first time in this column — Amal Ramzi Alamuddin, wife of prominent actor and human rights activist George Clooney, will be one of the attorneys representing Armenia next month at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Some readers may wonder how a woman described by Elle magazine as having “stunning looks, flirty dresses, tailored pants, colorful heels, and gorgeous hair” is involved in such a complex legal matter?

It may be astonishing to most people that Amal Alamuddin, now Mrs. Clooney, is much more than a pretty face! In fact, she is perfectly qualified for this critical assignment.

Mrs. Clooney is a highly regarded attorney specializing in international law, criminal law, human rights, and extradition. She has been involved in several major lawsuits such as return of the Elgin Marbles from Great Britain to Greece, and defending Julian Assange of WikiLeaks and former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. She has also worked with the Prosecutor of the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon, and the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia.

Amal was born in Lebanon to a Druze father and Sunni Muslim mother in 1978. At the age of two, her family moved to the United Kingdom. She received her law degree from New York University School of Law and clerked at the International Court of Justice (World Court). After returning to London in 2010, she became a barrister at the Doughty Street Chambers. She served as advisor to Kofi Annan, UN Special Envoy on Syria, and as Counsel to the 2013 UN Drone Inquiry team. She is fluent in English, French and Arabic. Her marriage to George Clooney in September 2014 made worldwide headlines.

With such impeccable credentials, Mrs. Clooney will be a great asset to Armenia’s legal team in Strasbourg, in the appeal of Perincek vs. Switzerland before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights on January 28.

The case involves the conviction by Swiss courts of Dogu Perincek, a minor Turkish political party leader, who had travelled to Switzerland in 2005 with the explicit intent of denying the truth of the Armenian Genocide. In 2008, Perincek appealed the Swiss ruling to the European Court of Human Rights. A majority of five out of seven ECHR judges ruled on Dec. 17, 2013 that Switzerland had violated Perincek’s right to free expression.

This ruling was an unfair and unacceptable double standard, as the court considered denial of the Jewish Holocaust a crime, but prohibition of the Armenian Genocide denial an infringement on free speech. The five judges who ruled against Switzerland made countless judgmental and factual errors, misrepresenting Perincek’s allegations, misinterpreting Switzerland’s laws and court rulings, lacking basic knowledge of the Armenian Genocide, and repeatedly contradicting themselves. Two of the seven judges disagreed with the majority’s ruling and submitted a comprehensive 19-page report on the Armenian Genocide, siding with the Swiss court.

On March 17, 2014, Switzerland decided to appeal the ruling to ECHR’s 17-judge Grand Chamber, to defend the integrity of its laws and the country’s legal system. Specifically, the Swiss government challenged the court’s decision on three grounds:

1) ECHR had never before dealt with the juridical qualification of genocide and the scope of freedom of expression;
2) The undue restriction of “the margin of appreciation” available to Switzerland under ECHR’s jurisprudence;
3) The establishment of ‘artificial distinctions’ — in the absence of an international verdict, ECHR should have considered the Turkish Court’s 1919 guilty verdicts against the masterminds of the Armenian Genocide as evidence related to World Court’s jurisprudence.

Last year, when ECHR’s lower court was considering Perincek’s case, Armenia did not participate. Turkey, however, intervened by submitting extensive documentation questioning the veracity of the Armenian Genocide. This time around Armenia will take part with a strong legal team, which includes Geoffrey Robertson QC, a preeminent international lawyer and author of the remarkable book, “An Inconvenient Genocide: Who Now Remembers the Armenians?” Robertson will be joined in court by his associate Amal Clooney, and two Armenian government representatives Gevorg Kostanyan and Emil Babayan.

It is imperative that on the eve of the Armenian Genocide’s Centennial in 2015, ECHR’s Grand Chamber reverse the lower court’s flawed ruling, restoring the integrity of Swiss laws and preventing Turkey and Perincek from exporting their genocide denialism to Europe and beyond!

The JNS.org website (Jewish and Israel news) posted a venomous, anti-Armenian article by Arye Gut with a bombastic headline: “Anti-Semitism in Armenia: A Clear and Present Danger.”

JNS.org identifies the author as “an Azerbaijani Israeli” who is “a board member of the Israeli-Azerbaijani International Organization, official coordinator of the ‘Justice for Khojaly!’ international campaign in Israel, and an expert in international relations.”

Dozens of Azeri and Turkic media outlets rushed to reprint this Armenophobic propaganda, stressing that it originated from a ‘popular’ Jewish news source. The article may have been written in Baku, planted in Israeli and Jewish publications, and then reprinted in Azerbaijan to lead readers into thinking that it comes from an objective third party source.

Gut claims that Armenia’s Jewish minority “shrunk dramatically” after the end of “a more tolerant” Soviet rule! He admits, as an afterthought, that “Armenia’s ongoing economic collapse” is equally responsible for the dwindling number of Jews “from more than 5,000 to just a few hundred.” Gut fails to mention, however, that during the same period over one million Armenians also left their homeland due to abysmal economic conditions.

The Azeri-Israeli author further accuses Armenians of “cultural violence,” referring to the existence of anti-Semitic books and TV programs. Yet he grudgingly acknowledges that “such unfortunate incidents” occur “in many countries.” If that is the case, why is he singling out Armenia? Could it be that he has ulterior motives? As “official coordinator of the ‘Justice for Khojaly!’ international campaign in Israel,” is Gut a paid agent or doing all this hard work — writing pro-Azerbaijan/anti-Armenia articles — out of the goodness of his heart?

Gut goes on to defame Armenians, claiming that “around 1.3 million out of 2.2 million adults in Armenia expressed anti-Semitic attitudes.” He misleads readers into thinking that he has personally interviewed 1.3 million Armenians all of whom supposedly made anti-Jewish statements! What Gut is referring to is Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) flawed global survey which reported that 58% of a random sample of 500 Armenians, interviewed mostly by telephone, expressed anti-Semitic views. As Gut’s figure of 1.3 million Armenians comes from ADL’s survey, he should have also mentioned the results of the same survey for his beloved Azerbaijan — one of the worst violators of human rights in the world — which shows that 2.4 million Azeris harbored anti-Semitic sentiments, almost double the number of Armenians!

Since Gut is concealing Azerbaijan’s figures, let’s expose them to see how they compare with those of Armenia, based on the results of ADL’s 11-question survey:

1) 3.2 million Azeris and 1.5 million Armenians replied “probably true”: “Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the country they live in.”
2) 3.4 million Azeris and 1.6 million Armenians replied “probably true”: “Jews have too much power in the business world.”
3) 3.2 million Azeris and 1.5 million Armenians replied “probably true”: “Jews have too much power in international financial markets.”
4) 2 million Azeris and 1 million Armenians replied “probably true”: “Jews still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust.”
5) 3.4 million Azeris and 1.3 million Armenians replied “probably true”: “Jews don’t care what happens to anyone but their own kind.”
6) 2.5 million Azeris and 1.1 million Armenians replied “probably true”: “Jews have too much control over global affairs.”
7) 2.5 million Azeris and 1.1 million Armenians replied “probably true”: “Jews have too much control over the United States government.”
8) 2.4 million Azeris and 1.2 million Armenians replied “probably true”: “Jews think they are better than other people.”
9) 2.3 million Azeris and 0.9 million Armenians replied “probably true”: “Jews have too much control over the global media.”
10) 2 million Azeris and 0.8 million Armenians replied “probably true”: “Jews are responsible for most of the world’s wars.”
11) 2.4 million Azeris and 1.4 million Armenians replied “probably true”: “People hate Jews because of the way Jews behave.”

ADL’s Global Survey results are even more devastating for Turkey — 34 million Turks out of an adult population of 49 million are found to be anti-Semitic.

Gut concludes his anti-Armenian diatribe by depicting the so-called “Khojaly massacre” as “one of the worst tragedies of the 20th century,” thereby raising the alleged killing of “613 people” in Khojaly during the Karabagh war to the level of 6 million victims of the Jewish Holocaust and 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide!

Gut must be unaware of Benjamin Franklin’s famous words: “Don’t throw stones at your neighbors, if your own windows are glass!”

The JNS.org website (Jewish and Israel news) posted a venomous, anti-Armenian article by Arye Gut with a bombastic headline: “Anti-Semitism in Armenia: A Clear and Present Danger.”

JNS.org identifies the author as “an Azerbaijani Israeli” who is “a board member of the Israeli-Azerbaijani International Organization, official coordinator of the ‘Justice for Khojaly!’ international campaign in Israel, and an expert in international relations.”

Dozens of Azeri and Turkic media outlets rushed to reprint this Armenophobic propaganda, stressing that it originated from a ‘popular’ Jewish news source. The article may have been written in Baku, planted in Israeli and Jewish publications, and then reprinted in Azerbaijan to lead readers into thinking that it comes from an objective third party source.

Gut claims that Armenia’s Jewish minority “shrunk dramatically” after the end of “a more tolerant” Soviet rule! He admits, as an afterthought, that “Armenia’s ongoing economic collapse” is equally responsible for the dwindling number of Jews “from more than 5,000 to just a few hundred.” Gut fails to mention, however, that during the same period over one million Armenians also left their homeland due to abysmal economic conditions.

The Azeri-Israeli author further accuses Armenians of “cultural violence,” referring to the existence of anti-Semitic books and TV programs. Yet he grudgingly acknowledges that “such unfortunate incidents” occur “in many countries.” If that is the case, why is he singling out Armenia? Could it be that he has ulterior motives? As “official coordinator of the ‘Justice for Khojaly!’ international campaign in Israel,” is Gut a paid agent or doing all this hard work — writing pro-Azerbaijan/anti-Armenia articles — out of the goodness of his heart?

Gut goes on to defame Armenians, claiming that “around 1.3 million out of 2.2 million adults in Armenia expressed anti-Semitic attitudes.” He misleads readers into thinking that he has personally interviewed 1.3 million Armenians all of whom supposedly made anti-Jewish statements! What Gut is referring to is Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) flawed global survey which reported that 58% of a random sample of 500 Armenians, interviewed mostly by telephone, expressed anti-Semitic views. As Gut’s figure of 1.3 million Armenians comes from ADL’s survey, he should have also mentioned the results of the same survey for his beloved Azerbaijan — one of the worst violators of human rights in the world — which shows that 2.4 million Azeris harbored anti-Semitic sentiments, almost double the number of Armenians!

Since Gut is concealing Azerbaijan’s figures, let’s expose them to see how they compare with those of Armenia, based on the results of ADL’s 11-question survey:

1) 3.2 million Azeris and 1.5 million Armenians replied “probably true”: “Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the country they live in.”
2) 3.4 million Azeris and 1.6 million Armenians replied “probably true”: “Jews have too much power in the business world.”
3) 3.2 million Azeris and 1.5 million Armenians replied “probably true”: “Jews have too much power in international financial markets.”
4) 2 million Azeris and 1 million Armenians replied “probably true”: “Jews still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust.”
5) 3.4 million Azeris and 1.3 million Armenians replied “probably true”: “Jews don’t care what happens to anyone but their own kind.”
6) 2.5 million Azeris and 1.1 million Armenians replied “probably true”: “Jews have too much control over global affairs.”
7) 2.5 million Azeris and 1.1 million Armenians replied “probably true”: “Jews have too much control over the United States government.”
8) 2.4 million Azeris and 1.2 million Armenians replied “probably true”: “Jews think they are better than other people.”
9) 2.3 million Azeris and 0.9 million Armenians replied “probably true”: “Jews have too much control over the global media.”
10) 2 million Azeris and 0.8 million Armenians replied “probably true”: “Jews are responsible for most of the world’s wars.”
11) 2.4 million Azeris and 1.4 million Armenians replied “probably true”: “People hate Jews because of the way Jews behave.”

ADL’s Global Survey results are even more devastating for Turkey — 34 million Turks out of an adult population of 49 million are found to be anti-Semitic.

Gut concludes his anti-Armenian diatribe by depicting the so-called “Khojaly massacre” as “one of the worst tragedies of the 20th century,” thereby raising the alleged killing of “613 people” in Khojaly during the Karabagh war to the level of 6 million victims of the Jewish Holocaust and 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide!

Gut must be unaware of Benjamin Franklin’s famous words: “Don’t throw stones at your neighbors, if your own windows are glass!”

I delve this week into a thorny subject that has distressed much of the Armenian world: The uproar generated by the highly critical and harshly-worded letter posted on the internet by the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem Nourhan Manougian addressed to His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians.

I was asked by several reputable individuals in leadership positions in Armenia and Diaspora to comment on this controversy hoping to calm down the tense atmosphere. I consented, not because I believe that my column would resolve the immediate problem, but to address the larger issues facing the Armenian nation at this critical juncture in our history.

The Jerusalem Patriarch’s lengthy letter contained two specific complaints: His understanding that at a meeting last September in Etchmiadzin, there was a discussion about converting the historic and autonomous Patriarchate of Jerusalem into one of the Dioceses of the Mother Church. The Jerusalem Patriarchate is one of the four Hierarchical Sees of the Armenian Apostolic Church, along with the Catholicosate of All Armenians, Catholicosate of the Great of Cilicia, and the Patriarchate of Istanbul. Patriarch Manougian’s letter also complained about Karekin II’s refusal to ordain Father Baret Yeretzian as Bishop, at the request of the Synod of the St. James Brotherhood of Jerusalem.

While Catholicos Karekin II and several of his Primates adamantly deny that there ever was discussion on converting the Jerusalem Patriarchate into a Diocese, some attendees of the September meeting have reported otherwise. There was a similar controversy involving the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul over a decade ago. Back then, Patriarch Mesrob Mutafian had also written an angry letter to Karekin Vehapar denouncing any attempt to lower the status of the Istanbul Patriarchate to a Diocese of Holy Etchmiadzin.

In response to the Jerusalem Patriarch’s Nov. 24 letter, the Supreme Spiritual Council issued a statement on Dec. 1, followed by individually-written letters by a few Primates affiliated with the Catholicosate of All Armenians, denouncing the ‘unacceptable’ tone and ‘false’ content of the Patriarch’s letter. They also expressed indignation that Patriarch Manougian had posted his letter on the internet rather than sending it privately to His Holiness Karekin II. The Patriarch had justified his decision by explaining that Karekin II had not responded to his previous letter. Ironically, the Primates castigating the Jerusalem Patriarch for posting his letter on the internet were doing the same thing themselves, further publicizing the Patriarch’s letter and fanning the flames of controversy.

The dispute over the Jerusalem Patriarch’s letter should not be viewed as an isolated incident. It is merely one manifestation of many serious, but neglected, tribulations inflicting the Armenian nation. Such high-level public controversies only aggravate our existing problems, including public distrust of leaders in Armenia and Diaspora, dwindling church attendance, declining membership in community organizations, economic crisis causing emigration from Armenia, Armenia-Diaspora disagreements, and weakening cultural identity in the Diaspora. These internal failings diminish the ability of the nation to confront existential issues, such as the security of the Armenian Republic, the Artsakh (Karabagh) conflict, Armenian demands from Turkey, survival of the Armenian community in Syria, and the preservation of the Armenian Patriarchates of Jerusalem and Istanbul.

These grave challenges, which could have catastrophic consequences for the survival of Armenia and the Armenian people, cannot be resolved by letter-writing campaigns. What is needed is a globally coordinated effort to find pan-Armenian solutions.

One possible solution is creating a democratically elected Diaspora-wide body that can truly represent the seven million Armenians throughout the world, outside Armenia and Artsakh. These Diaspora representatives, in conjunction with the leadership of Armenia and Artsakh, can claim to speak in the name of all Armenians worldwide. Whenever a crisis arises, this trio would have the authority and standing to settle all political, ecclesiastical and socio-economic discords among Armenians as well as defend the nation from external threats.

In the absence of such a worldwide elected entity, the existing Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee should be restructured so that after next April it can coordinate all significant issues with leaders of Armenia, Artsakh, and major Armenians organizations, along with some notable personalities.

It is incumbent on all Armenians to come together and resolve their critical issues before internal feuds and external perils threaten the survival of this ancient nation!