During my recent trip to Armenia, journalists repeatedly asked which US presidential candidate I supported in the November 6 elections. My answer was clear and unequivocal: I supported neither Pres. Obama nor Governor Romney. Upon my return to the US, I was pleased to learn that the Armenian National Committee of America had made the same decision by not endorsing either candidate.

This was not a difficult decision. Both candidates have been disappointing. The President has not kept his word on many Armenian and non-Armenian issues, while his rival has not shown the slightest interest in the Armenian-American community and its issues.

Here is Pres. Obama’s long list of unkept promises on Armenian issues:

1. During the 2008 presidential campaign, he repeatedly pledged to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, and broke his promise after the election.

2. Furthermore, the Obama administration opposed the adoption of a congressional resolution on the Armenian Genocide.

3. Pres. Obama significantly reduced the amount of foreign aid to Armenia and Artsakh (Karabagh). Moreover, his administration did not spend the full amount of aid Congress had allocated to Artsakh.

4. He pressured Armenia to sign the infamous “Protocols” with Turkey in 2009.

5. He did not press Turkey to lift its blockade of Armenia.

6. He remained silent in the face of repeated saber-rattling by Azerbaijan’s President against Armenia and Artsakh, and ignored his campaign pledge to support Artsakh’s self-determination.

7. In late December 2010, circumventing the “hold” placed by U.S. Senators, Pres. Obama unilaterally appointed Matt Bryza as Ambassador to Azerbaijan. Bryza’s candidacy had been overwhelmingly opposed by the Armenian-American community.

8. Breaking another promise, Pres. Obama failed to promote trade with Armenia.

9. He and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not respond to repeated requests to meet with Armenian-American community leaders to address their concerns.

Armenian-Americans do not need to beg Pres. Obama to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, since Pres. Ronald Reagan had issued such a statement in his Presidential Proclamation of April 22, 1981. By not acknowledging the Armenian Genocide, Pres. Obama simply undermined his own credibility. Most Armenian-Americans trusted him in 2008. They no longer trust him in 2012! As the popular saying goes, “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me!”

Those who think that such an assessment is too harsh and too narrowly focused on Armenian issues should be advised that Pres. Obama has not kept 86 other promises on national and international issues, according to politifact.com.

Governor Romney has not fared any better with Armenian-Americans. He has avoided any contacts with the community, making no attempt to seek their support and votes. The concern is that if he shows such callous disregard when he desperately needs every single vote to get elected, he will most definitely not pay any attention to Armenians and their issues after the election!

Clearly, it is unwise for both presidential candidates not to court the support of Armenian-American voters in crucial swing states, at a time when the race is so tight that a handful of votes could mean the difference between victory and defeat. However, it is still not too late for the two candidates to sit down with the leadership of the Armenian-American community and address their concerns. This will not be an easy conversation. As it would be practically impossible to trust Pres. Obama’s new promises, his only credible response would be to take a positive step on an important Armenian issue before Nov. 6! Gov. Romney, on the other hand, has more of an uphill battle. Being a candidate, he can only make promises that would not be taken too seriously at this late hour.

To avoid being fooled again by false promises, the Armenian-American community needs to adopt a new election strategy. Only those candidates who have fulfilled their campaign promises during their first term in office should be supported for reelection. Promises made by new candidates or those with no solid record of accomplishments on Armenian issues should be simply ignored.

Finally, not voting for either presidential candidate does not mean sitting out the elections. One third of the US Senators are up for reelection as well as all 435 House Members. Armenian-American voters should reward candidates supportive of their issues by voting them back into office, and should punish their opponents by voting them out of office! Please consult ANCA’s ratings of all congressional candidates on www.anca.org.

In this third and final article on the debate organized by the Armenian National Committee of America, Western Region, Congressmen Howard Berman and Brad Sherman answered questions from panelists Harut Sassounian and Ara Khachatourian on the safety of Syrian Armenians, the Safarov scandal, the independence of Nagorno Karabagh (Artsakh), and Israel’s arms sales to Azerbaijan.

Cong. Sherman acknowledged that some of the opposition elements in Syria “are extremely hostile to Christians in Syria.” He warned that there would be “consequences for not treating with respect the human rights of the Christian minority.”

When asked what specifically Congress could do to assist Syrian Armenians, Cong. Berman stated: “There are direct USAID relationships, and there are more covert kinds of ways to ensure that the Christian communities in Syria are being sustained and are being helped.”

Cong. Berman expressed his concern about Israel’s sale to Azerbaijan of more than one billion dollars of sophisticated weapons which could be used against Armenia. When he indicated that there was a similar relationship between Armenia and Iran, panelist Harut Sassounian challenged the accuracy of that statement. Cong. Berman withdrew his statement, acknowledging that he was not aware of such “ongoing relationship between Iran and Armenia.”

Cong. Sherman objected to the US sale of weapons to Azerbaijan: “We should not be providing any military aid to Azerbaijan, period, and based on what happened in Hungary and based on how this murderer was treated when he returned to Baku, we should not be conducting NATO exercises knowing that perhaps the next soldier, who is hit with an axe in the head and killed, might very well be an American soldier.”

Cong. Berman: “We want to make sure that Armenia is secure and that the people of Nagorno-Karabagh get to determine their own future. … Azerbaijan, with its resources, ends up getting stuff they don’t financially need, for security threats they don’t really have, because of their economic clout.”

When asked why most of the aid allocated by Congress for Artsakh was being withheld by the State Department, Cong. Sherman stated: “I’ve requested language to be included in the foreign operations appropriations bill to require USAID to actually spend money on humanitarian development for the people of Artsakh, for the people in the Republic of Nagorno-Karabagh, and I’m pleased to report that the committee has included that language in its report.”

Questioned on the need to recognize Artsakh’s independence, Cong. Sherman stated: “I think Nagorno-Karabagh is an independent state, period. It’s time to put an embassy in Stepanakert.  Nagorno-Karabagh is a state because that’s what its people have clearly indicated they want.”

Cong. Berman, on the other hand, was a little more cautious: “The people of Los Angeles don’t get to decide for Nagorno-Karabagh, the people of Nagorno-Karabagh get to decide. Self-determination for the people in Nagorno-Karabagh is the critical issue. I have no doubt that they want independence and that’s where I’d like to see the process headed, but we are in a negotiation process that the government of Armenia and the government of Azerbaijan have agreed to.”

Cong. Sherman retorted: “I agree with Howard [Berman]. It’s for the people of Artsakh to decide whether they’re an independent country. They’ve decided! They are — and its time for Howard to acknowledge that Nagorno-Karabagh is an independent republic.”

Regarding Hungary’s extradition of the Azeri axe murderer to Azerbaijan, Cong. Sherman was certain that this action would “affect our military relationship with Hungary…. Several days ago, I sent a letter to the Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense saying that Azerbaijan should certainly be suspended from this kind of military cooperation.”

Cong. Berman added that “every single NATO country, and that includes Hungary, has now an obligation to suspend Azerbaijan from participation in partnership for peace activities until this wrong is righted.”

In his closing statement, Cong. Berman promised to continue fighting “for the US recognition of the genocide as we approach the 100th anniversary. It’s not just my commitment as a congressman, but as a Jew whose own people suffered its own genocide. Because the world ignored yours, I will continue to fight for the rights of the Armenian Church and Armenian people who live in Turkey…. I’ll fight for the right of self-determination and well-being of the people of Artsakh which was part of the ancient kingdom of Armenia.”

Cong. Sherman concluded the debate by pledging: “I’m with you seven days a week, and with your help, I’ll be there with you for seven days a week for another 20 years!”

U.S. — Harut Sassounian,

A prominent Armenian American scholar believes the time has come for raising demands for justice instead of seeking reaffirmations of what more than two dozen governments of the world and many historians have recognized as the genocide of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey at the beginning of last century.

Harut Sassounian, a writer, public activist and publisher of the United States-based English-language Armenian weekly, California Courier, late last week attended a Yerevan-hosted pan-Armenian forum of journalists that dealt with issues of the coming centennial of the 1915 Genocide in which some 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or deported from their native land.

In an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service (Azatutyun.am) over the weekend Sassounian dwelt on some of the points of his speech that he made in front of nearly 90 colleagues from Armenian communities worldwide who attended the event initiated by Armenia’s Diaspora Ministry.

Sassounian, in particular, said that marking the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide should stand out from all previous commemorations by a changed approach to seeking justice in view of the broad recognition of the Armenian Genocide that already exists in the world.

“I think that in general we already have the recognition of the Genocide. We’ve made a lot of progress in the past few decades and more than 20 countries recognize the Genocide today, as do many international organizations, the European Parliament, the United Nations, hundreds of Holocaust and Genocide specialists and historians, even the United States Government,” the scholar said.

Stressing that Turkey’s admission of guilt for the slaughter of Armenians should, therefore, be treated as only a “secondary matter”, Sassounian urged Armenians to start defending their rights in courts. “Regardless of whether the criminal pleads guilty or not, we should demand justice in court,” Sassounian stressed.

In his speech at the forum the 62-year-old descendant of Genocide survivors who was born in Aleppo, Syria, also addressed the current plight of ethnic Armenians in this war-torn Middle Eastern country.

During Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian’s meeting with participants of the forum Sassounian raised the issue of rendering aid to Syrian Armenians in a more coordinated manner by dedicating this year’s fundraiser for a pan-Armenian charity to solving the problems of Syrian Armenians.

The head of the Armenian government said there was already such an instruction from the head of state and that it was now a matter of discussion with the All-Armenian Hayastan Fund’s Board of Trustees.

“My proposal was that we be helpful to both those who remain in Syria and those who leave their homes in Syria. We should not be arguing now over issues like whether they should stay or go or over what they should or shouldn’t be doing. It is clear that they are in dire straits and no one is dealing with this [situation],” said Sassounian, adding that whatever has been done by Diaspora-based organizations and the government of Armenia to help ethnic Armenians in Syria is nowhere near enough to meet the needs of the struggling community.

Syria is home to an estimated 80,000 ethnic Armenians mostly concentrated in Aleppo. Hundreds of them have taken refuge in Armenia since fighting between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian opposition reached the city last July. Meanwhile, concerns have been raised recently in Armenia and among the far-flung Armenian Diaspora that Syrian Armenians’ continued emigration could put at risk the further existence of their traditional Christian community in the predominantly Muslim country.

RFE/RL

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Restoration of justice instead of recognition Harout Sassounian suggests new wording

According to him, Armenia should make it clear to the world that the freedom-loving people cannot live in a country, which honors axe-murderers. However, the most challenging problems Armenians face today, is the physical survival of Syrian Armenians.

2012/10/09/restoration-of-justice-instead-of-recognition/

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U.S.-based publisher urges to demand for justice in Genocide issue

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Harut Sassounian: Armenia’s government has to protest against injustice committed against our nation

“We know that the Genocide has taken place; the world is aware of the fact. We cannot make the Turks recognize it by either force or documents, so let them do whatever they like.

“This is probably a global expression, but Armenia’s government has to pursue its steps, protesting against the injustice committed against our nation,” he said, stressing the need of involving Diaspora’s potential in demanding compensation from the powerful neighbor.

current_topics/2012/10/09/genociderecognition/

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We need to set up diaspora parliament – Sassounian

politics/2012/10/09/diasporaparliamet/

 

(to be continued)

Four Azeri and Turkish-American organizations launched a coordinated anti-Armenian campaign last week, attacking the integrity of Mark Hoplamazian, Chief Executive Officer of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, in order to intimidate him and other Armenian-American executives.

In a letter to Thomas Pritzker, Executive Chairman of Hyatt Board of Directors, leaders of the Assembly of Turkish-American Associations (ATAA), Azerbaijani-American Council (AAC), Federation of Turkish-American Associations (FTAA), and Azerbaijan Society of America (ASA) accused Hoplamazian of involvement in “ethnic propaganda campaigns.”

The Azeri and Turkish groups attacked Hoplamazian for speaking at the Sept. 22 banquet of “the Armenian Assembly of America (AAA), an Armenian-American lobbying group, as a Hyatt executive.” They also expressed their unhappiness that he “serves on the Advisory Board of ‘Facing History and Ourselves,’ a non-profit group that ‘teaches about the Armenian genocide.’”

The four Turkic organizations claimed that “Mr. Hoplamazian’s engagement with ethnic special interest groups that spread antagonisms against Turkey and Azerbaijan may be in violation of the Conflicts of Interest clause of Hyatt’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics.” However, a review of the hotel chain’s Code, posted on its website, does not provide the slightest hint that the Hyatt executive violated any of its provisions.

In their letter, the Azeri and Turkish groups made a series of malicious statements by referring to the Armenian Genocide as an “allegation” and “World War I-era inter-communal atrocities.” They falsely alleged that these “atrocities” were “never tried in any tribunal and no intent to exterminate Armenians was ever established. No sentences or court verdicts were issued in terms of the 1948 United Nations Convention on Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.”

By making such ridiculous claims, the leaders of these Turkic organizations simply exposed their ignorance of the basic facts of the Armenian Genocide. They conveniently forgot about the Turkish Military Tribunals of 1919 that sentenced the Turkish ringleaders of the Armenian Genocide to death. US, Swiss, and Argentinean Federal Courts have also reaffirmed the veracity of the Armenian Genocide. Furthermore, the UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities adopted in 1985 a report classifying the Armenian Genocide as an example of genocide.

The Azeri and Turkish groups also claimed that they represent “over half million Americans of Turkic descent.” This cannot be true simply because there aren’t that many Turkic people living in the United States, according to the latest US census. Even if there were half a million Turkic Americans, it is highly doubtful if all of them would have given their consent to be represented by these organizations for such absurd misadventures. Most probably, these four groups altogether have a tiny fraction of the constituencies they claim!

Clearly, the faulty statements and silly accusations of these Turkic groups are intended to intimidate Hoplamazian and force him to disengage from any involvement in Armenian or genocide-related issues. More ominously, by targeting and making an example of the Hyatt CEO, Azeri and Turkish groups hope to discourage other Armenian-American executives from pursuing similar activities.

In their joint letter, the Azeri and Turkish groups have indirectly threatened Hyatt’s corporate interests by indicating that the company “currently runs a total of four successful hotels in Istanbul, Turkey, and Baku, Azerbaijan.” One wonders if the governments of Azerbaijan and Turkey have authorized these two-bit groups to speak on their behalf. Moreover, do these organizations realize that they are undermining the business interests of their native countries by foolishly threatening a global corporation like Hyatt?

It would be highly regrettable if the unwise Azeri and Turkish campaign against prominent Armenian-American executives would start an undesirable chain of events that could lead the Armenian community to take counter-actions against successful Turkish-American businessmen, such as Muhtar Kent, Chairman and CEO of Coca Cola Company.

The Azeri-Turkish letter is highly unlikely to bring any tangible benefits to these groups, as Hyatt’s Board of Directors would most probably dismiss their baseless allegations. More importantly, such a racist assault on the integrity of an exemplary Armenian-American executive would energize Armenians on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Genocide to pursue more vigorously their just demands from both Turkey and Azerbaijan!

Lastly, it is outrageous that these Azeri and Turkish groupings kept totally silent when an Azeri officer axed to death a sleeping Armenian in Budapest, but are now alarmed when an Armenian-American CEO exercises his right to free speech in Beverly Hills!