Category: Authors

Karabagh War Comes to Hollywood, Courtesy of Azerbaijan

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Karabagh (Artsakh) should not give free license to anyone to make racist and insulting statements about people on the other side of the border. Even under war conditions, there are civilized norms of behavior.

Since these two neighboring countries are in the midst of delicate negotiations to resolve their thorny conflict, it is highly irresponsible to pour oil on the fire by inciting inter-ethnic and inter-religious hatred, and inflaming pent up emotions! While some Armenians may engage in periodic emotional outbursts, Azerbaijan’s leaders have elevated the making of racist statements and anti-Armenian threats into state policy!

Such despicable behavior has caused the Artsakh conflict to spill over into Hungary (by using an axe), Mexico (by offering a $5 million bounty for Aliyev’s statue with an anti-Armenian plaque in a park), and many other countries around the world, thousands of miles away from the actual theater of conflict!

The Azeris have now decided to fight the Artsakh war in Hollywood, after Armenia officially submitted for an Oscar an innocuous film titled “If Only Everyone,” for the category of Best Foreign Film. The movie’s American premiere was held last Saturday at the ARPA International Film Festival in Hollywood.

The Armenian movie depicts the story of a young Russian girl whose father was killed during the Artsakh war. Twenty years later, she comes to Armenia hoping that the Commander of her father’s military unit would help locate his unmarked grave. After a lengthy search, the young girl discovers that her father’s grave lies on the other side of the border, inside Azerbaijan. She and the Armenian Commander cross the frontline surreptitiously in the cover of darkness, and while planting a birch tree by her father’s grave, are confronted by an armed Azeri shepherd who threatens to shoot them. Upon learning that the girl’s father is buried there, the Azeri lets them go safely after telling them with a heavy heart, that his 10-year-old son had also died during the war after stepping on a landmine. The Azeri shepherd tells that he is unable to visit his son’s grave because it is located inside Artsakh. The movie ends on a high note with a wonderful gesture, when the Russian girl and her Armenian companions plant another tree, this time next to the young Azeri boy’s grave.

Even though the movie neither contains anti-Azeri rhetoric nor depicts any scenes of the Karabagh war, Azerbaijani journalists have harshly attacked it without having seen a single clip. Apparently, the fact that it was an Armenian film was enough reason for them to try and undermine its submission for the Academy Awards! The Azeri media falsely labeled the movie as a “propaganda film” and an example of “the information war unleashed by Armenia against Azerbaijan.”

To make matters worse, Ali Hajizade, an Azeri journalist, attacked Teni Melidonian, the publicist for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for simply being of Armenian heritage! As part of her official duties, she had issued a press release that named all 71 foreign countries that had submitted movies for the Foreign Language Film category, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey!

It is important for Azeris to understand that such racist remarks have no place in civilized society. The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan needs to be resolved through peaceful negotiations, not by hurling xenophobic insults. Someday, when peace returns to the region, Armenians and Azeris will have to live side by side, not as enemies, but as neighbors and friends. Azeris who are engaged in sowing seeds of hatred and racism are not only besmirching their own reputation, but unnecessarily aggravating and prolonging the antagonism between the two peoples.

Fortunately, Armenians have refrained from retaliating against the film submitted by Azerbaijan to the Oscars. Political feuds should not be converted into cultural wars or personal vendettas. May the best movie win regardless of whether it is produced by an Armenian, an Azeri or a Turk! The Academy will announce the short list of nine films in the Foreign Language Film category on December 20, 2012, the five finalists on January 10, 2012, and the Oscar winner on February 24, 2013.

“If Only Everyone” is co-produced by Tereza Varzhapetyan and award winning actor and director Michael Poghosyan, who plays the role of the retired Armenian Commander. Natalia Belyauskene is the director and Ekaterina Shitova plays the role of the young Russian girl. The movie was screened in Yerevan, Moscow, Paris, Bucharest, and Hollywood, and has won several awards at international film festivals.

December 4, 2012
Book Review: Preposterous Paradoxes of Ambassador Morgenthau: A Factual Story About Politics, Propaganda and Distortions

Sukru Server Aya’s new book titled “Preposterous Paradoxes of Ambassador Morgenthau: A Factual Story About Politics, Propaganda and Distortions” is expected to be released in February 1913.

Here’s a review by Professor Dr. Ata ATUN:

The book titled “Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story” written by Mr. Henry Morgenthau Sr. the U.S. Ambassador in Istanbul from 1913 to 1916, on which the Armenian allegations mainly based on, when cross checked day by day with his diary, reveals the fact that it is tailored rather than conveying the real truth on what happened during this era.

Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, during his 780 days of diplomatic mission in Istanbul, did not even travel ten miles out of the city to any countryside village, except a few on the Bosporus and the Belgrade Forest where he and his friends frequently went horse riding. The only trip he took was by ship to Greece and Egypt in March 1914 and from there to Palestine Holy Lands and cities, ending in Beirut. . .

From there he boarded his assigned yacht – (gun boat) Scorpion to travel to Mersin, Adana, Rhodes, Smyrna and finally Istanbul in 40 days. It was like a cruise holiday and he never rode on a horse or a car on the soil of Ottoman Empire. He did not travel eastbound, never went further than 10 miles east of Skudari (Üsküdar) and did not visit the eastern regions of Anatolia.

His book titled “Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story” is based solely on what he heard and was told. These kinds of evidences or depositions are called “Hear to say” and not taken into consideration or credited in the courts of justices.

It is obvious that the stories in the book are fictious, rather than the reality, actually came into life in the minds of Mr. Arshag Schimavonian, the dragoman (interpreter) of the USA Embassy in Istanbul who acted as the Ambassador Morgenthau’s advisor and right hand together with his secretary Mr. Hagop Andonian who both were anti-Turkish Armenians. Their made up stories ingeniously converted to a novel style history book by Mr. Burton J. Hendrick, a Pulitzer Prize winner, who actually is the ghost writer of the book. He did write the book using all his skills.

Pulitzer Prize winner Mr. Hendrick, by magically “putting words in their mouths” of the story tellers as if there was a sound recorder and the conversations were put down verbatim years later in the book, made a fortune out of this tell-a-tale book, by receiving forty percent of the revenues from the sales and a mere $15,000 in cash, equivalent of $1,263,823 of the year 2012. Dressings were all produced in the USA to make the story look real either by Hendrick himself or Schimavonian and Andonian.

The main reason why the book titled “Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story” published was to write a book damning the Turks and the Germans, which would justify the USA’s entrance in the war. It was the idea of Ambassador Morgenthau and he made his offer to President Wilson, whom he was very close to. USA and Britain knew that this was an “Ordered book to serve as a trump card” for USA to participate in WW I.

President Wilson supported the idea and a new team was set up for his alleged services in Turkey to be explained in his reputed book. The team leaders were Mr. Arshag Schimavonian and Mr. Hagop Andonian. Although the author of the book is declared to be the Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, it is by now known by everybody that the actual writer was Mr. Burton J. Hendrick and he considered Morgenthau’s, Schimavonian’s and Andonian’s stories as reliable sources.

After almost 75 years the credibility of the Morgenthau’s book was scholarly researched and a serious check back was done by Prof. Heath W. Lowry for the first time in his book “The Story Behind Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story”, published by the Isis Press, Istanbul 1990 (ISBN 975-428-019-3). The result was a disaster for Mr. “Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story” book.

This very book titled “Preposterous Paradoxes of Ambassador Morgenthau” written solely by Mr. Sükrü Server Aya, the reliable and distinguished researcher on the Armenian Allegations, cross checks day by day the diary of Mr. Ambassador and his notorious book titled “Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story”.

I used word “notorious” deliberatively, because the output of this cross check reveals the fact that Mr. Ambassador’s book was tailored rather than conveying the real truth on what happened before, during and after deportation on the year 1915.

Professor Dr. Ata ATUN

Academic and Researcher
T.R.N. Cyprus

The book review is on page:

https://armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2012/11/3379-book-review-preposterous-paradoxes.html

The book is a continuation of the chapter 15 of Armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2010/12/3189-genocide-of-truth-continues-but.html which can be read and downloaded at the given link

For more remarks by Aya on Morgenthau see also Armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2010/08/3121-morgenthau-book-review-by-sukru.html

This last book of about 240 pages, elaborates deeper and demonstrates the distortions and inversions by Ambassador Morgenthau. It compares verbatim excerpts from his book “Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story”, with what he had written on the very same matter in his personal diary kept by him and/or his secretary Hagop Andonian daily, noting the important events. Where necessary, other “neutral documents” are quoted to show that Morgenthau’s Book, is an “excellent book of boasting, diversions and inexplicable lies” he introduced in 1918 by this book (almost four years after the events happened) to create a document damning Turks and Germans, to give “a humane cause” to USA to take part in WW1. Mr. Morgenthau’s Diary written in his hand writing (or his secretary’s) belies the polished words written in his book (by the Pulitzer prize winner ghost writer Burton Hendrick, putting words in mouths as if they were copied from a sound recorder).

Labels: Book REVIEW, Sukru AYA

Important Reminder: See three articles by Mehmet Perincek in Turkish-English giving new information about Morgenthau from Russian archives-link:
https://armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2012/11/3378-what-did-talat-pasha-speak-with.html

December 3, 2012
The Hayastan Fund Annual Telethon: A Constructive Critique

A few thoughts may be in order on the occasion of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s 20th anniversary and its 15th annual telethon. The intent is not to intrude into the Fund’s internal affairs, but offer constructive criticism and suggestions that could help improve its humanitarian mission and public image.

In the absence of an elected structure representing Armenians worldwide, Hayastan Fund is the only pan-Armenian body that brings together under a single umbrella all major Armenian political, religious and community entities. The Fund’s Board of Trustees is comprised of leaders of the Republics of Armenia and Artsakh, heads of large Diaspora Armenian organizations, and prominent benefactors. As such, the Fund serves as a unique platform where all segments of the Armenian world can address their common concerns. In view of this globally singular role, the Board may wish to consider expanding the organization’s functions beyond its philanthropic activities.

The most urgent Armenian issue at this moment is the tragic condition of Syrian Armenians whose very survival is at stake, as their situation worsens on a daily basis. Hayastan Fund and its 25 affiliates worldwide should have acted much sooner by organizing an emergency telethon and donating all the proceeds to alleviate the dire needs of Syrian Armenians, be they in Syria, Armenia or elsewhere.

After much delay, the Fund decided to allocate 10% of the amount it would collect to Syrian Armenians. This small percentage, compared to the vast needs of that threatened community, disappointed many potential donors. Instead of assuming collective responsibility for this unwise decision and reversing it, the Fund’s representatives engaged in unnecessary finger pointing. When complaints from the public grew louder, some of the Fund’s affiliates grudgingly revised the 10% quota to an unspecified portion of the total amount raised, after setting aside the funds earmarked for other projects. Also, the Fund allowed donors the option of designating 100% of their contributions to Syrian relief. Of course, it would have been preferable if Hayastan Fund had designated all donations to Syrian Armenians, except those earmarked by donors for other projects.

The situation became more confusing when Bedros Terzian, Chairman of Armenia Fund in France, made a surprising announcement at the conclusion of the Fund’s European phonethon (fundraising by telephone) on November 18. In an euphoric mood, he promised to allocate a portion of the $1.8 million raised to reconstruct housing for Armenians in Aleppo after the war! Mr. Terzian, a distinguished corporate executive, may not have realized that Syrian Armenians need food, medicine and other basic necessities for survival right now, rather than after the war, at which time the Armenian community may have dwindled along with its housing needs!

Now that the telethon and phonethon are over, one can take note of some interesting numbers in the announced results. Amazingly, Armenians in Armenia and Artsakh contributed $2.5 million, whereas Armenian-Americans donated only $2.1 million ($1.5 million from the West Coast and $600,000 from the East Coast). The $21.4 million announced at the end of the telethon includes all the amounts pledged or actually raised throughout the year at different fundraising events in over a dozen countries, such as the $12 million pledged by Armenian businessmen in Moscow on November 8. Another surprising number is the substantial contribution of $600,000 received from India. Since there are only a handful of Armenians in that country, there must be an interesting explanation as to the source(s) of such a large sum!

To avoid further confusion regarding the disposition of the raised funds, Hayastan Fund’s Lebanon affiliate may consider allocating the entire proceeds of its December 8 radiothon fundraiser to the thousands of Syrian Armenians refugees. The displaced Syrian Armenian families in Lebanon are in desperate need of financial assistance to pay for basic necessities as well as their children’s schooling. Lebanese Armenian schools, which are in dire financial need, are now additionally burdened with hundreds of Syrian Armenian students whose parents cannot afford to pay tuition. Keeping its collected funds in Lebanon would enable Hayastan Fund to simultaneously help the Syrian Armenian refugees, while ensuring the survival of Armenian educational institutions.

In the coming days, as Hayastan All Armenian Fund sums up the fundraising results of its worldwide affiliates, it should announce: 1) the final amount raised, 2) the breakdown of the amounts allocated to specific projects, and 3) its plans to extend immediate assistance to Syrian Armenians.

November 27, 2012
Azerbaijan’s Consul in Los Angeles Needs to Learn How to Use a Laptop

A funny thing happened to the Consul General of Azerbaijan on his way to make an audio-visual presentation at the Los Angeles World Affairs Council last week.

Consul General Nasimi Aghayev stepped up to the podium, turned on his fancy laptop, and proudly urged the audience to watch scenes of Azerbaijan on a large screen on the wall. To his horror, nothing but a frozen partial image appeared on the overhanging screen. The Consul’s aides and the World Affairs Council’s president rushed to the stage and began pushing all sorts of buttons on the laptop, as the guests waited impatiently. Mr. Aghayev not only was unable to showcase his native land, he could not even present his speech, because the text was locked up in his uncooperative laptop!

In desperation, the Azeri diplomat began speaking off the cuff, after pulling a piece of paper from his pocket on which he had scribbled some notes. This was the inauspicious start of an evening that was intended to show off Azerbaijan’s impressive advances and dazzle the audience with high-tech gadgets.

The Consul General appeared agitated throughout the lecture. Perhaps he was unaccustomed to speaking before such an august gathering or he was nervous because there were “representatives of the Armenian Diaspora in this room,” including myself and a handful of Armenians.

Mr. Aghayev talked at length about Armenia “occupying” a part of his country’s territory, a reference to the liberation of Artsakh (Karabagh). Calling this conflict “Azerbaijan’s top problem,” he expressed his chagrin that “one million Azeris today are refugees.” However, he failed to explain why a government with billions of dollars in oil revenue would allow such a large number of its citizens to live in abject poverty for over 20 years.

Imitating the Turkish regime, the Consul General made a serious gaffe by referring to the Armenian Genocide as a “so-called genocide.” Is it wise for Azeri officials to insult Armenians by denying the Genocide, at a time when they have their hands full with the Artsakh conflict? Why would Azerbaijan’s leaders want to complicate matters by associating themselves with Turkey’s denialism and further antagonize Armenians, making them less likely to sit with them at the peace table!

Mr. Aghayev’s remarks completely ignored the massive violation of the human rights of Azeri citizens, including those of ethnic minorities, as he falsely described Azerbaijan as a land of “religious and ethnic tolerance.” He went on to engage in gross historical revisionism by forgetting the massacres of Armenians in Sumgait and Baku and claiming that Armenians enjoyed their full freedom in Soviet Azerbaijan. He also described Muslim Azerbaijan as “one of the earliest nations to accept Christianity, in 313 AD!”

After several pre-arranged questions from some in the audience on how “tolerant” Azerbaijan is to “Mountain Jews” and the great relationship it enjoys with Israel, the World Affairs Council president cautiously avoided giving me the chance to pause a question. Fortunately, two other Armenians, Aroutin Hartounian, President of Unified Young Armenians and Garo Ghazarian, Chairman of the Armenian Bar Association, were granted the opportunity ask questions. The two Armenians raised the issue of Ramil Safarov, an axe-wielding Azeri soldier who killed a sleeping Armenian officer during a NATO training course in Hungary. After the Hungarian government released Safarov from prison prematurely and extradited him to Azerbaijan, Pres. Aliyev pardoned and glorified the axe-murderer! Foolishly contradicting his President, the Azeri Consul General stated that Azerbaijan “does not condone” Safarov’s crime!

Mr. Aghayev’s appearance before the World Affairs Council raises some troubling questions. Why did the Council take the unusual step of inviting a lowly Consul General to offer “a competing view” to the one presented by Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, at the same venue, on September 24? One wonders what inducement Azerbaijan offered to the World Affairs Council to secure a presentation by a junior diplomat, possibly undermining the reputation of this prestigious organization!

Days later, when Mr. Aghayev’s lecture was posted on the Azeri Consulate’s website, the laptop glitches were carefully eliminated from the heavily edited video. The 48-minute speech and question and answer period had been reduced to 15 minutes!

The incident with the Consul General’s laptop is symptomatic of a much larger problem for Azerbaijan. The country’s leaders have spent billions of dollars to acquire a massive amount of advanced military hardware. But, if they don’t know which button to push, the sophisticated weaponry will be as useless as Mr. Aghayev’s laptop!

Rather than labeling the Armenian Diaspora as Azerbaijan’s “main enemy,” Pres. Aliyev should be more worried about his diplomats who cannot use a laptop! Incompetent officials are more of a liability for Azerbaijan than the Armenian “enemy”!

November 20, 2012
JPMorgan – Above The Law?
One of the world’s most powerful banks today is JP Morgan Chase. Their Chairman, whose name only has to appear in any leading media and 95% of the readers will recognize the name with JP Morgan Chase.Yet the most powerful always have skeletons in their closets: an Achilles Heel. Today it is easy to find them. If you type “JP Morgan” into Google, you will get 6444,000hits. Then search: “silver manipulation”, which will give you 225,000 results in .38 seconds, you will see JP Morgan is in all the top hits.

One does not have to be a Rhodes scholar to find the bad apple. The price of gold is above $1,700.00 an ounce and silver is slightly above $31.00 an ounce. Yet there is three times as much gold as there is silver in the known world supply. Central banks buy gold. They are the major buyers at this price. It is also used in making Jewelry. That is about it.

Now silver on the other hand, is the best conductor of electricity. It is also used in mirrors, solar panels and all kinds of medical supplies. In the COMEX (Commodities Option Metal Exchange) warehouses worldwide, more silver is being delivered than deposited. The bottom line is that demand is outstripping supply.

Now, November 2012, JP Morgan is short 32% the silver commodity while the legal short position is supposed to be 5%. It is a clear signal of market manipulation. A short position means that a seller has borrowed a security or a commodity contract from an owner so he can deliver what he has sold to the buyer. He then hopes to be able to buy back at a lower price and return it to the loaner. He is doing the reverse of buy low sell high. He sells high first and buys back lower later-hopefully. The risk is when one buys, one can lose what he paid for it. In a short sale, one’s risk is limitless.

Now for JP Morgan Chase to do this successfully they need three transactions or events to take place.
- They need a source of cheap money and low margin rates. The Federal Reserve policy for banking institutions, not individuals or corporations, will provide funds at almost or zero percent interest. This could amount to a billion or more?
- They need the use of a High Frequency Trade, or HFT, to set up the operation. This is done by an expensive computer program, which can, in a nanosecond, show a humongous amount of sell orders that will drive the buyers into the woodwork. This drops the price and as is the case with commodities, a sharp drop in price brings on margin calls. Margin calls bring on sell orders and the short sellers buy back in at a profit. This is morally illegal and HFT’s should be banned. Margin rates should be raised, because in the past economic tragedies easy credit breeds contempt for the rules of fair play.
- The third ingredient into Satan’s Stew is unscrupulous politicians and government henchmen.
Let us start with the chain of command in the commodity markets. The Commodity Future Rate Commission is made up of five individuals whose main task is to insure fair trades and stop manipulation. This is a most important mandate because the commodity price can influence the real product and cause economic disruptions worldwide. An example can be when some bright individual decided it would be a good and profitable idea to start an exchange trade fund in the commodity of corn. To start the fund they had to buy futures of corn. This raised the price and the speculators climbed on board. This caused the price of flour to increase. Countries like Egypt buy their corn meal from the United States. With the sudden price increase the Egyptian bread makers have to raise their prices. This, I believe, was the cause of the fiasco in Egypt in the last two years. These Commissioners have a highly responsible mandate: to keep the markets honest.

When it comes to silver manipulation they are stonewalling. In the old days they would have been tarred and feathered and sent out of town on a rail!

Now here is a rule. No politician will go out on the proverbial limb without a backup.

So we must go up the ladder of the chain of command. I will let you dear reader, speculate how far up the ladder it will go.

This manipulation is so large that to keep everyone quiet is beyond belief. Where and what are the members of Congress doing? Why has there not been a special investigation? Are members of the various finance committees being paid off? How much money was spent on their reelection?

Now the big puzzle: A leading market letter writer, Ted Butler, has written letters to the Chairman of the Board, Jamie Diamond, and all the directors of the bank. Not one single reply as of this writing. 11/13/2012.

This is my belief about the whole mess. Our paper currency system is teetering worldwide as our financial system is in chaos. When government bills have a negative yield that represents real fear. The world is awash in debt while the public is de-leveraging. That is deflationary.

The precious metal markets are being manipulated with paper currency. If JP Morgan were forced to “cover” its short positions it would take over 100 days and the price of silver would surpass that of gold on a temporary basis. There is not a government stockpile of silver to bail out the bank.

This would be an inflationary shock for the world. It would crash governments and force countries to go back to the gold and silver standard.

One thing is for sure. Governments cannot manipulate everything all the time. Once individual initiative is wasted – they will crumble of their own weight.

What will happen with the puppet politicians that believe they rule the world?

What will happen to us?
November 19, 2012
Armenian-Americans Score Major Gains in US Elections

After long months of hectic campaigning, a constant barrage of e-mails and ads, and billions of dollars spent by the candidates and their supporters, the US presidential and congressional elections did not change the American political landscape. The United States will have the same President for another four years and the same majorities in the House and Senate. The House remains in the hands of Republicans, and the Senate in the hands of Democrats.

This means that Pres. Obama’s foreign and domestic policies will remain more or less unchanged and Congress will continue to be deadlocked for two or more years, negatively impacting the prospects of a quick economic recovery. House Republicans will probably not support Pres. Obama’s social and economic agenda, particularly on healthcare and taxes.

Even though there were no great political changes resulting from the Nov. 6 elections, Armenian-Americans scored important gains in congressional and local elections. Armenian voters were not instrumental in the outcome of the presidential race, since Pres. Obama received over three million more votes than his Republican rival. It was therefore politically astute to concentrate the Armenian community’s resources and votes on congressional and local races.

A whopping 90% of the 145 congressional candidates backed by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) won reelection. In Senatorial races, 12 out of 15 ANCA endorsed candidates were victorious: Dianne Feinstein (California), Chris Murphy (Connecticut), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Ben Cardin (Maryland), Debbie Stabenow (Michigan), Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota), Bob Menendez (New Jersey), Martin Heinrich (New Mexico), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Sheldon Whitehouse (Rhode Island), Bernard Sanders (Vermont), and Tammy Baldwin (Wisconsin).

In House races, 118 of 130 ANCA endorsed candidates were reelected, including Lois Capps (California), Jeff Denham (California), Janice Hahn (California), Ed Royce (California), Adam Schiff (California), Brad Sherman (California), David Valadao (California), Cory Gardner (Colorado), Dina Titus (Nevada), Frank Pallone (New Jersey), Michael Grimm (New York), David Cicilline (Rhode Island), House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Virginia), and Frank Wolf (Virginia).

The November 6 elections may result in an unexpectedly favorable development in Congress for the Armenian-American community. Cong. Ed Royce, Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, has a good chance of being elected by his colleagues as next Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. A strong supporter of Armenian causes, Cong. Royce would replace outgoing Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Republican of Florida, a staunchly pro-Turkish House member.

A similar highly favorable development may take place in the Senate when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton retires shortly at the end of Pres. Obama’s first term. Most political analysts believe that Sen. John Kerry, currently Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and a close friend of the Armenian community, may assume a Cabinet position as Secretary of State or Defense, in which case Sen. Menendez, a staunch supporter of Armenian issues, may become next Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The possible simultaneous selection of Cong. Royce and Sen. Menendez as chairs of these two powerful committees would give Armenian-Americans unprecedented access to key foreign policy decision-makers.

More important than the election of friends of the Armenian community was the success of at least 16 Armenian-Americans who were either elected for the first time or reelected to continue serving their constituencies. Armenian-American members of congress, Anna Eshoo and Jackie Speier, both from California, were overwhelmingly reelected. Other Armenian-American winners in state and local races were: Linda Arzoumanian, Superintendent, Pima County School Superintendent, Arizona; Khacho Achadjian (incumbent), State Assembly, California; Adrin Nazarian, State Assembly, California; Tim Kapucian (incumbent), State Senate, Idaho; Mary Lou Marzian (incumbent), State House, Kentucky; Peter Koutoujian (incumbent), Middlesex County Sheriff, Massachusetts; James Miceli, State House, Massachusetts; John Fresolo, State House, Massachusetts; Gary Azarian (incumbent), State House, New Hampshire; Charlene Takesian, State House, New Hampshire; Brad Avakian, State Labor Commissioner, Oregon; Scott Avedisian (incumbent), Mayor of Warwick, Rhode Island; Jared Nunes, State House, Rhode Island; and Katherine Kazarian, State House, Rhode Island.

Congratulations to all those who were either elected for the first time or reelected. It is particularly pleasing to see a record number of Armenian-Americans running for political office, most of whom won their respective races. These victories bode well for the future of Armenian-American political activism. The community should support and encourage these public servants so that in a few years they would seek even higher office, running for Congress or the Presidency!

November 14, 2012