Turkish Forum

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  • Azerbaijani NGOs Appeal to the International Community

    Azerbaijani NGOs Appeal to the International Community

    niyazi

    By Azer HASRET

    As is known, on September 27, 2020 Occupational Armed Forces of Armenia had started military offensive against Azerbaijani positions and civil settlements. As a result Azerbaijani Armed Forces had to react and started counter-attacks. Thus the war, which lasted 44 days and ended with the victory of Azerbaijan, had started. Day by day Armenian Army had to step back and on November 10, 2020 the sides signed a Statement to stop war operations. The Statement was initiated by the Russian Federation.

    During those terrific days Armenian Armed Forces launched hundreds of rocket attacks on civil settlements. Mostly those settlements were outside of war scene and even hundreds of kms off. Thus one of the most suffered cities was Ganja, some 60 km away from Karabakh and war zone.

    On October 3, 2021, on the eve of the first Armenian rocket attack on Ganja, a group of Azerbaijani NGO representatives traveled to the city to express their solidarity with the suffered people and even with the all inhabitants. The city of Ganja was attacked with rockets 5 times and saw huge damages to the city killing dozens of peaceful civilians.

    NGO representatives, visiting one of the most suffered areas, convened a conference in Ganja dedicated to the attacks on the civil settlements. At the end of the conference participants adopted An Appeal to the International Community which is included below.

    An Appeal to the International Community in Regard to the Military Crimes Committed by Armenia Against Cities and Districts of Azerbaijan in 2020

    03 October 2021, Ganja City

    As a reply to the next military provocation committed against our country by armed forces of the Republic of Armenia on September 27, 2020, the armed forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan had started contra attack operations and had liberated the lands belonging to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

    As a result of successful military operations conducted by our army the military forces of Armenia were completely destroyed. With the aim to compensate the loss in the field of battle the Government of Armenia had chosen the civil population living in the cities and districts out of the frontline of the war shooting from different types of heavy weapons including artillery and ballistic rockets committing crimes and military crimes against the mankind and killed civil population including women and children making damage to the property of population as well as infrastructure facilities in a large scale

    Thus, the second largest city of Azerbaijan Ganja faced heavy artillery and rocket attacks during the dates of October 4, 5, 8, 11 and 17. In general, as a result of these horrible terroristic acts 26 persons lost their lives, 175 persons were wounded, and a huge number of civil infrastructure facilities and vehicles faced significant damage.

    In general, based on the order of the Government of Armenia not only Ganja and Barda, also Yevlakh, Beylagan, Tartar, Gabala, Goranboy, Aghjabadi, Khizi and other cities and districts were attacked with ballistic rockets and other type of heavy artillery weapons. As a result of this military aggression 454 civilians were wounded, 93 civilians died including 12 children and 27 women, totally 12.292 residential and non-residential areas as well as 288 vehicles had been significantly damaged.

    Because of this above-mentioned reasons, we as the NGOs of Azerbaijan with the deep feeling of concern would like to attract the attention of international community to the crimes committed against mankind by the political and military government of Armenia a year ago and we are stating that the international humanitarian law especially Geneva Convention adopted in 1949 had been seriously violated.

    We, the NGOs that are active in Azerbaijan who are signing this appeal on behalf of civil society of our country would like to apply to human rights protection organizations, NGOs, media representatives, parliament members and governments in all over the world calling them to express their protest regarding the military crimes committed against the civil population of Azerbaijan by Armenia and to announce this type of military acts against civil population as unacceptable.

    Signed by 49 NGOs

  • Pres. Aliyev’s 11-Year-Old Son Owned $45 Million Property in Central London

    Pres. Aliyev’s 11-Year-Old Son Owned $45 Million Property in Central London

     This sensational report was exposed by the international news media on Oct. 3, 2021. While this is not the first time it has been revealed that the family of Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has purchased hundreds of millions of dollars of properties in foreign countries through offshore companies, it is the latest and most detailed such scandalous news.

    The report about Aliyev’s 11-year-old son Heydar Aliyev was exposed by the Pandora Papers — the largest collection of leaks of concealed financial documents. These secret files were organized by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) with the participation of over 650 reporters worldwide. The records contain “nearly 12 million documents and files from 14 financial service companies in several countries, the British Virgin Islands, Panama, Belize, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Switzerland,” according to the BBC.

    While many of “the revealed transactions involve no legal wrongdoing,” there are serious “concerns that some property buyers could be hiding money-laundering activities,” the BBC stated. “Offshore companies can offer to help people hide dodgy cash or avoid tax. They are using those offshore accounts, those offshore trusts, to buy hundreds of millions of dollars of property in other countries, and to enrich their own families, at the expense of their citizens,” added Fergus Shiel from ICIJ.

    The BBC went on to report that “The Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his family, who have been accused of looting their own country, are one example. The investigation found the Aliyevs and their close associates have secretly been involved in property deals in the UK worth more than £400 million [$540 million]. Azerbaijan’s ruling Aliyev family, long accused of corruption, have built a vast offshore network to hide their money.” Pres. Aliyev’s annual salary is $228,000.

    BBC also revealed that the Aliyevs bought 17 buildings in the UK, including an entire block of office buildings in the posh Mayfair area of London for $45 million in 2009 for the president’s 11-year-old son, Heydar Aliyev, who was then in grade school.

    The Aliyevs bought another building in London for $47 million in 2008 and sold it in 2018 for $89 million, making a profit of $42 million. The Aliyevs sold that property “to the Crown Estate — the Queen’s property empire that is managed by The [UK] Treasury and raises cash for the nation.” BBC reported that “The Crown Estate said it carried out the checks required in law at the time of purchase but is now looking into the matter.”

    A separate article on the ICIJ website, under the title of “The Power Players,” highlighted the incredible wealth of Azerbaijan President’s three children: Arzu Aliyeva, Heydar Aliyev, and Leyla Aliyeva.

    The ICIJ article explained that “Ilham Aliyev became president of Azerbaijan in a 2003 election widely regarded as manipulated…. He has de facto control over the state oil fund, which generates annual revenue of $9 billion. His presidency has been marked by brutal political crackdowns and human rights violations, including the imprisonment and torture of journalists and dissidents. Despite accusations of running a kleptocracy, Aliyev maintains close relationships with European leaders through what has come to be known as ‘caviar diplomacy.’ The 2017 Azerbaijani Laundromat investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project revealed how almost $3 billion linked to Aliyev was laundered through shell companies, with much of the proceeds spent on gifts for European politicians. Other media investigations, including ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks and Panama Papers, have shown that the Aliyev family controls significant wealth in Azerbaijan and that the president’s three children also own properties in the U.K. and Dubai.”

    ICIJ further revealed that “The Pandora Papers provide a view of the startling scale of the Aliyev children’s luxury property investments. They were shareholders of 44 companies registered in the British Virgin Islands between 2006 and 2018. The records show the children owned five companies used to buy more than $120 million worth of high-end London properties between 2006 and 2009, many of which were later sold for vast profits.”

    Besides the $45 million London office building owned by then 11-year-old Heydar Aliyev, his sister Arzu purchased anther office building one block away through an offshore company for $47 million. “In 2009, a company owned by the eldest child, Leyla Aliyeva, bought a $13.5 million corner building behind London’s Oxford Circus, which has housed a string of businesses run by Aliyev family friends,” according to ICIJ.

    In an effort to obscure the ownership of these properties, “starting in 2013, the children transferred shares in their offshore companies to their maternal grandfather, Arif Pashayev. The holdings were later transferred to a series of trusts based in the Isle of Man, a British dependency and secrecy haven. Pashayev and two close associates bought further properties in and around London worth more than $500 million between 2006 and 2017,” ICIJ revealed. Not surprisingly, none of the Aliyev family members responded to ICIJ’s repeated requests for comment.

    While it is disgraceful that funds belonging to the citizens of Azerbaijan were misused, the good news for Armenians is that Azerbaijan did not use these large sums to purchase more arms, to inflict further damage on the people of Armenia and Artsakh!

  • Aliyev-Pashinyan Duel via Video At United Nations General Assembly

    Aliyev-Pashinyan Duel via Video At United Nations General Assembly


    Just days before the first anniversary of the 44-day war, the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev clashed once again, this time in a bloodless confrontation via video at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.

    In my opinion, both Aliyev and Pashinyan made the mistake of not appearing in person at the UN meeting. The issue is not just the speech which they delivered by video, but their absence from an important international gathering of close to 200 leaders from around the world. This was an important opportunity, particularly for Armenia’s Prime Minister, to rub shoulders with many of these leaders in private and public settings to transmit to them Armenia’s grievances and publicize Azerbaijan’s brutal violations during last year’s war.

    Fortunately, Pashinyan dispatched to the UN Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan who held several important meetings with his counterparts from many countries, including Azerbaijan, the Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group, and the Secretary General of the UN.

    While Armenia and Azerbaijan were not represented at the UN by their heads of state, Turkey was wisely represented by Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu who took advantage of the opportunity to meet with dozens of heads of state and inaugurate the new Turkish Center’s high-rise building across the UN headquarters which was attended by many dignitaries and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Erdogan’s only setback was the refusal of Pres. Biden to meet with him at the UN.

    Turning to the speeches, Pres. Aliyev addressed the UN General Assembly on Sept. 23 delivering a 38-minute speech in English by video. Pashinyan’s video speech was much shorter — it lasted less than 12 minutes. Aliyev’s lengthy speech was not necessarily a good thing. He probably bored to death the dignitaries at the General Assembly who were listening to non-stop speeches day after day. Whereas it was smart of Aliyev to speak in English, Pashinyan, despite his knowledge of English, chose to speak in Armenian which means that the attendees had to listen to the translation of his speech via earphones, not the best way to communicate. Nevertheless, Pashinyan wisely used a teleprompter to read his speech which made it much more interesting to watch, versus Aliyev who was looking down the whole time, while reading the speech from a paper in front of him. This prompted a non-Armenian to comment sarcastically on YouTube, under the video of Aliyev’s speech: “What happened to Aliyev’s petrodollars? Couldn’t he afford to buy a teleprompter?”

    In his lengthy speech, Aliyev told dozens of lies:

    1)  That Armenia, not Azerbaijan, started last September’s war. Aliyev must have forgotten that he had previously admitted proudly that he started the war. He also accused Armenia of initiating an attack on Azerbaijan in July 2020. Armenia had no reason to start a war neither in July nor September 2020.

    2)  Aliyev referred to the 12th century poet Nizami Ganjavi as “the great Azerbaijani poet.” Ganjavi is in fact Persian, not Azeri (see Wikipedia’s numerous sources). In the 12th century, Azerbaijan did not even exist. Ganjavi was born in Ganja (Kantzag in Armenian) which at the time was “densely populated with Iranians and a small number of Christians,” according to Armenian historian Guiragos Kantzagetsi (1200 – 1271).

    3)  Aliyev falsely described Azerbaijan “as an example of tolerance and peaceful coexistence of representatives of various religious and ethnic groups living in our country.” On the contrary, Azerbaijan is a very intolerant and violent country. Its history is full of repeated massacres of Armenians. Yet, shamelessly, Aliyev accused Armenia of committing “genocide, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity!”

    4)  Aliyev also accused Armenia of “gross violation of international law, including the Geneva Convention.” This is the exact description of Azerbaijan’s own violations and crimes. He falsely claimed Armenia used “white phosphorus and cluster munitions” and attacked civilians. Once again, Aliyev was describing Azerbaijan’s own war crimes against Armenian civilians, hospitals and churches.

    5)  Aliyev also claimed that Armenia recruited “mercenaries and foreign fighters from abroad.” As is widely known, this is exactly what Azerbaijan did.

    6)  Aliyev lied about Armenians engaging in “the full destruction of cities and villages, including the cultural and religious heritage sites of Azerbaijani people.” The truth is the exact opposite.

    7)  Aliyev claimed that Azerbaijan “started taking legal actions against [foreign companies] for illegally exploiting our natural resources in the formerly occupied lands.” Hopefully, these companies will countersue Azerbaijan for confiscating their properties.

    8)  Indirectly admitting that Azerbaijan has encroached on the territory of Armenia, Aliyev boasted that “the country has been weakened to the extent that it cannot even guard its own borders by itself.”

    9)  Instead of respecting the agreement signed on Nov. 9, 2020 by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia, to release all prisoners of war, Aliyev demanded that Armenia “provide us with accurate mine maps of all liberated territories.” There is no mention of such a requirement in the Nov. 9 agreement.

    10)  After telling all these lies and many others too numerous to mention, Aliyev has the audacity to urge Armenia to sign a “peace agreement … based on mutual recognition of sovereignty and territorial integrity of each other.” He is thus pursuing a total abandonment of Artsakh by Armenia.

    Prime Minister Pashinyan delivered his speech at the UN on Sept. 24. He started by setting the record straight, stating that “in the fall of 2020, Nagorno-Karabakh was subjected to aggression… [which] was accompanied by numerous gross violations of international law by the Azerbaijani armed forces, including deliberate targeting of civilians and vital infrastructure, extrajudicial killings of prisoners of war and civilian hostages, torture and many other documented crimes. As a result of these actions, in the parts of Nagorno-Karabakh, which came under the control of Azerbaijan, the Armenian people were subjected to complete ethnic cleansing.”

    Pashinyan went on to highlight Armenia’s democratic credentials, vainly hoping that the international community will be impressed and take positive steps to protect the country against Azerbaijan’s aggression. Armenia’s Prime Minister also spoke of his country’s readiness for peace with its neighbors, again hoping for support from UN member states. He does not seem to realize that the world does not care about such niceties. The only thing the world respects is strength.

    Pashinyan next condemned Azerbaijan for holding Armenian prisoners of war as hostages in Baku and spoke about Azeri videos that show “decapitated bodies or shot bodies of these soldiers.”

    Pashinyan also mentioned “reopening transport links” between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He naively added that “if the railway connecting Armenia to Turkey is opened too, then the topic of opening regional communications will cover broader scope.”

    The Prime Minister made one more pitch “to resume the peace process for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.” Regrettably, this process has reached a dead end, as Aliyev claims to have solved the Artsakh issue by force and sees no need to engage in any further negotiations on this subject.

    Pashinyan mentioned “with regret” that Azerbaijan’s forces crossed Armenia’s borders on May 12, 2021 and have refused to leave. He suggested that both countries withdraw from “the Soviet times border” and invite the deployment of “international observers” along the border. It is not clear why Armenia should withdraw from its own border!

    Unfortunately, nice words do not mean much in realpolitik. The world believes only in power. While Azerbaijan and Turkey speak from a position of strength, Armenia is obliged to submit to the imposition of its more powerful and brutal enemies.

  • An Open Letter to the Congressmen Tony Cárdenas, Adam Schiff and Brad Sherman

    An Open Letter to the Congressmen Tony Cárdenas, Adam Schiff and Brad Sherman

    azer hasret babek
    Azer HASRET

    We, the people of Azerbaijan just learned that you have acted in the House of Representatives to pass the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2022, which includes an amendment in regard to our country. In your amendment we witness many fake accusations which press us to share our position openly.

    First of all you claim that “On September 27, 2020, Azerbaijan, with support from Turkey and foreign militia groups, launched a military assault on Nagorno-Karabakh”, “resulting in the deaths of thousands and displacing tens of thousands of ethnic Armenian residents”.

    Just to enlighten you and your supporters I’ll recall the statistics delivered by official Yerevan that about 30 civilian Armenians were killed during this 44 days of war, not thousands. And military personal which were eliminated in thousands in the territory of Azerbaijan were mostly of Armenian citizenship, not Karabakh residents. Thus Azerbaijan eliminated foreign occupants and cleansed its territories from the foreign occupants which is not against any international law or obligation.

    By the way, Armenian occupant army launched dozens of rocket attacks on civil settlements of Azerbaijan out of war zone during this war and killed more than 100 civilians. Among them many kids, children and women fell victim of Armenian rockets.

    Then you claim that Azerbaijan used “support from Turkey and foreign militia groups”. Are you serious? Do you know that no any foreigner fought in the side of Azerbaijan and there are no any evidences proving that? Just do not fell a victim of Armenian propaganda.

    You are citing the tripartite statement by Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia from the November 10, 2020 to end the conflict. This statement really oversees exchange of all POWs, and the conflicting sides really had returned all of them immediately after the statement was signed. Thus Azerbaijan and Armenia both have no POWs after this date. But ugly Armenian propaganda is spreading fake information that Azerbaijan is still keeping Armenian POWs. And people like you are volunteering to be a tool for this propaganda.

    Again, to enlighten you, Azerbaijan has several Armenian detainees, but they are not POWs as those people were stopped and detained at the end of November 2020 while illegally entered Azerbaijani lands, killed several Azerbaijanis including civilians. They all are citizens of Armenia and captured in the territory of Azerbaijan. Even most of them are freed and returned home. Going back they claimed that Azerbaijan tortured them, but they could not provide evidences of torture.

    And a question for you: if any well equipped military group would enter the US illegally and kill people what would your government do with them? In such a case would you call on the US Government as well to release these people untouched? I believe that you’ll say no.

    Once, you’re citing on “The Third Geneva Convention, of which Azerbaijan is a signatory, and customary international law” which “require the release of prisoners of war and captured civilians upon the cessation of hostilities and require that all detainees be treated humanely”.

    And again you are claiming that “the Government of Azerbaijan continues to detain an estimated 200 Armenian prisoners of war, hostages, and detained persons, misrepresenting their status in an attempt to justify their continued captivity”.

    Again, I’ll call on you to be serious. If Azerbaijan has released all persons who were captured before the end of the war, how you can claim that my country is still keeping POWs? Just ask the Government of Armenia and they will tell you that Azerbaijan had released all detained persons who were captured during actions of war days.

    While seeing your citation of the Human Rights Watch and Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights reports, once more we see manipulation approval by such organizations. This kind of “human rights” organizations are always used as a tool to serve the interests of those who pay.

    I was surprised while reading your claim that Azerbaijan could subject to sexual assaults woman detainees. Just to enlighten you once more, there is no any female detainee of Armenian origin in Azerbaijan. Even due to other crimes as we have more than 30 thousands of citizens of Armenian origin out of Karabakh, which lived all these years of conflict in peace in Azerbaijan.

    You say, that “Armenia has fulfilled its obligations under the November 9 statement and international law by returning Azerbaijani prisoners of war”. You are right. And Azerbaijan did the same as the sides exchanged mutually in this regard.

    Thus your demand to call on Azerbaijan to “immediately and unconditionally return all Armenian prisoners of war and captured civilians” falls apart for having no ground.

    In regard to your baseless claims on “Azerbaijan’s use of white phosphorous, cluster bombs, and prohibited munitions deployed by Azerbaijan against civilians and civilian infrastructure in Nagorno Karabakh” I’d say this is a joke by your side. No evidence on these fake claims as well.

    I believe that you were maybe drunk while claiming “Turkey’s and Azerbaijan’s recruitment of

    foreign terrorist fighters to participate in Azerbaijan’s offensive military operations against Nagorno Karabakh between September 27, 2020, and November 9, 2020”. Why do I think so? Just for very simple reason. A person must be drunk or very far from the issue to claim this way.

    Turkey helped Azerbaijan in this war in political and moral realms and we – the people of Azerbaijan and Turkey are happy with this. But no any person from Turkey or beyond was engaged in military actions in this war. For very simple reason: Azerbaijan does not need this kind of support as we have very professionally trained and well equipped Army. Plus if compare with Armenian Army and even two nations, Azerbaijan’s military, economic and human power is more from Armenia’s for several times. There is no logic to involve foreign fighters while the country has quite enough power. You as a member of Congress had to know this.

    And at last I’d call on you and likewise people to stay away and let the people of Azerbaijan and Armenia to find common language. We here in the Caucasus, which is very far from the US know better how to deal with issues of conflicts between ourselves rather than you. If people like you will stay away from the issues and will not make any interference we’ll find solutions to all questions in our geography. Once we reach an agreement with Armenians you’ll see that we can live together in peace and prosperity. And without your involvement…

    With hopes to be understood,

    Mr. Azer HASRET

    A Journalist, Human Rights and Civil Movement Activist

    Former Candidate to the Parliament of Azerbaijan

  • Turkish-American Groups Contributed $2.2 Million to Politicians Since 2007

    Turkish-American Groups Contributed $2.2 Million to Politicians Since 2007

    I came across a Turkish-American website, “tenthousandturks.org,” which is described as: “Ten Thousand Turks Campaign.”

    The website includes the combined information of five separate Turkish-American political action committees (PACs): 1) Turkish Coalition USA Political Action Committee (TC-USA PAC); 2) Turkish Coalition California Political Action Committee (TC-CAL PAC); 3) National Coalition of Turkish American Lawyers Political Action Committee, (NC-TAL PAC); 4) National Coalition of Turkish American Women Political Action Committee (NC-TAW PAC); 5) Turkish American Political Action Committee (TURKISH PAC-TX).

    The website states that the “Ten Thousand Turks Campaign,” was launched on April 29, 2010. It is “dedicated to reaching out to over 10,000 Turkish-Americans and friends of Turkey willing to take a stand to support candidates that understand the value of positive U.S.-Turkish relations.” This coalition of PACs has adopted the impossible task of fostering “positive U.S.-Turkish relations.” The leader of Turkey, Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has done a great job of undermining U.S.-Turkish relations as well as Turkey’s relations with many other countries. I suggest that instead of wasting their hard earned money, Turkish-Americans get rid of Erdogan which will immediately improve U.S.-Turkish relations.

    The group’s website claims that the five Turkish PACs combined have raised a total of $2,152,849 from 2007 to 2020 for U.S. political candidates. Interestingly, the amount of contributions they have received has declined precipitously from a high of $510,765 in 2015-16 to a low of $202,640 in 2019-20. This may indicate that Turkish-Americans are not as hopeful about improving U.S.-Turkish relations by contributing to political campaigns. The website does not explain how the group was able to raise money in 2007 to 2009 before it was formed in 2010.

    The Turkish website also provides the amount of money raised by each of the five PACs in the 2019-20 election cycle: TC-USA PAC ($57,500); TC-TAW PAC ($37,750); TC-CAL PAC ($44,490); TC-MIDWEST PAC ($35,800); and TURKISH PAC-TX ($27,000). Some of the groups have changed their names over the years.

    Here is additional information regarding each of the five groups:

    1) TC-USA PAC: This group’s fundraising declined from $231,950 in 2009-10 to $57,500 in 2019-20. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. G. Lincoln McCurdy is the Treasurer and Louette Ragusa is the Custodian of Records.

    2) TC-CAL PAC: This group’s fundraising declined from t$64,400 in 2015-16 to $44,490 in 2019-20. It is headquartered in Long Beach, California. Maria Cakiraga is the Treasurer and Yelda Bartlett is the Northern California Representative.

    3) NC-TAL PAC: No fundraising information is available on its own website. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. The PAC’s Officers & Executive Committee Members are: Doreen Edelman, President; Robert Levent Herguner, Treasurer; Aylin Acikalin; Zeliha Arslan; Yelda Bartlett; and Lawrence Cenk Laws.

    4) NC-TAW PAC: No fundraising information is available on its website. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. Tuba Firincioglu is the Treasurer and Louette Ragusa is the Custodian of Records. Louette holds the same position with the TC-USA PAC. The website claims that there are nationwide 11 Turkish elected officials in city and local governments and none at state or federal levels.

    5) Turkish PAC-TX: No fundraising information is available on its website and no executives are named. The group is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

    The “tenthousandturks.org” website provides the following additional details: “In the 2019-2020 election cycle, the PACs contributed to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), Congressional Black Caucus PAC (CBC PAC), and Bold PAC (Congressional Hispanic PAC).

    “The PACs also contributed to three U.S. senators, 61 candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives, and 10 candidates for state or local races. The percentage of wins was 100% for the Senate, 98% for the House, and 50% for state and local offices. Further, the PACs were instrumental in rallying support for the 11 Turkish Americans running for public office in 2020, the largest number ever, and the three spouses of Turkish Americans for a total of 14 candidates.

    “Notable successes by the PACs in the 2019-2020 election cycle were the following:

    “(1) The comeback of Cong. Pete Sessions, the former Turkey Caucus Co-Chair, in winning Texas’s 17th congressional district after his loss in 2018 when he represented the 32nd district;

    “(2) The election of Farrah Khan, a popular friend of Turkish Americans in southern California, as the Mayor of Irvine, California;

    “(3) The election of Turkish American Aycha Sawa as the City Comptroller for Milwaukee, Wisconsin;

    “(4) The reelection of Turkish American Tayfun Selen as a Freeholder (County Commissioner) of the Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders (County Commissioners) in New Jersey;

     “(5) The reelection of Ben Bartlett, spouse of Turkish American Yelda Bartlett, as a City Council Member in Berkeley, California; and

     “(6) The election of Leah Ersoylu, spouse of Turkish American Sarp Ersoylu, as a Trustee of the Newport Mesa United School District in Orange County, California.”

    Naturally, Turkish-Americans have the right to contribute to political campaigns in the United States like any other American. The only issue is that they are using their political outreach to spread lies about the Armenian Genocide. Their political fundraising website is full of disinformation about the Genocide committed by Ottoman Turkey against Armenians. This is something Armenian-Americans need to counter with their own “One Million Armenians Campaign.”

  • Pashinyan Should not Follow Sargsyan’s Mistaken Policy on Relations with Turkey

    Pashinyan Should not Follow Sargsyan’s Mistaken Policy on Relations with Turkey

    Here we go again. Back in 2009, Pres. Serzh Sargsyan engaged in a misguided effort to sign an agreement with Turkey ostensibly to open the mutual border. Even though Armenians around the world strongly objected to the scheme, Pres. Sargsyan kept insisting that he was right and everyone else was wrong.

    Sargsyan could not see that Turkey had no intention to open the border. Ankara used the border issue as a ploy to obtain maximum concessions from Armenia, such as giving up on the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, accepting the territorial integrity of Turkey, which meant that Armenians were to abandon their demands for Western Armenia, and returning Artsakh to Azerbaijan. These were the Turkish preconditions. Furthermore, even if Armenia accepted these inadmissible conditions, Turkey would escalate its demands, adding new ones.

    Pres. Sargsyan did not understand that if Turkey really wanted to open the border, it could have done so without signing any protocols and without making any demands from Armenia. After all, Turkey was the one that unilaterally closed the border, not Armenia, so it could have reopened the border anytime it wanted. When Pres. Sargsyan toured several Diaspora communities in 2009, supposedly to find out their views on the border issue, he faced massive protests and confrontations in Lebanon, France, the United States and Russia.

    Finally, Azerbaijan succeeded in killing the Armenia-Turkey Protocols by pressuring Turkey not to ratify them, in order to exert maximum pressure on Armenia to return Artsakh. Ironically, Azerbaijan was the one that ended up safeguarding Armenia’s interests, not Pres. Sargsyan.

    Now, in 2021, we see the repetition of the 2009 scenario, except this time, the situation is much worse, since Armenia is led by a defeated leader who has no choice but to accept Turkey/Azerbaijan’s escalating demands for concessions. All those who believe that Armenia and Turkey cannot remain eternal enemies and see nothing wrong with talking with “our opponents,” are forgetting one key point: Who is doing the negotiating? On the one side, we have a shrewd politician — Pres. Erdogan of Turkey, and on the other side, we have the inexperienced and defeated leader of Armenia! This is like asking the sheep to negotiate with the wolf. The outcome is obvious.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently said that “Turkey is willing to work for the normalization of relations with Armenia pending the neighboring country’s abandonment of single-sided accusations and embrace of a realistic outlook.” Amazingly, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan considered Erdogan’s statement a “positive signal” and promised to respond in kind! Turkey’s 2009 preconditions are still on the table, except that Azerbaijan recovered most of Artsakh by force. However, Turkey continues to demand that Armenia give up the pursuit of the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide and accept the territorial integrity of Turkey. Since last year’s war, Azerbaijan and Turkey have added a new condition: Armenia should sign “a peace treaty” with Azerbaijan, which would mean accepting the territorial integrity of the latter, thus permanently giving up Artsakh. Furthermore, even if Pashinyan were to accept such inadmissible demands, Turkey and Azerbaijan would certainly impose new more troubling conditions. This is a red line that no Armenian leader has the right to cross! How can one negotiate with a country that almost destroyed the Armenian race in 1915, and killed thousands of young Armenian soldiers as recently as last year?

    Having mostly fulfilled the first Turkish precondition — the return of Artsakh — Azerbaijan now wants to complete the job by occupying the rest, this time not by war, but by forcing Armenia to give it up voluntarily, by signing a deceptive “peace treaty.” Azerbaijan is continuing to twist the knife in Armenia’s bleeding heart by encroaching on the country’s border and illegally holding and torturing Armenian POWs, even after Pashinyan needlessly turned over to Azerbaijan maps of 200,000 land mines in the Azeri-occupied territories. The Nov. 9, 2020 agreement had no such requirement. However, it did include a demand to return the Armenian POWs. Pashinyan should insist that nothing will be negotiated until the POWs are released and the Azeri troops withdraw from inside Armenia’s border. Under these circumstances, Armenia must counter Turkey’s preconditions with its own preconditions.

    Then there are those who think that opening the Armenia-Turkey border will promote trade and bring financial benefits to Armenia. Just to the contrary, cheap Turkish products will flood the Armenian market, bankrupting the local producers. Armenian manufacturers cannot compete with Turkish producers who benefit from economies of scale, based on an 85-million population market.

    Let us not sell Armenia cheap by acting like Turkey will be doing us a big favor by offering to open the border. In fact, Turkey stands to gain much more than Armenia by opening the border. The Turkish city of Kars, only 30 miles from Armenia, suffered a “massive blow” to its economy after the border was closed, according to EurasiaNet.org. As a result, the population of Kars province “shrunk from 662,000 in 1990 to 285,000 in 2020.”

    It is ironic that Pashinyan, who came to power opposing all of his predecessors’ actions, is blindly repeating the previous president’s failed policy on relations with Turkey. He is even using Sargsyan’s own words: “establish relations with Turkey without any preconditions.” It seems that Armenia’s leaders not only do not learn from past mistakes, but blindly repeat them. It would have been somewhat understandable if Pashinyan, as the leader of a defeated nation, confessed that he had no choice but to accept the Azeri/Turkish imposed conditions. But, that’s not what he has said. Pashinyan repeatedly has stated that these imposed conditions, such as the planned route linking Nakhichevan to Eastern Azerbaijan and opening the border with Turkey, are in Armenia’s best interests! Such measures are completely against Armenia’s national interests. They are in fact, the age-old dreams of Pan-Turkists, to connect Turkey through Armenia to Turkic Republics in the Far East.

    To make matters worse, in recent days, Pashinyan has welcomed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s announcement that Armenia should make an effort to open its border with Turkey. This is not surprising as such actions are in Russia’s interest in order to further distance Turkey from NATO and the West. It is regrettable that while Russia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan are diligently pursuing policies that are in their national interest, Armenia’s leader has no conception about his country’s national interest.