Category: Authors

European Court Finds Catholicosate’s Suit Inadmissible; and could not be Appealed

The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia (headquartered in Antelias, Lebanon) filed a lawsuit on April 25, 2015, against the government of Turkey seeking the return of its historic seat in Sis (present-day Kozan district of the Adana Province) which was confiscated in 1921.

The first of its kind lawsuit was filed in the Constitutional Court of the Turkish Republic because the claim raised issues of property rights that lower courts would not have jurisdiction to overturn the maze of laws adopted by Turkey in 1915 and succeeding years. At the recommendation of the Justice Ministry of Turkey, the Constitutional Court referred the Armenian Church lawsuit to the lower courts. The lawyers for the Catholicosate of Cilicia, however, decided to appeal the case directly to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, France, on December 8, 2016.

The issue of sidestepping submission of the Catholicosate’s lawsuit to a lower court in Turkey is critical in view of the requirements of the European Court of Human Rights that before any case is brought to the ECHR, all local legal remedies must first be exhausted, starting with the lowest court and ending with the highest court of the country being sued.

On October 19, 2017, addressing the conference of the Armenian Cause in the European Parliament in Brussels, His Holiness Catholicos Aram I of the Great House of Cilicia criticized the single judge from ECHR who had rejected the Armenian Church’s lawsuit finding it inadmissible. Until this announcement, there was no news about the status of the lawsuit. I contacted the ECHR headquarters in Strasbourg inquiring about the Armenian Church’s claim. I was informed that a single judge indeed has the authority to reject any lawsuit, which in this case was not first submitted to a lower court in Turkey in order to exhaust all local remedies, and that the letter of rejection was sent to the Catholicosate in March 2017. More ominously, I was told by ECHR that the judge’s decision could not be appealed!

I then contacted Payam Akhavan, a member of the Catholicosate’s legal team and Professor of International Law at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, inquiring why no announcement was made earlier by the Catholicosate regarding the rejection of the lawsuit six months ago. Prof. Akhavan explained that the ECHR judge had sent the letter to the wrong address! The Catholicosate then wrote to that judge “expressing serious concern on miscarriage of justice; that a single judge could throw out what was clearly a well-argued case, and waited until recently for a standard response that there is no appeal, and the decision is final.”

In his Brussels speech on Oct. 19, 2017, Catholicos Aram the First harshly condemned the ECHR for rejecting the Church’s lawsuit: “Why would the European Court of Human Rights so easily reject our case knowing that no lawyer would dare to bring such a case before the Turkish courts? How could a single judge throw out a 900-page Application, historically and legally well substantiated by some of the best international lawyers? Why was our legal team not given a chance for a hearing? Is everybody now afraid to confront Turkey’s appalling record of human rights violations? We are astonished and, in fact, deeply disappointed at this miscarriage of justice, particularly at this crucial juncture of modern history when Europe is expected, in faithfulness to its values and principles, to consider justice above geopolitical interests…. Europe is essentially a community of values, not merely political and economic interests. Therefore, I still hope that the European Court of Human Rights will reconsider the admissibility of the case on the basis of justice and human rights. In spite of the denial of justice, the Armenian people will continue to struggle for justice.”

Prof. Akhavan called the ECHR judge’s decision “scandalous.” He then added in his email to me: “By the measure of several highly experienced ECHR lawyers, this decision is totally unacceptable. It shouldn’t be forgotten that our counsel was Tim Eicke QC [Queen’s Counsel], who is now the British judge on the ECHR. He of course is conflicted from involvement in the case, but there is a sense among many that the Court is too afraid of confronting post-coup Turkey with such controversial cases.”

Prof. Akhavan also stated that the next steps for this lawsuit “are either to re-submit the case with some new facts such as the impossibility of going back to the Turkish courts under current circumstances, or to go back to the Turkish courts, waste a lot of resources, and come back to the ECHR once again. It is a ludicrous decision because everybody knows that is exactly what will happen. It is a hot potato the ECHR doesn’t want to handle….”

In conclusion, I would suggest that the Catholicosate of Cilicia make public the complete files of its lawsuit, including the 600-page submission to the Turkish Constitutional Court and its response, and the 900-page filing to the European Court of Human Rights and its response. After all, this is not a private lawsuit, but one dealing with the Armenian nation’s property demands from Turkey!

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October 24, 2017
Unique High School Teacher Who Changed My Life

I would like to dedicate this article to the sad occasion of the passing last month of my dear high school teacher, Olivia Balian, who changed my life with a noble gesture.

The year was 1968. I was a student at the Sophia Hagopian Armenian High School in Beirut, Lebanon.

When the time came to register as a 10th grade student, I went to the Principal’s office and told the staff that my parents could not pay the tuition. Although I was the top student in my class, I was sent home due to lack of money! This was a heart-breaking experience for a young man, as I loved being in school and desperately wanted to continue my education.

I went home and spent my day at the tire repair shop of my father who could barely earn enough to pay the tuition of my two other siblings. A very old man and respected member of the Ramgavar Party saw me in the shop and wondered why I was not in school. I told him I was sent home due to lack of funding. He offered to help by calling the Principal of the AGBU Hovaguimian-Manougian High School and asking him to register me tuition free. Even though the school was far away from my home, I could not pass the opportunity to continue my education. I took a city bus to downtown Beirut and went to the Principal’s office. Being embarrassed to tell him that I was supposed to get free tuition, I told the Principal that arrangements were made for me to study at a discounted tuition. I was stunned when the Principal screamed at me that there was no such thing as a discounted tuition. I immediately turned around and rushed back to my father’s tire shop!

On the third day, one of my classmates from Sophia Hagopian High School came to my father’s shop to inform me that the Principal had sent him to tell me that I should come back to school and register. When I arrived at my school, I told the registrar that I could not pay the tuition. She informed me that my tuition was fully paid and to go and join my classmates. I asked the registrar to tell me who paid for my tuition so I can thank that wonderful individual. I was told that the benefactor wanted to remain anonymous!

So I went to my classroom, but kept wondering who was the person or organization that gave me the golden opportunity to continue my education. I went back to the Principal’s office after classes and begged the registrar to disclose the name of the benefactor. Upon my insistence, she reluctantly informed me that the benefactor was none other than my English teacher, Olivia Balian, on condition that I do not go and thank her and risk the registrar getting fired for breaking her confidentiality. I promised that I would not talk to her. The registrar also told me that when the school year started and she noticed that my classroom desk was unoccupied, she inquired why I was not in school. She was told that my parents could not pay the tuition. She then told the Principal to deduct my tuition from her salary!

The whole year I sat in Ms. Balian’s class, thinking about her magnanimous gesture, but unable to express my appreciation to her. A year later, I came to the United States and eventually received two Master’s degrees, one from Columbia University in New York in International Affairs and the second an MBA from Pepperdine University in Los Angeles.

But I never forgot the kindness and generosity of Ms. Balian who paid for my tuition from her meager salary. Almost 40 years later, I returned to Beirut for the first time, to donate a total of $4.5 million from Kirk Kerkorian’s Lincy Foundation to all 28 Armenian schools in the country. Among the schools I visited was my former High School. While handing the Principal the donation of several hundred thousand dollars, I advised him never to keep any student away from the school for lack of money, because one never knows what that student will become in the future if he had continued his education. He could be a brilliant doctor, a good diplomat, the principal of a school, a church leader or someone who ends up working for a billionaire benefactor who would make a major donation to the school!

While in Lebanon, I very much wanted to see Ms. Balian and thank her for her generosity so many years later. She had retired from teaching long ago and lived in an apartment by herself outside Beirut. I arranged for my former classmates and the Archbishop of Lebanon to take me to her place. She was so thrilled to see me as I was. We had a very warm visit. Sitting next to her, I was finally able to thank her, but she did not want to hear about it and humbly changed the subject. I offered to assist her anyway possible, including financial help or special recognition by the community for her many decades of service to the education of young Armenians. She declined all offers.

I left her apartment with much contentment because I was able to finally acknowledge her generosity after all these years!

While this column is about Ms. Olivia Balian, it is also a testimony that one person can make a great difference in the lives of others. Without her timely assistance, giving me the unique opportunity to study English, I probably would have never come to the United States and would not have ended up as the publisher of an English-language newspaper, The California Courier. I probably would have spent the rest of my life repairing tires at my father’s shop in Beirut!

October 20, 2017
St. Petersburg IPU Assembly to beat several records

Conference Hall. Tauride Palace, St. Petersburg

The 137^th IPU Assembly that will be held in Russia’s Saint Petersburg from October 14 to 18, raises high expectations among the world’s leaders as it hits the record high number of its participants and the wide range of issues to be discussed.

The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian parliament’s upper chamber, the IPU Vice-President Konstantin Kosachev, said “that 152 national delegations out of 173 plan to take part in the assembly, which is a record high”. He also added that “the maximum number of speakers who personally participated in the work of IPU Assemblies is 51. As of today, 99 speakers have expressed a desire to participate in the 137th Assembly, including participants from France, Germany and other European countries”.

The Assembly members will also carry a remarkable vote for adoption of the signing of the resolution “Sharing our diversity: The 20th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Democracy” suggested at the 136^th IPU in Dhakka.

While the IPU Assembly’s major issues of the discussion will be the ongoing conflict in Syria, the possible paths to dealing with North Korea and the Ukraine crisis, it will also highlight the plight of the Muslim Rohyngia as followed by the request from Marzouq Ali Al-Ghanim, the IPU speaker representing Kuwait.

The IPU could also become a platform for a dialogue between North Korea and South Korea should their MPs come to St. Petersburg.

According to political analysts, the current dynamics of international issues demonstrates the trends of spreading democracy and its values around the globe regardless national identities which by no means causes more local and regional conflicts. The recent events in Tunisia, Libya and Syria are the best examples of this trend. In this regard, the international community should see the forthcoming IPU Assembly as a tool for following the fundamental principle of the international law – the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of a country, especially when such an important issue is going to be discussed by the record number of the democratic parliamentary representatives from around the globe.

October 11, 2017
Absurd Propagandist for Azerbaijan Blames California Armenians

Not a week passes without another propagandist for Azerbaijan writing anti-Armenian disinformation against either Armenia or the Diaspora.

The latest such article was written by Andrew Korybko, an unknown individual described as an “American Moscow-based political analyst.” We don’t know what education or background qualifies him as an “analyst” on the Armenian Diaspora to make false accusations on the basis of the little he seems to know. One gets the impression that Korybko’s article is not simply the result of his ignorance, but a deliberate effort arranged by entities that are not difficult to guess!

Korybko’s article, published by the Center for Research on Globalization, Canada, is titled: “The US-Based Armenian Lobby is on a Mission to Provoke Azerbaijan and Russia.” Even from the title, it is obvious that the author is trying to incite a conflict between Russia and Armenians, whereas in reality, there is no such conflict. A note at the end of the article indicates that the article was “originally written for the ‘Moscow-Baku.ru’ online information portal,” which provides a clear evidence of who the author is trying to please!

In his first paragraph, Korybko attacks the Armenians of California for their extreme nationalism and working for the United States against the interests of Armenia. Of course, none of these statements is true! The author’s aim is to start a baseless controversy. Here is the first paragraph of Korybko’s faulty commentary:

“One of the most influential weapons that Armenia has in its foreign policy toolkit is its US-based diaspora lobby in California, which supports their homeland’s most nationalistic and firebrand policies. Instead of behaving as a responsible and pragmatic instrument of the Armenian government in what could have been a calculated policy to balance between Great Powers, it’s oftentimes the case that the roles are reversed and Yerevan is used as an instrument and tool of the US-based Armenian lobby in working against the country’s national interests in order to promote the US. All states aspire for their people to build robust and influential diaspora communities abroad, but the Armenian one is heavily politicized and regularly exerts negative influence on Yerevan in order to bring it under further American control.”

First of all, California Armenians neither try nor have the power to influence the policies of the Republic of Armenia. Secondly, anyone who has the slightest knowledge of Armenian-Americans knows that they are often quite critical of United States relations with Turkey, position on Nagorno-Karabagh (Artsakh), and Turkey’s undue influence on U.S. government leaders who refuse to use the term ‘Armenian Genocide.’ Therefore it is completely untrue that California Armenians blindly serve the interests of the United States.

Korybko then blames “the US-based diaspora” for taking a congressional delegation in mid-September, not only to Armenia, but “whisked off on a highly publicized visit to the occupied regions of Western Azerbaijan.” By describing the Republic of Artsakh as “the occupied regions of Western Azerbaijan,” Korybko makes amply clear whose interests he is serving! Strangely, the author goes on to describe the congressional visit, not only as a pro-American move, but “to Russia’s overall strategic detriment.” Thus, Korybko is accusing Armenian-Americans of undermining Russian interests in Armenia which is totally untrue because they have neither the wish nor the ability to undermine Russia! The author is simply showing who his second master is, in addition to Azerbaijan!

Korybko then resorts to an extreme exaggeration by fabricating the following untrue scenario about Armenian-Americans: “In fact, they want to do everything that they can to ruin the historic Russian-Armenian friendship in their feverish attempt to tear Yerevan away from Moscow and bring it under Washington’s proxy tutelage.”

To back up his fake claim, the author mentions that complaints by citizens of Armenia last month about a government official’s announcement to provide more support to Russian language programs “closely aligns with the position pushed forth by some elements of the US-based diaspora and their American-linked associates in Armenia.” The fact is that not a single person in the entire diaspora said one critical word about the Russian language. Korybko then resorts to another unwarranted exaggeration by claiming that the Armenian Education Ministry “felt pressured to cave in to their diaspora’s demands and reaffirm that Armenian is the only national language in the country…. Whether he intended or not, [Education Minister Levon] Mkrtchyan fell into the information warfare trap laid out for him by the cunning minds organizing the US-based diaspora’s political activities.” This is yet another pure invention by the author!

Exceeding all logical bounds, Korybko alleges that “the Armenian lobby in the US is very similar to the Gulenists in Turkey, in that they represent a shadowy power network with a concrete geopolitical agenda advanced through manipulative means, and both serve the interests of Washington against their homelands.” Korybko with a completely erroneous conclusion claims that “the US-based Armenian lobby is getting dangerously close to seizing full control over their homeland’s foreign policy.”

There are other falsifications in Korybko’s article too numerous to mention. Whoever commissioned this article must realize that such authors, by their ridiculous falsehoods, are causing more damage to the interests of their paymasters than the Armenian community in California!

October 11, 2017
How Turkey Destroyed or Disposed Its Historical Archives and Documents

For several decades, the Turkish government and its propagandists have been announcing that the state documents, particularly the Ottoman archives, are fully open and available to any researcher from around the world.

What Turkish officials and their supporters do not say is that many documents of the Ottoman archives have been removed, destroyed, sold or disposed of. In addition, some of the most sensitive archives are still closed to outsiders.

Last month, Turkish journalist Uzay Bulut posted a revealing article, “Turkey Uncensored: A History of Censorship and Bans” on the PhilosProject.org website regarding the status of Turkish archives and documents going back to several centuries. Ms. Bulut is free to expose such secrets because she no longer lives in Turkey. She is currently based in Washington, D.C.

In Turkey today, Wikipedia’s website is blocked by governmental order because Wikipedia refused to delete articles revealing that the Turkish authorities are supporting the Islamic State terrorists. Furthermore, 127,000 websites and 95,000 individual Web pages are blocked by Turkey, according to journalist Bulut.

This modern-day banning of thousands of websites is the continuation of Ottoman Sultan Bayazid II’s decree of 1485 A.D. imposing the death penalty on anyone printing books in Turkish or Arabic. The ban remained for more than two centuries, Bulut reported. “That prohibition is widely cited by historians as one of the major reasons for the intellectual and scientific collapse of Islam at the dawn of the industrial revolution.”

The Turkish Republic, during the rule of its founder Kemal Ataturk as of 1923, continued the tradition of censorship by banning “at least 130 newspapers, magazines and books, according to Mustafa Yilmaz and Yasmin Doganer’s book, ‘Censor During the Republican era (1923-1973).’” Turkey’s second Prime Minister (1950-1960), Adnan Menderes, banned 161 publications, according to Bulut.

Returning to archival censorship, Bulut quoted Turkish-Jewish historian Rifat Bali who “explained the history of disposed or destroyed state archives in his 2014 book, ‘The Story of Destruction of Plundering: Printed or Written words, Dead Letters, Archives Thrown Out (or Sold) for Scrap.’ …The archives of many political parties, the Senate, and several other governmental or non-governmental institutions in Turkey are either closed to public use or no longer exist.” According to Bali, “the archives of the political parties closed down during the September 12, 1980 coup d’état were sent to SEKA (Cellulose and Paper Factories) as scrap paper.”

The Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) archive is the most important one because it is the party of the founding years of the Republic. As Bali wrote: “Some say it [the archive] was burnt. Some say it was thrown away on September 12. Some say, no it hasn’t been thrown away. It is here. So it is a mystery today. A large part of the archive is nonexistent.”

In addition, Bali reported that “the archives of the presidency, the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and the Ministry of the Interior are closed.” Interestingly, Bali noted the strange story of how “confidential documents of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were found at a scrap dealer in Ankara in 1998. For the ministry had sold 15 steel safes to a scrap dealer. It was then understood that the ministry sold the safes because of a lack of space at the ministry without even looking what was inside them.”

Bali also reported in his book several other examples of the destruction of important documents:

— “Many of the Turkish Institute of History’s documents – including a letter by Ataturk – have been thrown away;”

— “All minutes of the proceedings of the Senate that was established with the 1961 constitution and remained active until the September 12, 1980 coup d’état were sent to the Cellulose and Paper Factories (SEKA);”

— “When the state-funded Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) moved to a new building in 1965, its authorities said that ‘old documents do not fit a new building’ and sent some of the documents of the archives to SEKA;”

— “When a shortage of paper emerged at SEKA in 1980s, state institutions were called on to send their old papers to the factory. Many archives at institutional level were thus gone;”

— As recently as 2013, Turkish National Library’s old books in Greek, Hebrew, and Syriac were sold by the ton, “as there were no librarians who could read in those languages.”

As an investigative Journaist Uzay Bulut concluded: “with so much information withheld from the Turkish public, state propaganda has created masses who blindly follow whatever state authorities − who have lost their moral compass and never object or speak out even when they see brutal violations of human rights, who do not respect differing opinions or the right to dissent, and who promote an extremely inaccurate version of history – have to say.”

The next time Turkish government propagandists write “our archives are open,” you can send them a copy of this article, the revelations of which from distinguished Turkish journalist Uzay Bulut will shut them up!

October 4, 2017
Americana Executives and ANCA Meet To Resolve a Contentious Relationship

Representatives of the Armenian National Committee of America and senior executives of Americana shopping mall in Glendale met on September 5 and agreed to put their future relationship on a better footing.

This was the first meeting in more than a dozen years between the two groups, precipitated by the refusal of Americana to provide paid advertising space on its billboard for “Architects of Denial,” an Armenian Genocide documentary. The producers of the documentary were told by Americana that the subject was “too political.” This was a puzzling and irritating response since Americana had seen neither the documentary nor the text of the display ad that was being rejected simply because it was about the Armenian Genocide.

After several attempts asking Americana officials to explain the true reason for rejecting the display ad, they became even more adamant in their refusal. The most insensitive sentence in one of their emails to the documentary producers was that Americana had received comments on this controversy “ranging from the Armenian community and the Turkish Consulate.” This highly offensive statement was equating the voices of descendants of the Armenian Genocide to that of a Turkish diplomat who represents a denialist autocratic regime whose predecessors had committed the Genocide!

To make matters worse, this was not the first time that Americana had taken a negative position on an Armenian Genocide-related issue. Three years ago, Americana officials had refused to allow three young Armenians who had leased a kiosk from Americana to sell T-shirts that carried texts related to the Armenian Genocide. After an outcry from the local Armenian community, Americana reversed its decision allowing the sale of the T-shirts. They called their initial decision “a misunderstanding.”

In a similar development last month, shortly before the Glendale Chapter of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) had called a press conference on the public portion of Americana grounds to announce a boycott, Americana officials reversed themselves not only allowing the display ad for the documentary, but “at no cost to the producers.”

This was a positive first step. Americana’s owner, Rick Caruso, agreed to meet with the Armenian National Committee of America to discuss how to improve relations between the local community and the shopping mall.

Mr. Caruso attended the Sept. 5 meeting along with Americana’s Executive Vice President of Operations Jackie Levy, Executive Vice President of Communications Nancy Murray, Senior Vice President of Community Relations Rick Lemmo and Senior Vice President of Planning, Government and Community Relations Sharon Keyser. The Armenian delegation consisted of ANCA-Glendale Chairman Artin Manoukian, ANCA Western Region Board Member Berdj Karapetian, ANCA Western Region Advisory Board Member Harut Sassounian, former ANCA Western Region Executive Director Elen Asatryan, and ANCA Glendale Community Outreach Director Margarita Baghdasaryan.

The Sept. 5 meeting proceeded in a cordial atmosphere. Mr. Caruso agreed to take concrete steps to improve the shopping mall’s relationship with the local Armenian community. Americana promised to form a special community relations team to focus exclusively on its partnership with Armenians.

“We are pleased that Mr. Caruso has agreed to work on initiatives to improve relations with the Armenian American community and regain our trust and confidence,” stated ANCA-Glendale Chairman Manoukian.

In his turn, Jackie Levy, Americana’s Executive Vice President of Operations announced: “We value the very productive meeting with ANCA-Glendale leadership and look forward to strengthening our relationship which includes continuing to celebrate our deep appreciation for the Armenian community. Establishing this new community relations team will ensure that our partnership will continue in a very meaningful way.”

Thus, a long-standing contentious relationship between Americana and the Glendale Armenian community is in the process of being resolved amicably. Mr. Caruso, the owner of Americana, was very gracious in his remarks at the meeting and spoke very positively about Armenians. In the coming months, there will be more contacts between the two sides to come up with plans to strengthen their cooperation so that the disputes are resolved through friendly discussions rather than resorting to protests and boycotts.

More than two dozen Armenians and non-Armenians appeared at the Glendale City Council meeting to complain about Americana’s initial rejection of the display ad. To their credit, all five Glendale City Council members, led by Mayor Vartan Gharpetian, supported the community’s demands and were present during ANCA’s press conference at Americana. Also supporting the Armenian community’s wishes was California State Senator Anthony Portantino who played a major role in helping to resolve the controversy and attended the ANCA press conference.

The resolution of this controversial issue indicates the importance of community participation and activism in matters that affect Armenian Americans.

September 20, 2017