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Category: Armenian Question
“The great Turk is governing in peace twenty nations from different religions. Turks have taught to Christians how to be moderate in peace and gentle in victory.”Voltaire’s Philosophical Dictionary
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Press release by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs
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HAIRENIK: Chorbajian: Caveat Emptor: Weak Negotiating Strategies and Settlement Pitfalls
This racist, Levon Chorbajian, is still a professor at the U. of Massachussetts, which is disturbing. Aside from showing a rigid maximalist position based on tired historical claims, Chorbajian sums up the thesis of why Karabakh should be important for both Turkey and Azerbaijan as follows: “Here Azerbaijan has benefitted by the West’s very narrow definition of this struggle as a struggle about Karabagh only, instead of seeing it in its historical context as the latest phase of a struggle between Armenian national security and Turkish imperial ambition.” “Concerning Karabagh, and also the opening of the Turkish border, I would say first that there has to be a recognition that pan-Turkism is not a marginal ideology in Turkey or Azerbaijan. The Turks and the Azeris have their differences, but they have both long coveted Armenian territories to fulfill their ambition of an unbroken territorial link between them. This should not be underestimated, and what follows from this observation is that the Karabagh Question is not, as the Minsk Group insists, a narrow dispute limited to Nagorno-Karabagh. No, it is about Karabagh but also about the fate of Armenia and the Armenian people on an independent Armenian homeland. That is what is at stake.” AB [[email protected]]
HAIRENIK: Chorbajian: Caveat
Emptor: Weak Negotiating Strategies
and
Settlement Pitfalls
By Admin • on August 29, 2009
By Levon Chorbajian
Below is the text of the talk given by Prof. Levon Chorbajian at the conference on Turkish-Armenian relations held in Stepanakert on July 10-11. The Armenian Weekly thanks Prof. Chorbajian for the text.
I would like to thank the organizers for calling this conference at this timely moment. And I would especially like to pay my respects to the people of Karabagh and Armenia for courageously challenging Soviet and Azerbaijani authority and reversing the clear injustice of assigning this territory to the Azerbaijan S.S.R. in the early 1920’s. The result is an independent Karabagh and it is a great achievement. I am not unmindful of the tremendous sacrifices that have been made and continue to be made to keep this reality afloat. My purpose is to call those sacrifices to mind and to argue that we should not participate in a process that would cause them to have been made in vain.
I am not going to be entirely critical of Armenian diplomacy regarding Karabagh. It has had its successes. If it had not, we would not be able to be here. But I do want to say that Armenia and Karabagh have clear historical and ideological resources on their side which have not been put to full use or-even worse-been put to any use at all. When Azerbaijan and Turkey negotiate, they negotiate from maximalist positions, and they are very reluctant to make concessions. Armenians do not seem to follow suit. Why have governments in Yerevan, for example, acted to assure Turkey that they have no claims on that nation, as though we were the guilty party and had, therefore, to reassure others of our good intentions?
Concerning Karabagh, and also the opening of the Turkish border, I would say first that there has to be a recognition that pan-Turkism is not a marginal ideology in Turkey or Azerbaijan. The Turks and the Azeris have their differences, but they have both long coveted Armenian territories to fulfill their ambition of an unbroken territorial link between them. This should not be underestimated, and what follows from this observation is that the Karabagh Question is not, as the Minsk Group insists, a narrow dispute limited to Nagorno-Karabagh. No, it is about Karabagh but also about the fate of Armenia and the Armenian people on an independent Armenian homeland. That is what is at stake.
My focus is on bargaining strategies that I believe have not been effectively used by the Armenian side and need to be used. The first, and I will not have a lot to say about it because it has been noted by several previous speakers, is the exclusion of Nagorno-Karabagh from the negotiating process. This is the single greatest flaw in the negotiating process and, to my knowledge, without precedent in the history of conflict resolution.
The second is that territorial claims have traditionally been decided on the basis of three criteria: Who has lived there historically? Who lives there now? And what do the people who live there now want? It is actually unusual for all three of these to fall on one side. Consider the case of Northern Ireland, a colonized territory, but one where the Catholics are a minority in their own land and have been for a long time. But in the Karabagh case, all three criteria favor the Armenian side. I think this point-that Karabagh presents one of the world’s strongest cases in favor of independence-should be stressed repeatedly and there should be no compromise on it.
The third issue concerns borders. The current borders of Nagorno-Karabagh are much smaller than the territory that Azerbaijan received in 1923. At that time Karabagh and Armenia shared a border. Territories were taken from Karabagh and from southern Armenia (Siunik was wider at that time than it is now) to form Red Kurdistan, and as soon as the goal of that change (which was never to territorially recognize the Kurds but rather to aggrandize Azeri territory) was accomplished, the Kurds were quickly abandoned and Red Kurdistan disappeared to became a part of Azerbaijan proper. The northern Armenian-populated areas of Shahumian and others were also separated out of Karabagh and made part of Azerbaijan itself. The transfer of parcels of land from Armenia and Karabagh to Nakhichevan and Azerbaijan continued into the 1930’s. These territories transferred from Armenia to Azerbaijan included but were not limited to three mountain lakes near the village of Istisu and the villages of Istisu, Zar, and Zivel. Furthermore, Armenian villages in Kelbajar and the Lachin Corridor were, shall we say, ethnically cleansed. I think it is incumbent on Armenian negotiators to study maps from the 1920’s and 1930’s and to document these changes, especially now that the fate of the occupied territories is still in the balance. The point must be forcefully and repeatedly made that the so-called occupied territories, at least those between Karabagh and Armenia, are, in fact, Armenian and should remain so. And also that this is essential to the national security of Armenia and Karabagh.
The fourth issue is that Azerbaijan repeatedly makes preposterous claims that Armenians do not confront and challenge, thereby lending them a credibility they do not deserve. The entire claim of Azerbaijani historians that the Azeris are descendents of the Caucasian Albanians and therefore a nation of longstanding with a prior claim to Karabagh is utterly baseless and false. It needs to be challenged rigorously whenever it is raised.
Or let us consider the argument that Shoushi is an Azerbaijani city. It was briefly in the 18th century, but part of the 18th century is a only a small slice of history. By 1900, Shoushi was the third largest city in the TransCaucasus after Baku and Tiflis, and the majority of its nearly 40,000 inhabitants were Armenian. The Armenians of Shoushi operated a printing press, schools, and a theater complex. Of the 21 newspapers and magazines published in the city at the time of the Bolshevik Revolution, 19 were in Armenian and 2 in Russian. And consider how the Armenian city of Shoushi was turned into an Azeri city in March and April 1920: The Armenian section of the city was destroyed by Azeri and Turkish forces and 20,000 Armenians were killed. The ruins of these buildings stood as a silent testimony of Azerbaijani intentions until they were razed in the 1960’s.
The next point concerns international law. Whenever it is claimed that self-determination has a lesser standing in international law than the territorial integrity of national states, it should be aggressively pointed out, and correctly so, that this is not true. Their standing is unequivocally equal. On a related issue, the West insists that self-determination can only occur when it does not clash with territorial integrity; yet, in fact, the West supports the creation of new nation states whose independence does violate the territorial integrity of existing states. The West has recognized the former East Pakistan as Bangladesh, as well as Eritrea in the Horn of Africa, and now Kosovo. I think it is useful to confront Western negotiators and to insist on answers to the questions: Why the double standard? And why not Karabagh?
As I understand it, the re-settlement of refugees is also a condition of settlement. Here Azerbaijan has benefitted by the West’s very narrow definition of this struggle as a struggle about Karabagh only, instead of seeing it in its historical context as the latest phase of a struggle between Armenian national security and Turkish imperial ambition. Seen in this light, we should be able to understand that there are hundreds of thousands of Armenian victims and refugees, not only Azeri ones. Will Armenians who so desire be able to return to Baku and other parts of Azerbaijan and reclaim their properties and be able to live in peace, or only Azeris from Karabagh and the liberated territories? There is a terrible imbalance here that ought to be pointed out.
An offshoot of the refugee and re-settlement issue is what I call the demographic time bomb. Many Armenian families in Karabagh produce one, two, or three children while many Azeri families produce five, six, or seven. I do not have a solution for this, but I point out that even in the best of settlements, the Armenian population of Karabagh will be diminished over time rather quickly as was already happening prior to 1988. Has the Armenian side given proper attention to the implications of the re-settlement of Azeris, at least in Karabagh, Kelbajar, and the Lachin Corridor?
Finally, I have alluded to national security issues for Armenia and Karabagh, and I wish to say a few more words about them. These are essential considerations for the future of the Armenian people if we are not to become the equivalent of a South African bantustan under the apartheid regime. I point out that Armenian national security is not the primary consideration of any parties to the conflict or the settlement except Armenians. The West wants a quick fix to enable the flow of investment and commerce, and to protect its oil investments and pipeline flows. So Armenians need to insist that any international peacekeeping forces be adequate in number, fully funded, and for the long term. On the basis of the tremendous expense alone, the West resists this, and this is not to the advantage of Armenians.
I will conclude with these two points. The first is that the territories are the only real leverage that Armenians have. There cannot be any workable settlement of the Karabagh Question that surrenders territory without the declaration and international recognition of an independent Karabagh with defensible borders. The second point concerns Azerbaijan’s most generous offer to date: the return of territories for the promise of the highest degree of autonomy for Karabagh within Azerbaijan. Armenia and Karabagh should never waver from the position that this is not good enough. After all, de jure autonomy is exactly what Armenians had in the Ottoman Empire in 1915.
Levon Chorbajian is a professor in the department of sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. He can be reached by emailing [email protected].
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Protocols between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Turkey
Protocols between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Turkey August 31, 2009 Press release by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign of the Republic of Armenia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey August 31, 2009 -
A Georgian-Armenian Border Dispute?
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Armenia-Georgia border
The complicated situation plaguing the Georgian regions bordering Armenia, known as the Armenian-populated Samtskhe-Javakhk region, is being compounded as Georgian authorities are prohibiting farmers there to work, essentially claiming that the land on which they live is Georgian territory.
The focal point of this recent flare up is the border city of Bavra, whose residents were issued deeds by the Armenian State Committee on Real Estate from 1992 to 2004. But, because the Soviet demarcation of borders left a legal uncertainty, Georgia has intermittently annexed portions of that land and claimed it as its own by planting trees and vegetation and expanding its “forests.” This move is beeing seen as effectively seizing Armenian territory.
This has created confusion in the area, with Armenian border guards not allowing Armenian residents of Bavra to cross the border, in an effort to not enflame matters, while on the other hand, Georgian border guards are being granted permission to arrest the people who have been living and working there for decades.
Bavra community head Koriun Sumbulyan said that Georgian authorities have prevented the farmers to enter a 300-hectar lot on the “legally uncertain” area. This move has affected the economic well-being of the residents, who have appealed to the Armenian Foreign Ministry for assistance but have not received clear-cut answers.
It is estimated that if the current status quo is not challenged and Georgian authorities are allowed to continue this “restructuring of the border,” Georgia could advance within the current Armenian border to the tune of 400 meters, where the boundaries of the Bavra village end.
This revelation further enflames an already volatile situation for the majority-Armenian-populated region of Javakhk as a direct result of Tbilisi’s treatment of ethnic groups in Georgia. Javakhk Armenian community organizations have appealed to the central authorities and to the international community, thus far, to no avail.
The Armenian government has reassured that the proper procedures were in place to address the issue, yet Armenia, since its independence has not had a clear strategy or policy toward Javakhk.
Aside from the fallout from last summer’s war, which continues to have adverse effects on Armenia, Azeri and Turikic nations are increasing the population in the areas immediately bordering Armenia. In fact, on Wednesday, the Meskheti Community of Azerbaijan announced that it would be disbanding at the beginning of next year, because it has fulfilled its mission of populating the “displaced” Meskheti Turks in Georgia, “per Georgian law.”
The Saakashvili administration has not learned its lesson from last year’s war and continues to embroil its population in conflicts fraught with intimidation and violation of basic human rights. Unfortunately, this behavior is only encouraged-and Armenian lives further endangered-partially by the flawed policies of the US, which has allowed Georgian authorities to take liberties that are outside of democratic norms.
At the same time, the Armenian authorities’ unwillingness to engage in matters related to the threat facing the population of Javakhk, as well as Armenia’s border, exacerbates the situation further. It’s high time for a clear and concise policy toward Georgia, and more important a strategy on Javakhk.
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SUKRU AYA’S LETTER TO OBAMA RESPONDING TO ANCA CLAIMS
https://armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2009/08/2940-aya-s-letter-to-obama-versus-ancas.html
August 28, 2009
Much Esteemed and beloved Mr. President,
Salute, regards, and sentiments from Türkiye, the country where your friendly visit, is treasured!
As soon as I read the rude, accusatory, and outright disrespectful letter (see below) written to you by Kenneth V. Hachikian, Chairman of ANCA—a shady group currently under investigation by federal agencies for alleged campaign finance and lobbying violations—I felt compelled to write to you and put some light on penned slanders!
The letter, [quite short of accustomed courtesy and respect when addressing the White House] was urging you to reject the recent ruling of a three judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in the case of Movsesian v. Versicherung A.G. (No. 07-56722, August 20, 2009), which struck down a California special-interest law providing remedies and tax exemptions to ethnic Armenians for alleged wrongs during an alleged genocide.
I should like to emphasize that because of my affection to too many American or Turkish Armenians with whom I have shared many joys and sorrows of my life and continue to have warm, friendly relations, I have compiled a book using anti-Turkish, (mostly Armenian, American) and neutral sources, which took me some four years. A copy will be mailed to you by my friends in USA as annex to this letter, for your further guidance with more than 2000 verbatim excerpts from books, documents, articles etc. that cannot be refuted by any party. The book has been on the “Open Free E-Book Library” of “Armenians-1915.blogspot.com” “a small group of truth dedicated Turkish Armenians, striving for the normalization of relations and discovery of truth and protection of the present Turkish-Armenians friendly relations”, from the continuous interceptions of diaspora organizations, which for nearly a century have established a “trade or industry of marketing hatred and revenge”, and for which they collect a huge amount of money, some disposed as needed or embezzled during the process!
Apparently, no one taught these Armenians about the separation of powers in U.S.A. and that it is un-American for the executive branch to contravene the judicial branch (or legislative branch). Such discriminated practices may be all right in Armenia, {a land-locked, poverty-stricken, corrupt, aggressive, and violent Armenia living on the donations and instructions by diaspora groups} but it is frowned upon in America.
The disrespectful Armenian letter writer also seemed ignorant of the federal supremacy law, which says state laws cannot replace, void, or overrule federal laws. The wily and tricky Armenian lobby thought they found the short cut, by applying local political pressure to get a tailor-made state law to bypass all federal laws. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals saw to it, that those Armenian falsifiers got a good lesson on American government.
The insolent Armenian letter writer, in asking the White House to interfere with the decision of U.S. Court of Appeals or evaluate a California State Law interpretation as superior to Federal Laws and U.S. Constitution, in effect, was forcing the U.S. Government to violate written bilateral agreements with the sovereign Republic of Turkey. Thus, the deceptive and tiny Armenian lobby was indirectly attempting to manipulate American foreign policy. Excuse, but in simple words, this is like “the tail or tail tip wagging the dog”!
The expression, such as “Genocide era wrongs”, is not based on any judicial decision, but is set on “hearsay and forgeries” promoted deceptively by biased persons or organizations. My book has hundreds of examples. Armenians also fail to understand that hasty campaign pledges and responsibility of an office may differ after election, and sometimes diametrically opposing things. Overall, American interests always trump preferential or actually discriminatory demands of specific ethnic groups or lobbies! That said, a responsible, truth-defending President, is expected to investigate deeper any pledges made during election campaigns and refrain from unrealistic, untrue, unethical, unequal or biased pledges.
The “Armenian Genocide” allegations are not supported by the verdict of any “competent tribunal” as set forth by the 1948 U.N. Convention. Such terminology, therefore, is not more than a political statement based on hearsay, forgeries, falsifications, fabrications, distortions, and outright lies. Not every killing or suffering is genocide. Not every war crime or hate crime is genocide. Not every photo, tall tale, documentary, film, book is genocide. Genocide verdict can only be given at a competent tribunal after due process where all sides are given a fair chance to tell its side of the story and cross-examine the evidence and witnesses. This was never done in the case of Turkish-Armenian conflict. Armenians are trying to bypass legislation by applying political pressure. But it will not work! They will never come out on a bilateral commission of investigation or scholarly evaluation. On the contrary, the U.S. records in archives bear plenty evidence that the exact opposite is true, or that brutalities were mutual and mostly inflicted by the ancestors of the claimants as evidenced by their own books and historians!
Armenian propaganda organizations such as ANCA, should be aware of the fact that the new Turkish Republic had agreed with U.S.A. on Dec. 24, 1923 to study all claims and compensate for the actual losses suffered by the U.S. Citizens, until that date. Their absence of knowledge is proof of their blind antagonism!
ANCA should also be aware that a joint Committee had been empowered with another agreement dated October 25, 1934 and all U.S. citizens or claimants were given a deadline to submit their claims and evidences. The claims that had been submitted were meticulously verified. A further agreement of “Adjustment of Payment” No.168 dated Sept.8, 1937 was concluded with Turkey. U.S.A. confirmed with letter No.93, dated Sept..23, 1937 to the Republic of Turkey, that “…when the agreed amount is paid, Turkey will be fully discharged of the obligations previously agreed…”:
Turkey had fulfilled the agreement; claimants had been accordingly paid and USA has no longer any lawful rights to request , 72 years later, additional indemnities for cases studied and settled in 1937!
Accusing U.S. Governments for “complicity on genocide denial” is an arrogant insult to USA and Turkey, as long as the humiliation of “genocide” stands as a word in the air, never decided by a competent tribunal!
ANCA organization does not have the immunity to call other parties “criminal”, unless the “crime is proven and the judicial verdict is at hand”. Declarations by some Parliaments or other legally irrelevant and/or unauthorized groups are political and have no judicial merit. They may stroke Armenian egos, but are, otherwise, worthless gestures of bias and bigotry, which are used as asset or assessment for collecting “donations for the cause”!..
Vague expressions and accusations such as “race extermination or over 1.5 million Armenians lost their lives” stands much short of truths and the U.S. state archives refute them openly because:
a- “American Military Mission to Armenia” (General Harbord) Report 1920 and Annex Report Nat. Archives 184.021/175 do not mention any “race extermination” but instead refer to “refinements of cruelty by Armenians to Muslims”.
b- Joint US-Congress Resolution no. 192, April 22, 1922 relative to the activities of Near East Relief ending 31.12.1921, has unanimously resolved that 1,414,000 Armenians were alive. Moreover, (George Montgomery) a member of the US delegation at the Paris Conference had presented a detailed tabulation in 1919, with 1,104,000 Armenians alive, apart from those who had already immigrated to other countries.
c- Reliable sources show that THE TOTAL ARMENIAN POPULATION in the (1914) Ottoman Empire was less than 1.3 MILLION (or up to a maximum of 1.5 millions) and hence it would be ANCA’s liability to “defy and annul these official U.S. State Records,” and give documentary evidence of which number is to be trusted!
ANCA is charging the Obama administration of “blocking legal redress of U.S. citizens” without minimal proof. ANCA should be aware of the fact that the Obama administration is responsible for protecting the rights and interests of all true American citizens who took an oath when they were naturalized. In other words, the Obama Administration cannot be held responsible for losses such as of life, property, or inheritance by her citizens in “former countries” (before they were naturalized) from where they immigrated to the US! Prevailing cases of U.S. citizens were promptly settled by former USA Administrations at that time. This does not limit the “U.S. citizens from pursuing their personal claims individually in other countries” under their own liabilities. USA cannot disregard or deviate from her written obligations in international agreements under any ethnic pressure or others, such as by ANCA.
If ANCA lobby organization is disappointed because Obama treats American citizens of Armenian ethnicity equally with all other American citizens and cannot extend special privileges to ANCA, then I am afraid, ANCA is giving priority to ANCA leaders’ private interests over the interests of American citizens over all.
There is no place for any prejudice or antagonism in USA’s relations with other countries. It is hard to understand or justify why Armenian community is so fearful of “any type of investigation” (by historical commission or others) unless, of course, there are facts that Armenians do not wish to be brought into the light.
Obama Administration has taken an oath to serve all American citizens, equally, and to protect their overall interests. A U.S. president cannot support unproven allegations or hearsay that may tarnish American values like justice, fairness, openness, honesty, equality, and compassion for all. The Obama Administration, I hope, will never be part of “any prejudice or antagonism” against any ethnicity, nation, race, or faith on earth!
I welcome ANCA’s offer to discuss “these matters personally in greater detail” when Armenian falsifiers would support White House’s desire to hear what “other American citizens” may have to say equally in a fair, friendly and civilized conference!
Most Cordially and Sincerely,
Sukru Server Aya
[Author: “The Genocide of Truth” ISBN 978-975-6516-24-9 Istanbul Commerce University Publication 2008]
Annex:
a- ANCA’s letter to the White House
b- Book separately mailed from USA, marked on envelope (Annex of the letter by Sukru S. Aya )NOTE: The Armenian Community in Turkey and many Armenians in the world, who can see the personal ego and financial interest of the diaspora, are disturbed by the latter’s arrogance and fomenting frictions on which they thrive! My friends and I are dedicated to decency, truth, reason and compassion and despise “hate merchants”
c.c.:
a- U.S.A. Embassy – Çankaya – Ankara (Book formerly presented)
b- U.S.A. General Consulate – Istanbul – – – – – – -do-
c- T.C. Dışişleri Bakanlıgı (Foreign Office) Ankara – – -do-***
And here is the letter written by ANCA, the same organization previously headed by a convicted Armenian terrorist, Topalian, who shamelessly stored explosives next to a school, daycare, and a gas station in Ohio until caught in the act by the FBI:
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ANCA’s letter to Obama
The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500Dear Mr. President:
I am writing to urge you to take immediate steps to publicly reject the flawed ruling of a three judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in the case of Movsesian v. Versicherung A.G. (No. 07-56722, August 20, 2009), that struck down a California law providing remedies for Armenian Genocide-era wrongs, and argued that state level recognition of this crime contradicts “express federal policy” and is therefore unconstitutional.
You bear direct responsibility, Mr. President, by virtue of your failure to keep your repeated, crystal clear pledges to recognize the Armenian Genocide, for the Court’s judgment that it is the official policy of the Executive Branch of the United States government to actively oppose proper recognition of this crime and, upon this basis, to thus prohibit states from passing laws to help Armenian Genocide-era victims seek to reclaim lost or stolen property. The Court’s interpretation of your broken promise marks an unmistakable and historic low in our government’s long complicity in Turkey’s campaign of genocide denial.
As you know, over 1.5 million Armenians lost their lives and, of course, many more were deprived of their property as a result of the Ottoman Turkish government’s systematic and deliberate campaign of race extermination. It is particularly tragic, given the thorough understanding that you have articulated regarding the moral, historical, and political meaning of this crime, that, it is under your leadership that the United States government is today not only engaged in complicity in genocide denial, but also, according to a judicial ruling, actively working to ensure that the remaining survivors and their families are denied avenues to seek to reclaim property lost during these massacres.
Your Administration’s policies, as understood and affirmed by the Court, in addition to blocking legal redress for U.S. citizens, have now opened the door—in unprecedented and profoundly dangerous ways—for interests aligned with the Turkish government to seek to roll back several generations of American civil society efforts to mark this tragedy, including through formal recognition by 42 U.S. states. As such, we once again urge you to publicly reject the Court’s interpretation of your Administration’s position and call upon you to honor your covenant with American voters to properly recognize the Armenian Genocide.
In closing, I would like to stress to you, once again, how broadly and profoundly disappointing your failure to honor your many commitments on issues of special concern to Armenian American citizens has been for the ANCA, a grassroots organization that, based upon your track record and series of publicly stated commitments, enthusiastically endorsed your candidacy and successfully mobilized an unprecedented community drive to help secure your election. In the wake of your many broken campaign commitments, your silence in the face of this profoundly misguided judicial action would compound the Armenian American community’s sense of betrayal regarding your Administration’s behind the scenes efforts to block adoption of the Armenian Genocide Resolution, your White House’s use of Turkey’s cynically-inspired “roadmap” to defer U.S. recognition, and your State Department’s shameless pressure on Armenia to accept the artificial “historical commission” that Ankara has long advanced to prevent the proper recognition of this crime.
We remain ready, as we have shared with you on a number of past occasions, to meet with you to discuss these matters personally and in greater detail.
[signed]
Kenneth V. Hachikian
Chairman***
The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500Dear Mr. President:
This is to refute the baseless claims and arrogant demands made by the Armenians in a letter to you recently. Kenneth V. Hachikian, chairman of ANCA –the same organization previously headed by a convicted Armenian terrorist, Topalian, who shamelessly stored explosives next to a school, daycare, and a gas station in Ohio until caught in the act by the FBI—
The discourteous Armenian letter was urging you to reject the ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in the case of Movsesian v. Versicherung A.G. (No. 07-56722, August 20, 2009), which found a California partsian law providing remedies to ethnic Armenians in life insurance matters during an alleged genocide. This bizarre demand, a clear evidence of lack of understanding of American government, totally contradicts the separation of powers in U.S.A. The impolite Armenian letter also seemed clueless about the federal supremacy law, which stipulates that state laws cannot void or overrule federal laws.
Demanding that the U.S. Government violate bilateral agreements with the sovereign Republic of Turkey by asking the White House to interfere with the decision of U.S. Court of Appeals is simply un-American.
Furthermore, the term genocide is not based on a verdict by a competent tribunal and reflects a biased interpretation of WWI events, ignoring the six T’s of the Turkish-Armenian conflict [i.e. tumult (revolts), terrorism, treason, territorial demands, Turkish suffering, and TERESET, temporary resettlement order of May 27, 1915.] Not all killing, suffering, and war crimes are genocide. For a genocide verdict, intent of the perpetrator must be proven at a competent court after due process. That was never done in the Turkish-Armenian conflict. The “Armenian Genocide” allegations are political charges based on hearsay, forgeries, falsifications, fabrications, distortions, and outright lies. Turks suffered, too, at the hands of Armenians and the U.S. archives of the era can attest to that.
Most importantly, ANCA should learn that the Turkish Republic had agreed with U.S.A. on Dec. 24, 1923 to investigate and redress all claims of losses suffered by the U.S. Citizens, until that date. A joint Committee, empowered with another agreement dated October 25, 1934, did collect and verify all submittals, upon which a third agreement of “Adjustment of Payment” No.168 dated Sept.8, 1937 was concluded with Turkey. U.S.A. confirmed with letter No.93, dated Sept..23, 1937 to the Republic of Turkey, that “…when the agreed amount is paid, Turkey will be fully discharged of the obligations previously agreed…” Turkey had fulfilled the agreement by paying the claimants and the matter was permanently and irrevocably settled.
If you ever decide to meet that nagging, demanding, deceptive ANCA, please do yourself a favor and invite us, Turkish-Americans, as represented by ATAA, FTAA, and others, to the same meeting and let us dismantle their bogus Armenian claims effortlessly… and with pleasure.
Sincerely,
Ergun KIRLIKOVALI
ATAA, President-Elect
FTAA, Western Regional Director
ATASC, Past President -
Schwarzenegger Appoints Poochigian to the Fifth District Court of Appeal
Very bad news.
He is from the same era (Deukmejian) as Justice Armand Arabian who was quoted in Parade magazine after the assassination of Kemal Arikan, Consul General in Los Angeles: All Armenians have the right to seek redress; some seek it on street corners”. We led a nationwide campaign to have him censored if not disciplined but the Judicial Commission refused to address the complaint. They would not mention his name and essentially responded that “ The matter about which you wrote has no merit”. We continued to follow up with letters… to no avail.
Bonnie Joy Kaslan [[email protected]]
Newly appointed Judge Poochigian
SACRAMENTO-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Thursday announced the appointment of Charles S. Poochigian as associate justice of the Court of Appeal, Fifth Appellate District.
Poochigian, 60, of Fresno, has served as an attorney with Dowling, Aaron and Keeler since 2007. Prior to that, he served as a senator representing the 14th District for the California State Senate from 1998 to 2006 and assemblymember representing the 29th District for the California State Assembly from 1994 to 1998.
From 1991 to 1994, Poochigian served as the appointments secretary for Governor Pete Wilson and, from 1988 to 1990, he served as chief deputy appointments secretary for Governor George Deukmejian. From 1981 to 1988, Poochigan was a sole practitioner and, from 1975 to 1981, he was a partner for Vartabedian and Poochigian. Poochigian earned a Juris Doctorate degree from Santa Clara University School of Law and a Bachelor of Science degree from California State University, Fresno. He fills the vacancy created by the death of Justice Thomas A. Harris. Poochigian is a Republican.