The California Courier Online, May 11, 2023

The California
Courier Online, May 11, 2023

 

1-         Under
Turkish Pressure, Armenia’s Leaders

            Make
Excuses for Nemesis
Monument

            By Harut
Sassounian

            Publisher,
The California
Courier

           
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

2-         Azerbaijani
who crossed into Armenia
is sentenced to prison

3-         AYF-West CE
Meets with Western US Prelate Bishop Torkom
Donoyan

4-         Letters to
the Editor

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1-         Under
Turkish Pressure, Armenia’s Leaders

            Make
Excuses for Nemesis
Monument

            By Harut
Sassounian

            Publisher,
The California
Courier

           
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

 

Just when we thought that we had heard everything about the
current Armenian government’s questionable positions on Artsakh,
Armenia, and Armenian
interests, we are now facing another monumental mistake by Armenia’s
leaders.

On April 25, 2023, the descendants of those who killed the
Turkish masterminds of the Armenian Genocide inaugurated the Nemesis Monument
in Yerevan. In
attendance were opposition members of Parliament, and surprisingly, Tigran
Avinyan, the Deputy Mayor of Yerevan,
who is a member of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s political party.

Nemesis was the name of the operation which was organized by
the Armenian Revolutionary Federation to eliminate several Ottoman leaders who
were responsible for the Armenian Genocide. This operation implemented the
death verdicts issued in absentia by the Turkish Military Tribunal in Istanbul, in 1919,
against the Genocide perpetrators, since they had fled from the country. Talaat
Pasha, the main culprit in the Armenian Genocide, was killed by Soghomon
Tehlirian in Berlin,
in 1921. A German court found him not guilty due to Talaat’s massive crimes.

Talaat’s remains were brought from Berlin
to Turkey
in 1943. The Turkish government ‘honored’ Talaat by naming avenues, mosques,
schools, hospitals and a memorial after him in Istanbul. This would be just as shameful, had
the German government named schools and avenues in Berlin after Hitler! Another Genocide
organizer, Minister of War Enver Pasha, is buried in the same memorial in Istanbul. His remains
were brought in 1996 to Turkey
from Tajikistan
where he was assassinated in 1922 by an Armenian.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu retaliated against
the Nemesis Monument
by announcing that Turkey
banned overflights by Armenian airlines from Turkish skies. Furthermore,
Cavusoglu brazenly announced that Turkey
would take additional steps against Armenia,
if the Nemesis Monument is not dismantled. Thus, Turkey violated
the rules of IATA (International Air Transport Association) which states that
countries cannot ban overflights for political reasons. Armenia should take legal action against Turkey under IATA rules and ban the overflights
of Turkish Airlines over Armenia’s
skies.

This unwarranted Turkish retaliation is taking place at a time
when the governments of Armenia
and Turkey
are negotiating for over a year to open their mutual border and normalize their
relations. Even though it is announced that these negotiations are taking place
“without any preconditions,” in reality, Turkey has made several demands, such
as Armenia declaring that Artsakh is part of Azerbaijan by recognizing its
territorial integrity, allowing the so-called ‘Zangezur Corridor’ to cross
Armenia’s territory, linking mainland Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhichevan,
which would mean that the ‘Corridor’ is under the sovereignty of Azerbaijan,
not Armenia.

Even if Turkey
would open the border someday, it will shut it down again if Armenia does not meet any of Turkey’s future
demands, thus continuously blackmailing the Armenian government. Turkey’s
current demand to dismantle the Nemesis Monument is an early warning of more
demands to come from Turkey, such as dismantling the Armenian Genocide Memorial
Complex in Yerevan, banning the burning of Turkish flags on April 24, and
removing from Armenia’s Declaration of Independence the paragraph that states:
“The Republic of Armenia supports the task of achieving international
recognition of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey and Western Armenia in
1915.”

This is the result of prostrating oneself in front of the
unrepentant enemy and begging for peace. In response to the Turkish ban of
Armenian overflights from Turkish skies, Armenia’s
leaders criticized their own country for erecting the Nemesis
Monument in Yerevan,
rather than telling Turkey
that they have no right to interfere in Armenia’s domestic decisions. In
the process of trying to appease Turkey,
Armenia’s
Prime Minister and the President of the Parliament made a number of
anti-Monument statements. So, it is OK for Turkey
to glorify Talaat, the Turkish Hitler, but not OK for Armenia to
honor those who killed the butcher. Armenia’s
leaders, rather than making excuses for the Nemesis
Monument, should have demanded that Turkey dismantle the Talaat Pasha Memorial in Istanbul.

Prime Minister Pashinyan made the excuse that the Nemesis Monument
was authorized by the City of Yerevan, not the
government of Armenia.
The Monument was approved by the Yerevan City Council on Sept. 14, 2021.
Pashinyan contradicted himself by first telling the Armenian Parliament that
the decision to authorize the Monument was made “to avoid being labeled
traitors…. But by doing so, we actually keep betraying the state and national
interests of our country.” He then went on to say that “a wrong decision was
made and the implementation of that decision was wrong.” Pashinyan also stated
that “one of the shortcomings of democracy is when the authorities or the
government leader is not controlling everything and everyone.” This is a
shocking statement from someone who came to power claiming to promote
democracy, yet he does not seem to understand the basic principles of
democracy. Pashinyan, in fact, controls everything and everyone in the country!

Meanwhile, the President of the Armenian Parliament Alen
Simonyan, during a press conference in Ankara
last week, also made excuses by saying that Turkey
should not view the Nemesis Monument “as an _expression_ of the foreign policy of
the government of Armenia
nor as an unfriendly act. The Armenian government’s foreign policy is conducted
by the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister.” Simonyan further said that only
“opposition members of the Parliament had attended the inauguration of the Nemesis Monument.” Cavusoglu replied that the
Armenian government’s excuses are “insincere and untrue. No one should try to
deceive us by saying that it does not fall within their jurisdiction.”

Armenia’s
leaders need to draw an important lesson from this episode. Unless Armenia immediately rejects Turkey’s attempts to interfere in Armenia’s internal affairs, I fear that the
Turkish government will be emboldened to impose further demands which will
severely restrict Armenia’s
sovereignty.

 

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2-         Azerbaijani who crossed into Armenia is
sentenced to prison

 

Agshin Babirov, one of the two Azerbaijanis who crossed the
border of Armenia,
has been sentenced to 11 years, 6 months and 15 days in prison, the Prosecutor
General’s Office confirmed to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

This Azerbaijani soldier was found guilty of illegally
crossing the Armenian state border, as well as illegally transporting firearms
and ammunition across the border.

Babirov has accepted the charges against him.

The criminal investigation in the case of Huseyin
Akhundov,  the other Azerbaijani who had
crossed into the Armenian border with Babirov, continues. In addition to the
aforesaid charges, Akhundov is accused also of killing the security guard of
Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine.

On April 10, it became known that two Azerbaijanis were seen
in Bnunis village of Sisian city of Armenia’s
Syunik Province the day before. On April 17,
the prosecutor’s office reported that two Azerbaijani servicemen who had ended
up in the territory
of Armenia were charged
and both were arrested. Moreover, one of them is accused of killing a man
guarding the guard post of the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine. According to
the statement of the Ministry of Defense (MOD) of Armenia,
on Monday, April 10, between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. local time, a serviceman of the
armed forces of Azerbaijan
was found and detained in the territory
of Armenia. Azerbaijani
media, citing the MOD of that country, had reported the disappearance of two
Azerbaijani servicemen. It was said that they had gotten lost while in
Nakhichevan due to bad weather and low visibility. The search for the second
serviceman continued for three days.

One of the two Azerbaijani servicemen was found by three
youth from Achanan village
of Syunik Province. Gor
Ohanjanyan and his friends were headed to Kapan when they saw the serviceman
wearing an Azerbaijani military uniform. They stopped to question him, and
police arrived shortly thereafter to investigate.

"He was wet, in a dirty condition. There were bullets,
masks with him, he had mixed ammunition. There was a phone as well in his hand;
it was the phone of the person who was found murdered in the [Zangezur
Copper-Molybdenum] Combine [guard post]," said Ohanjanyan.

These Azerbaijani servicemen were in Bnunis village of Syunik Province, and they had knocked on
the door of a local resident’s house. The first detained Azerbaijani was found
in Ashotavan village.

Local residents said that these Azerbaijanis had knocked on
the door of a local resident’s house for a long time; the landlady had opened
the door, saw masked soldiers, closed the door, and called the police. The
second Azerbaijani serviceman, who was caught by locals, was in civilian
clothes.

The Azerbaijani soldier was allegedly noticed near the
village shop, where some locals called the National Security Service after
gathering to prevent him from escaping.

Bununis and Ashotavan villages are quite far, about 20km
away, from the Azerbaijani positions.

Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan stated in parliament
Wednesday, April 12 that according to the information they have, the second
Azerbaijani soldier had said that “he had regretted crossing the border and
wanted to return.”

 

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3-         AYF-West CE Meets with Western US Prelate Bishop Torkom Donoyan

 

On Tuesday, May 2, the Armenian Youth Federation Western
United States (AYF-WUS) Central Executive met with His Grace Bishop Torkom
Donoyan, Prelate of the Western Prelacy of the Armenian Church in the United
States to hold a discussion surrounding an incident that took place on April 9
wherein AYF members were prohibited from distributing April 24 flyers at St.
Mary’s Armenian Apostolic Church in Glendale—a church within the Western
Prelacy’s jurisdiction. The meeting also included Daron Der-Khachadourian,
Chairman of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Western USA (ARF-WUSA), as
well as Vahe Hovagimian and George Chorbajian representing the Western Prelacy
board.

Upon raising these concerns, the Bishop rearmed
that he and the Western Prelacy stand in solidarity with the AYF, and that the
churches and community centers of the Western Prelacy are home to all Armenian
youth. Donoyan continued to reassure that the issue of AYF members being
prohibited from properties owned by the Western Prelacy is unacceptable, and he
condemned the actions taken against AYF members in this capacity. Furthermore,
Donoyan expressed his deep disappointment and concern at the prohibition of AYF
members distributing flyers to invite the community to commemorate the Armenian
Genocide at their Rally for Humanity, noting there was no justification for
this action.

“It is equally important that we share with the public the
obstacles that our AYF membership faces, which are both unprecedented and
unacceptable to the AYF Central Executive, as well as showcase our unwavering
relationship with His Grace Bishop Torkom Donoyan and the Western Prelacy,”
said Alex Manoukian, of the AYF-WUS Central Executive. “There is strength in
unity between the AYF-WUS, ARF-WUS, His Grace Bishop Torkom Donoyan, and the
Western Prelacy in all condemning the targeting of AYF members by members of
this rogue group in spaces that belong to the greater community.”

Both the AYF-WUS CE and Bishop Donoyan again pledged to
continue to support each other.

 

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4-         Letters to the Editor

 

Dear Editor:

 

Referring to Harut Sassounian’s Publisher’s Views of April
27, 2023.

 

Thank you to historian and professor, Taner Akcam and Mr.
Sassounian for this extremely important document. Sergeant Oz was a participant
in the Dersim massacres and displacements of 1937-1938. The Kurdish Alevi
population—along with Armenian women and children who survived the Genocide of
1915—were the victims. Dutch anthropologist Martin van Bruinessen wrote
extensively about Dersim and honored the memory of Ismail Besikci who detailed
the atrocities confirmed in the letter by Sergeant Oz. Now we know, they were
the truth! Ataturk ordered these actions as he was still alive then. In 1922, my
father, Deli Sarkis, survived the catastrophe of Smyrna which was also under the leadership of
Ataturk. My father’s experiences in Smyrna
are detailed in Chapter 8 of my book of his life—Deli Sarkis: The Scars He
Carried.

Ellen Sarkisian Chesnut

Alameda,
Calif.

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