1- Why Did the Turkish Institute
In Washington Close Down?
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- Armenian Neurobiologist Ardem Patapoutian Wins Nobel Prize
in Medicine
3- Meet Joan Agajanian Quinn, Art “Accumulator” and Muse to
Warhol, Hockney
The Los Angeles legend’s highly personal trove of art will
be exhibited
at the Bakersfield Museum of Art throughout the fall until January
4- Four Children: New Genocide Play Premiers in Kansas
5- Armenia Continues Fight Against COVID-19
************************************************************************************************************************************************
1- Why Did the Turkish Institute
In Washington Close Down?
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
The Hoya, the student newspaper of Georgetown University in
Washington, DC, published last week a lengthy investigative article
about the demise of the Institute of Turkish Studies, established by
the Turkish government. Interestingly, a note at the bottom of the
article stated that it was written by Liam Scott and another staff
writer who “requested anonymity due to safety concerns in Turkey.”
Even though the Institute was established to paint a positive picture
of Turkey in the United States, it ended up antagonizing its own
American board members when the Turkish government decided to shut it
down.
In 1982, the government of Turkey founded the Institute of Turkish
Studies (ITS) at Georgetown University with an endowment of $3
million. The purpose was to give Turkey a respectable image in the
United States by recruiting and funding American academics who would
do research on Turkish topics. Throughout its existence, the ITS spent
around $350,000 a year to give “grants, scholarships, subventions, and
seed money” to 400 scholars in 19 universities to publish books and
journals in order to promote Turkish studies. The ITS stated that it
played “a key role in furthering knowledge and understanding of a key
NATO ally of the United States, the Republic of Turkey.”
Not surprisingly, the ITS had appointed as its Honorary Chairman of
the board of governors Turkey’s Ambassador to the U.S. to oversee its
activities and funding decisions. The board consisted of prominent
former State Department officials and well-known American scholars in
Ottoman and modern Turkish studies. The first Executive Director of
the ITS was Heath Lowry, a denialist of the Armenian Genocide.
I got involved in a legal dispute with the ITS in 1985 after I wrote
an editorial in the California Courier titled, “How the Turks Use Our
Tax Dollars Against Us.” I pointed out that many of the scholars who
had received grants from the ITS were the same ones who had signed a
statement denying the Armenian Genocide. The statement was published
as a paid ad in The Washington Post and The New York Times on May 19,
1985. Lowry was involved in drafting this statement and collecting
signatures for it. In my article, I reported that 20 of the 69
signatories of the statement had received tens of thousands of dollars
from the ITS. Lowry’s role in this ad was a violation of the
tax-exempt status of the ITS which was legally prohibited from
political lobbying at a time when the U.S. Congress was considering
adopting a resolution on the Armenian Genocide. The ITS also
contradicted its own statement that it “does not seek to influence
legislation nor advocate particular policies or agendas.”
Even though I had obtained the amounts received by the scholars who
had signed this denialist statement from an ITS brochure, the ITS sent
a letter threatening my newspaper with a major lawsuit, unless I
published a lengthy retraction, which I refused to do. The ITS dropped
the lawsuit.
The Hoya article provided extensive details about the collapse of the
ITS, a Turkish propaganda project disguised as an academic endeavor.
The Institute was closed down in September 2020 because some of the
independent-minded scholars on its board had refused to go along with
the directives of the Turkish government.
The Hoya wrote that “according to former ITS Executive Director Sinan
Ciddi and former ITS board members Walter Denny and Steven Cook,
Turkey’s decision to defund the ITS came amid rising government
pressure to blindly support and loyally promote Erdogan. The ITS was
caught in the line of fire of government repression that has
characterized Erdogan’s increasingly autocratic Turkey, they said.”
Ciddi, a Georgetown professor of Turkish studies, told The Hoya that
the ITS was initially a separate entity from Georgetown University.
Later on, the University “provided the ITS with office space and
administrative assistance, but the university did not have a say in
the Institute’s operations. Georgetown also supplemented the salary of
the Institute’s executive director after the ITS lost funding from the
Turkish government.” Prof. Jenny White, who served on the ITS board
for nearly 20 years, told The Hoya that the ITS was “the best
advertisement that there could have been for Turkey.”
In 2006, former Binghamton University professor Donald Quataert
resigned as chairman of the ITS board after insisting on the
importance of researching the Armenian Genocide, reported The Hoya.
The Middle East Studies Association’s Committee on Academic Freedom,
in an open letter to then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
complained that “Quataert resigned because of pressure from the
Turkish government. Several other ITS board members resigned in
support of Quataert.”
As Erdogan became more repressive, the Institute was viewed by the
Turkish government as funding academic research that was not favorable
to Turkey. In May 2015, Turkish ambassador to the U.S. Serdar Kilic,
during the semi-annual dinner at the Turkish Embassy in Washington,
DC, complained to ITS chairman Ross Wilson that “some recent work from
the ITS was negative toward the Turkish government and expressed
interest in redirecting the work of ITS to politically benefit the
government,” The Hoya reported. Amb. Kilic then cancelled the
scheduled ITS dinner in the fall of 2015. Finally, “in early September
2015, Saltzman and Evinch, a Washington, D.C. law firm representing
Turkey’s U.S. embassy,” told the Institute that the Turkish government
would no longer fund the ITS. Later, Kilic sent a letter confirming
the end of funding.
“After Turkey cut the organization’s funding, the [Georgetown
University’s] School of Foreign Service provided the ITS with
additional financial and administrative support,” The Hoya reported.
The ITS had enough funds to continue its operations till Sept. 30,
2020 when it finally closed its doors.
The saga of the failed Institute of Turkish Studies should be a lesson
to all universities not to repeat the mistake of Georgetown, welcoming
a politically-motivated project contrary to its academic standards.
Mixing academics and politics is never a good idea!
************************************************************************************************************************************************
2- Armenian Neurobiologist Ardem Patapoutian Wins Nobel Prize
in Medicine
, published last week a lengthy investigative article about the demise
of the Institute of Turkish Studies, established by the Turkish
government. Interestingly, a note at the bottom of the article stated
that it was written by Liam Scott and another staff writer who
“requested anonymity due to safety concerns in Turkey.”
Even though the Institute was established to paint a positive picture
of Turkey in the United States, it ended up antagonizing its own
American board members when the Turkish government decided to shut it
down.
In 1982, the government of Turkey founded the Institute of Turkish
Studies (ITS) at Georgetown University with an endowment of $3
million. The purpose was to give Turkey a respectable image in the
United States by recruiting and funding American academics who would
do research on Turkish topics. Throughout its existence, the ITS spent
around $350,000 a year to give “grants, scholarships, subventions, and
seed money” to 400 scholars in 19 universities to publish books and
journals in order to promote Turkish studies. The ITS stated that it
played “a key role in furthering knowledge and understanding of a key
NATO ally of the United States, the Republic of Turkey.”
Not surprisingly, the ITS had appointed as its Honorary Chairman of
the board of governors Turkey’s Ambassador to the U.S. to oversee its
activities and funding decisions. The board consisted of prominent
former State Department officials and well-known American scholars in
Ottoman and modern Turkish studies. The first Executive Director of
the ITS was Heath Lowry, a denialist of the Armenian Genocide.
I got involved in a legal dispute with the ITS in 1985 after I wrote
an editorial in the California Courier titled, “How the Turks Use Our
Tax Dollars Against Us.” I pointed out that many of the scholars who
had received grants from the ITS were the same ones who had signed a
statement denying the Armenian Genocide. The statement was published
as a paid ad in The Washington Post and The New York Times on May 19,
1985. Lowry was involved in drafting this statement and collecting
signatures for it. In my article, I reported that 20 of the 69
signatories of the statement had received tens of thousands of dollars
from the ITS. Lowry’s role in this ad was a violation of the
tax-exempt status of the ITS which was legally prohibited from
political lobbying at a time when the U.S. Congress was considering
adopting a resolution on the Armenian Genocide. The ITS also
contradicted its own statement that it “does not seek to influence
legislation nor advocate particular policies or agendas.”
Even though I had obtained the amounts received by the scholars who
had signed this denialist statement from an ITS brochure, the ITS sent
a letter threatening my newspaper with a major lawsuit, unless I
published a lengthy retraction, which I refused to do. The ITS dropped
the lawsuit.
The Hoya article provided extensive details about the collapse of the
ITS, a Turkish propaganda project disguised as an academic endeavor.
The Institute was closed down in September 2020 because some of the
independent-minded scholars on its board had refused to go along with
the directives of the Turkish government.
The Hoya wrote that “according to former ITS Executive Director Sinan
Ciddi and former ITS board members Walter Denny and Steven Cook,
Turkey’s decision to defund the ITS came amid rising government
pressure to blindly support and loyally promote Erdogan. The ITS was
caught in the line of fire of government repression that has
characterized Erdogan’s increasingly autocratic Turkey, they said.”
Ciddi, a Georgetown professor of Turkish studies, told The Hoya that
the ITS was initially a separate entity from Georgetown University.
Later on, the University “provided the ITS with office space and
administrative assistance, but the university did not have a say in
the Institute’s operations. Georgetown also supplemented the salary of
the Institute’s executive director after the ITS lost funding from the
Turkish government.” Prof. Jenny White, who served on the ITS board
for nearly 20 years, told The Hoya that the ITS was “the best
advertisement that there could have been for Turkey.”
In 2006, former Binghamton University professor Donald Quataert
resigned as chairman of the ITS board after insisting on the
importance of researching the Armenian Genocide, reported The Hoya.
The Middle East Studies Association’s Committee on Academic Freedom,
in an open letter to then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
complained that “Quataert resigned because of pressure from the
Turkish government. Several other ITS board members resigned in
support of Quataert.”
As Erdogan became more repressive, the Institute was viewed by the
Turkish government as funding academic research that was not favorable
to Turkey. In May 2015, Turkish ambassador to the U.S. Serdar Kilic,
during the semi-annual dinner at the Turkish Embassy in Washington,
DC, complained to ITS chairman Ross Wilson that “some recent work from
the ITS was negative toward the Turkish government and expressed
interest in redirecting the work of ITS to politically benefit the
government,” The Hoya reported. Amb. Kilic then cancelled the
scheduled ITS dinner in the fall of 2015. Finally, “in early September
2015, Saltzman and Evinch, a Washington, D.C. law firm representing
Turkey’s U.S. embassy,” told the Institute that the Turkish government
would no longer fund the ITS. Later, Kilic sent a letter confirming
the end of funding.
“After Turkey cut the organization’s funding, the [Georgetown
University’s] School of Foreign Service provided the ITS with
additional financial and administrative support,” The Hoya reported.
The ITS had enough funds to continue its operations till Sept. 30,
2020 when it finally closed its doors.
The saga of the failed Institute of Turkish Studies should be a lesson
to all universities not to repeat the mistake of Georgetown, welcoming
a politically-motivated project contrary to its academic standards.
Mixing academics and politics is never a good idea!
JERUSALEM—The Synod of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem issued a
statement on September 9 ratifying and confirming the decision to
lease the lands owned by the patriarchate in Goveroun Bardez to a
company which will build a hotel (this statement appeared in The
California Courier on September 16, 2021).
The Higher Presidential Committee of Church Affairs in Palestine
issued a letter on September 22 expressing concerns about this lease.
On Sept. 22, a letter was sent by Ramzi Khoury, head of the
Palestinian Higher Presidential Committee for Churches Affairs in
Palestine, to Catholicos of All Armenians Patriarch Karekin II calling
land transactions in the Armenian Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem
a violation of international law, since the area inside the Old City
is an “integral part of the Palestinian occupied territories” governed
by relevant international resolutions.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry has also been “urged to intervene,”
according to a statement by the Higher Presidential Committee.
Father Baret Yeretzian, Real Estate Director of the Armenian
Patriarchate of Jerusalem, sent an open letter to the Head of the
Palestinian higher Presidential Committee for Churches Affairs in
Palestine, responding to accusation leveled against the Armenian
Patriarchate for leasing a property in Jerusalem’s Old City known as
the Cows’ Garden to an Israeli hotel company. The California Courier
received the full text of the open letter, from Yeretzian to Khoury,
which is printed below:
“The Armenian Patriarchate is the exclusive owner of its property and
shall remain so at all times, the Patriarchate’s ownership was not
undermined under the Ottoman Empire, the British Mandate, the
Jordanian and the Israeli regimes.
The un-protected lease is for a limited period of time and for the
specific purpose of a hotel.
The Patriarchate has full authority and exclusive prerogative to do as
it pleases with its properties.
The denomination and race of the counter party is irrelevant. The
Patriarchate was negotiating similar deals indiscriminately with
Armenians from Russia, with an Arab from Jordan, and people of other
nationalities none of whom followed through.
It is our duty to utilize our properties for the welfare of our
Patriarchate and we have been doing so for centuries.
Irresponsible comments that are made public might encourage extremists
to take extreme measures. One should also remember that he might be
held responsible for such consequences.
You claim that you want to protect our land, let me remind you when we
begged your committee to help us against the Abu Hawa family who
infiltrated in our property on Mount of Olives, you turned blind eye
on us, we did request also others without mentioning their names, they
did the same.
We cannot help suspecting that your criticism against us is aimed to
undermine and weaken the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, in favor
of your own religious leadership who sold properties in the heart of
the Old City of Jerusalem. The Armenian Patriarchate maintains its
neutrality and un-involvement in political and racial matters. Please
do not drag us into such disputes and do not use us in order to
promote your political agenda.
Let me remind you we hold in highest esteem and sympathy the
Palestinian and Jordanian people, and I have the honor of being a
Jordanian citizen myself.”
************************************************************************************************************************************************
3- Meet Joan Agajanian Quinn, Art “Accumulator” and Muse to
Warhol, Hockney
The Los Angeles legend’s highly personal trove of art will
be exhibited
at the Bakersfield Museum of Art throughout the fall until January
By Stefani Dias, Abby Aguirre
(W Magazine / The Bakersfield Californian)—Like many fascinating
stories, this one starts with two dynamic women. One a nexus of the
California contemporary art scene and the other a passionate advocate
for the arts in her hometown. Both are united by a desire to celebrate
what defines the California art scene.
At the Bakersfield Museum of Art, “On the Edge: Los Angeles Art,
1970s-1990s, from the Joan and Jack Quinn Family Collection” is an
unprecedented exhibition, featuring more than 150 objects from nearly
70 artists including Ed Moses, Billy Al Bengston, Lynda Benglis, Peter
Alexander, Frank Gehry, Robert Graham and Ed Ruscha.
This collection from the Quinns, amassed over decades of friendships
with these artists, is on display for the first time on this scale. A
previous 2010 exhibition at the Pilgrim School in Los Angeles, timed
to the dedication of its new arts center, only featured a fraction of
the works and was a limited four-day display whereas the Bakersfield
exhibition will remain on display through Jan. 8.
Joan Agajanian Quinn credits BMoA curator Rachel McCullah Wainwright
with her decision to share the family’s personal collection with the
public. She persisted until she wore me down — and I’m glad she did,”
Quinn said. “I’m very excited, honored to be there. Rachel has been
absolutely fantastic. … I appreciate what she’s done, bringing those
family feelings that we have out to the forefront, to understand what
this collection is.”
For many viewers, “On the Edge” is a stunning display of some of the
best art from the West Coast, but for Quinn it goes much deeper. Joan
and her husband, who passed away in 2017, helped foster a creative
community for artists to grow and share their work as the contemporary
art scene continued to evolve.
Some of the artists Quinn has known for decades, meeting many in her
youth — including Dora De Larios in middle school, Billy Al Bengston
while working at a department store in high school, and Ken Price and
David Novros in the art department at USC. Over the years, she and her
husband supported their friends by buying art and encouraging John’s
lawyer colleagues to also buy art. As a journalist, Joan also promoted
the arts as the West Coast editor of Interview magazine, society
editor of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, and writing for Condé Nast
Traveler and House & Garden.
“These things have been on the walls in my house, placed on the walls
by each artist,” Joan Quinn said of her collection. “They came in and
installed their work. Played off of each other like friends on the
wall.”
“What separates the Quinns (from other collectors) is the work that
she did to promote these artists,” Wainwright said. “She was the one
buying the pieces directly from these artists in their studios before
they became successful. As I’m planning this show, she’s having
conversations weekly with these artists. The relationships have been
maintained.”
Joan Quinn has had her portrait painted by dozens of artists —
including David Hockey, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Ed Ruscha, Billy Al
Bengston — as have members of her family, and some of those works open
the new exhibition.
“She was excited to show the portraits, using the portraits to start
the story,” Wainwright said. “It’s a more historical and academic
approach to the story.”
Quinn said having an educational component to the exhibition was
another reason she was excited to be involved with BMoA. “Rachel said
schools come in and have lectures. That’s what demystifies the museum.
It’s not sacred ground. You can go in and be inspired and be
fulfilled. New ideas come into your mind. You follow suit and maybe be
an artist yourself.”
Additional programming includes a symposium on Nov. 18 with exhibiting
artists including Andy Moses, Ned Evans, Laddie John Dill, Charles
Arnoldi and Lita Albuquerque.
There will be a Zoom panel discussion about Steven Arnold, a protege
of Salvador Dalí, on Oct. 19 with Vishnu Dass, director of “Steven
Arnold: Heavenly Bodies,” biographer Michael Michaud and Stephen
Jerrome, society photographer for the Herald Examiner.
And on Oct. 28, the museum’s annual Masquerade will include a
screening of the Arnold documentary and will take its inspiration from
Arnold’s The Nocturnal Dream Show series of midnight movies.
Along with enjoying the works, Quinn would like to encourage viewers
to begin or build their own art collection, driven by their interests
not their investments. “I hope that people can see that you don’t have
to have someone telling you what to buy. We never had an art adviser
or art consultant.”
“My husband and I never sold anything. It was like having our friends
on our walls. Don’t think of it as an investment. It’s something that
you want to love, be with every day.”
The Quinn marriage seems to have been a love story of Johnny Cash and
June Carter proportions. “They were opposites that matched perfectly,”
their daughter Amanda told W Magazine. Amanda’s twin sister, Jennifer,
referenced one of the portraits—a pair of double doors made of found
printed metal by Tony Berlant. “My dad is the rooted tree, and my mom
is the tornado of movement,” she explained.
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4- Four Children: New Genocide Play Premiers in Kansas
KANSAS CITY—Kansas City Actors Theater is staging Four Children, a
play based around eye-witness accounts of four genocide survivors,
including Vahram Dadrian’s “To the Desert: Pages from My Diary.”
Vahram Dadrian was exiled with the rest of his family from Chorum to
Jersh (Jordan) in 1915. An aspiring writer, he kept notes of his
experiences and wrote them out into a full diary after WWI. His
account gives voice to his own experiences, as well as those of others
he saw around him. These included the emaciated remnants of
deportation convoys and other inmates of death camps.
“This is a powerful play that keeps the Armenian experience in focus
in the United States,” said Anoush Melkonian of the Gomidas Institute.
“We thank Kansas City Actors Theater for this timely and bold
production.”
Four Children will feature between October 7 to 24, 2021
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5- Armenia Continues Fight Against COVID-19
Armenia is continuing the fight against the third wave of COVID-19
cases, as the country continues promoting the vaccination phase.
The U.S. State Department on July 26 warned American citizens to
reconsider travel to Armenia due to the increase in cases of the
Covid-19.
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a
Level 3 Travel Health Notice for Armenia due to COVID-19, indicating a
high level of COVID-19 in the country,” said the State Department.
The State Department also urged U.S. citizens not to travel to the
Nagorno-Karabakh region due to armed conflict.
“The U.S. government is unable to provide emergency services to U.S.
citizens in Nagorno-Karabakh as U.S. government employees are
restricted from traveling there,” the State Department added.
There were 18,540 active cases in Armenia as of October 11. Armenia
has recorded 272,356 coronavirus cases and 5,549 deaths; 248,267 have
recovered.
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