Author: Alex Nanijanian

Armenia has much to offer to U.S. students interested in studying abroad, attendees of a two-day workshop held by American Councils heard on Tuesday.  During the workshop, made possible by a grant awarded by the U.S. Department of State’s recently-established U.S. Study Abroad office, speakers from American Councils and the U.S. Embassy emphasized that Armenia has the potential to attract greater numbers of U.S. students, and discussed with representatives of Armenian higher education institutions ways of expanding their marketing to the American audience.  U.S. students are increasingly looking for non-traditional destinations that offer unique experiences for short-term study related to their fields of interest, and Armenian higher education institutions have much to offer in these fields.

“The U.S. places great importance on study abroad programs and encourages American students to explore these opportunities for many reasons, said Public Affairs Officer Jacqueline Deley.  “First and foremost, study abroad promotes mutual understanding between people of different countries and the U.S. Americans studying abroad forge strong, life-long friendships with citizens and other foreign students in their host countries, and can appreciate the histories and cultures of other countries in ways that cannot be learned in books.  At the same time, by sharing American culture and values with host country friends and contacts, these students can be enormously effective citizen diplomats.  The U.S. and Armenia have been friends and partners for many years, and we believe that increased flows of exchange students between our two countries will strengthen our bilateral relationship even further. We hope that more American students will take advantage of study abroad opportunities in Armenia, to serve as ambassadors of goodwill, and to contribute to the mutual understanding and friendship between our two peoples and experience the many delights this country has to offer.”

The two-day workshop included sessions on U.S. study abroad trends, the value-added of academic exchanges, lessons learned from past U.S. student programs, and tips for communicating with U.S. audiences.  In the audience were higher education professionals from public and private institutions in Armenia and representatives from the Ministry of Education and Science.

The mission of the State Department’s U.S. Study Abroad Branch is to not only increase the number of Americans studying overseas, but also to promote diversity of students, fields of study, locations of study, and types of higher education institutions.

By Harut Sassounian
The California Courier

A recently published book “Remembering for the Future: Armenia, Auschwitz, and Beyond,” edited by Michael Berenbaum, Richard Libowitz, and Marcia Sachs Littell, is a collection of scholarly papers delivered at a conference held at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, March 8-11, 2014.

In his paper, “The Armenian Genocide as Jihad,” Prof. Richard Rubenstein attributes the Armenian mass killings to Islamic fanaticism against Christians. This is an often misunderstood topic even by Armenians who proudly proclaim that they were the first nation to adopt Christianity as state religion in 301 A.D. There is a whole folklore based on the misconception that Armenians were martyred because of their faith and refusal to convert to Islam. Given the current anti-Islamic fervor in the United States and elsewhere, some people are misled by these false claims.

Prof. Rubenstein starts his paper on the wrong footing when he describes a gruesome scene from “Ravished Armenia,” a 1919 Hollywood silent film which showed several naked Armenian women nailed to wooden crosses. Believing that “the Turks” intended to send a particular anti-Armenian and anti-Christian message with such horrifying images, Prof. Rubenstein mistakenly claims that the movie “could not have been filmed without the involvement and consent of Turkish authorities.”

Prof. Rubenstein bases his assumptions of the religious motive behind the Armenian Genocide on the fact that “the Ottoman Empire was governed as a theocratic state at the apex of which stood the Sultan, both the supreme head of state and, for Sunni Muslims, the Caliph and, as such, the successor to the Prophet and supreme protector of Islam.”

The Professor insists on stipulating a religious causal factor for the Armenian Genocide, even after quoting from the eminent scholar Dr. Vahakn Dadrian, who contradicts him. According to Dadrian, the members of the Committee of Union and Progress or Ittihad who gained power in 1908 and masterminded the Armenian Genocide, were not “followers of the tenets of Islam…. While the Ittihad continued to run the State largely as a theocracy, its leaders were personally atheists and agnostics.” It is difficult to believe that a devout Muslim would murder a single human being, let alone millions!

Dr. Rubenstein emphasizes the central role of Islam in the Turkish mass killings of Armenians, even though he acknowledges that “[Ronald] Suny and other scholars have argued that the predominant motive for the murderous homogenization project was nationalism and there is no doubt that radical nationalism played a part.” Rubenstein dismisses the issue of Pan-Turkish nationalism, arguing that “the most important motivation for the monumental ‘ethnic cleansing’ projects was religious and specifically a consequence of the unchanging nature of certain aspects of Islam.”

To demonstrate that religion was a major determinant in the Turkish leaders’ designs, Prof. Rubenstein states: “on November 2, 1914, the Ottoman Empire declared war on the Entente powers, Britain, France, Russia, and their allies. OnNovember 13, the Ottoman Sultan, in his capacity as Caliph, issued an appeal for jihad. The next day, Mustafa Hayri Bey, the Sheikh-ul-Islam, and as such the chief Sunni religious authority in the Ottoman world, issued a formal (and inflammatory) declaration of jihad ‘against infidels and enemies of Islam.’ Jihad pamphlets in Arabic were also distributed in mosques throughout the Muslim world that offered a detailed plan of operations for the assassination and extermination of all ‘unbelievers’ except those of German nationality, the Empire’s wartime ally. Killing squads and their leaders were ‘motivated by both the ideology of jihad and Pan-Turkism influenced by European nationalism.’ While the practical influence of the jihad on the masses was limited, ‘it later facilitated the government’s program of genocide against the Armenians.’”

Prof. Rubenstein misses the point that religious fervor, rather than being the cause of the Armenian Genocide, was exploited to inflame the passions of the fanatical Turkish mobs in order to provoke them against the Armenians.

Instead of religion, the primary motivation for the destruction of Armenians was their removal as an impediment to Turkification and an obstacle to the Turkish leaders’ grand scheme of establishing a Pan-Turanist empire reaching Central Asia. Even though they were Muslims, a large number of Kurds were also killed, simply because they were not Turks!

Christian Armenians had no conflict with devout Muslims and their faith. In fact, large numbers of survivors of the Armenian Genocide were sheltered by Muslims in, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. Armenians remember well The Sharif of Mecca, Al-Husayn ibn Ali, who issued an edict in 1917 ordering Muslims to defend Armenian survivors of the Genocide, as they would defend their own families.

The Young Turks’ plan to eliminate Armenians from Ottoman Turkey was motivated by Pan-Turkish fanatical nationalism rather than Pan-Islamic fervor!

The Armenian national team has returned from Rio. The team was welcomed at the airport by hundreds of fans and supporters.

The Foreign Ministers of the CSTO member states adopted a statement on Nagorno Karabakh conflict today, expressing support for the agreements reached at the summits of Vienna and St. Petersburg held on May 16 and June 20 “targeted at the prevention of the unacceptable escalation in the conflict zone, stabilization of the situation and creation of conditions for furthering the negotiation process.”

The Foreign Ministers stressed the need to solve the Karabakh conflict in a peaceful way and expressed support for the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group towards settlement of the conflict on the basis of the norms of international law, the UN Charter and provisions of the Helsinki Final Act – non-use of force and the threat of force, territorial integrity and the right of peoples to self-determination.”

The statement was signed by the Foreign Ministers of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Russia and Tajikistan.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a telephone conversation either on June 29 or June 30, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has stated, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Photo: AFP

Libyan forces say they have re-taken control of the port in the city of Sirte, after fierce fighting against militants from so-called Islamic State, the BBC reports.

Sirte is the most significant IS stronghold outside Iraq and Syria.

Earlier this week warplanes bombed IS positions in Sirte while naval forces fired missiles into the port, officials said. The offensive continues.

The forces, aligned to the UN-backed unity government in Tripoli, began the battle to re-take the city last month.

Their spokesman, General Muhammad al-Ghusri, said senior IS leaders had fled into the desert to the south, but that many militants were still under siege in the city centre.

“The statement of Archbishop Aram Atesyan, the General Vicar of the Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul, is unacceptable from several perspectives,” expert of Turkish studies Ruben Melkonyan said in an interview with Public Radio of Armenia.

First, he said, the fact of Atesyan’s being a clergyman does not give him the right to interfere with political processes. Besides, the Archbishop’s statement actually contradicts the interests of the Armenian nation and does not reflect the historic events. “At last it is was an additional effort to please the Turkish authorities,” Melkonyan said.

According to the expert,  “with the statement Atesyan was also trying to create a basis for Turkey to end messages to Germany. The Turkish press has already branded the statement as “Armenians’ shocking response to Germany.” That is to say that the statement has serve the target.

Could the letter to Erdogan be a result of political pressure? “All Armenian Patriarchs have been under the pressure of Turkish authorities starting from 1923, but no Patriarch has ever served the Turkish authorities with such vigor and has never made such statements,” Ruben Melkonyan said.

“Atesyan has passes beyond all written an unwritten norms and has tried to be more Catholic than the Pope,” Melkonyan concluded.

Yerevan hosted today the sitting of the National Security Council Secretaries of CSTO member states, chaired by Armen Gevorgyan, Secretary of the Armenian National Security Council.

Considering that the meeting is taking place at a difficult time for Armenia and the region, Armen Gevorgyan first referred to the large-scale military actions unleashed by Azerbaijan against Nagorno Karabakh this April.

“The people of Nagorno Karabakh faced direct aggression on the part of Azerbaijan. This became a serious challenge to the region, the security and stability in the South Caucasus, and resulted in gross violations of the ceasefire regime,” he noted.

“Armenia, as a guarantor of security of the people of Nagorno Karabakh, cannot just stand and look at such actions of Azerbaijan,” Armen Gevorgyan noted, stressing that “the CSTO was created to solve issues collectively, to curb aggression against member-states.”

The Secretary noted that events were taking place in the Caucasus region of the CSTO and added that the Armenian public expects greater unity from CSTO member states.

“Undoubtedly, any destabilization at the border of a CSTO member state, especially a military clash, is a threat to the security of that country,” CSTO Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha told reporters after the sitting, commenting on whether the organization was preparing to take any step to ease the tension after the four-day war.

“Naturally, we do not ignore such situations. This applies to both the Caucasus and Central Asia, Bordyuzha assured.

“The active involvement of the Russian President, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister in the settlement of the situation is nothing but a stance of a CSTO partner. The CSTO is not only about the Secretariat and the Secretary General, it’s a union of six states and in this period the heads of practically all CSTO member states have tried to influence the situation, to help cease the military actions and return the parties to the negotiating table. In my opinion, this is also a result of CSTO activity. We should look at the CSTO from this perspective, not from the perspective of the use of force or the army,” the Secretary General said.

The parliaments of Russia and Armenia are considering a draft agreement on the creation of a joint air defense system, Nikolai Bordyuzha said.

Russia has already created joint air defense systems with Belarus and Kazakhstan, the CSTO head noted.

“It is being considered at the level of legislative bodies of both countries,” Bordyuzha said at a press conference in the Armenian capital of Yerevan.

No violations of the agreement on ceasefire were registered at the line of contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan last night, NKR Defense Ministry reports.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army keep the operational situation under control and take necessary steps to organize a reliable protection of the military positions.

The Armenian national team will play two friendlies in Los-Angeles, USA. The team will face Guatemala on May 28 and El Salvador – on June 1.

Head coach Varuzhan Sukiasyan has called up 11 players from abroad to take part in the upcoming matches:

Gael Andonian, Dijon FCO (France)

Hrayr Mkoyan, Esteghlal (Iran)

Hovhannes Hambardzumyan, FK Vardar (FYR Macedonia)

Henrikh Mkhitaryan Borussia (Dortmund, Germany)

Marcos Pizzelli Al Raed (Saudi Arabia)

Aras Ozbiliz, Rayo Vallecano (Spain)

Karlen Mkrtchyan FC Anji (Russia)

Gor Malakyan, Stal (Ukraine)

Edgar Manucharyan FC Ural (Russia)

Artur Sarkisov, FC Volga (Russia)

Gegham Kadimyan Karpaty (Ukraine)