Author: Badalian Vardan

ReAnimania International Animation Film Festival kicks off in Yerevan

11:48, 25 Oct 2014

The Sixth international animation festival ReAnimania (ReAnimania
International Animation Film Festival) opens today in Yerevan.
ReAnimania has become the most dynamically developing festival in the
country.

As the artistic director of the festival Raffi Movsisyan informed,
this year 200 films will be presented in five categories of the
competition program, and over 400 feature-length and short animated
films and movie-reels will be screened in the frames of the festival.

The festival will open with the premiere of French director Stephen
Burley “Mechanics of Heart” and the director will attend the premiere.

In addition, the festival will celebrate the 90th anniversary of the
famous Armenian artist and animator Valentine Podpomogov. It is
planned to make the retrospective screening of his films.

About 25 guests from India, France, Italy, USA, Russia and elsewhere
visited the festival. According to Movsisyan, screenings this year
will be held in Yerevan’s “Moscow” cinema, “Narek” cultural center and
Yerevan State Institute of Theater and Cinema.

Haykakan Zhamanak: Armenia exported 26,680 tons of vegetables

Saturday, October 25, 2014

As of October 20, Armenia exported 26 thousand 680 tons of vegetables,
which exceeds last year’s index by 13 thousand tons, ‘Haykakan
Zhamanak’ daily was informed by Armine Sukiasyan, spokeswoman for
Armenian Agriculture Ministry’s State Food Safety Service. Russia,
Iran, Syria and Georgia import vegetables from Armenia.

10,874 tons of fruit was exported to Russia, UAE, Switzerland, Ukraine
and Georgia over the same period as compared to 30,295 tons of fruit
last year.

TODAY, 12:04
Aysor.am

San Bernardino County Sun
Oct 25 2014

Armenian Orphan Rug will be displayed at White House Visitor Center

By Brenda Gazzar, Los Angeles Daily News

Sarkis “Steve” Manoukian’s father was 6 years old when Ottoman Turk
forces and their proxies brandishing swords and sledgehammers ambushed
his family and others in the Syrian Desert nearly a century ago.

Manoukian’s mother told him that the horsemen brutally chopped off
heads and limbs of Armenian women, children and the elderly who were
forced to march for weeks in a caravan in 1915, leaving a sea of
severed bodies in their wake. Manoukian’s father, Khatchik, was the
only family member to survive that attack. He was knocked down in the
chaos and awoke that night to a gruesome scene of desert animals
devouring the dead.

The orphaned Khatchik, who was rescued that night and adopted by Arab
Bedouins, lived as a shepherd in a Syrian village for nine years
before running away from desert life. He was about 15 years old when
he found his way to an American orphanage for Armenians in Aleppo that
was run by Near East Relief, a congressionally chartered organization
that contributed more than $110 million in humanitarian assistance
from 1915 to 1930 to help the survivors of the Armenian Genocide,
Manoukian said.

“I feel so grateful for the people of the United States, who in a way
saved my dad,” said Manoukian, 69, of Reseda, who himself later lived
in a Danish orphanage in Lebanon with his mother and sister after his
father died of a stroke. “Otherwise, he would have had a hard life.
… They let him work in the orphanage, helping the baker for three
years until he became 18.”

Now, these little-known American relief efforts will be spotlighted
when an elaborate rug woven by orphans of the genocide will be taken
out of storage and displayed as part of an exhibit at the White House
Visitor Center from Nov. 18-23. The Armenian Orphan Rug, also known as
the Ghazir Rug, was woven by seven Armenian girls from Near East
Relief’s Ghazir Orphanage in Lebanon in 1920 and presented to
President Calvin Coolidge in 1925 as a symbol of their gratitude for
American humanitarian aid.

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The rug was originally going to be exhibited in the Smithsonian last
year in connection with a new book by Dr. Hagop Martin Deranian about
the Near East Relief organization, but the event was canceled at the
11th hour, said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank. President Barack Obama’s
administration informed the museum that it was not appropriate to
exhibit the rug, part of the White House collection, at a book sale,
Schiff said. The Armenian community, however, was skeptical and
thought the decision had more to do with not wanting to offend the
Turkish government, which has long denied there was a systematic
campaign by the Ottoman Turks to kill Armenians, Schiff said.

Not long afterward, Schiff asked the White House if the rug could be
exhibited at a reception on Capitol Hill that focused on the efforts
of Near East Relief. Several months ago, the White House assured him
they would make the rug available in the fall, Schiff said, “and now
they have made good on that commitment.”

The Turkish Consulate General in Los Angeles sees “the display of the
Armenian Orphan Rug, along with two other items, as a cultural
exhibit,” a spokesperson said in an email. A vase and artwork titled
the “Flowering Branches in Lucite” will also be displayed.

This will be the third time the rug, slated to be part of the exhibit
entitled “Thank you to the United States: Three Gifts to Presidents in
Gratitude for American Generosity Abroad,” will be displayed since
Coolidge’s family returned it to the White House as a gift in 1982. It
was removed with his possessions when he left office in 1929,
according to the National Security Council.

The ornate rug, which has more than 4 million hand-tied knots and
measures 11 feet 7 inches by 18 feet 5 inches, represents the tragic
story of what happened to Armenians between 1915 and 1923, with
massive deportations, displacement and genocide in which as many as
1.5 million Armenians were killed, said Deranian, author of the book
“President Calvin Coolidge and the Armenian Orphan Rug.”

But “more than that, it represents America as a nation of compassion
that came to the aid of the orphans,” he said.

Near East Relief, once called the American Committee for Syrian and
Armenian Relief, saved the lives of at least a million people amid the
wreckage of the Ottoman Empire, treated more than 6 million patients
in NEF-run clinics throughout the region, established orphanages and
provided education and training to more than 100,000 Armenian children
who became orphaned in the turmoil, according to the website of the
Near East Foundation, which is what the organization is called today.

“I think (the rug) is an important link not only between the terrible
dark days of the genocide but also the beginning of an American
tradition of providing assistance to those in need, a tradition that
very much continues to this day,” Schiff said.

Manoukian said he’s proud that the Armenian Orphan Rug will finally be
displayed but characterized it as a “small step” taken by the White
House in an effort to satisfy the Armenian-American community.

“We’d like to see the U.S. government be more courageous and be more
honest about its past history and come forward and say, ‘Look, this is
our ancestors. This is what they did. They conducted such a
humanitarian effort while a whole nation was being butchered,'”
Manoukian said.

Armenian-American Maurice Missak Kelechian, 54, of Toluca Lake, an
independent researcher who gives talks on Near East Relief, says he
believes the rug should be displayed much longer and in a prominent
museum such as the Smithsonian, particularly in light of Turkey’s
denial and U.S. administrations’ reluctance to use the word genocide,
he said.

“You think all Armenians are happy to remember the genocide?”
Kelechian said. “It’s such a trauma to carry from one generation to
the other.”

By displaying the Armenian Orphan Rug, “you’re watering their souls
(of those who perished.) You’re acknowledging their story.”

Deranian, who lives in Massachusetts, will speak about the themes in
his book from 6 to 8 p.m. on Nov. 6 at Woodbury University, 7500 N.
Glenoaks Blvd., Burbank. The event, sponsored by the Armenian Assembly
of America, will include the display of a “sister rug” that was also
produced by girls in the Ghazir Orphanage.

Also at

BIAnet, Turkey
Oct 10 2014

Who Will Teach Christian Religion Classes in Turkey?

Garo Paylan, an administrative at Turkey’s Armenian schools, commented
on Education Minister’s introduction of Christian religion classes in
minority schools: it is positive but has no place in practice.

by Yüce Yöney Ä°stanbul – BIA News Desk

Garo Paylan, an administrative at Turkey’s Armenian schools, commented
on Education Minister’s introduction of Christian religion classes in
minority schools.

Paylan said while he found the step positive, it had no place in practice.

`Who will teach this course? For Greeks, the Theological School
(Ruhban Okulu) is closed. There is no independent institution for the
Armenian community, neither for Jewish people. They existed before but
now they are closed or have no function now.’

During an interview with Habertürk newspaper, Education Minister Nabi
Avcı siad that they would introduce Christian religion classes in
minority schools.

`I signed it today. There will be Christian religion classes for
students with Christian background. We have minority schools here.
Students who study there will also be able to learn their religion,’
he said.

Collaboration between institutions

Some of the highlights from Paylan’s comments are as follows:

`There is no education in Turkey’s theological faculties on
Christianity. And there are no Christian graduates either. In
practice, Arminian teachers teach religion courses in minority
schools.

`We must be able to have institutions to educate our theologists. A
solution must be found on educators.

`Then the system must be improved. Only after that, we can seriously
take it to the agenda.

`If a student wants to learn about Christianity, an education basis
must be founded.

`This can be built by institutions. There are patriarchies for
Armenians and Greeks. For Jewish, they have their own Chief Rabbi. If
the government wants to have a selective course on religion, it needs
to create a collaboration with these institutions and form new
administrative units.(YY/BM)

Anadolu Agency (AA), TUrkey
October 24, 2014 Friday

‘Distant neighbors’: AA travels the Turkey, Armenia border

Anadolu Agency meets people across the closed border between Turkey
and Armenia and finds a desire for better ties between the two
nations.

By Handan Kazancı
YERIVAN, Armenia

Although political ties between Turkey and Armenia remain frozen,
Anadolu Agency has met ordinary citizens on both sides of the divide
who want to see better relations between the two neighbors.

Although surveys point to the fact that almost half the population of
Turkey and Armenia want to establish cultural, economic or political
links, the future of the nations’ relationship is still blurred.

According to 2012 research in Armenia by the Yerevan-based Caucasus
Research Resource Center, 41 percent of Armenian respondents supported
opening the closed border between Turkey and Armenia without
preconditions.

Similar research done by the Ankara-based Turkish Economic and Social
Studies Foundation in 2010, found that almost 50 percent of the
population supported cultural, economic and political rapprochement
between Turkey and Armenia.

Nevertheless, the Turkish/Armenian border remains closed after
Yerevan’s occupation of Nagorno-Karabkh ` a disputed territory between
Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency at Yilankale ` known as Levonkla in
Armenian ` a medieval fortress in Turkey’s southern province of Adana,
cyclist Huseyin Dogan, 43, says he believes Turks and Armenians are
`brothers and sisters.’

`These two nations have been turned into enemies by third-party
countries for political reasons,’ Dogan says.

`Everybody know that this [closed border] is the consequence of
powerful countries’ pressure,’ he adds.

In Armenia, Anadolu Agency spoke to Minasyan Yervant, 72, a professor
at Yerevan State University who agrees with Dogan.

Talking in the Cascade Area in central Yerevan, Minasyan said: `A
rapprochement between the two countries actually cannot be done
between only Turkey and Armenia.

`There are the bigger interests of some bigger countries,’ Yervant says.

Relations between Ankara and Yerevan have also been poor owing to
bitter disagreements over events in 1915 which the Armenian diaspora
and government describe as `genocide.’

Turkey says that although Armenians died during deportations in 1915
many Turks also lost their lives in attacks carried out by Armenian
gangs in Anatolia.

Five years ago this month, Turkey and Armenia signed protocols to
normalize relations but the initiative eventually failed. Both
countries subsequently blamed each other for the stalled talks.

Although relations with Turkey have consequences for Armenia’s
economy, for Yervant ` as for many Armenians ` unemployment is the
country’s biggest concern.

According to CIA data, the estimated unemployment rate in Armenia in
2011 was 18.4 percent. The former Soviet country ranks 152nd on the
world unemployment list while Turkey ranks 101st with a 9.3 percent
rate, according to 2013 estimates.

Aram Sarkisyan, 44, a police officer from Yerevan, also thinks
unemployment is the biggest problem in the country.

`Cooperation is needed between the people of Turkey and Armenia.
Everything is going to back to the old times when Armenians and
Turkish people were friendlier to each other,’ Sarkisyan tells Anadolu
Agency.

With its almost three-million-strong population Armenia has struggled
economically since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Although the country supplied machine tools, textiles and other
manufactured goods to the other Soviet republics during the Cold War
era, today it is a small-scale agricultural country.

As both the Turkey and Azerbaijan borders are closed because of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Armenia has only two open trade borders:
Iran and Georgia.

According to CIA data, Armenia is now dependent on Russian commercial
and governmental support; most key Armenian infrastructure is
Russian-owned or managed.

Professor Yervant says opening the border between Turkey and Armenia
depends on developments on the region.

`Whatever is happening in the world generally has a consequence. It is
actually a clash of interest of bigger countries: the U.S.; the E.U.;
and Russia,’ he adds.

Officer Sarkisyan says he believes that the border will open soon: `It
is going to be beneficial for both Turkey and Armenia.’

`We should have found a solution earlier,’ he adds.

Speaking about Turkey and Armenian relations Israelyan Mariyam, 56,
from Yerevan tells Anadolu Agency: `Whatever happened in the past we
could maybe leave in the past.

`But for the centenary commemoration of the genocide, we would
appreciate it if Turkish people would recognize genocide as a
gesture.’

As Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink ` assassinated by a Turkish
nationalist in 2007 ` summed up in his book `Turkey and Armenia’, the
pair are `two close nations, two distant neighbors.’

As part of AA’s series of reports from Armenia, next week we will
investigate the road ahead for Turkey’s strained relations with
Armenia.

Cihan News Agency (CNA), TUrkey
October 24, 2014 Friday

Istanbul municipality to turn Armenian property into a park

Ä°STANBUL (CÄ°HAN)- The Ä°stanbul Metropolitan Municipality decided on
Friday to turn a 42,000-square-meter field in the district of
Zeytinburnu, that was previously returned to the Armenian Hospital
Foundation in Yedikule in compliance with the return of minority
property law, into a park.

The area was confiscated in 2007 from the foundation. Last month, an
Ä°stanbul court canceled the confiscation and decided to return the
property to the foundation. However, despite the court order, the
Ä°stanbul Metropolitan Municipality announced on Friday that the field
will be turned into a park.

Releasing a statement following the decision, the board of management
of the foundation said they will bring a suit to counter the
municipality’s decision. `The decision of the municipality is illegal
and completely against the principles of the law.’

In 2012 the Turkish government adopted a decree to return all
confiscated immovable property belonging to minority foundations in
Turkey, a long-overdue step to expand the rights of minorities in the
country.

This decree, which was published in the Official Gazette on Aug. 28,
2012, enables minority foundations to reclaim their confiscated
properties. All real property, cemeteries and fountains will be
returned to their rightful owners. Immovable property which is
presently in the hands of Turkish owners will also have its value
reimbursed to Armenian citizens.

(Cihan/Today’s Zaman) CÄ°HAN

Fresno State News, CA
Oct 23 2014

Fresno State Press publishes `My Name is Armen’

Sep 23, 2014 ?… by Shirley Armbruster

`My Name is Armen ` A Life in Column Inches’ by Fresno State alumna
Armen Bacon of Fresno will be published in November by The Press at
California State University, Fresno.

The book ($20 paper, ISBN 978-0-912201-49-8) is based on a decade’s
worth of Bacon’s essays, many of them originally written as columns
for The Fresno Bee. The book is organized thematically and covers the
gamut of culture and heritage, family, friends, love/loss, life
travels and advice.

Bacon is a wife, mother, grandmother, professional woman and author.
She describes herself as a writer of docu-memories for the soul and
the human condition ` `connective tissue that makes us all more
human.’

For two decades, she served as administrator of communications and
public relations for the Fresno County Office of Education. She holds
a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Fresno State and a master’s
degree in organizational management.

She made her authorial debut with `Griefland ` An Intimate Portrait of
Love, Loss and Unlikely Friendship’ (Globe Pequot Press, 2012).

`My Name is Armen’ is $20 and can be ordered through The Press website.

The mission of The Press is to publish great literature by both
emerging and established voices, scholarly books that expand the
horizons of human knowledge and other works that promote the rich
cultural heritage of California’s Central Valley.

CERYS MATTHEWS: HAVING TROUBLE SLEEPING? THERE IS ONLY ONE ANSWER

Want a tune to help you doze off at night? Then George Gurjieff is
your man * What musical advice do you need? Post your questions in
the thread below

Cerys Matthews The Guardian, Saturday 25 October 2014

When your brain’s so busy you can’t get to sleep, turn on George
Gurdjieff and tune out. Photograph: PR

I’m having trouble sleeping. What’s going to send me off without
getting the mind whirring or giving me weird dreams?

When the whole world is snoring, and the foxes stalk the streets, and
your candle, book and mantras fail to nudge you close to sleep, the
mind can become a little too lively: you start remembering all those
shouldn’t-have-done lists by the light of the moon. Notwithstanding
the frustrations, this is a lovely problem to solve and there really is
only one answer: George Gurdjieff. Specifically, Gurdjieff’s Harmonium
Improvisations (1949).

Who is this Gurdjieff, I hear you ask. Well, what a fascinating man.

He looked a lot like the infamous jailbird strongman Charles Bronson,
with a little Ghandi thrown in, which is quite the cocktail. But back
to Mr G. He was born in Armenia around 1870, moving to Moscow some 35
years later, by which time he’d become a spiritual leader. He believed
we humans went through life in a state of sleep, and encouraged
his followers to aim for a higher state of conciousness in order to
achieve their full human potential. His methods he called The Work
or the Fourth Way.

Stick with me if you’re starting to drop off already: the reason I
bring him up is not to convert you to a new set of beliefs, but rather
to nudge you towards this particular set of recordings – ironically
enough, they’re the perfect solution to insomnia. Gurdjieff’s
improvisations, recorded post dinner at his flat in Paris, are
the sonic equivalent of a rocking cradle with a dummy thrown in –
beautiful meandering melodies washing over you like gentle waves over
tropical shorezzzz…

* What musical advice do you need? Post your questions in the thread
below

LAVROV: RUSSIA NEVER QUESTIONED UKRAINE’S RIGHT TO PARTNER UP WITH EU

Russia never put the right of Ukraine to develop partnership relations
with the European Union at question, it only warned of the economic
risks that such relations entail, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov said.

(c) RIA Novosti. Vladimir Pesnya 09:06 25/10/2014

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Ukraine’s EU Association Violated Poroshenko: EU-Ukraine Association
Agreement to Fully Enter Into Force in November Lavrov: Kiev Decision
to Delay EU Association Agreement in Line With Yanukovych’s Proposal

MOSCOW, October 25 (RIA Novosti) – Russia never put the right of
Ukraine to develop partnership relations with the European Union at
question, it only warned of the economic risks that such relations
entail, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“I want to stress that we never questioned Ukraine’s right to develop
partnership relations with the European Union. What’s at issue here is
that it should not harm Russia, its partners in theCustoms Union and
all members of the CIS free trade zone, which includes Ukraine,” Lavrov
said in an interview with the Verdens Gang (VG) Norwegian newspaper.

The Russian Foreign Minister added that Ukraine’s trade relations with
the European Union “should not create side paths for the duty-free
entry of cheap European goods into our territory”.

The political provisions of the Ukraine-EU association agreement were
signed in March, after the then Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych
was ousted and an interim government came to power in the country. The
economic part of the agreement was signed by the current president
of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko in June.

Early in September, Russia, Ukraine and the European Union reached
a compromise on Kiev’s free trade agreement with the European Union,
postponing its entry into force until January 1, 2016.

The deal was reached during trilateral talks in Brussels, which
were held after Moscow expressed concerns about the economic risks
the implementation of the association agreement entailed both for
Russia and Ukraine, which is still a member of the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS).

The CIS currently has nine full members – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan –
and two participating states -Turkmenistan and Ukraine.

SPECIAL INTEREST MANIPULATION DAMAGES AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY

The Hill, DC
Oct 24 2014

By Nasimi Aghayev

166

1

The corrosive effects of special interests in politics are always
troubling. It is especially damaging when special interest groups
manipulate elected officials into taking actions against national
foreign policy. That’s what happened recently in California. Under the
pressure from the Armenian lobby, the California legislature passed a
resolution which contradicts the stated foreign policy of the U.S. and
its national interests. No wonder that the U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan
quickly disavowed the resolution, pointing out that it carries no
legal weight and does not represent national foreign policy.

The resolution AJR 32 seeks recognition for the so-called
“Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.” This illegal regime, which has not been
recognized by the United States government or any other country in the
world, was established by Armenia on Azerbaijan’s sovereign territory
after the Nagorno-Karabakh war in the 1990s. The invasion also led to
ethnic cleansing and expulsion of around 800,000 Azerbaijanis from
their homes and lands. Despite global condemnation and multiple U.N.

Security Council resolutions demanding immediate withdrawal of
Armenian forces, Armenia continues to occupy 20 percent of Azerbaijani
soil – an invaded territory of almost 13 times the area of Los Angeles
– in violation of international law and morality.

Instead of spending resources meddling in American politics, perhaps
the Armenian lobby in America should focus on severe maladies ailing
the country they advocate for. As the adage goes “it is fiddling while
Rome burns”. Armenia is in crisis – demographically, economically and
politically. Tens of thousands of young people, seeing no
opportunities at home, are moving abroad for a better life. Last year
a survey by the UN Population Fund found that nearly 80 percent of
young Armenians would move abroad if they could. Over a million
Armenians are believed to have permanently left since independence.

Armenia’s social infrastructure is gradually eroding; the economy is
stagnant, heavily dependent on foreign assistance and remittances; and
the country’s politics remains dominated by pervasive corruption. And
the remaining ethnic groups and religions feel increasingly
vulnerable. According to the recent survey by the Anti-Defamation
League, with 58 percent Armenia’s rate of anti-Semitism is the highest
among all countries of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

By contrast, Azerbaijan has become an example of post-Soviet success.

A country that has continued to develop its economy, focused on
inclusion and supporting its neighbors, and become a major player in
the region and beyond. It was elected to the UN Security Council in
2011, a testament to its global stature and effective diplomacy, just
20 years after independence. Its economy has become one of the world’s
great success stories, worth $75 billion and making up 80 percent of
the economy of the whole South Caucasus region. Azerbaijan has taken a
smart and dynamic approach to its oil and gas wealth, working to
improve the prosperity of future generations by turning ‘black gold
into human gold’. Poverty rates have tumbled from almost 50 percent in
2001 to 6 percent now; Azerbaijan’s capital city of Baku has become a
vibrant and modern metropolis; and the country is producing a new
generation of dynamic young professionals eager to contribute to their
country’s progress.

Just as important, at a time when religious divisions around the world
look deeper than ever, Azerbaijan has proven itself to be a beacon of
religious and ethnic tolerance and inclusion. It was the world’s first
Muslim democracy during its 1918-20 independence and remains a firmly
secular state today: a place where Muslims, Christians and Jews have
been living together in peace and harmony for many centuries.

Azerbaijan has also built strong relations with the U.S., and has
become its reliable friend and partner in a turbulent and difficult
region. Azerbaijan has played a key role in Afghanistan, sending
troops and providing a vital transport corridor for U.S. forces and
equipment there. It has been an important partner on the frontline of
the fight against international terrorism. And, by opening up energy
corridors to Europe, Azerbaijan is helping U.S. allies there to
strengthen their energy security.

Azerbaijan’s successes have come despite the occupation of its
territory by Armenia. The OSCE’s Minsk Group, co-chaired by France,
Russia and the United States, has been tasked for the last 20 years
with mediating a resolution to this protracted conflict, however
without any tangible results so far. The major reason behind this
failure is that no real pressure, in the form of sanctions or
otherwise, has been applied on Armenia to respect the international
principle of territorial integrity, end the invasion and allow
refugees to return to their homes. As the crisis in the wider region
has demonstrated so bleakly, this imperative principle of territorial
integrity must be preserved if peace in Europe is to be maintained.

The lack of sufficient engagement on the part of co-chairs emboldens
Armenia and its lobby, to whitewash Armenia’s crimes in Karabakh and
try to legitimize the illegal invasion. And the California resolution
should be seen as part of these efforts. This kind of resolutions do
not only justify Armenia’s medieval-style land-grabs and ethnic
cleansing against Azerbaijan, they also damage America. While
demonstrating the undue influence of special interests, they undermine
U.S.’s reputation in a critical region; harm its efforts to act as an
unbiased mediator in the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process; and weaken
its ability to consistently pursue its interests.

John Adams, one of the founding fathers of this great Nation, once
wrote that “government is instituted for the common good… not for
the profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or
class of men.” It is high time to heed his advice and stop this kind
of special interests from damaging America and fostering hatred among
communities.

Aghayev is Azerbaijan’s consul general to the Western United States.