Author: Elizabeth Jabejian

Photo: AP

 

In a speech hailing the work of Holocaust survivor and Nobel peace laureate Elie Wiesel, Barack Obama’s U.N. Envoy Samantha Power lamented the injustices that continue to this day. Among these, she listed: “Genocide denial against the Armenians.” Power didn’t elaborate, the Associated Press reports.

The term has long been taboo for U.S. officials, including President Barack Obama, who have instead talked of mass atrocity and historical tragedy. But Obama’s U.N. ambassador last week went further than her boss by describing the event as genocide.

According to AP, those five words risk infuriating Turkey, which has fiercely opposed any genocide reference and whose strategic role as a key American partner and NATO ally in an unstable part of the world has led U.S. officials to exercise extreme caution when referencing the century-old massacre. They’re also surprising given Power’s status as the nation’s second highest-ranked diplomat and what sounded like her implicit criticism of Obama.

When he first ran for president, Obama promised he would recognize the killings as genocide if elected. But he has repeatedly stopped short of doing so. Marking Armenian Remembrance Day in April, Obama called the killings the first mass atrocity of the 20th century and a tragedy that must not be repeated.

Before entering government, Power was a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who wrote extensively about America’s responses to genocide. Officials say she has lobbied hard behind the scenes for Obama to formally recognize the Armenian killings as genocide.

Kurtis Cooper, Power’s spokesman, said the genocide reference came in the context of honoring Wiesel’s life and were meant to “convince others to stand up, rather than stand by, in the face of systemic injustice, mass atrocities and genocide like the one he was forced to endure.” He said they don’t reflect a change in administration policy.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said there has been no change in U.S. policy.

“The president and other senior administration officials have repeatedly mourned and acknowledged as historical fact that 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or marched to their deaths in the final days of the Ottoman Empire, and stated that a full, frank and just acknowledgement of the facts is in all our interests,” Toner said.

President Ronald Reagan in 1981 did refer to the “genocide of the Armenians.” But presidents since have avoided such language.

President Jimmy Carter came close to saying genocide in 1978 by describing a “concerted effort made to eliminate all the Armenian people” and calling it “probably one of the greatest tragedies that ever befell any group.” He noted that unlike after the Holocaust, no justice occurred akin to the Nuremberg trials of top Nazi officials.

As a campaign surrogate eight years ago, Power released a video imploring Armenian-Americans to vote for Obama, saying he would follow through on his promise to talk frankly about what happened.

On November 28, 2016, in accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the OSCE Mission conducted a planned monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan in the eastern direction of Talish settlement of the NKR Martakert region.

From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring was conducted by Field Assistant to the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Ghenadie Petrica (Moldova) and staff member of the Office Peter Svedberg (Sweden).

From the opposite side of the Line of Contact, the monitoring was conducted by Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk and his Field Assistant Jiri Aberle (Czech Republic).

The monitoring passed in accordance with the agreed schedule. No violation of the cease-fire regime was registered.

From the Karabakh side, the monitoring mission was accompanied by representatives of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense.

An open discussion on “Water resources, peace and security” was held at the UN Security Council on November 22.

Noting that three quarters of UN Member States share rivers or lake basins with their neighbours, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today highlighted the value of water resources as a reason for cooperation, not conflict.

“The need for coordination in water management is especially compelling for the more than 260 international rivers and at least that many transboundary aquifers,” Mr. Ban told a Security Council debate, which was open to non-Council members.

Addressing the meeting, Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Zohrab Mnatsakanyan noted that “trans-border water resources create social and economic interrelation between societies and can serve a cause of conflict and argument inside a country and between states.”

Mr. Mnatsakanyan referred to Sarsang Water reservoir and voiced regret over the fact that Azerbaijan uses the issue to throw mud at and present charges against Armenia.

“The Sarsang water reservoir, which is of key importance to the economy of Nagorno Karabakh, especially from the agricultural and energy perspectives, is under permanent control of the Nagorno Karabakh authorities,” he noted.

Ambassador Mnatsakanyan reminded that the Nagorno Krabakh authorities have on many occasions offered a  mechanism of joint use of water resources, which can serve an additional confidence-building measure between the countries.

“Instead, Azerbaijan prefers to spread groundless accusations and suspicious “proofs”, which actually amount to misinformation, to say the least of it. Azerbaijan would have done itself and the region a great favor, had it sincerely engaged in a peace process instead of boosting it caviar diplomacy,” Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said.

On November 19, the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s Greek affiliate will kick off its sixth annual phoneathon. In the course of the two-day fundraising event, volunteers will make calls to close to 1,600 Armenian households in Athens and other Greek cities, to request donations toward the construction of the kindergarten of Karin Tak, a village in Artsakh’s Shushi Region. The kindergarten-construction project, now underway, is a joint initiative with Hayastan All-Armenian Fund benefactors in Argentina and Cyprus as well as the government of Artsakh. The project is slated to be completed in summer 2017.

“Although for a small Armenian community such as ours, it’s hard to sponsor major projects on our own, we continue to help implement them by teaming up with other affiliates of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund,” said Vatche Der-Garabedian, chairman of the fund’s Greek affiliate. “I think such collaborative efforts are marvelous symbols of pan-national unity. It’s thanks to this type of collaboration that projects such as the construction of the community center of Khachmach, a village in Artsakh’s Askeran Region, were made possible.” Der-Garabedian added that if, as he hopes, proceeds from the phoneathon in Greece surpass expectations, the Greek-Armenian community will go on to sponsor an additional development project in the homeland.

The total raised through the phoneathon in Greece, as well as the totals of proceeds from all 2016 Hayastan Fund fundraising campaigns worldwide, will be announced at the conclusion of the organization’s flagship annual event, the Thanksgiving Day Telethon, on November 24.

Emulating the successful model of the fund’s Pan-European Phoneathon, which is headed by the French affiliate, the Greek affiliate has held local phoneathons since 2010, to date raising a total of 140,000 euros for various projects in Armenia.

 

 

 

Donald Trump’s election as 45th President of the United States will not bringserious changes in the country’s long-established policy, but will lead to a shift in the country’s position at least on some issues, Head of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Bureau’s Hay Dat and Political Affairs Office Giro Manoyan said in an interview with Public Radio of Armenia.

He believes that the improvement of relations with Russia can open up opportunities for us.

However, he said “we have to take into consideration the relations between Turkey and the US, the President-elect’s relations with the Azerbaijani leadership, which will also inevitably influence the Armenia-US relations, and the US stance on the Karabakh issue and other Armenia-related issues.”

Photo: Reuters

 

The detention of journalists from independent newspaper Cumhuriyet, the closure of the remaining Kurdish media, and the jailing of elected mayors in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir in the space of two days is evidence of the deepening crackdown in Turkey, Human Rights Watch said today.

On the morning of October 31, 2016, police detained Murat Sabuncu, the editor of the independent Cumhuriyet daily newspaper and, during the course of the day, 11 more of its journalists and managers. There are warrants out for the arrest of at least three more, including former editor Can Dündar. The Istanbul prosecutor alleges that the newspaper has “committed crimes on behalf of” both the armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and what the government refers to as the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization, led by the US-based cleric Fethullah Gülen.

“Targeting one of Turkey’s last independent opposition newspapers with ludicrous charges shows the depths of the Turkish government and president’s crackdown,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey director at Human Rights Watch. “Over 160 media outlets have been closed down since the failed coup, and there are few critical voices that have not been ruthlessly silenced.”

AFP Photo/Jonathan Alcorn

 

AFP – French singing legend Charles Aznavour, one of the 20th century’s most prolific songwriters who remains active at 92, was honored Thursday with a Hollywood star presented by California’s Armenians.

Aznavour, often dubbed France’s Frank Sinatra, said he was “deeply moved” by the recognition.

The star is not on Hollywood Boulevard’s main Walk of Fame but was dedicated by the Armenian community on a nearby stretch of sidewalk.

“I’ve been coming to Hollywood for years and I’ve worked a lot in the United States,” Aznavour told AFP. “America is the land of show business.”

Aznavour was born in France to Armenian parents. Some 1.5 million Armenians died in 1915-17 in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire in what Armenia, several foreign parliaments and many historians describe as genocide.

Turkey strongly opposes the characterization of genocide, calling the episode a collective tragedy in which an equal number of Turks and Armenians died.

“What I find very funny is that Turkey lost something. They don’t have a single great singer and I could have been a Turkish singer, while today I’m a French singer,” Aznavour said.

“Which goes to show that there’s no purpose to genocide as there are always survivors,” he said.

Aznavour has written hundreds of songs in a career that spans more than 80 years, with more than 100 million records sold worldwide.

He remains energetic and said he still feels excitement before crowds. Earlier in October he played Madison Square Garden in New York.

“I feel like I’m meeting my family, whether they’re Italian or Spanish or from elsewhere. The audience is part of my family. The stage is where I’m happiest.”

And he said he is not finished. “I always have 40 songs ahead of me. I write every day.”

The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan are not ready for the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, US Secretary of State John Kerry said, speaking The Atlantic and Aspen Institute, the informs.

He said there are some frozen conflicts in the world today, where one sees no solution right now “because the leaders aren’t ready, because the tensions aren’t there.”

Secretary Kerry referred to the Israel-Palestine conflict, the Syria crisis and other conflicts in the world.

Kim Kardashian has decided that she wants to go to law school, according to the .

During an interview for the cover of magazine, the 35-year-old reality star — who never went to college — said she hopes to get a law degree someday.

“If things slow down and I had time, I really want to go to law school — just something I can do in my older age,” Kardashian said.

Kardashian’s father Robert — who was part of the team that represented O.J. Simpson — was an attorney who got his law degree from the University of San Diego School of Law.

On behalf of the European Friends of Armenia (EuFoA), I extend my warmest congratulations to the Armenian people as it celebrates the 25th anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Armenia, on September 21st.

On this special day, I reaffirm EuFoA’s unwavering and steadfast commitments to strengthen Armenia’s independence, and to stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Armenia in their quest for democracy, justice and prosperity, and their legitimate aspirations for peace and security.

As an organisation seeking to support integration and build bridges between Armenia and Europe, EuFoA congratulates the citizens and leaders of Armenia on their achievements over the past quarter century, and wishes them success on their way to build a fairer, safer and more prosperous society, in cooperation with their European friends.

Long live Armenia and the Armenian nation!