Author: Emil Karabekian

In an open letter to the American Jewish Committee Executive Director David Harris, Rimma Varzhapetyan-Feller, President of the Jewish Community of Armenia, reveals the bias in articles inciting and propagating hatred towards Armenia and the Armenian people regularly published in the Israeli newspapers. The letter published by the reads: 

Dear Mr. Harris,

I am making this appeal to you in an open letter to draw your attention to the fact that during the recent months articles inciting and propagating hatred towards Armenia and the Armenian people, and to me, as the leader of the Jewish community of Armenia, are published regularly in Israeli newspapers by a number of so called analysts – Arye Gut,  Alexander Murinson, Maxime Gauin (e.g. Baku to the future: Azerbaijan, not Armenia, is Israel’s true ally , Anti-Semitism in Armenia.)

Biographies of the aforementioned authors and the content of the articles prove that they try hard to set public opinion and, particularly, the Jews, against the Armenian people, casting shadow on the centuries-old friendship of the two peoples.

Especially worth mentioning is Arye Gut’s latest brainchild – an article built on overtly false facts and attempts of manipulation.

A former citizen of Azerbaijan (he is Jew, not an Azeri), Gut, whose Facebook account provides ample evidence of his attempts to ensure the approval of the Azerbaijani authorities, speculates and manipulates data, positioning himself as allegedly “impartial” analyst.

In this article Gut yet again endeavors to convince the readers of the existence of anti-Semitism in Armenia and Diaspora. It is worth mentioning that Gut, Murinson and Gauin have already written nearly a dozen of articles, trying to provide proof of supposedly numerous cases of anti-Semitism in Armenia. Nevertheless, the examples they cite are either false or distorted. No representative of any political force, political party or NGO in Armenia has ever uttered any anti-Semitic remarks.

Rights of the Jewish community have never been questioned here. The Armenian people always have respected the Jews and admired the rich history of our people. Since time immemorial the Jewish community of Armenia has found favourable environment for free existence and enrichment of their culture on this land of rich culture.

The evidence of the Jewish presence in Armenia is a medieval Jewish settlement and cemetery, both preserved due to Armenian government’s and people’s care for it.

Not only does Arye Gut ignore it all, but also dares to voice poignantly indecent expressions addressed to me and the Jewish community of Armenia which is nothing but an example of anti-Semitism in itself.

As Michael Chlenow, Vice-President of the World Jewish Congress, stressed during the recent Global Forum “Against the Crime of Genocide” held in Yerevan a couple of weeks ago, “Even if the Jewish community of Armenia is small, it is well-organized and proud, and through its activity contributes to both enrichment of the Jewish culture and strengthening of centuries-old friendship of the two peoples.”

Armenia has never denied the Holocaust. This year on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day President Serzh Sargsyan addressed the Jewish community in a statement. During his visit to the USA in May, the President of Armenia also visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Armenia is the only country in the region where school curriculum includes direct reference to the Holocaust; moreover, according to various assessments, from the point of view of the awareness of the Holocaust, the Armenians are amongst the best-informed people in the world.

In his article Gut once again tries to use to his advantage the fact of cooperation between some representatives of the Armenian Diaspora and the Nazis during WWII. It is a historical fact that the Armenian legion did not take part in the combat operations and was stationed in the rear – mainly in France, Holland and Poland. The Nazi leadership never trusted the Armenian legion. On December 12, 1942 Hitler said that “…In spite of all declarations from Rosenberg and the military, I don’t trust the Armenians”. The members of the Armenian Legion never missed a chance to revolt against the Nazis and join the resistance groups. The Armenian POWs played important role in the liberation of South France, while another group of Armenian POWs revolted in Holland.

Most probably, Arye Gut is also aware that the Azerbaijani legion in the German Armed Forces was four times larger than the Armenian one. The Azerbaijani legion participated in a range of massacres of the Polish and the Jews (particularly, 40.000 people were annihilated during Volyn massacre). The former President of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan (1918-1920) Mamed Rasulzade, who nowadays is glorified in Azerbaijan, spared no effort to recruit the Azerbaijani prisoners of war to the ranks of the Nazi army.

As for the Armenians, they fought against the Nazis in the frontlines of the Red Army, as well as in Diaspora. More than half a million Armenians fought in WWII, and only half of them returned home. Armenian soldiers fought in all the bloody battles, liberating from the Nazi yoke numerous peoples, including Jews.

As if following a the long-standing tradition, Gut’s article ‘circulates’ the theses of Azerbaijani-Turkish anti-Armenian propaganda, i.e. the blatant denial of the Armenian Genocide and the repetition of the official Baku’s assessment of events in Khojaly in 1992. What is more, all this is by no means done in a professional manner. In reality, Mr. Gut would rather quote the then President of Azerbaijan Mutalibov on the events in Khojaly, who inadvertently exposed the masterminds and those who even today use these clichés for propaganda purposes.

I was raised in a Jewish family. From the very first days of war my father joined up and reached Berlin. He was given numerous military awards and decorations. Together with her parents and my elder brother, my mother was evacuated three times. My husband’s ancestors, Armenians, suffered the Genocide in the Ottoman Empire and a considerable part of the family was annihilated.

My family spares no effort to strengthen the friendly ties between Armenia and Israel. We wish peace and prosperity to the two countries, and, of course, all the people on Earth. Unfortunately, shameless liars and provocateurs like Mr. Gut accuse me of “complicity in Nazism, Fascism and anti-Semitism”.

They must have forgotten that people should think twice before they utter such remarks – one could be detained for that.

It is inconceivable that leading newspapers and journals publish rubbish, without thinking of their own reputation.

Dear Mr. Harris, your organization has always emphasized the importance of strengthening of tolerance between peoples and fight against hate speech.

Authors of articles, pointed out by me, try to manipulate the Jewish media and the Jewish community in their dirty and unacceptable propaganda stunts.

I am grateful to you and proud that for years I have been invited to participate in the American Jewish Committee Annual Forums, which always pay a great deal of attention to strengthening of tolerance and fight against inter-ethnic hatred.

I am full of hope that you will share my concern and together we will be able to exert joint efforts to resist such provocative behavior.

Sincerely,

Rimma Varzhapetyan-Feller,

President of the Jewish Community of Armenia

Armenian youths in Turkey have launched a protest campaign against the demolition of Camp Armen, the Armenian orphanage that housed hundreds of Armenian children in summer sessions. The Armenian community demands the orphanage be preserved and handed over to it. This does not sound likely, but it is significant as being the first street protest by Turkey’s Armenians to express their demands in recent times, reports.

Camp Armen symbolizes the long saga of the deportation and massacres Armenians suffered on Anatolian soil. Its history starts with the purchase of a plot of land by Gedikpasa Armenian Protestant Church from a private party to house Armenian orphans who lived in Anatolia and were labeled as “sword leftovers” by the Armenians. The orphanage camp was built in 1962 by the orphans themselves under supervision of a master builder.

The existence of the orphanage camp, where 1,500 children were housed and educated, was endangered by a decision by the Court of Appeals in 1974, ruling that foreign foundations cannot own immovable property. The state, empowered by the court decision, seized the orphanage in 1986 and returned the property to its original owner free of charge, including the buildings on it.

The protests and posting of Armenian guards led to some colorful displays. A huge banner that says “Camp Armen should be returned to the Armenian people” was hung on the building. Armenian musicians showed up to play music.

Rakel Dink, the wife of Hrant Dink, the slain editor-in-chief of the Armenian newspaper Agos that has an important place for Turkey’s Armenians, is one of the ardent supporters of the protest. Hrant and Rakel Dink attended the camp; during the discussions that took place in front of the building, Rakel Dink told the youths standing guard about their days in the orphanage camp.

The goal of the protest is to restore Camp Armen to its original status. They have started an Armenian Workshop. Ani Balikci, the mother of Armenian Sevag Balikci, who was killed by another soldier on April 24, 2011, while he was doing his national service, is giving Armenian lessons. They are planting trees and watching documentaries. Political parties, civil society organizations, university students and activists frequently visit the Armenian protesters to express solidarity.

Garo Paylan, an Armenian activist and a candidate for pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy Party (HDP) in the June 7 elections, told Al-Monitor, “This place was seized by an action of the state. We want it returned but I don’t think the state can do it just like that. We had thousands of properties confiscated like this. If the state returns Camp Armen, then it will have to return the others.”

Paylan says that in recent history there has been no such public protest apart from the funeral of Hrant Dink. He said, “The fact is the Armenian community is becoming truly politicized after [the killing of] Hrant Dink. There are now more Armenian actors who are more sensitive. They have orators and spokesmen. But their pigeon jitters still prevail. [Hrant Dink used to define Armenian fears as ‘pigeon jitters.’] That fear is still there, but alongside politicized people. We now have people and actors of divergent views who are active in various political parties, indicating that our community is increasingly politicized and ready to react to unfair practices.”

The Queen has spoken of her happiness that her latest great-grandchild, Princess Charlotte, was a girl, the Daily Mail reports.

Chatting at the first Buckingham Palace garden party of the season today, the monarch said she was delighted to have another little girl in the family.

The Queen visited the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s new baby at Kensington Palace before she was taken by her parents to Anmer Hall, their Norfolk home.

The Queen’s remarks at the Buckingham Palace garden party are the first time she has expressed any public opinion about the birth of the new princess, born just over a week ago, who is fourth in line to the throne.

The sun shone as around 8,000 people dressed in their finery poured into the grounds of the Palace to enjoy the afternoon party.

“On May 3, 2015, the sixth regular parliamentary elections were held in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) with over 70% turnout. The elections were held in a free and competitive atmosphere and in full compliance with the international standards, as assessed by more than 100 international observers from around 30 countries,” the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

“The parliamentary elections have reaffirmed the fact that elections, as a key element for the functioning of any democratic system, have become an integral part of the political culture of Artsakh. Free, fair, transparent and competitive elections, being an inalienable mechanism of political processes in the NKR, are aimed at organizing the public life of the republic and forming the government by democratic means, which, in turn, serves as a basis for promoting human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law,” the statement reads.

“The elections, as an expression of will of the people of Artsakh, whose role in deciding its future was unequivocally emphasized in the statement of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs on 30 April 2015, are also essential for maintaining the stability in the region as well as for the just and peaceful settlement of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh,” the Ministry said.

World-known French-Armenian singer Charles Aznavour has released his 51st album called “Encores,” according to . The CD comes four years after Aznavour released his previous album “Toujours” in 2011.

The new album includes twelve brand new songs. Some of the songs are dedicated to the memories of the past, the childhood, as well as the struggle against fascism.

Charles Aznavour will celebrate his 91^st birthday on May 22.

Aznavour will continue to deploy his inexhaustible energy on stage, as well. He will be in Madrid on May 7 and will visit Beirut in August. He has six concerts scheduled for September in Paris.

Aznavour, who has sung in 94 countries of the world, also plans to visit San Sebastian and Amsterdam in the fall.

He has also composed the music for a new show on the Battle of Normandy expected for 2016.

The US ambassador to Turkey has fought back with humour after Ankara’s mayor called a US State Department spokeswoman a “stupid blonde,” reports.

John Bass posted a picture on his Instagram account with his normally dark hair digitally altered to a reddish blond. The caption said: “American diplomats: we’re all blonde.”

The mayor of Turkey’s capital city, Melih Gökçek, was accused of hypocrisy on Thursday after tweeting a string of sexist and anti-American comments against Marie Harf, the acting spokeswoman for the US State Department – but launching hundreds of lawsuits against people who use Twitter to criticise him.

A Turkish pro-government newspaper had criticised her for being “silent” on unrest in Baltimore despite repeated US government criticism of Turkey during the violent crackdown on Gezi Park protesters in the summer of 2013.

And then Gokcek posted a tweet with an image of police in Baltimore forcibly subduing someone during the recent unrest with a caption that said: “Where are you stupid blonde, who accused Turkish police of using disproportionate force?”

The tweet included a picture of Harf and said: “Come on blonde, answer now.”

In another tweet, the notoriously cantankerous Ankara mayor wrote: “According to the blonde girl, the government’s reaction during the Gezi Park protests were worrisome, but when it comes to your country, is it normal to declare a curfew.”

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Harf said she did not want to “dignify [the tweets] with a response”, but challenged Gökçek’s claim that the US government had been silent on the unrest in Baltimore, saying that President Barack Obama had commented on the unrest, which erupted on the death of Freddie Gray, after his arrest by police.

But activists in Turkey pointed out that while Gökçek regularly lashes out at his opponents on Twitter, he is less happy to be the subject of online criticism.

In March this year Gökçek has filed a criminal complaint for defamation against Hayko Bagdat, a Turkish journalist of Armenian descent, after he jokingly called the Ankara mayor “Armenian” in tweets posted after the local elections. One of Bagdat’s messages read: “It is official – they gave the capital city to an Armenian. What a shame!”

The petition handed in by Gökçek’s lawyers stated that the mayor was “a citizen of the Turkish republic who loves his country and his nation”, and Bagdat’s comments therefore “false” and an “insult and libel”. Gökçek demanded 10,000 Turkish lira (£2,445) for “psychological damage”.

A. Harutyunyan Receives Delegation Headed by PACE Chairman Mevlut Cavusoglu

ARMENPRESS
MAY 13, 2010
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS: Armenian Ombudsman Armen Harutyunyan
received today Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe (PACE) Mevlut CavuÅ~_oglu. During the meeting the interlocutors
referred to the challenges of human rights defense both in Armenia and
in the region. Press service of the Ombudsman’s Office told Armenpress
that Mevlut CavuÅ~_oglu stated this is one of his first visits to
member states after the election in the office of PACE chairman.

During the meeting Armen Harutyunyan presented the 2009 annual and
extraordinary public reports on fair trial. Speaking of the challenges
of human rights defense, the ombudsman pointed out the importance
of development of atmosphere of tolerance and formation of culture
of dialogue both inside the country and in the region. Attaching
importance to M. CavuÅ~_oglu’s responsible mission in the office of
PACE chairman, the ombudsman pointed out the importance of providing
reconcilement and stability in the region as an important precondition
of human rights defense.

PACE president stated that constitutional changes are intended in
the upcoming months in Turkey, as a result of which an Ombudsman’s
institute will be set up in that country. Armen Harutyunyan expressed
readiness of support and cooperation.

STUDENTS MARCH TO PROTEST CUTS TO MILITARY DEFERMENTS
Arman Gharibyan

201 0/05/06 | 12:05

society

At around noon today, students protesting military deferment cuts to
various post-graduate faculties started to march from the campus of
Yerevan State University to the Government Building.

Student organizers have told Hetq that the police have warned them that
they would be forced to use force to break up the march if protestors
started to use their bullhorns excessively. The campus is full of
top police brass in a show of force.

OSCE MG FOR SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH CONFLICT HAS RUN ITS COURSE: ARMENIAN POLITICIAN

ArmInfo
2010-04-12 15:45:00

ArmInfo. The OSCE Minsk Group for settlement of the Karabakh conflict
has run its course, said Haroutiun Arakelyan, Chairman of the
Ramkavar-Azatakan Party of Armenia, in a press conference on Monday.

"This structure just tries to favor super powers, in particular,
Russia, the USA and France. We cannot hope now that the OSCE MG is
able to bring peace and stability to the South Caucasus," he said. As
regards probability of a new aggression by Azerbaijan against the
Nagorny Karabakh Republic, the politician said that frequency of
the militarist statements by Baku has become absurd and the world
community no longer takes it seriously", he said.

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE NOT FORGOTTEN

New Haven Register
April 5 2010
CT

THERE was a time when American mothers regularly ordered their children
to clean their plates by reminding them of the "starving Armenians."

So thoroughly inculcated in this admonition was I that when I first met
a person of Armenian descent, I blurted that he couldn’t be Armenian,
because he wasn’t starving.

The origin of this phrase was, of course, the elimination of an
estimated 1.5 million Armenians, half of that nation’s population,
by the Turks in the waning years of the Ottoman Empire. Between 1915
and 1919, there were massacres and death marches and starvation.

It was a tragedy exceeded in modern history only by the Holocaust and
the murder of 2 million Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge. It resulted in
the coining of the word "genocide" to describe such a horrific event.

The Republic of Turkey has refused to take any responsibility for
this policy of destruction or to acknowledge that it was genocidal in
nature, despite the fact that history and at least 20 other nations
have recognized it as such.

But, most Americans have little understanding of the phrase once used
to remind their grandmothers and grandfathers that the privilege of
eating is a precious thing that many do not have.

Many Armenians who survived the devastation made it to America and
became among this nation’s most prosperous and productive citizens.

Among them are author William Saroyan and the San Francisco financier,
philanthropist and restaurateur George Mardikian, whose biography,
"The Song of America," became a paean to his adopted country and a
bible of inspiration to tens and thousands of immigrants.

The resistance of the Turkish government to official recognition
of what the rest of the world knows is about to get a jolt from the
American descendents of those who expired nearly 100 years ago. It will
be in the form of a major new museum smack dab in the middle of one of
the most traveled corridors in the nation’s capital, 14th Street just
above Pennsylvania Avenue, where millions of American tourists will be
tastefully but firmly educated about man’s inhumanity to man. About
a half mile further down the street is the Holocaust Museum, where
millions have learned those lessons through the suffering of the
world’s Jews at the hands of Nazi Germany.

The Armenian Genocide Museum of America will be established in an
imposing limestone building that once housed the National Bank of
Washington. The building was erected in 1922, which coincidentally
fits the time frame of the events it will memorialize.

It has been vacant for a number of years. A modern "tower" addition
will be added without disturbing the architectural integrity of the old
building. Money and oversight of the project are under the guidance
of a committee of distinguished Armenian Americans and directed by
Rouben Adalian of the Armenian National Institute. A date for the
restoration and opening is still a ways off.

Those who may think this will be just another memorial and museum in a
city where there are already too many are missing the point. Coupled
in proximity with the Holocaust Memorial and in a location so close
to the White House and Capitol Hill, it will be one of the more
significant punctuations to the ideal of human rights for which this
country always has stood, if not always adhered to in its own dealings
with minorities.

As our mothers knew, it is often necessary to remind ourselves that
there are those less fortunate than we are and that survival is
tenuous, requiring perseverance reached only by digging deep into
the spirit and recognizing the lessons of sacrifice and refusing to
forget the tragedies of the past.

That is pretty heavy stuff, but my mother and millions of others,
even in those harshest days of the Great Depression, distilled it
into two words, "starving Armenians," that instantly reminded us of
our good fortune and warned us not to waste it.

Perhaps if the rest of the world had paid attention to the implications
of Armenia, later genocides would not have occurred. It’s time the
Turks owned up.

Dan K. Thomasson is former editor of the Scripps Howard News Service,
1090 Vermont Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005.