Author: Kalantarian Kevo

Three Armenian POWs return to Yerevan

Kalantarian Kevo
Public Radio of Armenia
May 4 2021  

Three Armenian prisoners of war were transferred from Baku to Yerevan. The plane carrying the captives landed at Yerevan’s Erebuni Airport.

“As a result of the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries, Azerbaijan has returned three Armenian prisoners of war amid growing international pressure. We are full of hope that this process will have its logical continuation and end soon,” a spokesperson for the office of the RA Acting Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan told Armenpress.

Kim Kardashian responds to President Sarkissian’s letter, pledges continued support to Armenia

Kalantarian Kevo
Public Radio of Armenia
May 1 2021    

American-Armenian TV personality and entrepreneur Kim Kardashian has responded to President Armen Sarkissian’s letter, commending her contribution to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

“Thank you, President Sarkissian for always taking the time to educate me further on Armenia,” Kardashian said in a Twitter post.

She thanked the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) and all Armenian groups along with every Armenian who fought for this day of recognition.

“I’m happy I could help raise awareness and will always continue to support this beautiful country,” Kim added.

On Friday President Armen Sarkissian sent letters of thanks to renowned American-Armenian physician, co-director of the David Geffen Medical Center of the University of California, producer of the Armenian Genocide film “The Promise” Eric Esrailian, American-Armenian TV star Kim Kardashian and renowned pop singer Cher (Cherilyn Sarkisian).

In a letter to Kim Kardashian, President Sarkissian noted: “You and your family have a huge impact not only in the US but also worldwide, and it was fantastic to see how your influence and actions played an important role in an international recognition of the Genocide. Thanks you for your tireless efforts, sincere devotion and commitment.”

President Biden told Turkish President Erdoğan he’s planning to recognize Armenian genocide

Kalantarian Kevo
CNN Politics

President Biden told Turkish President Erdoğan he’s planning to recognize Armenian genocide

By Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 5:30 PM EDT, Fri

(CNN)President Joe Biden told his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday he plans to recognize the 1915 massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as a genocide, according to a person familiar with the conversation.

Readouts from the White House and Turkish presidency did not mention the issue. The call was described by the person familiar as “tense.” Bloomberg was first to report that Biden told Erdoğan of his intentions.

CNN previously reported Biden was preparing to recognize the century-old atrocities against Armenians as a genocide, fulfilling a campaign promise. Biden’s predecessors in the White House had stopped short of using the word, wary of damaging ties with a key regional ally.

Biden has established a pattern of calling world leaders to warn them of forthcoming moves by his administration which will irritate the relationship. Last week, days ahead of rolling out sanctions on Russia, Biden also called Russian President Vladimir Putin to preview the sanctions which were put in place to punish Moscow for its interference in the 2020 US election, its SolarWinds cyber attack and its ongoing occupation and “severe human rights abuses” in Crimea.

Later on Friday, Turkey’s ambassador to the US, Hasan Murat Mercan, has a meeting at the White House with a National Security Council official, according to sources familiar with the conversation between the two presidents. The ambassador received his accreditation from the White House earlier this week — paving the way for him to assume his ambassadorial responsibilities — and this will be the ambassador’s first meeting with Biden administration officials.

As vice president, Biden dealt frequently with Erdoğan and made four trips to Turkey, including in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt. But since then he’s offered a less-than-rosy view of the Turkish leader.

“I’ve spent a lot of time with him. He is an autocrat,” he told the New York Times editorial board in 2020. “He’s the president of Turkey and a lot more. What I think we should be doing is taking a very different approach to him now, making it clear that we support opposition leadership.”

Biden spoke by telephone with Erdoğan on Friday, his first conversation with the Turkish leader since taking office. The long period without communication had been interpreted as a sign Biden is placing less importance on the US relationship with Turkey going forward.

In a readout of the call, the White House said Biden “convey[ed] his interest in a constructive bilateral relationship with expanded areas of cooperation and effective management of disagreements.”

Earlier this week, US officials had been sending signals to allies outside the administration — who have been pushing for an official declaration — that the President would recognize the genocide. Addressing the potential move in an interview with a Turkish broadcaster this week, Turkey’s foreign minister said, “If the United States wants to worsen ties, the decision is theirs.”

The government of Turkey often registers complaints when foreign governments describe the event, which began in 1915, using the word “genocide.” They maintain that it was wartime and there were losses on both sides, and they put the number of dead Armenians at 300,000.

Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump both avoided using the word genocide to avoid angering Ankara.

The declaration will not bring with it any new legal consequences for Turkey, only diplomatic fall-out.

The campaign of atrocities Biden appears poised to acknowledge began the nights of April 23 and 24, 1915, when authorities in Constantinople, the Ottoman capital, rounded up about 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders. Many of them ended up deported or assassinated. April 24, known as Red Sunday, is commemorated as Genocide Remembrance Day by Armenians around the world.

The number of Armenians killed has been a major point of contention. Estimates range from 300,000 to 2 million deaths between 1914 and 1923, with not all of the victims in the Ottoman Empire. But most estimates — including one of 800,000 between 1915 and 1918, made by Ottoman authorities themselves — fall between 600,000 and 1.5 million.

Whether due to killings or forced deportation, the number of Armenians living in Turkey fell from 2 million in 1914 to under 400,000 by 1922.

While the death toll is in dispute, photographs from the era document some mass killings. Some show Ottoman soldiers posing with severed heads, others with them standing amid skulls in the dirt. The victims are reported to have died in mass burnings and by drowning, torture, gas, poison, disease and starvation. Children were reported to have been loaded into boats, taken out to sea and thrown overboard. Rape, too, was frequently reported.

In 2019, the House and Senate passed a resolution recognizing the mass killings of Armenians from 1915 to 1923 as genocide. Prior to its passage, the Trump administration had asked Republican senators to block the unanimous consent request several times on the grounds that it could undercut negotiations with Turkey.

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Kylie Atwood contributed to this report.

A genocide denied is a genocide repeated: Biden urged to recognize the Armenian Genocide

Kalantarian Kevo 
Public Radio of Armenia
A genocide denied is a genocide repeated: Biden urged to recognize the
Armenian Genocide
The Armenian Genocide Committee and its unified member organizations
addressed a letter on behalf of the two million ethnic Armenian
Americans, to President Biden, urging recognition of the Armenian
Genocide.
The following is the letter in its entirety:
President Biden,
On behalf of the two million ethnic Armenian Americans, we strongly
urge you to recognize the truth of the Armenian Genocide.
From 1915 to 1923, the Ottoman Turkish Empire systematically sought to
eliminate its indigenous Armenian population, killing more than 75% of
Armenians (1.5 million in number) and driving hundreds of thousands
more from their homeland. We stand firmly against attempts to pretend
that this intentional, organized effort to destroy the Armenian people
was anything other than a Genocide.
You have correctly stated that American diplomacy and foreign policy
must be rooted in our values and guiding principles, including respect
for universal human rights. Those values and principles require us to
acknowledge the truth and do what we can to prevent future genocides
and crimes against humanity.
In the past you have publicly acknowledged the Armenian Genocide, and
in the wake of 2019’s overwhelming, bipartisan Congressional
recognition of the Armenian Genocide – and 2020’s historic decision by
the Library of Congress to properly catalog books on this subject, we
call on you to do so again as President to make clear that the U.S.
government recognizes this terrible truth. The American people have
clearly voiced their support for the unequivocal recognition of the
Armenian Genocide.
Your unequivocal recognition of the Armenian Genocide will have added
significance, as the world witnessed Turkish President Erdogan’s
genocidal and expansionist intent in 2020, when Turkey and Azerbaijan
attempted to ethnically cleanse Armenians by launching a full-scale
assault on the indigenous Armenian population and lands of Artsakh.
Their attack has resulted in thousands of deaths and a humanitarian
crisis in Armenia and Artsakh. We must hold genocidal regimes
accountable because a genocide denied is a genocide repeated.
We join the Armenian American community, Armenians around the world,
and all people of good will in honoring the memory of the victims of
the Armenian Genocide. We ask you to do the same by properly
acknowledging the Armenian Genocide.
Sincerely,
Armenian Genocide Committee

Turkish press: Azerbaijan hails Turkey’s support against Armenian black propaganda

Kalantarian Kevo
 ISTANBUL DIPLOMACY 
APR 20, 2021 12:55 PM GMT+3
A Russian peacekeeper guards an entry point of Dadivank, an Armenian Apostolic Church monastery dating to the 9th century, after the transfer of the Kalbajar region back to Azerbaijan as part of a peace deal that required Armenian forces to cede Azerbaijani territories they previously occupied outside Nagorno-Karabakh, near Kalbajar, Azerbaijan, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. (AP File Photo)

Azerbaijani lawmakers thanked Turkey’s support against Armenian black propaganda during the 44-daylong Nagorno-Karabakh crisis, as they said it was crucial to change the global perspective about the conflict.

The New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) lawmaker Dr. Hikmet Babaoğlu told Anadolu Agency (AA) that cooperation between Turkey and Azerbaijan in the media sector has been vital.

“The creation of a Joint Media Platform between brotherly nations Turkey and Azerbaijan is a revolutionary incident in our media history,” Dr. Babaoğlu said, adding that media serves as a tool of soft power.

He continued by thanking the Presidential Communications Directorate and Communications Director Fahrettin Altun for their work in this regard.

He noted that Altun played a critical role in terms of fighting against the Armenian disinformation campaign and conveying the truth to the world.

Babaoğlu also said they now aim to establish a joint media center with the participation of Turkic Council member states, including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Hungary, following a meeting held in Baku on April 9, as he highlighted Altun’s and Azerbaijani Vice President Hikmet Hajiyev’s roles in the initiative.

Another lawmaker, Sevil Mikayilova, also hailed Turkey’s “unmatched” role in the fight against Armenia’s disinformation, saying that it was one of the means Azerbaijan was able to defeat Armenia.

“Turkey’s practical support was especially important as it facilitated the formation of an objective opinion regarding the conflict,” she said.

Yerevan first lied that Turkey transferred mercenaries from Syria to Nagorno-Karabakh to fight alongside Azerbaijan. By doing so, Armenia aimed to delegitimize Turkey’s open support for Azerbaijan and attempted to divert attention from the fact that it receives military and logistical backing from France, Russia and Iran.

Armenia also tried to hide that it put into action a plan to occupy Nagorno-Karabakh through Armenian-origin factions – the Nubar Ozanyan Brigade which operates in Syria and is a part of the PKK’s Syrian branch YPG – within the PKK and ASALA terrorist organizations.

Another piece of disinformation spread by Armenia claimed that a Turkish F-16 downed a Russian-made Su-25 fighter jet. Turkey without delay denied the claims.

Clashes between Baku and Yerevan erupted on Sept. 27, and the Armenian Army launched attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces, violating cease-fire agreements. During the 44-day conflict, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages from the Armenian occupation.

The two countries signed a Russia-brokered agreement on Nov. 10 to end the fighting and work toward a comprehensive resolution.

A joint Turkish-Russian center with peacekeepers from both countries has been established to monitor the truce. The cease-fire is seen as a victory for Azerbaijan and a defeat for Armenia, whose armed forces have withdrawn in line with the agreement.

106 Years of Mourning — 73 Years of Shame

Kalantarian Kevo
Times of Israel

One hundred six years ago, 1915, the Ottoman Turkish Muslim regime in Turkey massacred and expelled many millions of the Christian Armenian population within the Turkish Empire. More than one million Armenian children were separated from their parents and were murdered.

Even Jews who lived in Ottoman Turkish Palestine were expelled or were murdered. Among them were thousands of Jews living in Jaffa and hundreds who lived in Jerusalem. The lucky Jews who survived fled to Alexandria in Egypt and remained there until the 1918 arrival of a British Mandate in Palestine and the end of the Ottoman Turkish regime forever.

Much, perhaps most, of the world remained silent during and after the bloody Turkish holocaust years.

It was Adolf Hitler who in 1939 made the remark “the world has forgotten the Turkish genocide. They will not remember our treatment of the Jews”.

But Hitler was both right and wrong. The Turkish genocide of Christian Armenians has been sadly forgotten while the massacres of six million Jews is widely remembered.

While many nations today recall the Ottoman Turkish genocide, seventy-three years have passed and Israel has not publicly acknowledged the inhuman tragedy of innocent Christians, the decent Armenian people. We are living seventy-three years of immense shame.

A nation and a people who suffered the greatest holocaust in world history, who endured the genocide of millions of Jews in every land where German Nazi boots trampeled, who witnessed death by poison gas and by flaming fires, by ghettos and mass killings such as Babi Yar, have closed eyes and mouths to our great shame and disgrace in not protesting Turkey’s annihilation of the Armenians.

Today’s Germany is not the Germany of its cruel past. Neither is today’s Turkey responsible for the genocide of its previous Ottoman government.

But today’s Germany admitted its previous guilt and made restitution while today’s Turkey denies guilt and refuses restitution to surviving members of murdered families. Land, home and property of Armenians were confiscated by Turks together with Armenian lives whose blood covered the lands of the Turkish Empire.

It is of interest to know that Armenia was the first nation to accept Christianity as its state religion. The Armenians are the world’s first Christians. Thousands of them succeeded in fleeing the massacres and made their way to the Holy Land in Palestine, settling mainly in Jerusalem where they work, live and pray in their communities today.

Israel has claimed that a reason for their withholding of recognition of the Turkish genocide between 1914-1918 was due to its favorable relations with modern Turkey, the first Muslim nation to recognize the Jewish State of Israel in 1948. Ultimately, Turkey became a favorite country for Israeli Jews to visit.

Gold jewelry and fine clothing were better buys in Istanbul than in Tel-Aviv. And gold was to be treasured more than remembrance of the deaths of millions at the hands of the many jewelry merchants and their past families in all the cities of modern Turkey.

We, as a Jewish nation and people, must recognize the tragedy suffered by the Armenian people. We owe it to their surviving families and to all our fellow Armenian citizens living in Israel among us.

Two years ago while spending a day in Jerusalem, I made my way to the Armenian Patriarchate and asked permission to enter. I was welcomed and was led to the office of the religious authorities of the Armenian monastery.

I spoke of my shame as an Israeli Jew in the failure of our country to officially recognize the genocide of the Armenian people which preceded the genocide of the Jews. I was offered a cup of coffee (hoping that it was not what is commonly called Turkish coffee which would have been inappropriate) and I listened carefully to the soulful remarks of the priest who was speaking with me.

At the end of my visit, I opened my wallet and handed a large bill of Israeli shekels to the priest and asked him to accept it as a donation to the Armenian poor from a Jew who suffers from their suffering.

It frankly surprised me to hear him telling me that my donation was the first he had ever received from a Jew living in Israel. Happy to be the first and hopefully never the last.

We owe much to the survivors of the Turkish tragedy. We owe them a recognition of the massacre of their families. We owe them our respect and our sympathies. As they recognize the tragedy of Jewish suffering so too are we obligated to recognize theirs.

Israeli Jews and Armenian Christians living as brothers in Israel, a land holy to us both, share a common devastation. Let us never forget our suffering nor theirs.

Speak up and let your voices be heard. It is time, after seventy-three years, to erase the shame of our silence.

Demand that our government join with other decent nations and peoples by officially recognizing the Armenian massacres by the genocide committed by the Turkish Ottoman regime 106 years ago.

We dare not remain silent any longer. We must not. We must cleanse ourselves of our national shame.

As our Jewish religion teaches us “v’im lo achshav, aimatai”. And if not now, when?

Asbarez: ANCA-WR Welcomes Armenian-American Inclusion in Calif. Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum

Kalantarian Kevo

April 7, 2021



Topics about Armenian-Americans are included n the California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum

The Armenian National Committee of America–Western Region on Wednesday welcomed the inclusion of Armenian-Americans in the California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum.

The ANCA-WR Education Committee as well as the Ethnic Studies Curriculum Task Force were actively engaged in the process for the past two years to ensure the voices of over 1 million strong Armenian-Californians are heard and the Armenian experience is part of the ESMC. The Armenian-American community was actively engaged with the California Department of Education, submitting tens of thousands of public comments over this process and demonstrating the importance of this issue.

“We thank our Education Committee, Task Force, and tens of thousands of community members as well as coalition partners for their diligent work in ensuring that California’s new ESMC lives up to the values of the Golden State,” remarked the ANCA-WR Chair Nora Hovsepian, Esq. “We look forward to actively engaging with all the relevant stakeholders to build on this progress and ensure a meaningful representation of the Armenian experience in California schools.”

ANCA-WR once again reaffirms its strong support for a curriculum that “presents an opportunity for teachers to develop culturally/community relevant and responsive pedagogies that are both revitalizing and sustaining.” The organization welcomes the drafters’ efforts to include, and urge further development on diasporan experiences, inclusive of peoples historically marginalized from California curricula, and United States scholarship writ large, such as Armenian-Americans.

While its use is not mandated, the ESMC is intended to supply local school districts with the background, ideas, and examples to begin local discussions on expanding ethnic studies offerings.

For years, the State of California mandates the inclusion of the Armenian Genocide in the list of studied subject areas for the adopted courses of study in social science for grades 7-12.

The Armenian National Committee of America–Western Region is the largest and most influential nonpartisan Armenian American grassroots advocacy organization in the Western United States. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States and affiliated organizations around the country, the ANCA-WR advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues in pursuit of the Armenian Cause.

Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov arrives in Armenia

Kalantarian Kevo

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 12:44, 8 April, 2021

YEREVAN, APRIL 8, ARMENPRESS. Prosecutor General of Russia Igor Krasnov has arrived in Armenia at the invitation of Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan, head of the PR department at the Office of the Prosecutor General of Armenia Arevik Khachatryan said on Facebook.

“Prosecutor General of Armenia Artur Davtyan welcomed the Russian Prosecutor General at the Zvartnots airport”, she said.

Photos by Hayk Manukyan

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Moscow Says Minsk Group to Play ‘Leading Role’ in Karabakh Settlement

Kalantarian Kevo

April 5, 2021



Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko

Official Moscow is convinced that the OSCE Minsk Group should play a leading role in advancing a settlement for the Karabakh conflict, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said in an interview on Sunday.

Late last week, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in a speech delivered at the virtual summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States that the OSCE Minks Group co-chairs played “zero” role in resolving the conflict, claiming that his policy of aggression ensured a “victory” for Azerbaijan.

“We are convinced that the format of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs should play a leading role in the future in overcoming the consequences of the crisis and in finding ways for a lasting and long-term political and diplomatic solution to the conflict,” Rudenko told the Moscow-Baku news agency in an interview.

He also claimed that main principles outlined in the November 9 agreement that ended military actions in Karabakh were based on what was developed by the Minsk Group co-chairs.

“The main settlement principles developed by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair are the basis of the statement by the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia on November 9, 2020, on the ceasefire and the cessation of all hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone,” explained Rudenko, adding the Russia, as one of the Minsk Group co-chairing, worked closely with the other two—United States and France—to stop the bloodshed.

“Russia sees the role of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, taking into consideration that it was Russia’s mediation role that actually led to concrete results in the settlement of this conflict,” said Rudenko.

Russia’s deputy foreign minister also remarked about Armenia’s upcoming snap parliamentary elections, scheduled to take place in June, calling on all political forces to exercise restrain ahead of the polls.

In a separate interview on Friday with the Armenian Novoye Vremya newspaper, Rudenko said that Moscow cannot be indifference to the goings on in Armenia, despite the fact the elections are Armenia’s domestic business

“We call on all political forces in the republic to show restraint and look for reasonable compromises to consolidate Armenian society. We express hope that during the pre-election period everything will go peacefully and within the framework of the constitution and serve as a starting point for achieving long-term stability in Armenia,” he told Novoye Vremyan when asked whether Moscow supports any of the Armenian election contenders.

Rudenko insisted that Russian-Armenian relations have been “developing dynamically at various levels and regardless of any external or internal developments,” despite certain circles with close ties to the Kremlin recently claiming a schism between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, reported Azatutyun.am.

As an example Rudenko cited the more than 60 phone calls held between Putin and Pashinyan as a measurement of the “dynamic” relations. Reportedly, most of the 60-plus calls took place during last fall’s Karabakh war.