The California Courier Online, July 20, 2017
1 – Commentary
Aliyev
Family’s Financial Role
In Shipping Weapons to
Terrorists
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2 – Western
Diocese’s Zorayan
Museum
To
Hold ‘Paint Night’, on August 4
3 – Glendale Appoints Elena
Bolbolian as Director
Of
Innovation, Performance, and Audit Department
4 – Armenian-Developed Code-Teaching App
Wins
Grand Prize in Facebook’s Competition
5 – Armenian Scholar Elected President of
the
International
Association of Genocide Scholars
6 – State Panel Approves Freeway Signs For
Pasadena Armenian Genocide
Memorial
7 – Swedish
MPs File
Genocide
Complaint
Against
Erdogan
8 – 4
Armenians Listed Among 150
Most
Influential People in Russia
9 – House
Blocks Arms Sale to Turkey
Because
of May Attack on Protesters
10- Montebello
Community to Host ‘Women of 1915’ Screening
11- Falsely
Incriminated
Scholar
Sevan Nishanyan
Escapes
Prison in Turkey
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1 – Commentary
Aliyev
Family’s Financial Role
In Shipping Weapons to
Terrorists
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
Last week I wrote about the
sensational revelations by Bulgarian investigative journalist Dilyana
Gaytandzhieva in Trud newspaper, who reported on leaked documents that Azerbaijan’s
state-run Silk Way Airlines has shipped under diplomatic cover 350 planeloads of
heavy weapons and ammunition to terrorist groups around the world during the
last three years.
A report by Radio Free
Europe’s (RFE) Azeri investigative reporter Khadija Ismayilova, who has been
jailed for her disclosures of Azerbaijan
government’s human rights abuses, has revealed in a 2010 report on Pres.
Aliyev’s daughter, Arzu Aliyeva’s part ownership of a company that is linked to
Silk Way Airlines. This fact explains how the airline managed to get all the
diplomatic clearances to ship such large quantities of weapons to terrorists.
It turns out that Silk Way
Airlines belongs to SW Holding, a group of companies that “enjoys a
near-complete monopoly of airline service,” including mid-flight meals served
by Sky Catering, and taxi service run by Airport Gate, both of which are owned
by SW Holding. In addition, technical maintenance of the national carrier’s
planes and helicopters are carried out by Silkway Technics, and “multiple other
companies controlling everything from Traveler assistance to ticket sales to
duty-free stores are all owned by SW Holding,” according to Ismayilova.
SW Holding also owns Silk
Way Bank which is owned by Pres. Aliyev’s then 21-year old Arzu Aliyeva and
Zarifa Hamzayeva, wife of president of Azerbaijan’s AZAL state airline
company, according to RFE’s Azerbaijani Service. Silk Way Airlines is also a
part owner of the Silk Way Bank.
Interestingly, Ismayilova
reports that “the rise of SW Holding, which has seamlessly absorbed many of
AZAL’s former businesses, has raised questions about dubious privatization
practices in Aliyev’s Azerbaijan.
It also serves to underscore how the political elite continues to use close
friends and family members to preserve its hold on the country’s most valuable
assets — despite Azerbaijani laws that list nepotism by state officials as an
offense punishable by up to 12 years in jail.”
Pres. Ilham Aliyev is simply
continuing the practice started by his father Heydar Aliyev, who after ruling Azerbaijan
for two decades passed the Presidential baton to his son. In a constitutional
referendum in 2009, term limits on the President were abolished making Ilham
Aliyev President for Life! Not to take any chances, he recently appointed his
wife, Mehriban Aliyeva, as Vice President, to become his possible successor.
As I had reported earlier,
based on an article in The Washington Post,” Pres. Aliyev’s preteen son,
Heydar, was the legal owner of nine luxury mansions in Dubai purchased for $44 million. President’s
two daughters, Arzu and Leyla, also own property in Dubai. The three children together own
property in Dubai
worth $75 million. Obviously this is not money they earned nor did their
parents! Pres. Aliyev’s annual salary is $230,000. Ismayilova estimates Pres.
Alyev’s wealth to be “in tens of millions of dollars.” This is surely an
underestimate, given the lack of concrete figures. However, just the fact that
Aliyev’s three children own property in Dubai
worth $75 million, Pres. Aliyev’s wealth could be safely estimated to be in the
hundreds of millions of dollars if not in the billions of dollars! Contrary to
Azerbaijani law, neither Pres. Aliyev nor his wife has declared their net
worth.
Under Azerbaijani law,
public officials are prohibited from owning businesses, while family members
are exempt from this restriction, a loophole exploited by the Aliyevs to hide
their earnings in their children’s holdings. Just Arzu Aliyeva’s part ownership
of the Silk Way Bank is worth over $12 million. According to RFE, “presidential
secretary Azer Gasimov confirmed that Arzu Aliyeva was one of the owners of the
Silk Way Bank.”
Gulu Khalilov, the spokesman
for the State Committee on Privatization of State Property, told RFE that he
had no information on the privatization of AZAL, the state airline company, including
its holdings, like AZAL Bank. RFE was told that none of the legal procedures
for privatization were followed.
“In the meantime, SW
Holding has slowly but steadily acquired nearly all of AZAL’s former companies,
including the insurance firm AZAL Sigorta, which is now co-owned by SW Holding
and the two daughters of Jahangir Asgarov, the president of AZAL and the
husband of Zarifa Hamzayeva, the current co-owner of Silk Way Bank,” according
to Ismayilova. “SW Holding has also been the sole contractor on a number of
high-profile AZAL projects, including airport-construction deals in Lankaran,
Ganja, and Zagatala worth a total of $150 million.”
Pres. Aliyev and his family
must be held responsible as part owners of a state-run airline that ships sophisticated
weapons to terrorists around the world!
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2 – Western
Diocese’s Zorayan
Museum
To
Hold ‘Paint Night’, on August 4
BURBANK,
CA – Here is the opportunity to discover your talent as an artist. The Zorayan Museum Committee of the Western
Diocese of the Armenian Church will hold a Paint Night on August 4, from 7:00
to 10:00 p.m. Guests of all ages are
invited to attend and paint their own masterpiece.
Guiding them through a step by step process is
the noted Director of Creative Lounge, Armineh Havan, an organization she
established and which was designed to revitalize and cultivate the art within
each of us. Guests will also enjoy wine
and appetizers, as well as the canvas and all supplies for their painting.
The Zorayan Museum Committee, under the auspices
of Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, has organized exhibitions of famous paintings
by Armenian artists, as well as lectures and theatrical plays in order to
promote and preserve Armenian art, history and culture. “My congratulations to the Committee,” stated the Primate, “ for
conducting this event and affording
guests the opportunity to express their own individual artistry.”
Vania Vartzbedian, a member of the Zorayan
Museum Committee, stated “We are excited to hold our first Paint Night and, particularly,
to be guided by Armineh Havan an artist who has received acclaim not only for
her own paintings, but for teaching art in schools. We anticipate this will be a fun evening for
all who participate.”
Armineh Havan is a certified Person-Centered
Expressive Arts Therapy (PCEAT) facilitator.
She has a Master of Art degree in Fine Arts, which she completed with
high honors. Her expressive arts
workshops encourage personal growth and healing for individuals and groups of
both adults and children. Her expressive
arts workshops have impacted many locally as well as internationally. Armineh has also conducted workshops for
organizations that support women around the world, including the
Women’s Resource
Center in Yerevan.
Tickets for Paint Night are $40.00, which
includes the canvas and all supplies and wine and appetizers. For reservations and/or information, call
Vartzbedian (818) 731-5456 or the Western Diocese (818) 558-7474. Checks are
payable to the Western Diocese, (memo-Zorayan
Museum).
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3 – Glendale Appoints Elena
Bolbolian as Director
Of
Innovation, Performance, and Audit Department
GLENDALE, CA – On July 11, the City of Glendale formally announced the appointment
of Elena Bolbolian as Director of the newly created Innovation, Performance and
Audit Department. Ms. Bolbolian has devoted her government service career to Glendale, having first
joined the City as a youth worker in 1993 through the Glendale Youth Alliance’s
youth employment program.
From youth employment, she moved to community
outreach as the Public Education Assistant. She then moved over to serve as an
Analyst to head up a Rental Housing Inspection Program. After successfully
launching the pilot program, she moved to the City’s Redevelopment Agency.
There, she managed the construction of the Trader Joe’s store in Montrose and
several capital projects at the historic Alex Theatre.
She also oversaw the administrative and customer service staff in the Community
Development Department where she consolidated administrative procedures to
build efficiencies in the wake of staff and funding reductions.
In 2015, she was promoted to Deputy Director of
Community Development and currently heads two divisions, Administration and
Neighborhood Services, where she oversees 45 employees with eight direct
reports. Most recently, she helped the code compliance team in eliminating an
inspection backlog and restructured the program to produce more efficient
inspection turnaround times.
Bolbolian attended Glendale schools then went to UCLA, where she
received her BA degree in 2002 followed by her Masters in Public Administration
from CSUN in 2005. She resides in Glendale
with her husband, Arthur and son, Anthony, 7.
“Elena’s immense experience and
contributions will greatly enhance our efforts, and we are honored that she has
agreed to take on the task of continuing to create even more efficiencies that
will benefit Glendale
residents, businesses, and visitors,” said Mayor Gharpetian.
The Department of Innovation, Performance and
Audit will systematically take existing available information and data, and
find ways to innovate City processes and policies. The team will act as
in-house consultants and leverage the work of internal audit to identify areas
in the City that are worth examining.
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4 – Armenian-Developed
Code-Teaching App
Wins
Grand Prize in Facebook’s Competition
MENLO PARK, Calif.—Facebook announced that SoloLearn, a
code-teaching application developed by Armenians, has won this year’s Grand
Prize in its competition recognizing the most successful apps from its global FbStart
program, reported Tech
Crunch.
SoloLearn is an app for iOS and
Android operating systems and is designed to teach coding to people.
SoloLearn’s CEO and co-founder Davit Kocharyan came up with the idea in Armenia,
where the company’s team is based, to teach coding to the local population.
“The app’s idea is to educate
members through game mechanics, peer-to-peer sharing, and user-generated
content. SoloLearn community members compete in head-to-head challenges and
unlock hidden lessons. It offers 12 free courses, including _javascript_, Swift,
Python, C++, and HTML/CSS,” reported Tech Crunch.
SoloLearn’s CEO and Co-founder,
Yeva Hyusyan, told Tech Crunch that the app had hit two major
milestones—turning into the“friendliest” community of peer learners and
generating lot of user content.
“You get an answer from your
peers in our Q&A forum within minutes; we have over half a million public
codes on SoloLearn today that are used as a great peer-to-peer learning tool;
tens of thousands interactive peer-to-peer challenges are completed daily,” she
told Tech Crunch.
According to numbers listed on
the app SoloLearn has more than 17 million learners, with 1.5 million quizzes
completed daily. Tech Crunch reported that three codes are compiled every
second and more than 1,000 answers are generated every day by users.
Forty precent of SoloLearn’s
users are based in India, 25
percent in the United States
and the remainder are spread across Europe.
The FbStart program provides
developers the chance to win to $100,000 in prizes to help in the business.
Some 900 submissions were made this year from 87 countries.
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5 – Armenian
Scholar Elected President of the
International
Association of Genocide Scholars
BRISBANE,
Australia –
Professor Henry C. Theriault was elected President of the International
Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) during the organization’s annual
conference becoming the first Armenian to assume the position.
The conference also elected the Dr. Suren
Manukyan, Deputy Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum & Institute in Yerevan as a member of
IAGS’s Advisory Board.
In his nomination statement, Theriault warned of
the threats facing human rights advances due to the dire political climate in
the United States and Europe.
“Genocide studies has been at the forefront of
recent human rights advances. Dire political climates in the US, Europe, and
other areas threaten this progress. Racism, xenophobia, misogyny, etc. pervade
public discourse and drive repressive legal and political regressions the world
over. Genocide’s prevalence even threatens increase,” said Theriault.
“Against this, a vibrant IAGS is essential.
Demagogues attack the sensibilities genocide studies engenders. Our work is a
crucial challenge to their propaganda. IAGS must strive against this
marginalization while innovatively expanding the field, especially creating
space for emerging scholars particularly vulnerable to this backlash,” he
added.
Theriault is a board member of the Armenian Legal Center for Justice and Human Rights and serves
as the Armenian Genocide Reparations Study Group (AGRSG), which was assembled
in 2007 by four experts in different areas of reparations theory and practice.
In September 2014, the group completed its final report, “Resolution with Justice—Reparations for the Armenian Genocide,” a
wide-ranging analysis of the legal, historical, political, and ethical
dimensions of the question of reparations for the genocide. It also includes
specific recommendations for the components of a complete reparations package.
Theriault was most recently Professor in and
Chair of the Philosophy Department at Worcester State
University, where he has
taught since 1998 focusing on courses on genocide, mass violence against women,
and related topics. He has published and lectured widely on his research which
focuses on the relationship of genocide and sexual violence, victim-
perpetrator relations in the long-term aftermath of genocide, genocide
prevention, genocide denial, and reparations. From 1999 to 2007, he coordinated
the University’s Center for the Study of Human Rights.
He earned his B.A. in English from Princeton University
and his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University
of Massachusetts, with
specializations in social and political as well as continental philosophy.
He is co-editor of Genocide Studies
International, a peer-reviewed journal from the University of Toronto Press
and the Zoryan Institute’s International Institute for Genocide and Human
Rights Studies and of Transaction Publishers’ Genocide: A Critical
Bibliographic Review book series.
In 2013, Theriault served as a panelist at the
Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region’s Grassroots Conference, speaking on challenges facing
the Western Armenians, especially with regards to Kurdish and Armenian
relations.
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6 – State
Panel Approves Freeway Signs For
Pasadena Armenian
Genocide Memorial
SACRAMENTO – On
July 10, Senator Anthony Portantino’s legislation, SCR 25, which would install
a sign at the Fair Oaks Avenue
exit off Interstate 210 in Pasadena
to direct the public to the Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial, passed the
Assembly Transportation Committee with unanimous support.
“I am so excited to see this piece of
legislation moving through the legislature with such overwhelming and
bipartisan support. Installing a freeway sign will help direct visitors to the
memorial, raise awareness about the Armenian Genocide and serve as a reminder
that educating the public about crimes against humanity is an ongoing process and
requires our continuous attention. I look forward to seeing SCR 25 progress and
these signs installed,” commented Portantino.
The Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial was
unveiled in April 2015 in the northeast corner of Memorial Park in Pasadena to honor the
martyrs of the Armenian Genocide. It was constructed by the nonprofit
Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial Committee with unanimous support from the
Pasadena City Council. Senator Portantino served on the board of the
nonprofit prior to joining the State Senate. He was the only non-Armenian
to have served on the Board.
SCR 25 is now headed to Assembly Appropriations
Committee, after which it will move to the Assembly floor for a final vote.
***************************************************************************************************
7 – Swedish
MPs File
Genocide
Complaint
Against
Erdogan
STOCKHOLM,
Sweden (AFP) –
A small group of Swedish lawmakers filed a legal complaint accusing Turkish
president Recep Tayyip Erdogan of genocide, crimes against humanity and war
crimes.
The complaint signed by five lawmakers from the
Left and Green parties is the first of its kind in Sweden against a head of state.
The suit relates to the conflict in Turkey’s
Kurdish majority south-east, which has been battered by renewed fighting
between Kurdish rebels and Turkish security forces since a fragile truce
collapsed in 2015.
“We are five lawmakers handing in a complaint…
(requesting) punishment for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes,”
Annika Lillemets, an MP for the Green party, told a news conference in Stockholm.
The complaint, filed to the Swedish
International Public Prosecution Offices, names Erdogan and several ministers
including Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.
A Swedish law adopted in 2014 allows the
country’s courts to judge cases of alleged crimes against humanity regardless
of where they have been committed or by whom.
The law stipulates that “anyone, who in order to
completely or partially destroy a national or ethnic group of people” kills, causes
serious pain or injury is “guilty of genocide”.
The Public Prosecution Offices said it would now
decide whether to initiate a preliminary investigation, adding that “it may
take a while”.
If prosecutors decide to launch an
investigation, Erdogan could risk an arrest warrant in Sweden, the
lawmakers said.
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8 – 4
Armenians Listed Among 150
Most
Influential People in Russia
YEREVAN (News.am)
– Four Armenians are included in the list of 150 most influential people in Russia
issued by GQ Russia magazine.
The list includes TV host Sati Spivakova – the
wife of famous Russian conductor and violinist Vladimir Spivakov, restaurant
owner Alexander Oganezov as well as Aram Mnatsakanov, the owner of Probka
restaurant group.
The fourth Armenian in the list is businessman
Ruben Vardanyan – CEO of Troika Dialog,
philanthropist and founder of the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity.
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9 – House Blocks Arms Sale
to Turkey
Because
of May Attack on Protesters
WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part
of H.R. 2810, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018,
Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Representative Dave Trott’s (R-MI) amendment on a
proposed gun sale to Turkey
was adopted as part of the overall bill.
The amendment stated: “It is the sense of
Congress that the proposed sale of semiautomatic handguns for export to Turkey
should remain under scrutiny until a satisfactory and appropriate resolution is
reached,” in light of the Turkish security guards attack against peaceful
protesters in our nation’s capital.
“Over the past few months, we’ve seen our
NATO allies take extraordinary steps against Turkey, and it’s time for the State
Department to do the same. We need to block this arms sale and once and for all
point a finger in Erdogan’s chest and tell him that a strategic location does
not place Turkey
above the law,” Rep. Trott said. “Just two months ago, Erdogan’s
henchmen, with him complacently observing just feet away, launched a brutal
attack on peaceful protestors exercising their first amendment rights. A
notorious oppressor of basic human rights and freedom, Erdogan imported his
nefarious attitudes to our nation’s capital. While Erdogan’s thugs may run
unchecked in Ankara, this is the United States of America
and this is totally unacceptable,” he added.
The amendment builds on the unanimous passage
last month of H. Res. 354, which condemned the violence that took place outside
the Turkish Ambassador’s residence on May 16 and called on the perpetrators to
be brought to justice under U.S.
law.
Both the Armenian National Committee of America
and the Armenian Assembly hailed the passage of the amendment and commended the
US
legislators.
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10- Montebello Community to
Host ‘Women of 1915’ Screening
MONTEBELLO, Calif.—Armenoid
Productions announced the Montebello Premiere of the multi-award-winning
documentary film, Women of 1915. The red-carpet event is sponsored by the
Armenian Nation Committee of America- San Gabriel Valley Chapter in
collaboration with Armenian Relief Society – Western USA,
Ani & Nairy Chapters. The event is scheduled at the Montebello Armenian
Center, on July 27 at 7
p.m.
A limited number of seats to the Montebello premiere of
Women of 1915 are available and may be purchased online or by calling
818-939-9282.
With much anticipation, four-time regional Emmy
award winning filmmaker Bared Maronian’s documentary film, Women of 1915, is
the first documentary ever to unveil the role of the Armenian women of the era who
lived through the horrors of the first Genocide of the 20th century. The
documentary also highlights the integral role of heroic American and European
humanitarian women advocates who flocked into the killing fields of the
Armenian Genocide and saved tens of thousands of lives, empowering the Armenian
women as pillars of war-torn, post-Genocide societies.
“We’ve shown the film literally around the
world: All the way from Australia
to France, the U.K.,
many Canadian and American cities, where we have received rave reviews in local
main stream publications. Soon we will be screening the film in Argentina, Brazil
and Uruguay.
I’m thrilled that on July 27, we are bringing this important film to the Montebello community and
very grateful to the local ARS and ANCA for sponsoring this event.” said
Maronian.
Women of 1915 is the winner of the 2016 Golden
Pom Award and 2016 Best Documentary Award at the Pomegranate Film Festival of
Toronto, Canada and the 2016 Armin T. Wegener Humanitarian Award Winner at the
ARPA Film Festival of Hollywood, California.
“I’m very thankful to the Montebello community for this opportunity. It
will be a beautiful event: elegant red-carpet reception, screening of the film
on a giant, state of the art projection system, followed by a Q & A with
the filmmaker” said event organizing committee chair, Nayiri Attarian.
“it’s true that Women of 1915 deals with an
Armenian story, but in reality, it is an American story, a European story, a
human story and that’s why a good portion of our audience has been
non-Armenian. So please, invite your friends and neighbors to see Women of 1915
with you. After all, it was their grandmothers who saved Armenian lives”,
concluded Maronian.
The event will take place at the Montebello Armenian Center:
410 Washington Blvd.,
Montebello, CA
90640. Doors open at
6:30pm, red carpet reception starts at 7 p.m., movie starts at 8 p.m. followed
by a Q&A session. For more information on the Women of 1915 Montebello
Premiere, contact 818-939-9282 or [email protected]
To get your tickets today, click – itsmyseat.com/womenof1915.
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11 – Falsely Incriminated
Scholar
Sevan Nishanyan
Escapes
Prison in Turkey
YEREVAN (Armenpress)
– Istanbul-based ethnic Armenian scholar and linguist Sevan Nishanyan, who has
been serving a 17-year prison term since 2014 in Turkey, has escaped from the
correctional facility, Turkish media reported.
Nishanyan exited the minimum security (open
regime) prison in the morning of July 14 and hasn’t returned.
A tweet later appeared on his Facebook and
Twitter accounts, saying: “The bird flew away: Same wishes to the remaining 80
million”.
Turkish historian and scholar Taner Akcam, a
strong supporter of the Armenian Genocide recognition, reacted to Nishanyan’s
tweet by saying: “Sevan Nishanyan has escaped by saying “the bird flew away”.
With expectations of a free world for all birds….,” he said.
Nishanyan was arrested and imprisoned in Turkey
for carrying out “illegal” construction in his own garden.
Even Turkish media said the arrest was an
obvious framing by Turkish authorities, because Nishanyan has publicly
criticized Turkey’s
government’s mistakes.
Numerous activities and individuals have called
for his release, saying that the true reason of his arrest is the fact that he
dared to criticize the official history of Turkey
by writing the “False
Republic” book.
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