The California Courier Online, July 30, 2020
1 – Turkish Intellectuals Acknowledge
The Armenian Genocide on TV Program
Part III – Final
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- Armenian forces repel continued Azerbaijani assault in Tavush
3 – Armenia Fights Coronavirus Pandemic As Azerbaijan Continues
Border Attacks
4- San Francisco KZV Armenian School Vandalized
5- Thunberg Wins Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity
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1 – Turkish Intellectuals Acknowledge
The Armenian Genocide on TV Program
Part III – Final
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
This is the third and final article on a lengthy video in which two
Turkish Intellectuals are advocating the recognition of the Armenian
Genocide by the Republic of Turkey. The discussion took place in 2015
on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The conversation
between Erdogan Aydin and Aydin Chubukchu is in Turkish with English
subtitles on the video. The name of the one hour and 37 minute-long
program is Tower of Babel. The title of the program is “Facing the
Genocide.” The Turkish discussion was translated and subtitled in
English by Ohannes Kilicdagi, PhD. Here is the final segment of the
excerpts from that discussion:
Moderator: “A question from the TV audience: ‘There are those in this
country [Turkey] who are more Armenian than Armenians….’”
Aydin Chubukchu: “It is wrong to say that genocide was carried on
Turks. It is true that they died massively. They died in the war as
soldiers. Turkish people rather died at the front where their state
sent them: In Gallipoli, Sarikamish, Yemen…Suez, Galicia….”
Moderator: “We cannot call these [Turkish] deaths genocide.”
Aydin Chubukchu: “Of course, we cannot. They died in the war.”
Erdogan Aydin: “For example, the Jewish genocide took place in
Germany. Almost three times more Germans died than Jews. But one
cannot evaluate them under the same category and express condolences
for both.”
Moderator: “You mentioned the Germans who died in the Second World War.”
Aydin Chubukchu: “The one died in the clash of two armies, the other
was civilians massacred by a state. It is not the same thing. Of
course, Turks died, millions died. True. But they died in battles.
There is no state massacring them in Turkey. As for ‘being more
Armenian than Armenians’—right. If the Armenian people are oppressed
and silenced, I will be more Armenian than Armenians and try to be
their voice. If somewhere the Turkish people are oppressed and
silenced by a state then I will be more Turk than Turks and defend
them. I will be more Alevi than the Alevi and defend all who are
silenced: Circassian, Kurd, Arab, Assyrian. I will be more Armenian
than Armenians, more Assyrian than Assyrians to give them voice. This
is not an insult. If that person asking the question is trying to
insult me by saying ‘more Armenian than Armenians,’ it is my honor to
stand in solidarity with the oppressed people.”
Erdogan Aydin: In answer to a question regarding the role of Germany
in the Armenian Genocide: “They [Germans] played an essential role,
but we should be careful not to give the impression that the
[Armenian] genocide was carried out by the Germans.”
Moderator: “You say this does not acquit our Ottomans.”
Erdogan Aydin: “Exactly, because the annihilation of Armenians was
part Islamization and Turkification of this land, beginning before the
war. The policy of Islamization and Turkification of this land,
meaning the cleansing of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians served the
purpose of Germans who then made the Ottoman Empire and Enver Pasha
their collaborators, so that they would use a wider area of influence
against Russia and also please their collaborators. While pleasing the
Turan dream of their allies, Germany would use the whole Ottoman land
for its own system of exploitation…. The war was seen as an
opportunity for the elimination of distinct domestic groups. The
Ottoman sovereigns of the time aimed two main goals when they entered
the war. First is the founding of a Turan Empire from the Adriatic to
the China Wall leaning on the Germans, through their war mechanism.
Secondly, the war provided them an extraordinary free hand, as no one
could interfere in their domestic affairs. So, on this rare occasion,
they aimed to clean all distinct identities from Anatolia…. This
project is also the reason for sending millions of Ottomans, Turks and
Muslims in the first place, to their deaths. So the responsibility of
the deaths of Turks, in the question you asked, also belongs to those
following Turanism as Talat and Enver. The responsibility for the
annihilation of the whole Armenian population, kids and youth, also
belongs to Talats and Envers…. We should also underline that Armenians
had been organized here 3,000 years before Turks came from Central
Asia…. It is said that they [Armenians] were sent away from war zones.
No! This is an absolute lie. Besides the war zone, they [Armenians]
were exiled from places such as Adapazar, Izmit, Bursa, Eskishehir….
An approach that is based on the state but not the people and their
rights cannot generate democracy and justice. Similarly, people who do
not imagine fatherland with the rights of those living there but as a
piece of soil with a sovereign cannot produce real wealth and justice.
If we could carry our land into the future with Armenians who had been
there before us, we would see how much they, as a people who
constructed European-like cities 100-150 years before, would increase
our material wealth. If they were still here in Turkey, we would have
a higher rank in the unjust global income distribution. If that people
were here today, and we could oppose all powerholders, Turk, Armenian,
Kurd together, murders in Soma and Torunlar would have not happened.
So, facing the Armenian Question calmly means to re-explore
patriotism, our history, wealth, democracy, justice and humanity. It
seems we should repeat to our friends, authors, professors, academics
who try to cover it as ‘deportation’ that those who were deported were
ordinary people (pregnant women, children, the elderly), but not armed
people. We should repeat that our friends and neighbors were deported,
our humanity and conscience with them. Unfortunately, we continuously
talk about the state and its right in a country where they do not
exist. But the state is a mechanism of sovereignty with no conscience
and morality. Humans have conscience, morality, feeling of solidarity,
and their struggle for rights. Democracy is a system where the state
is the weakest and the human is the strongest…. Some of our friends
ask about documents. We should also be freed from document fetishism.
The most important document is the absence of a whole people which
once was one of the essential elements of this land. There cannot be
any document bigger than this. Moreover, a power which was
cold-blooded enough to do such inhuman things, deported, eradicated,
exiled a people, would not leave a document saying ‘I deported and
annihilated you.’ But we can already infer many conclusions from
existing documents….”
Correction: In the previous two articles, I had mistakenly transposed
the names of the speakers Erdogan Aydin and Aydin Chubukchu.
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2- Armenian forces repel continued Azerbaijani assault in Tavush
By Raffi Elliott
YEREVAN (The Armenian Weekly)—Azerbaijani special forces attempted to
capture a section of the Armenian front line on the night of July 21,
ending almost five days of relative calm. According to Armenian
Defense Ministry (MOD) Spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan, the assault was
repelled with an unknown number of casualties inflicted on the
intruders. No Armenian casualties were recorded that day.
On July 23, however, 19-year-old soldier Artur Muradyan died after
sustaining severe injuries during Azerbaijani shelling.
These reports were denounced by Azerbaijan as false. “There were no
new attacks, let alone casualties, from our side,” declared
Stepanyan’s Azeri counterpart, Vagif Dargahli. “The Armenian report is
yet another disinformation.” However, the Armenian military has
revealed that several Azerbajiani servicemen who participated in the
raid remain trapped in the no-man’s land between the opposing lines. A
search is being conducted to retrieve them. According to reports, calm
had returned to the region, with the occasional sniper fire being
heard. On the night of July 26, an Armenian soldier, Ashot Gevorkovich
Mikaelyan was killed by an Azerbaijani sniper.
The position in question—known to Armenians as “Anvakh” (Fearless)
Ridge—nestled on the border between Tavush and the adjacent Azeri
province of Tovuz was also the target of a previous disastrous Azeri
assault on July 16 at the tail end of the latest round of fighting
which broke out 10 days ago and killed four Armenian and 12 Azeri
servicemen, as well as one civilian. The repeated targeting of the
site has led some Armenian analysts to speculate about the position’s
strategic importance to Azerbaijani military objectives.
On Tuesday, the Armenian Ministry of Defense displayed a number of
downed Azeri Air Force Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) at a press
event in Yerevan. According to the MOD, the Azeri Airforce lost a
total of $150 million worth of foreign-supplied drone equipment. On
display were several Israeli-made Elbit SkyStriker, Harop, Thunder-B
and Orbiter combat drones, including, as analyst Emil Sanamyan pointed
out, at least some trophies that appear to have been shot down during
the 2016 Four Day War, with at least one dating from 2011.
Additionally, the medium-size, multi-payload Hermes 900 which Armenia
claimed to have shot down last week, was notably absent from the
display. Baku, in turn, says it downed two Armenian UAVs—a claim which
has been denied in Yerevan.
UAVs have played a significant role in the most recent round of
fighting on the border, exemplifying the increased reliance that both
militaries have placed on them in the last decade. UAVs are now
employed in multiple roles when deployed in operational theaters
including reconnaissance missions, artillery spotting and—more
recently—lethal payload delivery. Azerbaijan became the first country
to successfully employ an Israeli-designed ‘suicide drone’ during the
2016 fighting when one was deployed against a military utility vehicle
traveling to the front line. That incident gained further controversy
when Israel’s Justice Ministry later revealed that what the firm
described as a “demonstration” was actually a strike that injured two
ethnic Armenian fighters, leading to a temporary ban on exports of
such weapons systems.
With over three dozen drone kills claimed since 2011, Armenia holds a
global record for the number of Israeli-made UAVs shot down, leading
some to question the effectiveness of the technology. The Armenian Air
Defense Command asserts that domestically-modified 9K33 Osa
surface-to-air missiles allowed them to down the sophisticated Hermes
900 UAV. However, perplexed analysts have also inquired about evidence
of certain UAVs being captured intact—rather than shot down—suggesting
that Armenia has been able to hack them in-flight. Alternative
theories include loss of contact or poor handling by remote pilots.
The recent fighting was also notable for featuring the first
combat-use of domestically-manufactured Armenian UAVs which reportedly
successfully carried out the kill-mission on Azerbaijani Major-General
Polad Gashimov—the highest-ranking Azeri officer to ever die in
action. Armenian drones were also involved in damaging or destroying
at least three Azeri armored vehicles which were seen being retrieved
from the battlefield with special equipment.
Claiming victory, Armenia called on Azerbaijan to avoid similar bouts
of adventurism in the future and pledge to maintain peace. “We hope
that after the failure of its latest military adventure Azerbaijan
will be more responsible in maintaining and strengthening the
ceasefire regime,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan
on Tuesday. She echoed a suggestion by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan
last week, that new mechanisms be implemented to avoid conflict
escalation, including international monitoring missions and a direct
line of communication between the opposing militaries.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is said to have been conducting
shuttle-diplomacy between the two sides, pleading for an immediate end
to the skirmishes and a halt to artillery fire and drone attacks. The
Moscow-led CSTO’s lackluster response, which failed to blame
Azerbaijan for the incident, was not well-received in Yerevan which is
also a member-state.
Margarita Simonyan, the ethnic-Armenian head of Russia Today (the
Russian state-owned news service) suggested that the CSTO’s response
was appropriate given Armenia’s “anti-Russian sentiment.” She accused
Armenian authorities of provoking Russia by arresting former-president
Robert Kocharyan and refusing to recognize the invasion of Crimea.
“Russia has every moral right to spit on you and grind you into the
ground,” she wrote on her Telegram channel. CSTO member-states have a
treaty obligation to come to the aid of all other member-states in the
event of military aggression by foreign states.
Adding fuel to the fire, the CSTO’s official Twitter account tweeted a
link to Simonyan’s remarks, thus giving them credibility. However, the
tweet was quickly removed, and an apology was issued. Citing a
technical error, the post read, “The opinion of [Simonyan] is
completely contrary to the official position of the CSTO Secretariat.”
The CSTO has yet to condemn Azerbaijan’s invasion of Tavush.
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3 – Armenia Fights Coronavirus Pandemic As Azerbaijan Continues
Border Attacks
As of Monday, July 27, Armenia has recorded a total of 36,996 cases. A
total of 26,243 of these patients have since recovered while 9,833
cases remain active. The death toll as a direct result of
complications from COVID-19 stands at 700.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in a Facebook live on July 24 that
considering the recent escalations on the Armenia-Azerbaijan state
border, the situation with COVID-19 was not the Government’s first
priority over the past few days. Pashinyan noted that for the first
time since June 14, the number of active coronavirus cases has dipped
below 10,000. This, according to the PM, is very important information
and there are reasons to claim that the country has not only entered
the stage of overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic but also strengthened
its resistance to the second wave of the virus, which is expected in
the fall.
Pashinyan also said that certain people have once again started
spreading disinformation about COVID-19 and the anti-epidemic
guidelines introduced by the Government. He went on to explain that
compliance with the anti-epidemic rules (which includes wearing a face
mask) is the reason behind the decreasing numbers. Pashinyan stressed
that wearing a face is an unpleasant experience for everyone,
including himself, but it is one of the main reasons behind the
positive dynamics that the country has registered. He noted that the
recent statistics should encourage everyone to more strictly follow
the anti-epidemic regulations, otherwise the country will very soon
end up in a situation similar to June.
The PM noted that the Government’s goal is to be more prepared for the
expected second wave of the virus. About 700 people have died in
Armenia after battling the coronavirus and this, according to
Pashinyan, is a horrible statistic. Besides wearing a face mask, the
discipline of business entities and people in general also played a
key role. Pashinyan said that the Government has tried to loosen
restrictions as much as possible and if a certain restriction is still
in place, it means that lifting that restriction is not possible or
reasonable at this point. He noted that the relatively stable
situation is still not a guarantee that the country will not register
an increase in the number of confirmed cases in a few days.
Last week, Health Minister Arsen Torosyan met with a team of German
medics who are in Armenia to help local medical staff in their fight
against COVID-19. The meeting took place with members of the German
medical mission and Germany’s Ambassador to Armenia Michael Johannes
Banzhaf. Torosyan thanked the team for being willing to come and share
their expertise, noting that the experience of developed countries is
combating the virus is valuable for developing countries. The medical
team worked alongside Armenian doctors at the St. Gregory the
Illuminator Medical Center, Surb Astvatsamayr Hospital and the Police
Medical Hospital.
The mission was made possible with the combined efforts of Armenia’s
Health and Foreign Affairs Ministries, the German Government, the
German Embassy in Armenia, the EU and the World Health Organization.
On July 22, WHO sent 28,000 protective medical gowns and 20,000 N95
respirator masks for healthcare workers in Armenia. The WHO acquired
the supplies with the financial support of the EU. The Health Ministry
will distribute the PPEs to healthcare facilities which need them.
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4- San Francisco KZV Armenian School Vandalized
The Krouzian-Zekarian Armenian School and its adjacent Armenian
Community Center in San Francisco were vandalized overnight on July
23, with what appeared to be Azerbaijani-centric graffiti, along with
expletives and anti-Armenian messages plastered all over the exterior
walls of the building. Community and school officials were on site to
assess the damage. Police are investigating the incident as a hate
crime.
A GoFundMe has been created to help the school recover:
www.gofundme.com/f/kzv-vandalism-repair-fund.
This comes days after Azerbaijani’s instigated violence and attempted
to disrupt a peaceful protest organized by the Armenian Youth
Federation in front of the Azerbaijani Consulate in Los Angeles to
condemn Azerbaijan’s brazen attacks on Armenia’s Tavush Province.
Hate acts against Armenians by Azerbaijanis have surged around the
world. In Moscow last week, a group of Azerbaijani stomped on apricots
from Armenia at a local open air market, and began displaying signs to
not sell to Armenians. In Berlin, on July 23, a car belonging to the
Armenian Ambassador to Germany was set ablaze on Wednesday night.
Armenian cafes were set on fire last week in Kiev, Ukraine
This act of hate is the first time an Armenian school has been
vandalized since January 2019, when both Ferrahian Armenian School and
AGBU Manoogian-Demirjian School in the San Fernando Valley of Los
Angeles were vandalized with Turkish flags.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on July 24 urging
Armenian citizens and members of the Armenian community living abroad
to be vigilant and not give in to any provocations.
“The expanding geography of these actions and the involvement of
Azerbaijani officials in actions against diplomatic missions of the
Republic of Armenia indicate that they are directed by Azerbaijani
state structures. We strongly condemn actions aimed at inciting ethnic
clashes in different countries, which is another manifestation of
Baku’s irresponsibility and fully fits into Azerbaijani leadership’s
rhetoric and policy of inciting hostility between the two peoples
without geographical restrictions,” the statement said.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls on Armenians to immediately
contact local law enforcement bodies, Armenian community structures
and diplomatic representatives of the Republic of Armenia in such
situations,” said the statement.
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5- Thunberg Wins Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity
The inaugural Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity has been awarded to Greta
Thunberg. The young Swedish environmental activist was selected among
136 nominees (corresponding to 79 organizations and 57 personalities)
from 46 different countries.
Thunberg’s foundation will donate the award money of 1 million euros
to charitable projects combating the climate and ecological crisis and
to support people facing the worst impacts, particularly in the Global
South. Her foundation will make its donation starting with giving
€100.000 to the SOS Amazonia campaign, led by Fridays For Future
Brazil to tackle Covid-19 in the Amazon; and €100.000 to the Stop
Ecocide Foundation to support their work to make ecocide an
international crime.
Jorge Sampaio, Chair of the Grand Jury of the Prize, has emphasized
the broad consensus of this choice and pointed out “the way Greta
Thunberg has been able to mobilize younger generations for the cause
of climate change and her tenacious struggle to alter a status quo
that persists, makes her one of the most remarkable figures of our
days”.
Sampaio has also stressed her enormous responsibility in consolidating
her pedagogical role and her leadership in the fight against climate
change, as a condition for sustainable development, towards which the
attribution of this Prize aims to contribute.
The Grand Jury, composed of internationally renowned personalities
from the fields of science, technology, politics and culture, has
highlighted Thunberg’s charismatic and inspiring personality, but also
the force of her singular and distressing message capable of arousing
disparate feelings, and her capacity to make a difference in the fight
against climate change.
The President of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Isabel Mota,
emphasized that “By awarding this Prize, the Foundation highlights its
commitment to urgent climate action, fostering communities that are
more resilient and better prepared for future global changes, while
also protecting, in particular, the most vulnerable”.
Greta Thunberg said: “I’m extremely honoured to receive the Gulbenkian
Prize for Humanity. We’re in a climate emergency, and my foundation
will as quickly as possible donate all the prize money of 1 million
Euros to support organizations and projects that are fighting for a
sustainable world, defending nature and supporting people already
facing the worst impacts of the climate and ecological crisis —
particularly those living in the Global South.”
The Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity, named after Armenian businessman,
art collector and philanthropist Calouste Gulbenkian, is awarded
annually, in the amount of 1 million euros, It aims to recognize
people, groups of people and/or organizations from all over the world
whose contributions to mitigation and adaptation to climate change
stand out for its novelty, innovation and impact.
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