California Courier Online, February 22, 2007
1 – Commentary
Amb. Evans Predicted his Dismissal,
Newly-Discovered Video Reveals
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
2 – Mardirossian Elected Chairman
Of The Near East Foundation
3 – 8th Annual Armenian Film
Festival at Fresno State
4 – Armenian Killings Film `Not Anti-
Turkish,’ Italian Directors Say
5 – Fresno Congressman
Urges Pres. Bush to
Withdraw Hoagland’s
Nomination as Envoy
6 – CSUN ASP to Host Armenia
Travelogue Slide Show, March 6
7
– ANC-PN Will Host Feb. 25 Briefing with
Political Commentator Charles Mahtesian
8- Proceeds From
Aznavour Concert
To Cover Children’s
Trip to France
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1 – Commentary
Amb. Evans Predicted his Dismissal,
Newly-Discovered Video Reveals
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
During his tour of the United States in February 2005, U.S. Ambassador
to Armenia John Evans met with various Armenian-American groups on
both coasts. In response to repeated questions as to why
U.S. officials did not use the term Armenian Genocide, Amb. Evans
stunned his audiences by openly acknowledging the Armenian Genocide.
Even though his candid remarks eventually led to his dismissal or
"early retirement" from the Foreign Service, no one seemed to have,
until now, an audio or video record of what Amb. Evans actually said
during those visits. After a lengthy search, we located an elderly
gentleman who is the only person with such a recording. He had
recorded on his home video camera the remarks on the Armenian Genocide
made by Amb. Evans during a public gathering at the Holy Trinity
Armenian Apostolic Church Social Hall in Fresno, on February 18, 2005.
Exactly two years later, the Ambassador’s remarks of that night are
now being made public through this column for the first time. Given
their historic value, I have transcribed the Ambassador’s exact words
from the Fresno videotape. A segment of that revealing video will be
shown for the first time during the March 4 gala banquet in Beverly
Hills, organized by the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, in honor of
Amb. Evans.
During his appearance in Fresno, when a member of the audience
questioned why U.S. government officials avoided the use of the term
Armenian Genocide, Amb. Evans gave the following lengthy, but
unusually frank response:
"I accept your challenge. Let me first of all say that no American
official has ever denied the events of 1915. In fact, the State
Dept. archives are filled with Amb. Morgenthau’s reports, [and] the
reports of his Consuls, some of which had to be sent to him in code,
because the Turks at that time were interfering with diplomatic
communications.
"I have done a lot or reading. I have done some studying of Ottoman
history a few years back. When I learned that I was being assigned to
Yerevan, I went and read Amb. Morgenthau’s book. I read also
Prof. Richard Hovannisian’s two-volume history. I read several other
accounts of what I will say tonight was clearly an act of genocide
[sustained applause from the audience].
"Now let me briefly be very clear about what I have just said. I have
called ‘the thing’ by its name. It’s a very painful experience, I
know, for everybody, and I think almost all Armenian families, who
didn’t have the good fortune to fetch up on these shores before 1915,
have been in some way affected by it.
"I used ‘the word’ tonight because that’s what it was. If you look at
the criteria of the 1948 Convention on Genocide, it fits. Before I
went to Yerevan, I went and talked to the Legal Department of the
State Department. There is one lawyer there who has the unhappy job of
dealing with the issue of genocide, past and unfortunately present. I
asked him, ‘Isn’t it the case that had the Convention been in force in
1915, it would have fit these criteria?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ Now, the one
element, if you look at the criteria in the Genocide Convention, the
one element which has been elusive, is the element of intent which has
to be there.
"I know that many of you may have heard of the flawed TARC process —
the Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Commission. It was funded by the
State Department. I am ready to admit that this process was
undoubtedly flawed. I talked to David Phillips who has just written a
book about it. But what they did achieve in that process was a legal
opinion that indeed those events should be called a genocide. At the
same time, the lawyers who looked at this, pointed out that the
Convention was not in force at the time and cannot be applied
retroactively. So, while we may call it that, there are some
provisions in the Convention which cannot be applied. The general rule
of international law is that conventions are arrived at by the states
which sign them and they bind those states for the future. They do not
have retroactive effect. I also know that there are some international
lawyers who disagree with that. But the bulk of the international
legal opinion is that a convention of that sort cannot be applied
retroactively.
"I would be remiss, if anybody left this room tonight believing that
the United States government has changed its policy with regard to the
application of the Genocide Convention. It has not! But I am committed
to dealing with this issue as honestly, forthrightly and sensitively
as we can. I believe we owe it to each other, as fellow Americans, to
discuss this without playing games, without playing ‘gotcha!’
"Now, someone can go out of this room tonight and distort what I have
said, and I could lose my job. I know that I am taking a risk because
I am ahead of some other elements of the U.S. government in my
treatment of this. But I am deeply convinced that I am doing the right
thing in leveling with you about this issue.
"I think 90 years is too long for us not to discuss the issue and call
things by their own names [sustained applause from the audience]."
It is profoundly moving to read the remarks Amb. Evans made in Fresno
two years ago. Regrettably, his prophetic words have come true. It is
ironic that no one had to distort his words to cause him to lose his
job! A few days after making the above remarks, he had the courage of
reporting to his superiors at the State Department that he had
publicly acknowledged the Armenian Genocide.
It is deeply unsettling that Amb. Evans was dismissed simply for
telling the truth. It is a sign of our decadent times that those who
lie keep their jobs, while those who tell the truth get fired!
Amb. Evans knowingly risked his diplomatic career, for which he
deserves the undying gratitude of the Armenian nation! Regarding the
highly technical issue raised by Amb. Evans on whether the Genocide
Convention of 1948 retroactively applies to the Armenian Genocide of
1915, we need to point out that the Jewish Holocaust also occurred
before the Genocide Convention, and yet no one hesitates to call it a
genocide.
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2 – Mardirossian
Elected Chairman
Of The Near East Foundation
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3 – 8th Annual Armenian Film
Festival at Fresno State
FRESNO – The Armenian Students Organization and Armenian Studies
Program of California State University, Fresno are co-sponsoring the
8th Annual Armenian Film Festival, from 7-10 PM on March 2. The
Festival will take place in the Leon S. and Pete P. Peters Educational
Center (in the Student Recreation Center) on the Fresno State campus.
One of the featured films for the Festival is The Story of My Name: An
Armenian Tale (The Netherlands), directed by Dorothée Forma. The Story
of My Name is the story of Alex Luijten, who discovers that his
biological father is Armenian. At the age of 44, Luijten decides to
take on his father’s name, Alex Peltekian, and to find out the story
behind the name.
The Long Journey from the NFL to Armenia (California), produced by
Peter Musurlian and Dr. Arbi Ohanian, is the story of Tennessee Titans
football player Rien Vartan Long, as he travels to Armenia on a
twelve-day trip with his mother and grandmother.
Admission to the 8th Annual Armenian
Film Festival is free and film-goers will have the opportunity to
discuss films after the screening of each film. The films, in English
or Armenian, are all directed and produced by a new generation of
Armenian film-makers.
This program is supported, in part, by funds of the Fresno State
University Student Union Diversity Awareness Program.
The 8th Annual Armenian Film Festival is open to the public and
admission is free. Parking restrictions in Lot V will be relaxed
after 6:30 PM. For more information about the Film Festival, call the
Armenian Studies Program office at 559-278-2669.
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4 – Armenian Killings Film `Not Anti-
Turkish,’ Italian Directors Say
By Madeline Chambers
BERLIN (Reuters) – A film depicting the tragedy of a rich family
almost wiped out in the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in
1915 is not meant to be anti-Turkish, the directors said on Wednesday.
Italy’s Taviani brothers say "The Lark Farm," featuring at the Berlin
film festival, has a broad message about the human catastrophe of
modern conflict. Sparing little detail, the drama shows Ottoman Turks
decapitating, castrating and dismembering the men of the Armenian
family in front of their wives and children, who are themselves sent
on a punishing forced march towards the desert.
"This movie is not against Turks," director Paolo Taviani told Reuters
in an interview, pointing out a Turkish man is instrumental in saving
some of the family’s children.
"It is not the Turks who kill — it is the Young Turks ` a political
movement. It is exactly the same as what happened in Italy with the
Fascists and in Germany under Nazism."
At the end of the press screening, the audience sat in stunned silence.
Turkey, in accession talks with the European Union, denies claims by
Armenia and other countries that 1.5 million Armenians died in a
systematic genocide at Turkish hands. It argues large numbers of
Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks perished during the breakup of
the Ottoman Empire. To Ankara’s dismay, several foreign parliaments
have passed laws recognizing the massacres as genocide.
Last month Turkish Armenian editor Hrant Dink, who espoused
reconciliation between the two peoples, was killed by a 17-year-old
ultra-nationalist. Like dozens of intellectuals, Dink had been
prosecuted for his views on the killings.
Ahead of the film’s public release, the Taviani brothers said they
were unaware of any adverse reaction from Turkey. Berlin’s Turkish
embassy said it had received no response to the film from Ankara.
Although a love story between an Armenian and Turk is a major part of
the film and some Ottoman soldiers are portrayed as being reluctant to
carry out orders to kill their friends, the focus is firmly on the
suffering of the Armenian family.
"We wanted to comment on current events like Kosovo, and Rwanda," said
Paolo Taviani’s brother Vittorio. "We thought we should look at one of
the most horrifying tragedies of mankind because there is nothing
worse than a war between people who know each other well."
The brothers say they are sure Turkey should join the EU. "(But) we
are convinced … of the necessity that it publicly recognizes the
historical truth of the Armenian tragedy, in the same way as Germany
and Italy have come to terms with their criminal past," they said in a
statement.
Actress Arsinee Khanjian, who plays a major character in "The Lark
Farm", says Turkey still has a way to go. "Turkey must change its
approach to the Armenian genocide but it also has big human rights
problems with many other minorities," the actress of Armenian descent
told Reuters.
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5 – Fresno Congressman
Urges Pres. Bush to
Withdraw Hoagland’s
Nomination as Envoy
FRESNO, CA –
U.S. Rep. Jim Costa (D-20th District) sent a strong letter to
President George W. Bush, expressing his disappointment with the White
House’s re-nomination of Richard Hoagland as Ambassador to Armenia,
despite Armenian-Americans’ opposition.
On behalf of his many Armenian-American constituents, the Fresno
congressman, who is also a member of the House Foreign Relations
Committee, urged the President to withdraw Hoagland’s nomination due
to the nominee’s unwillingness to acknowledge the 1915 massacre of
Armenians in Turkey as constituting Genocide.
Costa noted, "a growing number of nations have officially recognized
the tragedies in Armenia as the first Genocide
of the 20th century. However, despite the well documented history of
this event, the Turkish government refuses to acknowledge the Genocide
to this day, almost ninety years later."
After observing that Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink was shot dead
in Istanbul for voicing his beliefs, and noting that Hoagland’s
nomination has twice been placed on hold by a member of the Senate
Foreign Relations because of his refusal to acknowledge the genocide
as such, Costa urged the President to "nominate a candidate that
respects Armenians’ past."
Cost also made a powerful statement on the House floor, condemning
Dink’s assassination as a result of tensions raising by the Turkish
government policy of denial of the genocide.
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6 – CSUN ASP to Host Armenia
Travelogue Slide Show, March 6
NORTHRIDGE,
CA – The Armenian Studies Program of California State University,
Northridge, will host a travelogue and slide show by the
author-photographers Robert Kurkjian and Matthew Karanian, on March 6,
7:30 p.m. in Room 451 of the Sierra Hall on campus.
The event is free and open to the public Kurkjian and Karanian are
authors of the newly released travel guide "The Stone Garden Guide:
Armenia and Karabagh." The presentation will feature images from this
new book, as well as photographs from their earlier publications.
The travelogue -a 35-minute slide show-will depict scenes from Armenia
and Karabagh, and will illustrate both the historic beauty of Armenia
as well as its modernity.
Prof. Vahram Shemmassian, the Director of the Armenian Studies
Program, said that the presentation would provide members of the CSUN
community and the public at large with a fresh perspective of Armenia
that is based on the authors’ extensive travels throughout the
country. Conservation and ecology will be dominant themes of the
presentation.
"Armenia and Karabagh" was published September 1, 2006 and it has been
the best-selling English language book about Armenia for the past five
months. The First Edition of the book was Award Finalist for Best
Travel Guide by the Independent Publishers Association in 2005. CNN
Traveller calls the current edition "excellent." The book was featured
on National Public Radio in September.
For directions or other information, call the office of the CSUN
Armenian Studies Program, 818-677-3456 or e-mail Prof. Shemmassian at
[email protected].
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7 – ANC-PN Will Host Feb. 25 Briefing with
Political Commentator Charles Mahtesian
GLENDALE, CA –
The Armenian National Committee Professional Network (ANC-PN) will
host a meet and greet session with noted political expert Charles
Mahtesian on Feb. 25, at 11 a.m. at the ANCA’s Map Room located at 104
N. Belmont in Glendale.
Mahtesian resides in Washington, DC and is a young Armenian American
professional widely respected by Congressional leaders on Capitol Hill
and by national media outlets.
"The ANC-PN is encouraged that Charlie is coming from Washington, DC
to speak with and meet young Armenian American professionals in the
Los Angeles area this Sunday," commented ANC-PN Chairman Arbi
Karapetian. "With the new 110th Congress in place in Washington, DC it
is timely to have Charlie in town. I am confident that Armenian
Americans professionals will enjoy sharing time with Charlie this
Sunday."
Mahtesian is editor of the Almanac of American Politics, published
biennially by the National Journal Group, and often referred to as
"the bible of American politics." The Almanac provides a detailed look
at the politics of the United States by profiling individual Members
of Congress and areas of the country. Prior to joining the Almanac,
Charles spent eight years as a national correspondent for Governing
magazine, where he covered state legislatures, governors and urban
politics. He began his career reporting on elections and congressional
redistricting for Congressional Quarterly, where he was also a
contributing writer to the reference books, Politics in America and
Congressional Districts in the 1990s. He has served as an election
night analyst for National Public Radio and appeared on numerous radio
and television programs, including NPR’s All Things Considered,
C-Span’s Washington Journal, and on CNN and the BBC.
Mahtesian has written for a variety of newspapers, journals and
magazines including The Weekly Standard, Campaigns and Elections, and
Congress Daily. He currently writes a monthly column on politics for
Government Executive magazine and is a contributing writer and editor
at National Journal magazine. He earned his bachelor’s degree in
politics from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. and his
J.D. from American University.
The ANC-PN is pleased to provide Armenian American professionals the
opportunity to gain insight on American political issues directly from
a leading political expert from the nation’s capital, Karapetian said.
Guests are requested to arrive at the ANC-PN offices, located on 104
North Belmont Street in Glendale, promptly at 11 a.m. to ensure
adequate seating. To RSVP or for more information about this event,
contact Haig Hovsepian at (818) 500-1918. Light refreshments and food
will be served.
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8 – Proceeds From
Aznavour Concert
To
Cover Children’s
Trip to France
PARIS (Armenpress) – Proceeds from the Feb. 17 concert by French
Armenian singer Charles Aznavour in Paris will be used to cover the
arrival and a week-long stay of about 800 Armenian children in French
homes.
The unprecedented visit is part of an extensive program of cultural
and other events called The Year of Armenia in France, which
officially kicked off Saturday.
The Saturday concert was attended by the visiting Armenian president
Robert Kocharian, his spouse Bella Kocharian and Bernadette Chirac,
the First Lady of France. Kocharian and French President Jacques
Chirac were scheduled for a meeting on Feb. 19.
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