1- Turkey Can Fool Some People Some Time
But not All People, All the Time
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- ARF World Congress confirms names of ARF Central Committee
(Western US)
3- New Imprint Tadem Press Publishes
‘Memoirs of a Soldier about the Days of Tragedy’
4- Massive fatal crash in Studio City kills UCLA student Sera Aintablian
5- Armenia Continues Fight Against COVID-19
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1- Turkey Can Fool Some People Some Time
But not All People, All the Time
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
The Turkish government is continuing its duplicitous game of playing
on both sides of the fence, pretending to be the friend of both Russia
and Ukraine in order to draw maximum benefit from its tightrope walk.
However, Turkey cannot keep playing this game for too long before it
falls flat on its face from the teetering tightrope. For decades, as a
member of NATO, Turkey violated its principles, bought problematic
weapons from Russia while acting as a member of the Western military
camp, refused to support the collective decisions of the organization,
and got sanctioned by the United States, its NATO partner.
Turkey has played a similar erratic role as a member of the Council of
Europe, violating the basic rules of the organization, including
repeatedly refusing to implement decisions of the European Court of
Human Rights. After all this, Pres. Erdogan has the audacity to
complain that Turkey is not allowed to join the European Union. In
reality, it should not even be allowed to remain in the Council of
Europe. Too bad NATO does not have a provision on expelling one of its
member states. Amazingly, Turkish leaders have appealed to the United
Nations to have their country become the sixth permanent member of the
Security Council with a veto power. Such a thing should never be
allowed. It would be the end of the UN.
In the meantime, Turkey is continuing its two-faced “neutrality”
between NATO and Russia in the Ukraine war. Turkey is the only NATO
member that has refused to sanction Russia and has not closed its
airspace to Russian aircraft. Turkey abstained while the overwhelming
majority of the Council of Europe voted to suspend Russia’s
membership. Turkey then turned around and voted twice in the UN
General Assembly in March in favor of a resolution condemning Russia
for invading Ukraine.
Furthermore, the Turkish Ambassador to the UN, Feridun Sinirlioglu,
delivered a scathing attack on Russia. Sinirlioglu said the war in
Ukraine is the result of the “blatant violation” of international
humanitarian law by Russia, which he described as “unacceptable.” He
then added, “For our part, we will not give up on our brothers and
sisters in Ukraine.” These words indicate that Turkey is not neutral
in this war.
While Turkey’s ambassador at the UN was sharply critical of Russia,
Turkish businessman Ethem Sancak, one of Pres. Erdogan’s closest
political allies and executive board member of the ruling Justice and
Development Party (AKP), visited Moscow and told the Russian RBC TV
channel that Turkey’s sale of drones to Ukraine was a big mistake.
Sancak also said: “We will not join in the sanctions, because if
Russia falls, Turkey would get divided. And if Turkey falls, the same
goes for Russia…. We are allies with Russia.” Sancak described
Turkey’s membership in NATO as “shameful….” He then added: “NATO is a
cancerous tumor.”
In addition, “Having gained experience in sanctions busting schemes
that undermined both US and UN Security Council embargoes on jihadist
groups and Iran in the past, the government of Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan is now poised to implement a similar playbook for
Western sanctions on Russia. Hoping to make money for his business
cronies and aid his country’s embattled economy and finances, Erdogan
apparently saw the opportunity to make a profit by offering Russians a
lifeline to help overcome the restrictions and beat the sanctions,”
wrote Abdullah Bozkurt in Nordic Monitor.
In order to appease Russia, Turkey rejected U.S. suggestions to
transfer to Ukraine the S-400 missile systems it had bought from
Russia, which had resulted in the U.S. imposing sanctions on Turkey.
Furthermore, in recent days, several Russian oligarchs have brought
their luxury yachts and private jets from Europe to Turkey to avoid
western sanctions. Bahadir Ozgur, a Turkish commentator who
specializes in exposing organized crime, says Turkey is the
“gangsters’ heaven,” the Al-Monitor news website reported.
As a result of long-running sanction-busting activities by Turkey, the
Biden administration is well aware of Turkish efforts to bail out
Russia from U.S. and EU imposed sanctions. Neither the White House nor
Congress are too keen to side with Erdogan who is constantly plotting
to glorify himself and his country by trying to mend its damaged
relations with Europe, the United States, Israel, Egypt, the UAE and
Armenia.
In another failed public relations stunt, Pres. Erdogan announced
prior to last week’s NATO Summit in Brussels that he would be meeting
with Pres. Joe Biden in order to create a photo-op intended to raise
Turkey’s questionable standing in the world and his own poor rating at
home.
Despite Erdogan’s intense diplomatic lobbying, Pres. Biden refused to
meet with him at the NATO Summit, undermining his desire to gain
positive PR from such a meeting. The White House rejected a push by
the U.S. Embassy in Ankara for such a face to face encounter.
Pres. Biden, who has had a long-lasting personal dislike of Pres.
Erdogan because of his anti-western policies, did the right thing by
not providing him with further opportunities for self-aggrandizement
at a time while he continues his close relations with Russia. There is
also stiff resistance in Congress to any appeasement of Turkey.
Erdogan is constantly justifying his tightrope walk between East and
West by claiming that he is trying to play a mediating role in the
Ukrainian war. This is yet another misleading excuse for Erdogan’s
self-serving attempts to give himself and his country undeserved
importance.
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2- ARF World Congress confirms names of ARF Central Committee
(Western US)
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) 34th World Congress
(General Meeting) announced on March 8 that the only ARF entity
operating in the Western United States region is the ARF Central
Committee elected for a term of two years on July 18, 2021 at the ARF
Western United States 55th Regional Convention. This entity is the
only one authorized to incorporate the use of the ARF’s name and use
its flag, insignia and anthem.
The members of the ARF Western United States Central Committee are:
Zareh Adjemian, Zanku Armenian, Vicken Babikian, Harmik Baghdassarian,
Levon Baronian, Stepan Boyajian, Daron Der-Khachatourian, Laura
Hakobyan, Zohrab Kahwedjian, Mike Keleshian, Chris Keosian, Hovig
Saliba, and Khatchig Tazian.
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3- New Imprint Tadem Press Publishes
‘Memoirs of a Soldier about the Days of Tragedy’
A new imprint, Tadem Press, has launched its inaugural publication:
Bedros Haroian’s Memoirs of a Soldier about the Days of Tragedy. Tadem
Press is dedicated to address the shortage of primary sources,
especially in English, on the Armenian Genocide.
Memoirs of a Soldier about the Days of Tragedy offers a first-hand
account of momentous events in the 20th century: the Armenian Genocide
and decisive World War I battles. Sergeant Major Bedros Haroian is
born in 1894 in Tadem, a remote village in the interior of the Ottoman
Empire. Within one year of Haroian’s birth, the Sultan Abdul Hamid
will order the Great Massacres that devastate Haroian’s family,
village, and community. Haroian is impassioned to realize justice and
reprisal for his Armenian community. When conscripted in WW I, he
eagerly joins to gain the military skills to defend his people.
Haroian fights on the front lines, including the brutal Battle of
Sarikamish. He then finds himself consigned to a labor battalion along
with other Armenian conscripts. He soon discovers his duties include
burying―at gunpoint―the piles of corpses from the Armenian Genocide.
Haroian escapes to the Underground Railroad of the Dersim Kurds. He
becomes trusted and joins the Kurds in their 1916 Dersim Rebellion.
Armenian commanders in the Imperial Russian Army are seeking fighters
for their battalions. Haroian travels to Tbilisi and joins the
Armenian volunteer forces under General Andranik who succeed, against
staggering odds, in founding the First Republic of Armenian on 28 May
1918. At the end, Bedros Haroian joins the Armenian Legionnaires in
the French Foreign Legion to protect the remnant Armenian community in
southern Turkey.
The Memoirs of a Soldier about the Days of Tragedy include a
compelling Afterword by genocide scholar Fatma Müge Göcek, author of
Denial of Violence: Ottoman Past, Turkish Present and Collective
Violence Against the Armenians, 1789–2009. Gil Harootunian, Fulbright
Scholar (Armenia), writes an insightful Editor’s Forward.
For more information, visit
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4- Massive fatal crash in Studio City kills UCLA student Sera Aintablian
(KTLA)—A deadly crash on the 101 Freeway coming out of Studio City
left one driver dead on the morning of Thursday, March 24.
The crash was reported about 2 a.m. on the 101 eastbound transition to
the southbound 101 Freeway near Tujunga Avenue, according to the
California Highway Patrol .
Emergency crews pronounced the driver involved in the original crash
dead at the scene, Geraty said.
The victim has been identified as 20-year-old UCLA student Sera
Aintablian of Pasadena, the L.A. County coroner’s office confirmed.
Sera is the daughter of Jano and Jenny Aintablian, of Pasadena. She
completed her primary education at St. Gregory Hovsepian School, and
graduated from AGBU Vatche and Tamar Manoukian High School in 2020
where she was the class valedictorian.
Sera had been a member of the AGBU AYA Pasadena Scouts for 15 years,
where she was a Girl Scout Gold Award recipient and troop leader.
She was studying microbiology at UCLA and aspired to attend medical school.
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5- Armenia Continues Fight Against COVID-19
Armenia continues the fight against COVID-19. Coronavirus cases have
been steadily increasing in Armenia since mid-January. The government
continues to promote vaccinations. There were 4,039 active COVID-19
cases in Armenia as of March 21. Armenia has recorded 422,468
coronavirus cases and 8,610 deaths; 409,819 have recovered.
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