The California Courier Online, February 21, 2019
1 - America Has No Right to Tell Armenia
Not to Send a Humanitarian Squad to Syria
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- US Decries Armenia Involvement In Syria Humanitarian Mission
3 - Pashinyan Outlines Role of New Diaspora Commission
4 - On Mount Aconcagua, Sona Armenian Sets another Record
5- Armenian Assembly, AUA Mourn Passing of Dr. Mihran Agbabian
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1 - America Has No Right to Tell Armenia
Not to Send a Humanitarian Squad to Syria
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
The U.S. government recently created a new and unnecessary
controversy, this time with the Republic of Armenia.
It all started when the Armenian government decided to send a
non-combat humanitarian squad of 83 doctors, sappers, and other
servicemen to Syria to provide assistance to the important, but
dwindling Armenian community in Aleppo. Armenia had previously sent
four airlifts of humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people.
A Russian cargo plane flew the Armenian squad to Aleppo on February 8.
Apparently, this small role played by Russia was enough to provoke the
ire of the cold-warriors in Washington. On February 13, the US Embassy
in Armenia released an announcement by the State Department
criticizing the dispatch of the Armenian humanitarian squad to Syria.
“We do not support any engagement with Syrian military forces, whether
that engagement is to provide assistance to civilians or is military
in nature. Nor do we support any cooperation between Armenia and
Russia for this mission,” stated the State Department.
This statement antagonized not only the Armenian government, but also
the population of Armenia which the United States has been trying to
win over in recent years. More importantly, this provocative U.S.
statement irritated the large Armenian-American community.
The Armenian squad’s involvement in Syria was based on several factors:
1) Syria’s Arabs had played a critical role by providing a life-saving
refuge to the remnants of the Armenian Genocide, including this
writer’s grandparents. It is only fitting that the Armenian government
and all Armenians reciprocate to Syria’s goodwill by coming to the
rescue of the destitute local Armenians and Syrians in general.
2) The Armenian government has sent the humanitarian squad based on an
inter-state agreement signed by Armenia and Syria in 2001. Therefore,
this action is not only of a humanitarian nature, but also complies
with requirements of international law.
3) The United States, on the other hand, has dispatched its Air Force
and soldiers to Syria without the approval of the Syrian government,
thus violating all relevant international laws. This illegal action is
not committed by Armenia, but by the United States.
4) The Trump Administration and particularly hawkish National Security
Advisor John Bolton have been striving to distance Armenia from Russia
and draw it closer to the American sphere of influence. Regrettably,
criticizing the Armenian government’s humanitarian aid to its
compatriots in Syria does not endear the United States to Armenians.
Just the opposite, it antagonizes Armenians worldwide. The US position
simply reflects a poor knowledge of the realities in the Middle East
by Trump officials. It makes no sense to try to compel Armenia to
desist from sending a humanitarian squad to Syria, knowing full well
that such pressure will be rejected, making the American government
look weak and ineffective. U.S. officials should have the wisdom to
know when to exert their influence and when not to. In this particular
case, pressuring Armenia was counter-productive; it only served to
strengthen the influence of Russia. Fortunately, such a minor issue
will not undermine the friendly relationship between the United States
and Armenia. Armenians understand that the U.S. displeasure is more
directed towards Russia and Iran than to Armenia itself. The U.S.
government is well aware that Armenian troops have participated in
international peacekeeping missions, such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo
and Lebanon.
5) The U.S. government has lost its moral authority to lecture
Armenians on any subject given the fact that successive U.S.
Presidents in recent decades have refused to utter the term Armenian
Genocide under pressure from the despotic Turkish regime.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan reacted to
the State Department’s statement by declaring that “throughout the
Syrian conflict the plight of civilians, minorities, including the
sizable Syrian-Armenian community has consistently been a priority
concern for the Armenian people worldwide. The Armenian public opinion
strongly reflects deep compassion and concern for the sufferings of
civilians and the devastation of the country. We speak about a country
which has had an indispensable contribution for the survival of the
Armenian nation in the wake of the Armenian Genocide.”
Naghdalyan also stated that the deployment of the humanitarian mission
to Syria is intended to support the Armenian community in Aleppo. “It
is a purely relief mission guided by International Humanitarian Law
and [Armenia] coordinates its work with the relief agencies and
international partners present on the ground.”
Going a step further, on February 12, Armenia’s Defense Minister Davit
Tonoyan announced that the humanitarian mission did not exclude the
possibility of deploying combat troops in Syria in the future.
However, the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan quickly rejected
that possibility, stating that “we have no such plans.”
Americans, Russians, and everyone else should understand that the
Armenian government will pursue its national interests regardless of
the wishes of other nations. No amount of pressure will deter
Armenians from their own objectives.
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2- US Decries Armenia Involvement In Syria Humanitarian
Mission (RFE/RL)—The United States has indicated it does not support
Armenia’s participation in a Russia-backed mission in war-ravaged
Syria, where Yerevan has dispatched demining experts and other
personnel.
Armenia announced this month it had sent a team of dozens of
mine-clearing sappers, medical personnel, and security officers to
Syria to carry out “humanitarian activities” such as demining and
providing medical assistance in the northern city of Aleppo, which had
a large ethnic Armenian population before the war. h
“We recognize the desire of other nations to respond to the
humanitarian situation in Syria, and we share the concerns about
protecting religious minorities in the Middle East,” the U.S. Embassy
said in a statement sent to RFE/RL on February 13. Most ethnic
Armenians are Christians, while Syria is mainly Muslim.
“However, we do not support any engagement with Syrian military
forces, whether that engagement is to provide assistance to civilians
or is military in nature,” the statement said.
“Nor do we support any cooperation between Armenia and Russia for this
mission,” it added, saying that Russia had “partnered with” President
Bashar al-Assad’s government “to slaughter civilians and trigger a
humanitarian catastrophe” and “continues to protect the Assad regime
and its atrocities on [the] global stage.”
Russia has given Assad crucial military and diplomatic backing
throughout the nearly eight-year war in Syria, which began with a
government crackdown on protesters in March 2011. The conflict has
killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions.
Russia is to provide logistical support to the Armenian mission, which
Yerevan said would be carried out “exclusively outside the zone of
combat operations.”
On February 12, however, Armenian Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan said
that “if it’s necessary to participate in hostilities as well, the
Republic of Armenia will do that within the letter of the law.”
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian seemed to cast doubt on that, saying on
February 13 that he was unaware of the defense minister’s remark and
that there were no plans for Armenian personnel to take part in any
combat operations.
Yerevan has traditionally had close ties with Moscow, and Russia has a
large military base in Armenia. The South Caucasus country is a member
of security and economic groupings that link some of the former Soviet
republics and are dominated by Russia.
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3 - Pashinyan Outlines Role of New Diaspora Commission
(ARKA)—Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said the Chief
Commissioner for Diaspora Issues, who has actually replaced the
Ministry of Diaspora, will deal with Diaspora policy issues,
coordinate the work of all the ministries in this area to ensure high
level relations between Armenia and its vast Diaspora.
According to Pashinyan, the government has set two major tasks in its
relations with the Diaspora, which “are revolutionary.”
“The first is that we have not yet carried out an inventory of the
potential and influence of our Diaspora by countries. As a result,,
this area is not properly regulated. The government’s plan of actions
for the next five years gives a special place to the creation of an
all-Armenian network,” Pashinyan stressed.
The second task, as Pashinyan said, is to create a unified
organization, structure, or format that will represent the Diaspora.
Pashinyan stressed that the Armenian Diaspora is huge running
thousands of organizations. “Physically it is possible to organize
discussion with one part of it and impossible with the other,” he
said, noting that solving this task is a big challenge for the
government.
According to various estimates, the Armenian Diaspora numbers from 10
to 12 million people. The largest Armenian communities live in Russia
(about 2 million people), the USA (more than 1 million), France (about
500 thousand), Georgia (250 thousand), Lebanon (140 thousand) and
other countries.
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4 - On Mount Aconcagua, Sona Armenian Sets another Record
GLENDALE—On January 18, 2019, Sona Armenian became the oldest woman to
summit Mount Aconcagua at 70 years and a few weeks of age.
Aconcagua, formed volcanically and standing at 22841 feet, is the
highest mountain in South America. As such, it is one of the “seven
sisters” – the tallest mountains on each of the seven continents.
This was Sona’s third sister, having already attained Africa’s
Kilimanjaro (19341’), three volcanoes stacked atop one another, in
2012 and Europe’s Elbrus (18510’), a two-coned volcano in 2017. She
also holds the record as the oldest woman to have summited Mexico’s
highest peak Orizaba (18491’) in 2016, another volcano.
The climb was a 16-day Herculean labor. Sona was part of a group of
seven clients (the other six ranging in age from 31 to 64, one of whom
got sick and went back) being led by Grajales, the first company to
offer guide services to the summit of Aconcagua, starting in 1976.
They named themselves “The Cosmo Team” because they hailed from all
over the planet—Argentina, Bolivia, Britain, Chile, Japan, Korea,
Mexico, Switzerland, United States. Along the way, they met a group of
five Bolivian women in native dress who also succeeded in reaching the
top and have become heroines in their home country.
The ascent starts in the beautiful Horcones Valley of Argentina in the
Parque Provincial Aconcagua. Some days are long slogs with little
elevation gain. On other days, the agenda consists of practice hikes
to other summits in the area involving thousands of feet of ascent in
their own right. Thankfully, the climbers occasionally get a rest day,
and the food is abundant and varied, even satisfying vegetarians such
as Sona. Some of this rest takes place at base camp where ten
companies are host clients in color-coded tents.
One of her challenges, though, was drinking the minimum five liters of
water daily the guides required. But the biggest challenge was the
cold. Even though it was summer in the southern hemisphere,
Aconcagua’s height and a colder-than-usual year with -30°F
temperatures kept the climbers in their sleeping bags inside their
tents for some 12 hours a day.
Practices took the climbers gradually higher, following the adage
“climb high, sleep low”. After many days of gradual upward progress,
it was summit day. The Cosmo Team got lucky. Bad weather had bedeviled
them most of the time, and more of it was on the way. But exactly on
their big day, a window of acceptable weather opened up. Everyone made
it, although two were exhausted and had a very difficult descent.
To prepare, Sona was training hard for months. She hiked Mt. Baldy
(10062’), the highest point in Los Angeles County almost weekly.
Having a home abutting the Angeles National Forest makes it easy to
access, and Sona would often be seen heading for Mt. Lukens (5,066’),
the highest point in the City of Los Angeles. She hiked daily, on her
own or with groups, and sometimes twice a day. For the last three
months, she even added some gym training time. But this is all just
part of what she loves to do. She has hiked in many countries and has
Ararat under her belt, too. She was among the first women to
participate in Lebanon’s marathons in the 1960s and was the women’s
champ in 1986.
Sona loves the mountains, and is fortunate that her family does, too.
Her husband and son, Harout and Saro, were with her on Kilimanjaro.
Harout was with her on Ararat. Her grandchildren, Shant and Sareen, at
ages 12 and 9 respectively, joined her to become the youngest Armenian
brother-and-sister pair to summit Mt. Whitney (14,505’). Sona also
shares her love of the mountains. She is a founding member of both the
Armenian Hikers Association (which collapsed last summer) and Armenian
Hiking + more. She leads and participates in their and the Armenian
Hiking Society’s hikes and trips.
You can see pictures of the fabulous mountains and dedicated climbers
from this arduous climb and hear the details directly from Sona on
February 27, 7 p.m. at an event organized jointly by the Armenian
Hiking Society and Armenian Hiking + more in the library of the
Armenian Society of Los Angeles, 117 S. Louise Street in Glendale, CA
91205
The Armenian Hiking Society and Armenian Hiking + more promote
enjoyable, challenging, healthful, safe, and varied hikes and similar
activities in the wildlands, woodlands, and wherever else Armenians
and their friends can go. They can be reached at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ArmenianHikingSociety/ and
https://www.facebook.com/groups/armenianoutdoorsorganization/
respectively.
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5- Armenian Assembly, AUA Mourn Passing of Dr. Mihran Agbabian
A founding member of the American University of Armenia, where he was
President Emeritus, and life-long community activist and educator, Dr.
Mihran Agbabian, passed away on Tuesday, February 12 in Los Angeles.
Agbabian was born in Cyprus in 1923 and he grew up in Aleppo, Syria,
before moving to Beirut, Lebanon to study at the American University
of Beirut. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Physics (1944) and
Bachelor’s degree in engineering (1947), and he came to the United
States in 1947 to continue his education at the California Institute
of Technology (Caltech) where he received his Master’s degree. He
completed his studies at the University of California at Berkeley
where he received his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering in 1951.
After working as a structural engineer at several engineering
companies, he co-founded the engineering consulting company, Agbabian
Associates, in 1963.
In 1984, Dr. Agbabian was appointed as the Fred Champion Professor of
Engineering at the University of Southern California. He served as
Chairman of the Civil Engineering Department and Director of the
Environmental Engineering program from 1984 to 1992.
He is the founding president of the American University of Armenia in
Yerevan which started its operation on September 23, 1991, the same
day when Armenia declared its independence. After serving AUA in the
capacity of founding president, he retired in 1997, and he was
appointed by the Board of Trustees as President Emeritus, working on
special assignments for the growth of the university.
Dr. Agbabian was married to Elizabeth Apkarian who has worked with him
serving their community. They have three sons, Paul (married to Kate
Nyberg); Bryan (married to Valina Ghoukassian); and Michael; as well
as three granddaughters, Sabrina, Erika, Lori, and a grandson. Arman.
He was elected Member of the US National Academy of Engineering (1982)
, the Armenian National Academy of Sciences (1990), and the Russian
Academy of Natural Sciences (1995). He has received the University of
California at Berkeley Distinguished Engineering Alumnus Citation and
the Caltech Distinguished Alumnus Award. He has an Honorary Doctor of
Science degree from Yerevan State University and he is Honorary Member
of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and its Past
President, and he is a Fellow of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science. In 1955 he received the Ellis Island Medal of
Honor from the National Ethnic Coalition Organization of New York for
outstanding contributions as an immigrant.
Agbabian received the Movses Khorenatzi Medal (2001) from the
President of the Republic of Armenia for exceptional achievement in
educational development. The Armenian Church has recognized Dr.
Agbabian. He has received the Sahag-Mesrob Medal from His Holiness
Catholicos Karekin I, the St. Mesrob Medal from His Holiness
Catholicos Aram I, and the St.Vartan Medal from His Holiness
Catholicos John Bedros XVIII. Dr. Agbabian has served the Armenian
community in a number of organizations. He was member of the Central
Board of the Armenian General Benevolent Union, a founding member of
the Armenian Film Foundation, vice president of the Armenian
Missionary Association of America, vice-chairman of the Board of
Haigazian College, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Armenian
Assembly of America, and General Chairman of the First Congress of the
Armenian Engineers and Scientists of America. “Dr. Mihran Agbabian’s
spirit, character, and great sense of humor was inspiring to all who
were fortunate to know him. His generosity, dedication, and commitment
to the Armenian Assembly and preservation of our Armenian heritage
knew no bounds. He was a humanitarian whose contributions touched the
lives of so many people. Dr. Agbabian was a gem, admired and respected
by all. The Armenian people benefited greatly from his interest and
generosity as did the Assembly, and we are deeply grateful. His
passing is a tremendous loss,” said Assembly Co-Chairs Anthony
Barsamian and Van Krikorian and Assembly President Carolyn Mugar.
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