Category: 2020

LOS ANGELES—The Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region welcomed public statements and letters from City of Los Angeles Councilmembers, Los Angeles County Supervisors, California State Senator Anthony Portantino, and Glendale City Councilmember Ardy Kassakhian calling on Mercury Public Affairs to end its association with the Republic of Turkey.

“We thank our local and state officials for taking a decisive stand against collusion and complicity in Turkey’s genocidal agenda,” remarked Chair of the ANCA-WR Board of Directors Nora Hovsepian, Esq. “Any attempt to clean up Turkey’s image and cover up its human rights abuses is highly unethical and any affiliation with the Turkish state must be ended immediately. We call on Mercury Public Affairs to show good faith by donating its $250,000 quarterly retainer to the Armenia Fund to help rescue victims of Turkey’s aggression.”

Mercury Public Affairs, a public strategy firm, represents numerous high profile clients across business, politics, and civil society including Microsoft, American Airlines, Starbucks, Comcast, Charter Cable, SoCalGas, and Grubhub amongst others. They also render strategic, political and public affairs services to the Republic of Turkey, complicit in whitewashing the myriad human rights abuses perpetrated by the genocidal Erdogan regime.

In February 2020, Mercury signed a contract with Turkey’s Embassy in Washington D.C. to the tune of one million dollars.

Mercury has a long history of working with not only the Turkish government but its many proxies. Mercury has rendered services to the American-Turkish Council Turkish-American Business Council (TAIK) – headed by close ally of Turkish President Erdogan, Mehmet Yalcindag. Last year, Foreign Agent Registration Act filings show Mercury contacted over 150 Congressional offices on behalf of TAIK to set up meetings for Turkish Economy Minister Berat Albayrak – who also happens to be President Erdogan’s son-in-law.

The Los Angeles City Council letter to Mercury, signed by all 15 councilmembers, noted the acute outrage given Turkey’s overt support for Azerbaijan’s genocidal war against Armenia and Artsakh, including its transferring of Syrian jihadist mercenaries to fight for Azerbaijan, its sale of drones and other offensive military technology to Azerbaijan in the lead-up to Azerbaijan’s aggression, and its deployment of U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to provide aerial cover for Azerbaijan’s targeting of civilian populations. The statement reads in part as follows:

Our outrage is particularly acute right now, because the military forces of Azerbaijan have launched a full scale surprise attack against the ethnically Armenian people of the Republic of Artsakh.  That ongoing aggression was fully orchestrated with your client, the Republic of Turkey, which has transferred thousands of extremist Jihadist militants from the battlefields of Syria and Libya into the Caucasus to support the slaughter of Armenians.  Azerbaijan continues to rain death and destruction on the cities and towns of Artsakh with sophisticated weaponry, much of which it has acquired from your client Turkey, indiscriminately killing scores of civilians.  They have targeted churches, schools and even hospitals, far from any military operation.

Turkey and Azerbaijan consider themselves “two states, one nation,” and between them lies Armenia and Artsakh.  Both Turkey and Azerbaijan have dramatically more population, more wealth, and more armaments than Armenia and Artsakh combined.  For many years, the dictator of Azerbaijan has stated his intent to eliminate Armenians from the region completely, and this attack, with the full support of your client, seems to be his effort to achieve that murderous goal.  So Armenians around the world understand that this unprovoked invasion is nothing less than a continuation of the Armenian Genocide – which, of course, was perpetrated, and is still actively denied, by your client. 

These calls were echoed by California State Senator Anthony Portantino, who in a letter directed to a partner at Mercury Public Affairs noted: “It is untenable that Mercury would be employed in Washington to smooth over these inexcusable actions by two aggressive countries towards the peaceful Armenian people. Mercury should not take money from a Government with a 120-year history of Genocide, death, and destruction on its hands.”
 
Los Angeles County Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Hilda Solis, both of whom represent large Armenian communities, reaffirmed these points in their letter to Mercury, noting: In concert with Turkey, Azerbaijan has also conducted a robust misinformation campaign to deflect their egregious activities. The letter also noted that the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors earlier this month unanimously adopted a joint motion supporting United States House Resolution 1165; a bipartisan resolution authored by Congresswoman Jackie Speier (CA-14) condemning Azerbaijan’s attacks on Armenia and Artsakh and the gross misinformation spread by Azerbaijan and Turkey, in addition to calling for the United States to end its military assistance and impose sanctions on Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Glendale City Councilmember Ardashes Kassakhian, in a strongly worded statement condemning Turkey and Azerbaijan’s egregious human rights abuses and attempted continuation of the Armenian genocide, remarked: If these firms wish to do some good and with their resources, they will terminate their contracts with these regimes and focus their work on strengthening the cause of democracy at home and abroad. As US citizens, we must demand that companies that do business in our State and in our country put American principles ahead of making a profit instead of selling themselves to the highest bidder. I urge all public officials – past and present – affiliated with the aforementioned groups to denounce their association with firms who hold contracts with the Republics of Turkey and Azerbaijan.

In response to public pressure, former Senator Barbara Boxer and former Los Angeles City Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, both of whom enjoyed positive relationships with the Armenian-American community while in elected office but are now partners at Mercury’s Los Angeles office, issued remarks indicating their support for Armenia.

Boxer’s comment noted that she will “always stand with Armenia,” while Villaraigosa condemned Azerbaijan’s aggression against Artsakh – noting that as mayor he met with Artsakh’s president in Los Angeles. Despite this, Villaraigosa visited Turkey’s proxy Azerbaijan in 2014 after leaving office, where he described the country as a “model nation” and a “force for peace.” In comments provided to Asbarez in 2018, Villaraigosa walked back his previous remarks noting that “since then, I’ve had an opportunity to confer with human rights organizations who have chronicled Azerbaijan’s human rights record as one of the world’s worst. I condemn the invasion of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan and am resolute in my support for a free and Democratic Artsakh.”

Both statements, however, fell short of condemning Turkey for its direct military involvement in Azerbaijan’s genocidal war, and failed to call on Mercury to end its association with the Turkish government.

“At a minimum, the Armenian-American community expects those former elected officials who were once proud to stand alongside the Armenian community to use their positions within Mercury Public Affairs to compel the company to terminate its business with the Turkish government,” remarked Nora Hovsepian.

The calls for Mercury to drop Turkeys’ government as a client follows crucial blows to Turkey and Azerbaijan’s foreign lobbying machine. On October 13th, The Livingston Group terminated its registration as a foreign agent of Azerbaijan, and on October 16th DLA Piper terminated its contract with Azerbaijan’s state-owned rail transport operator. The DLA Piper contract related directly to Azerbaijan’s transport of oil – used to fund its regional aggression – and its efforts to bypass U.S. sanctions on Iran.

The Turkish government and its proxies have for years sought to enforce a gag-rule over United States human rights policy through its insidious attempts to deny the Armenian genocide, as well as its flagrant disregard for democratic values. This was seen on full display when during a visit by Turkish President Erdogan to the United States, his bodyguards attacked peaceful protesters who were exercising their first amendment rights to free speech in condemning the Turkish government’s human rights abuses.

In failing to drop Turkey as a client, Mercury Public Affairs is not only complicit in enabling Turkey’s malign influence in U.S. affairs, but has clearly endorsed the genocidal actions of Turkey and its proxy Azerbaijan.

Having conveyed to Mercury the full extent of Turkey and Azerbaijan’s egregious track record on human rights, it is imperative that Mercury take all necessary steps to end its association with Turkey lest it seeks to continue its endorsement of the genocidal governments it currently represents. The ANCA-WR also strongly urges Mercury’s high profile clients to note their discontent with Mercury’s unethical affiliation with Turkey, to themselves avoid complicity in supporting a company profiteering off the perpetration and denial of genocide.

The ANCA-WR will vigorously continue its efforts to gain the support and solidarity of elected officials to pressure Mercury and other entities who profit from the genocidal regimes of Turkey and Azerbaijan to put human rights first by dropping them as clients and quashing the voices of their paid lobbyists and false propaganda. It’s time for America and American companies to stop these authoritarian regimes and dictators from having any influence over U.S. policy.

The Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region is the largest and most influential nonpartisan Armenian American grassroots advocacy organization in the Western United States. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States and affiliated organizations around the country, the ANCA-WR advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues in pursuit of the Armenian Cause.

In a video message to the nation on Wednesday, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said since Azerbaijan has opted to resolve the Karabakh conflict through military means, there is no diplomatic solution in sight “at least at this stage,” thus “we must fight to the end.”

“We have to clearly realize that, at least at this stage and for a long time to come, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict does not have a diplomatic solution, and we must give up all those hopes or proposals aimed at finding a diplomatic solution, especially in the current situation,” said Pashinyan.

“We have repeatedly stated our readiness to settle the conflict through compromise. This means that we can lower the bar we set for the sake of a resolution, provided that the other side lower its bar. But practice has shown that this logic is otherwise unacceptable for Azerbaijan,” added Pashinyan.

The Prime Minister stressed that in this situation we must fight to the end if we are to protect the rights of our people.

“No matter what happens, we must fight for the rights of our people. This means first of all taking up arms and defending the Homeland. Only if we organize this process effectively and continuously, we will be able to reach a diplomatic solution acceptable to us. Azerbaijan says it does not agree with anything other than the capitulation of Karabakh. Therefore, protecting the rights of the people of Artsakh implies protecting the rights of the Armenian people. There is no Armenia without Artsakh,” the prime minister said, adding that thereby we will finally manage to reach an acceptable diplomatic solution.

Pashinyan urged citizens to sign up as military volunteers to help defend the Homeland. “I call on all Armenian provincial governors, mayors, all state and local self-government bodies, the leaders of those bodies, parties, non-governmental organizations, and civic initiatives to lead the way, to form volunteer groups to protect the rights of the Armenian people. They should be placed at the disposal of the [Armed Force] Chief of Staff, and the moment of formation should be considered equivalent to a military oath, which means that they should stand firm and carry out the task set before them,” Pashinyan emphasized.

“We have gone through genocide, and the genocide took place because many used to believe that there might be individuals other than themselves who would stand up for the people’s rights,” said Pashinyan. “There are such people today, but we need to support them, because many of them – our heroic soldiers, officers and volunteers – died for the sake of the homeland and we must take over the baton. We must all rise up.”

Pashinyan reminded the nation that the situation was much more desperate and challenging during the first Karabakh war. “It seemed that there was no way out, but our people found the solution because there were people who took responsibility for the fate of the Armenian people.”

“Our heroes are watching us. They gave everything to the homeland and spared nothing, now it is our turn,” Pashinyan said.

“We are facing quite a difficult situation on the frontline. Fighting is raging on all the way to Artsakh’s southern borders. Our findings have revealed that Azerbaijan is sending its last reserves to the battlefield. They have sizable resources, but our heroic soldiers are inflicting huge losses on the enemy,” Pashinyan said, noting that Azerbaijan’s heavy losses are one of the reasons behind their reluctance to observe the humanitarian ceasefire.

“The humanitarian ceasefire implies that the victims’ bodies should be collected, cared for and buried. Azerbaijan fears the emergence of tens of thousands of dead bodies against the backdrop of nationwide euphoria. They have huge losses of military equipment, armored vehicles, especially since we have started to attack the Turkish Bayraktars. The humanitarian ceasefire threatens them to expose the dead bodies of mercenaries and Turkish troops,” the prime minister said.

“The will to win should tell us that we will not retreat, we will not back down; we will not be broken. We cannot be defeated. And we will win. Victory depends on one person, and you are that one person. Therefore, long live our children who will live in a free and happy Armenia, in a free and happy Artsakh!” Pashinyan concluded.

Turkey will not hesitate to send soldiers and provide military support for Azerbaijan if such a request is made by Baku, Vice President Fuat Okaty said on Wednesday, adding there was no such request at the moment, Reuters reported.

Speaking in an interview with broadcaster CNN Turk, Oktay also criticized the OSCE’s Minsk Group of trying to keep the issue unresolved and supporting Armenia, both politically and militarily.

In comments to Azerbaijan’s parliament, Turkish Parliament Speaker Mustafa Sentop portrayed Armenia as the aggressor and criticized mediation by France, Russia and the United States—the Minsk Group co-chairing countries.

“If they are sincere on their path to peace, those who have held Armenia’s leash and supported it for years need to end this dangerous game now and stop supporting Armenia. Azerbaijan does not have another 30 years to wait,” Sentop said, according to Reuters.

The Minsk Group, he said, “is brain dead.”

In a speech to the nation, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said Baku was willing to end fighting as soon as possible to complete the restoration of what it sees as its territorial integrity.

Baku also wants Turkey directly involved in the conflict settlement process, which Armenia opposes.

Pompeo insists on ‘de-escalation’ of military activities.

Ahead of a scheduled meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hosted his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts in Moscow for separate meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Lavrov met separately with Armenia’s Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan on Wednesday and Azerbaijan’s top diplomat Jeyhun Bayramov on Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported, adding that President Vladimir Putin of Russia recently had telephone conversations with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

During the talks with Lavrov the officials discussed urgent issues pertaining to the ceasefire agreements, as well as the need to create the necessary conditions for a comprehensive settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

Meanwhile in Washington, Pompeo said on Wednesday that he will reiterate U.S. calls for a ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone when he separately meets with the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Washington on Friday.

“Our view remains — as does the view of nearly every European country — that the right path forward is to cease the conflict, tell them to de-escalate, that every country should stay out, provide no fuel for this conflict, no weapon systems, no support,” Pompeo told reporters.

“And it is at that point that a diplomatic solution that would be acceptable to all can potentially be achieved,” he said. “That’s what I will talk to them about on Friday. And I’m anxious to hear from them what they are seeing on the ground and how we might get closer to what it is that we think is not only in the U.S. best interests but in each of their countries’ interests as well.”

Pompeo would not say whether he will attempt to broker another ceasefire agreement during his talks on Friday, adding that such agreements brokered by Russia and France earlier this month did not stop the hostilities in and around Karabakh.

It also remained unclear whether Mnatsakanyan and Bayramov could also meet with each other or hold a trilateral meeting with Pompeo in Washington.

Armenia’s foreign ministry released details of Mnatsakanyan’s meeting with Lavrov, saying that Mnatsakanyan told Lavrov that the ceasefire agreements “reached are still on the paper due to Azerbaijan’s treacherous behavior and steps aimed at destabilizing the situation.”

Mnatsakanyan thanked Russia for its efforts to end the hostilities, and emphasized the need to establish mechanisms to verify the ceasefire agreement.

Separately, Pashinyan said he was certain that Russia will continue doing its best to resolve the Nagorno Karabakh conflict both as an OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair and as Armenia’s strategic ally.

“Today, and during this entire period of time I highly appreciate the cooperation and partnership of Armenia and the Russian Federation. We feel Russia’s support, as a strategic ally of Armenia and the Armenian people. Constant communication exists between our countries, and we are cooperating in the maximal highest and effective way to find a solution from this situation. Also by taking into account that Russia is also a co-chair of the OSCE and Armenia’s strategic partner,” Pashinyan said.