Category: 2021

 1-         Pres. Erdogan Withdraws Empty Threat
            To Expel 10 Western Ambassadors
            By Harut Sassounian
            Publisher, The California Courier
            www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2-         Letter to the Editor
3-         Mandatory testing and vaccination: new restrictions in Armenia
4-        Dr. Armand Dorian named CEO of USC Verdugo Hills Hospital
5-         Armenia Continues Fight Against COVID-19

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1-         Pres. Erdogan Withdraws Empty Threat

            To Expel 10 Western Ambassadors

            By Harut Sassounian
            Publisher, The California Courier
            www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
Once again, Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdogan made empty threats. He
boastfully proclaimed that he would expel the ambassadors of 10
Western countries, including the United States, for issuing a
declaration urging the release of a Turkish human rights activist. He
has been wrongly jailed since 2017 without any conviction.

Here are the twists of Erdogan’s irate words. On October 20, he
harshly criticized and threatened to expel 10 foreign ambassadors who
made a joint declaration on Oct. 18, urging the Turkish government to
release philanthropist Osman Kavala immediately from jail. The 10
countries are: The US, Germany, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, the
Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden. On the fourth anniversary
of Kavala’a jailing, the ambassadors encouraged Turkey to find a “just
and speedy resolution to his case.” They warned that Kavala’s
continued detention “cast a shadow over respect for democracy, the
rule of law and transparency in the Turkish judicial system.”

After his initial arrest in 2017, Kavala was acquitted in 2020 of the
accusations against him, but was rearrested on new baseless charges.
Turkey ignored the 2019 ruling of the European Court of Human Rights
calling for the immediate release of Kavala. The European Council
warned Turkey that if it does not comply with the European Court’s
ruling by Nov. 30, 2021, it could suspend its voting rights or even
membership in the Council.

Erdogan lashed back at these ambassadors by saying: “Is it within your
boundary to teach such a lesson to Turkey? Who are you? I told our
foreign minister that we cannot have the luxury of hosting them in our
country.” Erdogan added: “They go to bed, they get up, Kavala,
Kavala…. Kavala is the Turkish branch of [George] Soros. Ten
ambassadors come to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for him. What kind
of rudeness is this? What do you think this place is? This is Turkey,
Turkey. This place is not what you think — a tribal state. This is
glorious Turkey. You can’t just get up and come to the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs to give instructions. I gave the necessary
instructions to our Minister of Foreign Affairs. I told him what to
do. I said, ‘you will immediately deal with these 10 ambassadors
declaring them persona non grata [an unwelcome person] as soon as
possible.’ They will know Turkey. The day they do not know or
understand Turkey, they will leave this place.”

After their declaration, the 10 ambassadors were summoned to the
Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Afterwards, the Ministry said
that “the ambassadors were warned.”

The real question is: Who the hell Erdogan thinks he is to warn the
envoys of these countries? By making such a threat, Erdogan just added
another wrinkle to the existing problems with Pres. Joe Biden on the
eve of the G20 summit in Rome, where the two leaders are supposed to
meet. Contrary to Pres. Donald Trump who went to great lengths to
accommodate Erdogan’s wishes, Pres. Biden has taken a much tougher
line on Turkey. Not surprisingly, The New York Times reported that
“the Biden administration was the driving force behind the letter, in
keeping with the president’s policy of publicly calling out states
over human rights violations.”

Seven of the 10 countries that had signed the letter are members of
NATO, while six of them are European Union members. European
Parliament President David Sassoli issued a hard-hitting statement.
“The expulsion of ten ambassadors is a sign of the authoritarian drift
of the Turkish government. We will not be intimidated. Freedom for
Osman Kavala.”

By threatening to expel the 10 ambassadors, Erdogan is engaging in his
usual trick of demagogy as his political rating has plummeted risking
his reelection in 2023. He prefers to raise his own popularity while
damaging Turkey’s reputation around the world. He frequently creates
artificial external crises to deflect the public’s attention from the
dire internal conditions. Meanwhile, the Turkish economy has hit rock
bottom with massive unemployment and poverty. The Turkish Lira has
dropped to a record low of almost 10 Liras per dollar from 1.3 Lira
per dollar from when Erdogan became Prime Minister in 2003.

Even though Erdogan refuses to heed anyone’s advice, he finally came
to his senses, realizing that he cannot go forward with his threatened
expulsion. He was caught in the horns of a dilemma. If he reversed his
decision and allowed the ambassadors to stay, he would lose face in
front of the Turkish public. However, should he have proceeded with
his expulsion order, he may have caused irreversible damage to
Turkey’s economy and relations with the West.

Erdogan was quoted on Oct. 21 as saying that the 10 ambassadors would
not release “bandits, murderers and terrorists” in their own
countries. Thus, Erdogan was urging Western countries not to interfere
with Turkey’s judicial system. While Erdogan is making such a
provocative statement, he himself repeatedly pressured Pres. Trump to
quash the investigation of the Turkish Halkbank which is accused of
money laundering and conspiracy, helping Iran to evade U.S. sanctions.
Erdogan was trying to cover up his own ties to the Halkbank scheme.

Pres. Erdogan’s aides explained to him the catastrophic repercussions
of his threatened expulsion of the 10 ambassadors. Naturally, these 10
countries would have retaliated by expelling Turkey’s ambassadors.
There were dozens of irate articles in the United States and European
countries stating that they were fed up with Turkey’s hostile behavior
and illegal actions.

That same message was relayed to Turkey through private diplomatic
channels. Finally, a compromise was found to deescalate the crisis.
The U.S. Embassy in Ankara tweeted on Oct. 25: “in response to
questions regarding the Statement of October 18, the United States
notes that it maintains compliance with Article 41 of the Vienna
Convention on Diplomatic Relations.” Other embassies, including those
of Canada, New Zealand and the Netherlands, posted similar messages.
Germany and France retweeted the U.S. Embassy’s tweet. Article 41 of
the Vienna Convention bars ambassadors from interfering in the
domestic affairs of host countries.

The Turkish Anadolu news agency gleefully tweeted in response: “The
U.S. Embassy in Ankara has given in,” adding that Erdogan welcomed the
U.S. tweet. Erdogan announced after a Cabinet meeting on Oct. 25 that
the ambassadors had backtracked on their “defamation of our judiciary
and our country.”

Whichever U.S. official decided to send the second tweet which was
interpreted as “backing down” from condemning Turkey’s violations of
human rights, should be immediately fired. How can the U.S. government
send one message a few days earlier and then turn around and
contradict it? What happened to Pres. Biden’s policy of publicly
calling out states over human rights violations? A U.S. State
Department spokesman responded by saying that its second tweet was
meant to underscore that the U.S. envoy’s actions were in keeping with
the Vienna Convention.

Unless the U.S. government keeps its promise to come to the defense of
human rights around the world, Erdogan and others will keep on
violating with impunity the basic rights of their people. There should
be no backing down and no contradictory messages in this regard. It is
now up to the European Court of Human Rights to hold Erdogan’s feet to
the fire.

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2-         Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor:

Harut Sassounian’s recent column was certainly correct in urging the
community to take preemptive steps to prevent the despicable
historical revisionism campaigns by the Azeri dictator and his
consulates. One of the most important preemptive steps would be to
elect more Armenian-Americans to public office.

In 2009, a lobbyist for Azerbaijan tried to convince members of the
California State Legislature to sign a disgusting letter about Khojalu
that accused Armenians of “genocide.” The Azeri Consul General who was
orchestrating this embarrassing public relations stunt was humiliated
when only one out of 120 members of the Legislature signed on to the
letter. The only reason that happened was because I was a member of
the State Assembly at that time, and my colleagues in the Legislature
immediately called me to ask about it. I was able to notify every
member of the Assembly and the Senate directly about this propaganda
effort, and I could explain to them why it was an outrageous lie that
they should not support. If I had not been there as their elected
colleague, I’m sure many would have signed it without a second
thought. That incident really demonstrates why having a seat at the
table of power matters.

The petrodollar-funded Azeri propaganda machine is relentless and
mind-numbingly false. In Orwellian fashion, the Azeri dictator wants
to convince the world that the aggressor and war criminal is the
victim; that the indigenous Armenian people of Artsakh are occupiers;
that ancient Armenian churches and cemeteries in Artsakh are not
Armenian; that the right of the courageous people of Artsakh to demand
self-determination and liberty may legitimately be crushed by brute
force; and that the corrupt Azeri kleptocracy is a model of openness
and democratic values. These are the kind of Big Lies that would make
Joseph Goebbels proud, and they are an extension of deliberate
cultural genocide. The Armenian community must stand against these
lies everywhere they arise, and everyone who cares about truth and
justice must join us.

Paul Krekorian

Los Angeles City Councilmember

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3-         Mandatory testing and vaccination: new restrictions in Armenia

By Armine Avetisyan

Another wave of Covid is hitting Armenia. According to official
statistics, there are approximately 1,000 new cases per day against
nearly 3 million inhabitants. The number of deaths also rises with an
average of 30 deaths – a very high number compared to previous
figures, and despite the strict measures put in place to contain the
pandemic.

Armenia has been in quarantine for a year now, with mandatory face
masks indoors, thermometers in workplaces and in public places, and
hands disinfection. Public officers – including the police – carry out
numerous inspections in public places and public transport, 7 days a
week. Anyone who violates the restrictions is fined. A business, for
example, is fined between 100 and 300 thousand Armenian dram
(approximately between 180 and 545 Euros), and between 150 and 500
thousand dram (approximately between 270 and 905 Euros) in case of
repeated violations.

A new regulation entered into force on October 1. By order of the
Armenian Ministry of Health, workers who are not vaccinated without
having substantial contraindications must submit a certificate
confirming the negative result of the COVID-19 PCR test every 14 days.
In case of lack of vaccination certificate or certificate of
negativity, as in the case of violation of the obligation to keep the
relevant records, administrative penalties are applied by the
inspection body from October 14. Fines range from 10 to 20 thousand
dram (between 18 and 36 Euros) for workers and from 40 to 120 thousand
(between 72 and 218 Euros) for employers.

“I came to the polyclinic early in the morning and queued for the
vaccination: I do it for my safety and to have a vaccination
certificate within the deadline set by the government”, says Lilit,
40, who had not yet vaccinated because Moderna, the vaccine of her
choice, was not available in Armenia.

Lilit works in a private company with not many employees, and they
have different opinions: for some, vaccination is very important,
while others are still thinking about it. According to Lilit, apart
from that, everyone is following the anti-Covid regulations to the
letter, because they understand that through these simple rules they
can reduce the likelihood of being infected.

“I have never had any doubts about getting vaccinated”, adds Lilit,
who studied the information available on the Internet about vaccines
and waited for Moderna to arrive in Armenia. 50,000 doses of Moderna’s
Spikevax vaccine arrived in Armenia on October 4 as a gift from the
Lithuanian government. Prior to this, four types of anti-Covid
vaccines were administered in Armenia: Russian Sputnik V,
British-Swedish AstraZeneca, and Chinese CoronaVac and Sinopharm. From
the start of vaccinations in Armenia on October 10, 514,241
vaccinations have been carried out, including 344,029 first doses and
170,212 second doses, respectively equal to 11.6% and 5.7% of the
population.

The number of people who have chosen to be vaccinated has increased in
recent days, a fact also highlighted by the queues at the vaccination
centres, but the Armenian government denounces that they are still not
enough. During one of the last meetings of the Council of Ministers,
the Prime Minister requested that all the levers of the state be used
for this battle. The Armenian government has allocated more than 2.4
billion Armenian drams for the prevention, control, and treatment of
Covid-19.

While the average number of people vaccinated was 6,000 per day in
September, this month the number has doubled. In order to avoid long
queues, Armenian doctors also carry out outpatient vaccinations. In
addition, if desired, a group of specialists visits companies,
departments, and educational institutions and carries out vaccination
on the spot.

“The entire infrastructure is ready to carry out a large number of
vaccinations. I add that vaccination does not exclude the disease, but
reduces the risk of contagion”, Armenian Health Minister Anahit
Avanesyan reported during a recent press conference, adding that the
late entry into force of the restrictive measures was a shortcoming of
her department.

According to the minister, they are currently considering the option
of requesting certification of negativity from Covid or vaccination to
enter restaurants and attend concerts.

“We are working on it, gathering experiences on the functioning of
these regulatory mechanisms. The preliminary plan will be ready
shortly, within the next two weeks”.

Similar stringent measures are already in place in a large number of
countries around the world. The goal is the same: to overcome the
pandemic emergency and return to a normal life. According to the
picture provided by Reuters, the three best vaccination campaigns are
carried out by the United Arab Emirates (96% coverage), Portugal
(87.2%), and Cuba (84.4%). The specialists inform that for two weeks
after the second dose, even if the person is infected, the symptoms
are much milder and the illness is unlikely to worsen.

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4-        Dr. Armand Dorian named CEO of USC Verdugo Hills Hospital

LOS ANGELES — Armand Dorian, MD, MMM, has been named CEO of USC
Verdugo Hills Hospital (USC-VHH) located in Glendale, California and
part of Keck Medicine of USC.

He has served as interim CEO since March 2021 and will begin his new
role immediately.

AS CEO, Dorian will lead all aspects of the hospital in advancing the
hospital’s mission of providing personalized, high-quality health care
to the local community.

“Armand has nearly 20 years of medical experience as an emergency
board- certified physician and valued leader and administrator,” said
Rod Hanners, CEO of Keck Medicine. “He is an indefatigable and
inspirational leader, as he just proved by successfully leading the
hospital through many challenges during the pandemic. With him at the
helm, and with his commitment to patient care, staff wellness and
community engagement, there is no limit to what USC-VHH can offer our
patients, staff and community.”

Dorian is also the president of the USC-VHH’s governing board, the
former chair and a current member of the hospital’s Caduceus Society,
which is composed of philanthropic medical staff, a hospital
foundation board member and a community advisory board member.

Additionally, he is a clinical professor of emergency medicine at the
Keck School of Medicine of USC. He also serves the city of Glendale
and the greater community by providing local groups and public
officials with timely and accurate medical expertise.

USC-VHH is a 158-bed community hospital that has been serving the
Foothill communities of Southern California for almost 50 years. It
includes a 24-hour emergency room, a primary stroke center, and OB/GYN
and infant services, among other services.

Dorian joined the USC-VHH executive team in July 2018 as the chief
medical officer to help lead the physician medical staff. Previously,
he served as the hospital’s director and vice-chair of the emergency
department.

He received his medical degree from the John A. Burns School of
Medicine at the University of Hawaii and completed his emergency
medicine residency at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center. He received a
Master of Medical Management at the USC Marshall School of Business.

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5-         Armenia Continues Fight Against COVID-19

Armenia is continuing the fight against COVID-19, as the country
continues promoting the vaccination phase.

The U.S. State Department on July 26 warned American citizens to
reconsider travel to Armenia due to the increase in cases of the
Covid-19.

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a
Level 3 Travel Health Notice for Armenia due to COVID-19, indicating a
high level of COVID-19 in the country,” said the State Department.

The State Department also urged U.S. citizens not to travel to the
Nagorno-Karabakh region due to armed conflict.

“The U.S. government is unable to provide emergency services to U.S.
citizens in Nagorno-Karabakh as U.S. government employees are
restricted from traveling there,” the State Department added.

WHO, with funding from the European Union, in September supplied X-ray
equipment to 7 COVID-19 frontline hospitals – 1 in the capital Yerevan
and in 6 other cities in Armenia.

A new law came into effect on October 1, which mandates that all
employees in Armenia have a COVID-19 vaccine. But the mandate has been
met with widespread criticism

As of early October, only 5 percent of the country’s population had
been vaccinated.

There were 30,276 active cases in Armenia as of October 27. Armenia
has recorded 300,143 coronavirus cases and 6,151 deaths; 263,716 have
recovered.

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