The California Courier Online, October 21, 2021
1- U.S. Mayors Rescind False Proclamations
They Had Issued at Azerbaijan’s Urging
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- Australia’s NSW state premier Gladys Berejiklian resigns over
corruption probe
3- Christian Dior names French-Armenian perfumer
Francis Kurkdjian as new creative director
4- Fresno board stands against racism
and upholds an Armenian star by renaming school
5- Armenia Continues Fight Against COVID-19
U.S. Mayors Rescind False Proclamations
They Had Issued at Azerbaijan’s Urging
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
The Azeri government does not seem to understand that you can’t always
get what you want by bribing and paying politicians. There is a limit
to what money can buy. Sometimes, the truth matters more.
This is an important lesson that Azeri leaders have not learned. They
have wasted tens of millions of dollars in paying lobbying companies
and corrupt politicians.
An example of such useless activity is the Azeri obsession with trying
to exploit the controversial incident of the killing of a few hundred
Azeris in the town of Khojalu during the 1992 Artsakh War. There are
various versions of what exactly took place in Khojalu. Nevertheless,
Azerbaijan has gone to great lengths to falsely convince the world
that Armenians committed “genocide” in Khojalu!
The usual Azeri approach in the United States and around the world is
to bribe politicians to issue proclamations to commemorate the
anniversary of the Khojalu killings. Ayaz Mutalibov, the first
president of Azerbaijan, told Czech journalist Dana Mazalova in a 1992
interview that his Azeri political opponents exploited this incident
to topple him from power. He said that Armenian fighters had urged the
Azeri populations of Khojalu to flee through a passage left open, but
the Azerbaijani National Front obstructed their exodus.
Azerbaijan’s petrodollars have succeeded in getting 23 U.S. states to
commemorate the deaths in Khojalu as a “massacre.” Despite
Azerbaijan’s persistent lobbying efforts, none of these states
accepted Azerbaijan’s alleged term of “genocide” to describe the
deaths of a few hundred Azeris in Khojalu. Azerbaijan also used its
deep pockets to obtain the recognition of these killings by the
parliaments of eight countries: Azerbaijan (naturally), Peru, Panama,
Honduras, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Djibouti and Paraguay. In
addition, the Foreign Relations Committees of seven Parliaments:
Turkey, Pakistan, Mexico, Colombia, Czech Republic, Sudan and
Guatemala commemorated the Khojalu killings.
Azerbaijan used these commemorative resolutions to tarnish Armenia’s
reputation and counter the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by
over 30 countries and 49 U.S. states.
While sometimes money can get you what you want, it can at other times
get you embarrassed when those who had earlier commemorated Khojalu,
issue a retraction, apologize and cancel their recognition when they
realize that they were duped.
The latest such embarrassing example is what took place in San Diego,
the second largest city in California. The Azeri media and the Consul
General of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles, Nasimi Aghayev, boastfully
publicized on October 14 that San Diego Mayor Todd Garcia had issued a
proclamation designating Oct. 18, 2021 as “Azerbaijan’s Restoration of
Independence Day.”
The proclamation falsely claimed that “Azerbaijan is internationally
regarded as a successful model for the peaceful and harmonious
coexistence of Muslims, Christians, and Jews.” Consul General Aghayev
reminded everyone that 2021 “marks the 10th anniversary of the
Baku-San Diego partnership.” Aghayev also noted that “for the first
time since 1991, the Azerbaijani people will celebrate this date as
victorious people who restored the territorial integrity of their
country.”
However, the Consul General’s excitement lasted just one day. On
October 15, the Armenian National Committee – Western Region issued a
press release urging the Mayor of San Diego to rescind his
proclamation which “whitewashed Azerbaijan’s human rights abuses.”
That same day, the Mayor of San Diego rescinded his earlier
pro-Azerbaijan proclamation. The Mayor wrote: “It is with regret that
I share this proclamation was issued as an oversight and should have
been more thoroughly vetted by staff as it did not account for the
relationship, history and current events between Azerbaijan and
Armenia.” More importantly, he stated: “while the city of San Diego
has issued proclamations for Azerbaijan Independence Day and similar
occasions in previous administrations, my office will no longer be
granting these requests. To that end, I am rescinding this
proclamation and the City of San Diego will not recognize it on
October 18. Please accept my deepest apologies for this oversight and
I appreciate you bringing this issue to my attention.”
That is the end of “the Baku-San Diego partnership.” Not surprisingly,
the Consul General of Azerbaijan has turned into a mouse since the
Mayor rescinded his proclamation. He has not uttered a single word!
The chain of rescinded pro-Azerbaijan proclamations does not end with
San Diego. On February 26, 2021, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh issued a
proclamation to commemorate “Khojali Day.” However, on March 10, 2021,
the Mayor reversed himself and wrote: “I would like to extend my
apologies to the Armenian-American community…. Following conversations
with leaders of the Armenian-American community, we realize that this
proclamation has been hurtful to many of you…. I have decided to
rescind this proclamation.” Mayor Walsh, now US Secretary of Labor,
included high praise for the local Armenian community and made a
reference to the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. What started
as an Azeri propaganda effort, ended up as a great public relations
victory for Armenia and Armenians.The same scenario repeated itself in
Portland, Maine. Mayor Kathleen Snyder initially issued a proclamation
on February 17, 2021 to commemorate “Khojaly Remembrance Day.”
However, on April 1, 2021, the Mayor wrote: “I have decided to rescind
the Mayoral Proclamation.” She added: “I once again apologize for the
pain and harm that the issuance of this proclamation has caused….”
Similarly, the city of Torrance, California, issued a proclamation on
October 15, 2021 to celebrate “Azerbaijan Day.” It is a carbon copy of
the proclamation issued by San Diego. Later that day, Torrance Mayor
Patrick Furey stated that the city “issued a proclamation in error. On
past occasions, the City has proclaimed Azerbaijan National Day in the
City of Torrance on the effective date. In light of recent events in
the associated region, the City has respectfully requested that the
Consulate General of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles remove the proclamation
from all media.” Nevertheless, the rescinded proclamations of San
Diego and Torrance are still on Consul General Aghayev’s Facebook
page.
This is yet another example of the failed propaganda efforts of the
Consul General of Azerbaijan. Armenians in California are fortunate
that Azerbaijan has sent such an incompetent Consul General to Los
Angeles. No one should be surprised if he is recalled shortly back to
Baku.
There are many other examples of failed Azeri propaganda attempts. On
February 25, 2021, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz issued a proclamation
on “Azerbaijani Day,” but refused to include a reference to “Khojaly.”
Nevertheless, the Azeri media falsely reported that the Governor had
signed a proclamation to commemorate “the Khojaly Genocide.”
Rather than trying to undo the proclamations that are falsely issued
at the urging of Azerbaijan’s lobbyists, the Armenian-American
community should take preemptive steps so that false pro-Azerbaijan
declarations never see the light of day in the first place.
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2- Australia’s NSW state premier Gladys Berejiklian resigns
over corruption probe
By Kirsty Needham
SYDNEY (Reuters)—The premier of Australia’s biggest state economy New
South Wales (NSW), Gladys Berejiklian, resigned on Friday, October 1
after a corruption watchdog said it was investigating whether she was
involved in conduct that “constituted or involved a breach of public
trust”.
Berejiklian’s shock resignation comes as the state, which has an
economy larger than Singapore, Thailand or Malaysia, battles the
biggest COVID-19 outbreak in the country and is poised to begin ending
months-long lockdowns as Australia sets to reopen international
borders in November. read more
Berejiklian said the issues being investigated were “historical
matters” but she felt compelled to resign because of the long time
frames likely to be involved in the investigation. She also said the
state needed certainty over its leadership amid the coronavirus
pandemic.
“I state categorically I have always acted with the highest level of
integrity” she said at a news conference.
The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said in a
statement on its website that it will hold further public hearings as
part of its ongoing investigation, Operation Keppel, on Oct. 18.
That investigation has already heard Berejiklian was once in a secret
relationship with a state legislator who is the focus of its
corruption investigation.
“My resignation as premier could not occur at a worse time, but the
timing is completely outside of my control, as the ICAC has chosen to
take this action during the most challenging weeks, the most
challenging times in the state’s history,” Berejiklian said.
Berejiklian, who became premier in 2017, had fronted the media on an
almost daily basis to announce COVID-19 infection rates, deaths and
restrictions on businesses, schools and households as the state
battles an outbreak of the Delta variant that began in June.
In the past week daily infection tallies had begun to fall as the
state neared an 70 percent vaccination target and greater freedom of
movement is expected to be granted in mid-October.
NSW recorded 864 new cases on Friday and 15 deaths, however officials
have warned hospitals would face a peak in sick patients throughout
October as social restrictions are lifted as the state nears 80
percent vaccination.
Berejiklian is the second NSW premier to resign because of an ICAC
investigation. NSW leader Barry O’Farrell quit in 2014 after giving
evidence in which he forgot to tell the commission he had accepted a
gift of a $3,000 bottle of Grange wine.
Berejiklian said she had told ministers in her government if they were
the subject of an integrity investigation they should stand aside
until their name was cleared, but in her case, as premier this wasn’t
an option. She will leave parliament as soon as a by-election can take
place.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said she had “displayed heroic
qualities” as premier, while former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull
wrote on Twitter that she was a dedicated reformer who had “led the
State bravely and tirelessly through the bushfires and the pandemic”.
Berejiklian gave evidence at an ICAC hearing 12 months ago, and denied
any wrong doing.
ICAC on Friday said the scope of its investigation had widened and
includes whether between 2012 and 2018 Berejiklian “engaged in conduct
that constituted or involved a breach of public trust by exercising
public functions in circumstances where she was in a position of
conflict between her public duties and her private interest” as she
was in a personal relationship with the then NSW MP Daryl Maguire. The
potential breach involved grant funding promised to community
organisations in Maguire’s electorate of Wagga Wagga, and whether she
failed to report, or encouraged, corrupt conduct by Maguire. Maguire’s
legal representative declined to comment.
Maguire told the same wide-ranging inquiry last year he had received
envelopes full of thousands of dollars in cash at his parliament
office as part of a scheme for Chinese nationals to fraudulently
acquire visas, and had also tried to make money from his position as
chairman of the parliament’s Asia Pacific Friendship Group by
promoting a series of Chinese business deals in the Pacific islands.
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3- Christian Dior names French-Armenian perfumer
Francis Kurkdjian as new creative director
(Combined Sources)—Dior has appointed French-Armenian Francis
Kurkdjian as its perfume creation director. He is succeeding François
Demachy, among the world’s most famous perfumers, who was Parfums
Christian Dior’s first in-house perfumer and is retiring. Kurkdjian
will also remain artistic director of his own Maison Francis
Kurkdijan, which he co-founded in 2009 with Marc Chaya and inaugurated
him to prominence as a boundary-pushing fragrance artist.
“It is a great honor for me to join Christian Dior Parfums, a House
with an inspiring history and driven by a creative spirit resolutely
turned towards the future,” Kurkdijan said in an Instagram post.
“Today, I am delighted to bring my vision to it with my olfactory
creations. Working for Maison Dior while continuing to support my own
Maison is a huge privilege.” In his new position, Kurkdjian will lead
the creation of the maison’s fragrances as perfumes creation director.
“Francis Kurkdjian is a visionary perfumer and a passionate artist who
brings his full creative energies, savoir-faire and exacting
professionalism to Dior perfumes, crafting future Dior fragrances that
will conquer the world. Francis will build his creations from an
exceptional olfactory heritage which started in 1947, anchored in the
use of exceptional flowers and bold creative initiatives,” said
Laurent Kleitman, president and CEO of Parfums Christian Dior.
In recent years, the Paris-born Kurkdjian has been considered one of
the most inventive creators of modern scents in the industry. He will
remain artistic director of the house bearing his name, a major player
in the niche luxury segment. The 52-year-old perfumer has created over
40 scents in his career including fragrances for Elie Saab, Burberry,
Nina Ricci and Narciso Rodriguez. Known as a genuine innovator,
Kurkdjian once recreated Marie Antoinette’s favorite perfume for the
Chateau of Versailles.
Kurkdjian was only 25 when he created his first men’s scent, the
pathbreaking Le Male by Jean Paul Gaultier. Back in 2001, he even
created his own bespoke fragrance atelier, sparking a movement to
indie fragrance brands. He has already created several significant
scents for Dior including Eau Noire and Cologne Blanche for the
house’s Collection Privée. In 2006, Kurkdjian redeveloped the Papier
d’Arménie for the year of Armenia in France. Papier d’Arménie, a type
of Armenian paper produced in France, is a room deodorizing product
sold as booklets of twelve sheets of paper each cut into three pieces,
which are coated with benzoin resin, the dried sap of styrax trees
In 2009, the French state bestowed on him the honorific title of
Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. Kurkdjian also broke new ground by
developing unusual link-ups with fine artists – notably the great
French conceptual artist Sophie Calle and choreographer Christian
Rizzo. His appointment marks the passing of a generation at Parfums
Christian Dior, succeeding Demachy, a highly experienced perfumer, who
besides reimaging iconic scents like J’Adore and Miss Dior, has
created fragrances for Chanel, Fendi and Acqua di Parma.
“François Demachy will remain one of the most prominent talents among
those who have helped celebrate the unique Dior spirit and perpetuate
the Dior dream. His scents are treasures that will remain timeless. It
has been an extraordinary adventure and a great honor to work with him
in both Paris and Grasse,” Kleitman concluded.
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4- Fresno board stands against racism
and upholds an Armenian star by renaming school
Fresno board stands against racism
and upholds an Armenian star by renaming school
By Tad Weber
Fresno Bee Opinion Editor
After a torturous process that dragged out over several months, the
Fresno Unified School District trustees did the right thing Wednesday
night in renaming Forkner Elementary for one of the city’s star
residents.
As of fall 2022, the school in northwest Fresno will become H. Roger
Tatarian Elementary. That is important for three reasons.
First, Tatarian was a Fresno native who rose to become editor in chief
of United Press International, one of the world’s two leading wire
services. He oversaw a news report that went to millions around the
globe. Just on those merits alone, naming a school after him was
deserved.
Second, Tatarian was an Armenian American. Fresno Unified has more
than 100 campuses, and none had been named for an Armenian. The
Armenian heritage in Fresno covers more than a century, having begun
out of the genocide that started in 1915 in their European homeland,
then controlled by Ottoman Turks. About 1.5 million Armenians died in
that genocide, an event many historians think was a precursor to the
Nazi Germany’s attempt to rid the world of Jews in the Holocaust.
Third, Forkner refers to J.C. Forkner, a Fresno builder who developed
Fig Garden. Forkner used deed restrictions that made buyers commit to
not selling their homes to any “Asiatics, Mongolians, Hindus, Negroes,
Armenians or any natives or descendants of the Turkish empire … .”
The practice morphed into red-lining by financial institutions, and
effectively shut off home-purchasing opportunities to anyone from
those groups. Fresno suffers today from the impacts of such race-based
restrictions. This larger point was mostly lost on a group of Forkner
parents who attended the school board meeting to protest the renaming.
It is probably asking too much to expect such parents to see the
bigger picture. Forkner is their children’s school, and they would
want to keep it as is. That is understandable.
But, one parent inadvertently got to the larger meaning when she said
the restrictions put in place by Forkner in first half of the 1900s
were legal.
Yes, they were. But that’s the point. It was legalized racism. It was
also legal at one time to keep Black students separate from white
kids. In Fresno, it was legal to keep Chinese residents “across the
tracks” from where whites lived. Being legal then does not make it
right.
Thankfully, in 2021, Americans — and Fresnans — are coming to grips
with mistakes and failures of the past. It is simplistic to label it
as “cancel culture.” Actually, it is better called maturing. Renaming
this elementary school pays overdue honor to Fresno’s Armenian
community and, at the same time, stamps out the memory of a man who
built his wealth through the use of racist covenants.
The school trustees of decades ago, when Forkner first opened, should
never have named it after him. But they did, and years later a
different board — composed of a Black woman, three Latinas, a Filipina
and a white man — unanimously made the right decision.
Mark Arax, a local Armenian-American, former Los Angeles Times
reporter and best-selling author, told the board that renaming the
campus after Tatarian would accomplish historical restitution and
reckoning. He also encouraged the Forkner staff and parents to use
this as a teaching moment. That’s probably a hard sell, given the high
emotions on display at the meeting.
But that is exactly what it is. The renaming can only be properly
understood in the context of the greater meaning.
The students at Forkner Elementary should know the truth about their
old namesake, and the honorable reason for their new one. That’s known
as education.
This article appeared in The Fresno Bee on October 14, 2021.
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5- Armenia Continues Fight Against COVID-19
Armenia is continuing the fight against the third wave of COVID-19
cases, 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 20,507 active cases in Armenia as of October 20. Armenia
has recorded 278,431 coronavirus cases and 5,713 deaths; 252,211 have
recovered.
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