The California
Courier Online, November 30, 2023
1- Azeri Paper
Attacks Sassounian for Saying
Azerbaijan
Wastes billions on Lobbying
By Harut
Sassounian
Publisher,
The California
Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- President of
Iraq visits Armenia
3- Armenia and
Saudia Arabia Establish Diplomatic Relations
4- Six
Armenians Among Portantino Honorees for 2023 Women in Business Awards
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1- Azeri Paper
Attacks Sassounian for Saying
Azerbaijan
Wastes billions on Lobbying
By Harut
Sassounian
Publisher,
The California
Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
Last week, I was asked by Alpha News TV to comment on the
U.S. Senate’s decision, by a unanimous vote of 100 to 0, to suspend for two
years Pres. Joe Biden’s authority to waive Section 907 of the United States
Freedom Support Act which prohibits providing assistance to Azerbaijan.
Should the House of Representatives also approve this bill, it would then go to
the President for his signature which would make it a law. Since 1992, all U.S. presidents, including Pres. Biden in the
last two years, have waived Section 907, thus providing tens of millions of
dollars of aid to Azerbaijan.
The Senate’s decision angered Azerbaijan’s
Foreign Ministry which described it as a blow to Armenia-Azerbaijan relations
and cancelled its participation in the planned Washington talks between the foreign
ministers of the two countries on Nov. 20.
During my interview with Alpha News, I stated that not a
single U.S. Senator objected to the anti-Azerbaijan bill, despite Azerbaijan hiring multiple large lobbying firms
to defend its interests in Washington.
This means that Azerbaijan
has wasted tens of millions of dollars in the last two decades paying for these
useless lobbying firms. I would like to add that the person directly
responsible for overseeing the work of these lobbying firms is Azerbaijan’s
Ambassador to Washington, Khazar Ibrahim. Therefore, any government that
becomes aware of the waste of such large amounts of money would immediately
fire its Ambassador. If Pres. Aliyev does not dismiss Amb. Ibrahim, then he
himself would be just as responsible for the waste of millions of dollars on
worthless lobbying firms which have not been able to convince a single Senator
out of 100 to vote in favor of Azerbaijan’s
interests.
Within days of my interview with Alpha News, Azerbaijan’s
first English language newspaper, AzerNews, published a lengthy article titled,
“Bribing congressmen, Armenian lobby poses threat to future of Yerevan,”
attacking me personally for saying that Azerbaijan has wasted millions of
dollars on lobbying. This is what shameless people do when they accuse others of
doing things they are guilty of.
The whole world knows about Azerbaijan’s
notorious Caviar Diplomacy and Azerbaijani Laundromat, bribing politicians
throughout Europe with billions of dollars to cast votes in favor of Azerbaijan in order to whitewash Azerbaijan’s
severe human rights violations and its fraudulent presidential elections.
Shamelessly, AzerNews falsely states that “Armenia’s lobby organizations abroad, pour
millions or perhaps billions into the pockets of congressmen, of course,
baseless and biased opinions against Azerbaijan will be voiced from the
West.”
There are several grave errors in the above sentence. First
of all, the Armenian government has not hired a single U.S. lobbying firm
simply because it does not have the huge amount of petrodollars that Azerbaijan
has which it wastes on lobbying firms in Washington, instead of taking care of
its poor people at home. Secondly, Armenian-American organizations do not have
millions, let alone billions of dollars to “pour into the pockets of congressmen.”
Armenian-Americans do not need to bribe anyone. When your cause is just, you do
not need to pay bribes to convince anyone of the truth. Only when you commit
massive crimes, as Azerbaijan
and Turkey
repeatedly do, you need to spend millions and billions of dollars to cover up
your crimes.
AzerNews went on to incriminate Azerbaijan,
saying that Baku “is not only interested in
participating in this auction of finding partnerships that Armenia is
lavishly doing now.” Even though the sentence is not grammatically correct, the
Azeri writer seems to admit that Azerbaijan is eager to bribe
foreign officials. This is a useless statement since Azerbaijan has been bribing foreign
officials for years.
Azerbaijan
should be the last country in the world to cast aspersions on Armenia or any other country, since Baku is led by a dictator
who jails journalists and human rights activists, and his soldiers commit the
ugliest war crimes, such as rapes and beheadings. Azerbaijan invaded Artsakh and
committed genocide against its Armenian population. Furthermore, Ramil Safarov,
an Azeri soldier, during a NATO-sponsored training seminar in Hungary,
chopped the head of a sleeping Armenian soldier with an axe. After Pres. Aliyev
bribed the Hungarian government to release him from prison, he pardoned him and
recognized him as a national hero.
I commend AzerNews for tracking all the way from Baku my interview in Glendale,
California, and writing a
baseless and false response. The writer of the article, Elnur Enveroglu, Deputy
Editor-in-Chief of AzerNews, went to great lengths to find not only my TV
interview, but also to translate it from Armenian into English.
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2- President of Iraq visits Armenia
YEREVAN
(Armenpress)—President of Iraq Abdul Latif Rashid arrived in Armenia on
November 21.
The Iraqi President had meetings with President of Armenia
Vahagn Khachaturyan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Speaker of Parliament
Alen Simonyan.
President Abdul Latif Rashid was welcomed at the Zvartnots Airport
in Yerevan by
Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan. Pashinyan welcomed the Iraqi president
noting that the "visit is significant and essentially historical"
because he is the first president of Iraq
to visit the Republic
of Armenia.
Pashinyan noted there are rich cultural and historical ties
between the countries, and expressed hope for continued economic cooperation.
Referring to his meeting in Armenia, Abd Al-Latif Jamal Rashid
concurred, saying the sides discussed strengthening bilateral cooperation in
the political, economic, and trade spheres.
Issues related to regional security and stability, the
process of normalization of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations were addressed.
Pashinyan also presented the humanitarian problems of more
than 100,000 forcibly displaced persons in Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of Azerbaijan’s
ethnic cleansing policy and the steps taken by the Armenian government to
overcome them.
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3- Armenia and Saudia Arabia Establish
Diplomatic Relations
Saudi Arabia
on Saturday, November 25 formally agreed to establish diplomatic relations with
Armenia,
ending a decades-long policy related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Armenia’s
Foreign Ministry announced that the Armenian and Saudi ambassadors to the United Arab Emirates signed a relevant protocol
in Abu Dhabi.
It said the document cites the two countries’ desire to “establish cordial
relations in various fields.”
Armenia
has long maintained such relationships with other Gulf Arab monarchies, notably
the United Arab Emirates and
Kuwait.
Both nations have embassies in Yerevan.
It was not immediately clear whether Riyadh
and Yerevan are
planning to open embassies in each other’s capital.
Saudi Arabia
had for decades refused to establish diplomatic ties with Armenia due to
its conflict with Muslim Azerbaijan over Karabakh. The oil-rich kingdom
signaled a change in that policy after its relations with Armenia’s arch-foe and Azerbaijan’s ally Turkey deteriorated significantly
several years ago.
During the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, Saudi Arabia had called for a boycott of Turkish
goods after Turkish president Erdoğan blamed Saudi
Arabia for the tensions in the Caucasus and the Middle East. Additionally during the 44-Day War in 2020,
Saudi channel Al Arabiya hosted a special speech delivered by Armenian
President Armen Sargsyan condemning Turkey
and Azerbaijan and urged
international community to prevent Turkey
and Azerbaijan
from intervening in the conflict together.
The policy change was highlighted in October 2021 by then
Armenian President Armen Sarkissian’s visit to Riyadh. Sarkissian sat next to Saudi Arabia’s
de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, at the opening ceremony of an
international conference held there.
Saudi Arabia
made more overtures to Yerevan in February 2022
when its Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and his Armenian
counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan held talks on the sidelines of the Munich Security
Conference in Germany.
It was the first-ever face-to-face meeting of the top diplomats of the two
states.
Armenia
subsequently voiced support for Saudi
Arabia’s bid to host the Expo 2030 world
fair. In another sign of warming bilateral ties, a Saudi airline launched
first-ever commercial flights to Yerevan
in June this year.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signaled the impending
normalization of Armenian-Saudi relations in televised remarks aired on Friday,
November 24.
“I hope that Armenia
and Saudi Arabia
will soon establish diplomatic relations, which would be a very significant
development,” he said.
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4- Six
Armenians Among Portantino Honorees for 2023 Women in Business Awards
Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D – Burbank) will host the
annual 25th State Senate District Women in Business Legislative Update &
Awards Luncheon on Wednesday, December 6 at the Castaway in Burbank. Among this year’s honorees are
Yvette Vartanian Davis, Aida Dimejian, Lusine Simonyan, Anahid Oshagan, Seda
Khojayan, and Lilit Odabashian.
“It is my privilege to recognize the accomplished women of
the great 25th Senate District,” commented Senator Portantino. “I look forward
to honoring our deserving honorees for their successful service that touches
all of us in such a positive way.”
The event will honor local women who have contributed to the
economic vitality and diversity of the 25th Senate District. Women in Business
will also celebrate women who have contributed to the greater good of our
community. These honorees inspire others, stimulate our workforce, and lead
some of the most impressive non-profits, healthcare organizations and
businesses across with 25th Senate District.
The Senator’s office received several hundred nominations
from the community. The women were nominated by their peers, co-workers, family
and friends who believed that their nominees are deserving of special
recognition.
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