The California
Courier Online, October 5, 2023
1- Biden’s
Inaction on Artsakh
Disappoints
Armenian-Americans
By Harut
Sassounian
Publisher,
The California
Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- The Republic of Artsakh Will Cease to Exist,
Nearly All
Armenians Have Been Forcibly Displaced
3- At Reagan
Library, LA Armenians Protest
to Raise
Awareness of Artsakh Genocide
4- Armenian
students protest at USC event featuring Turkish Ambassador to US
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1- Biden’s
Inaction on Artsakh
Disappoints
Armenian-Americans
By Harut
Sassounian
Publisher,
The California
Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
There are many justified complaints about Russia’s shameful role in the loss of Artsakh
and inaction in coming to the defense of Armenia’s borders. However, there
is also a lot to complain about the indifference by the international
community, including the United States,
about Azerbaijan’s
aggression against Artsakh and Armenia.
For 30 years, the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group, composed of the United
States, France
and Russia,
the mediators in the Artsakh conflict, issued repeated statements about the
unacceptability of the use of force, urging the settlement of the dispute
through peaceful negotiations.
However, contrary to such well-intentioned words, when Azerbaijan repeatedly attacked Artsakh and Armenia with
frequent shootings at the border for three decades, the OSCE Minsk Group simply
issued meaningless statements, urging both sides not to engage in violence. The
OSCE, however, never bothered to point a finger at the guilty party – Azerbaijan—thus
equating the victimizer with the victim.
Such unjust statements encouraged Azerbaijan
to brazenly continue its attacks, culminating in the unleashing of a massive
war against Artsakh in 2020, followed by incursions into the territory of Armenia.
Last month, Azerbaijan
violated the agreement it signed in 2020 to allow Russian peacekeepers to
protect the remnants of Artsakh’s population until 2025. Pres. Ilham Aliyev,
knowing full well that no foreign country would intervene to stop his attacks,
ethnically cleansed the 120,000 inhabitants of Artsakh and drove them out of
their historical homeland.
On Sept. 14, 2023, the Acting Assistant Secretary of State
Yuri Kim testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: “We will not
tolerate any military action. We will not tolerate any attack on the people of
Nagorno-Karabakh.” Days later, Azerbaijan
attacked and occupied Artsakh confident that the U.S. government was bluffing.
Naturally, no one expected the United
States or another major power to send troops to defend
Artsakh and Armenia, but
merely urging Azerbaijan
not to block the Lachin Corridor or refrain from the use of force is an
exercise in futility. The international community did not even impose sanctions
on Azerbaijan
because its gas and oil was more valuable than Armenian blood.
To make matters worse, after ignoring Azerbaijan’s repeated
attacks on Artsakh and Armenia since the 2020 war, Samantha Power, the
Administrator of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), finally
arrived in Armenia last week, bringing along a letter from Pres. Joe Biden
which contained a lot of sweet words for Armenians, but once again, no action.
Even more shocking, Power offered the pitiful amount of
$11.5 million in humanitarian aid to the 120,000 destitute Artsakh refugees.
That’s almost $96 for each refugee, deprived of housing, food, medicines and
other basic necessities. This is a shameful amount of money compared to the
USAID’s annual budget of $50 billion. Her visit was too late and accomplished
too little.
Several other countries and international agencies also
pledged assistance to the Artsakh Armenians: France ($7.4 million), Germany
($5.3 million), the European Union ($5.3 million), Sweden ($1.3 million),
Canada ($1.85 million), Denmark ($140,000), United Nations Refugee Agency,
UNHCR (amount unspecified), Japan (amount unspecified), Spain (amount
unspecified). Armenia
committed $25 million, plus $125 for rent and utilities per month for six
months for each refugee. The government of Cyprus
invited the Artsakh refugees to resettle in Cyprus. However, it is not a good
idea to take these displaced Armenians out of Armenia.
In addition, dozens of Armenian organizations throughout the
Diaspora are raising funds to help the Artsakh refugees. There are also many
charitable organizations and businesses in Armenia that are helping the
Artsakh Armenians with funds, supplies or services. Armenia’s Ministry of Finance
opened a bank account to receive donations from the public. There is also an
office set up by the Armenian government to coordinate the distribution of the
offered assistance.
Just in case someone thinks that the pledged assistance is a
lot of money, it is in fact a negligible amount compared to the vast needs of
the refugees for the months and years to come. Ukraine,
on the other hand, has received so far $80 billion from the United States
for its military, financial and humanitarian needs. In addition, 41 other
countries have contributed tens of billions of dollars to Ukraine.
The lack of concrete action by the Biden Administration,
aside from pledging $11.5 million to the Artsakh refugees, has highly
disappointed many Armenian-Americans. It is surprising that Pres. Biden, an
experienced politician and candidate for reelection next year, who has one of
the lowest ratings in the history of the United States for an incumbent
president, has not made more of an effort to win over Armenian-American voters.
Even if Pres. Biden does not care about Armenia and Artsakh, he should have
at least cared about his own self-interest, which is getting votes for his own
re-election.
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2- The Republic of Artsakh Will
Cease to Exist,
Nearly All
Armenians Have Been Forcibly Displaced
(Combined Sources)—“The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
will cease to exist,” said an order signed by Artsakh President Samvel
Shahramanyan on Thursday, September 28, dissolving all state agencies and
organizations on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The order said that given the “grave military-political
situation and pursuant to ensuring the physical security and essential
interests of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh as a priority, taking into
consideration the agreement reached with Azerbaijan mediated by the Russian
peacekeeping forces command that the free, voluntary and unimpeded passage of
the Nagorno-Karabakh residents with their property and vehicles through Lachin
Corridor will be taken into consideration,” the official Artsakh InfoCenter
reported.
“All ministries and other state agencies and organizations
will be disbanded by January 1, 2024 and the “Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh)
Republic will cease to exist,” reads the order.
“The population of Nagorno-Karabakh, including the population
now outside the republic, after this order takes effect, will become acquainted
with the terms of reintegration presented by Azerbaijan with the purpose of
making an individual decision in the future on the opportunity to stay in or
return to Nagorno-Karabakh,” the presidential order said.
Of the population of 120,000 in Artsakh, some 20,000 had
alreadly fled the region after the 2020 War, according to reports.
The number of forcibly displaced persons from Artsakh who
have crossed into Armenia
reached 100,417 as of Monday, October 2 (at the time of The California
Courier's publication), according to official reports. Of them, 30% are minors
separated from parents. A total of 41,043 vehicles had crossed the Hakari Bridge,
which links Armenia
to Artsakh, since last week.
Unofficial reports say only a handful of people are left in
Artsakh—among them elderly who are unable to leave due to poor health and lack
of assistance; and government officials who will stay in Stepanakert to
facilitate the safety of those citizens who may be in the territory of Artsakh,
but are willing to move to the Republic of Armenia.
The Armenian government has offered accommodation to all
arriving forcibly displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the
latest information, 32,200 of the forcibly displaced persons had accepted the
accommodation provided by the Armenian government.Some of the forcibly
displaced persons chose to stay with their relatives or friends in Armenia.
Nagorno-Karabakh representatives and Azerbaijani authorities
held a third meeting in Yevlakh on September 29, as part of ongoing talks on
the region’s possible “reintegration” into Azerbaijan and the Artsakh
Armenians’ rights and security “within the framework of the Azerbaijani
constitution.”
Artsakh representatives and Azerbaijani officials started
talks on Thursday, September 21, in Yevlakh. The second meeting took place in
Ivanyan on September 23. Nagorno-Karabakh was represented by Davit Melkumyan, a
lawmaker and head of the Artsakh Democratic Party, along with Deputy Secretary
of the Security Council Sergey Martirosyan.
Artsakh was forced to concede to a Russian-brokered
ceasefire— whereby it would disband its armed forces and discuss its
“reintegration” into Azerbaijan—following
a lightning 24-hour military attack by Azerbaijan against Artsakh on
Tuesday, September 19.
Azerbaijan
said on Tuesday, September 19 that six of its citizens had been killed by land
mines in two separate incidents in the Nagorno-Karabakh region and blamed
“illegal Armenian armed groups” for laying the mines—using this incident as the
precursor for its attack against Artsakh that day. At least 200 people were
killed and more than 400 were wounded in Artsakh as a result of the Azerbaijani
attack, according to the latest information released by Nagorno-Karabakh Human
Rights Defender Gegham Stepanyan.
Azerbaijan
claims it lost 192 servicemembers during its attack on Artsakh on September 19
and 20, and 511 others were wounded in the attack.
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3- At Reagan Library, LA Armenians
Protest
to Raise
Awareness of Artsakh Genocide
By Jeremy Childs and
Christian Martinez
(Los Angeles
Times)—Close to 100 Armenian Americans and supporters gathered in front of the
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Tuesday to rally for the thousands of
ethnic Armenians in the contested and besieged region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Organizers said the rally in Simi Valley, held the day before the second
Republican presidential debate at the same location, was intended to shine a
light on the ongoing humanitarian crisis facing the estimated 120,000 Armenians
living in the region. Known to Armenians as Artsakh, the region sits within the
borders of Azerbaijan
but has been historically occupied by ethnic Armenians.
The crowd gathered on Presidential Drive, with many waving
Armenian and American flags. They were led in chants denouncing genocide and
asking for sanctions against Azerbaijan.
Ratcheting up the tension and adding to the conflict’s death
toll, an explosion at a gas station in Nagorno-Karabakh on Tuesday, September
26 left scores of people dead or injured. Many of those killed were among the
thousands of ethnic Armenians trying to flee the region. The cause of the blast
remained unclear late Tuesday.
Joseph Kaskanian, a spokesman for the Armenian National
Committee of America, said the rally was a call for support from both the GOP
presidential candidates and the Biden administration. He said previous requests
for aid had fallen on deaf ears.
“Not only is the Biden administration failing to address any
of this stuff, the Biden administration is complicit in the genocide of
Armenians,” Kaskanian told The Times.
Protesters at the rally carried signs demanding action and
expressing anger at the Biden administration.
“1915 Never Again,” read one sign, in reference to the
Armenian genocide. “Biden supports genocide,” said another.
“We’re here to demand action from the U.S.
government,” said Alexis Tolmajian, a member of the Armenian Youth Federation,
the youth organization of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation political party
that organized the rally. “We want awareness and some sort of action plan from
the GOP.
“We just need them to get, you know, get the ball rolling,”
she added, “and to start actually talking about what’s happening to stop it
before it’s irreversible.”
Tolmajian said it had been “extremely difficult” to see “no
action” from the Biden administration.
Ralliers were demanding five actions from President Biden
and the GOP candidates: to intervene and stop the attacks in Artsakh; end
military aid to Azerbaijan; send emergency humanitarian airlifts to Artsakh for
those remaining in the region; enact sanctions on Azerbaijan; and remove the
blockade within the Lachin Corridor.
“How do you go about recognizing the first genocide of the
21st century, and then turn around and allow for it to happen again,” said
Nyree Derderian, chairperson of the Armenian Relief Society, referring to
Biden’s formal recognition of the Armenian genocide in 2021.
Derderian said she “would take a pledge” from the GOP
candidates but hoped for action.
“There’s been a lot of pledges over the years,” Derderian
said, “a lot of promises that have all been broken.”
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4- Armenian
students protest at USC event featuring Turkish Ambassador to US
(Combined Sources)—A group of more than 100 Armenian
students, faculty, and members of the Los Angeles Armenian community, including
representatives of the The Armenian National Committee of America – Western
Region (ANCA-WR), gathered at USC to protest the “Türkiye Conference” organized
by USC Annenberg’s Master of Diplomacy program on September 29.
The conference featured Turkey’s
Ambassador, Murat Merçan, and Azerbaijan’s
Consul General, Ramil Gurbanov, in a panel discussion about Turkey’s
foreign policy. Gurbanov’s participation was undisclosed until the event’s
commencement, leaving the Armenian attendees astonished and outraged.
The event took place two days after the USC Undergraduate
Student Government passed a resolution calling on USC to recognize the Azerbaijan
incursion into Artsakh and the resulting humanitarian crisis as a genocide. The
resolution called on President Carol Folt, as well as USC Provosts, to “release
a community message in support of the Armenian student community and [for]
genocide that their nation is facing.”
Members of USC’s Armenian Students’ Association attended the
weekly USG meeting and voiced their concerns that USC has done little to aid
the Armenian student community or to speak out against what they say is the
current genocide within Nagorno-Karabakh. These students shared how their
mental health and academic work have been affected due to these atrocities. “In
collaboration with the Armenian Students’ Association, we wrote a resolution as
a call to action to the administration demanding that they release a social
media statement, specifically Dr. Carol Folt, in support of Armenian students
because of the genocide currently happening in Nagorno-Karabakh back in
Armenia,” said Senator Julianna Melendez, a junior studying international
relations.
Melendez worked alongside the Armenian Students’ Association
on the resolution throughout the last year while running her USG campaign.
“Many Armenian students showed up tonight to show their support for the
resolution, to share how the genocide is affecting them personally and to urge
the rest of the senators to vote ‘yes’ on the resolution.”
On Friday, September 29, Folt issued a statement on
Instagram. “LA has the largest population of Armenians outside of Armenia. Our
hearts go out to the people in Nagorno-Karabakh and those impacted by this
grave humanitarian crisis. USCArmenianStudies continues to educate our
community about the historical context. Many on our campus are hurting and may
be in need of support. USC is here for you with Campus Support and Intervention
(https://campussupport.usc.edu/), as well as Student Health’s Counseling and
Mental Health services (https://sites.usc.edu/counselingandmentalhealth/).”
Numerous comments on the Instagram post further called on
President Folt to cancel the event featuring the two envoys—but the event went
on as planned.
The protest outside Friday's event began with an Armenian
student standing up from the audience, holding an Armenian flag in the air and
demanding the event be stopped. Police escorted him outside; others soon
joined, chanting “shame on USC” and “1915 happening again,” in reference to the
Armenian Genocide and the recent defeat of the Republic
of Artsakh, a breakaway
Armenian-majority state in the Caucasus, following renewed attacks by Azerbaijan.
Discontent with USC’s decision to host the event had been
brewing for days. On Tuesday, USC’s Armenian Students Association posted a
statement on Instagram that said Mercan “is known for directly upholding Turkey’s policy
of Armenian Genocide denial.”
“Genocidal policy has no place in foreign policy — or on a
college campus,” the ASA wrote.
USC’s Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism where
the event was held was closed to the public while the protest was ongoing.
Students wishing to enter required an escort. The building perimeter was
monitored and blockaded by the LAPD and USC’s Department of Public Safety
during Mercan’s visit; video footage shows altercations among the safety
officers and protesters. Several Armenian students were forcibly removed from
the conference once the demonstration began. From the outside, the chants of
“1915 never again it’s happening again” and “genocidal policy has no place in
diplomacy” grew louder, spanning for a duration of over six hours.
The ANCA-WR had joined in written demands by USC ASA,
All-ASA, USC faculty members, the Pan Armenian Council and concerned members of
the Armenian community, urging USC Annenberg to cancel the event. These
requests were made in light of the purveyance of blatant genocidal rhetoric
masked as a discussion of “foreign policy,” which has no place in diplomacy nor
on an esteemed college campus.
“While we bear witness to the forced exodus of 120,000
Armenians from their ancestral homeland spanning thousands of years, after
having endured more than 9 months of illegal blockade by the Government of
Azerbaijan, followed by repeated attacks on civilians with Turkey’s full
support, we condemn in the strongest of terms the Annenberg School’s choice to
remain complicit in Turkey’s efforts to whitewash its reputation as a despotic
and genocidal regime. Rather than ignoring the calls of your students, and the
Armenian-American community of Los Angeles—amongst the largest in the world—we
demand that the USC Annenberg School of Communications and Journalism
immediately cancel Friday’s conference with the Turkish Ambassador, and issue a
statement apologizing to the Armenian-American students and community at large
and condemning the united effort by Turkey and Azerbaijan to carry out a Second
Armenian Genocide,” said the ANCA-WR’s letter sent in advance of the
conference.
USC Annenberg proceeded with the event, noting its
commitment to the “freedom of _expression_” in a written response to the ANCA-WR
from USC President Carol Folt, even though USC Annenberg’s own mission
statement states: “The right to free communication carries with it the
responsibility to respect the dignity of others, and this must be recognized as
irreversible.”
The ANCA-WR said, “By organizing this event, we trust that
the organizers understand the immense contempt that their chosen speaker—and
the regime that he represents—have expressed toward the Armenian People, and
urge that the USC Annenberg School refrain from contributing to the ongoing
violation of the rights and dignities of the indigenous people of Artsakh, and
to the Armenian Nation as a whole.”
ANCA-WR has urged USC Annenberg to issue a statement of
apology for its platforming of the Turkish Ambassador and the Azerbaijani
Consul General. The ANCA-WR further demanded USC Annenberg to publicly
recognize and condemn Turkey
and Azerbaijan for their
role in the Second Armenian Genocide—the ethnic cleansing of the Republic of Artsakh.
In response to protests, the USC Annenberg
School for Communication
and Journalism released a statement: “We recognize and understand that the USC
Armenian Students’ Association has objections to this event. The USC Annenberg
School for Communication
and Journalism believes that the freedom to express one’s views are at the foundation
of what it means to be part of a research university. These freedoms are
outlined within the USC Policy on Free Speech, and apply to all members of our
community.”
They continued: “We sometimes profoundly disagree with
statements of faculty, invited speakers, or other students; such disagreement
and critical analysis occur regularly at our university, and we are committed
to ensuring that our environment encourages and protects robust debate and
inquiry.”.
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