TOWN HALLS RAISE AWARENESS ON NEXT STEPS AGAINST PROTOCOLS

Asbarez
Nov 23rd, 2009

ENCINO, CA-Town hall meetings have begun throughout the Western
United States to inform Armenian communities of the current state
of negotiations between Armenia and Turkey and the steps being taken
to prevent the ratification of dangerous agreements between the two
countries, the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) reported on Saturday.

The community briefings, which began this week with two meetings in
the San Fernando Valley and Orange County, will be updating Armenian
Americans on the ongoing developments in the anti-protocols initiative
and providing avenues for activism on the issue.

The first town-hall, organized by the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation’s Western Region (ARF-WR), was held at Ferrahian Highschool
in Encino on November 19. More than 200 people attended the discussion,
lead by ARF-WR Central Committee Members Steven Dadayan and John
Kossakian.

Kossakian presented a brief history of Armenian-Turkish relations
since the independence of Armenia, discussing Turkey’s decades long
blockade of Armenia and its efforts at pressuring the young Armenian
republic into making the difficult choice between the Armenian people’s
historical rights or the country’s economic prosperity.

On April 22, Armenia and Turkey announced they had agreed to a
roadmap to normalize their relations and open the closed border. The
announcement came on the eve of the 94th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide, allowing US President Obama to backtrack on promises to
recognize the Armenian Genocide. Amid intense opposition and protests
by Armenians around the world, Armenia’s foreign minister signed
agreements with his Turkish counterpart on October 10 to establish
ties between the two countries.

The signature came despite Turkey’s strong preconditions that Armenia
must relinquish legal rights to historic territories in Turkey,
agree to the establishment of a historical commission to debate
the Genocide, and concede the independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict to Azerbaijan.

"Now that the protocols have been signed, everyone’s main concern is
which parliament is going to ratify it first," Kossakian said, adding
that Armenia is currently playing a waiting game with the document.

"Instead of worrying about this, we should start working on our next
step-to confront the Armenian government about the protocol issues."

In his remarks Kossakian underscored the anti-protocols campaign’s
latest initiative of channeling public sentiment against the protocols
to pressure the Armenian parliament not to ratify the devastating
documents.

Dissecting the actual provisions in the protocols, Dadayan discussed
the legal implications of the documents and the heavy burdens Armenia
will be required to uphold if it’s ratified.

Through these protocols, Dadayan explained, Turkey is seeking to
legalize its current de-facto border with Armenia. The current
boundaries are illegal and based on the illegitimate treaties of
Moscow and Kars, signed in the 1920s by the rogue Bolshevik and
Kemalist regimes. If the protocols are ratified, Armenia will once
and for all relinquish its rights to US President Woodrow Wilson’s
arbitral award of historic territories now under Turkish occupation.

Dadayan also discussed provisions in the protocols that will constrain
Armenia’s relations with Karabakh and prevent Yerevan from from serving
as the guarantor of its independence and security. He explained that
if Karabakh is one day attacked or overrun by Azerbaijan and Armenia
wants to take action or send medical or military assistance, it is
legally prevented from doing so.

In underscoring the unequal bargaining position Armenia has been
placed in throughout the negotiations process, Dadayan recalled his
encounter with Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian during his visit
to Los Angeles in September to meet with Armenian Community leaders.

Dadayan said he had asked Sarkisian what international lawyers and
experts of international law were consulted by the Armenian government
about the legal implications of the protocols, which were drafted in
English. "The president said he was not good in English nor was he a
lawyer" Dadayan recalled, noting that Sarkisian said he trusted his
diplomats enough not to seek professional advice.

The same points were raised at the Armenian Center in Santa Anna,
CA on Saturday, November 20 by Vache Thomassian from the ARF Shant
Student Association. Thomassian spoke to some 50 people at a briefing,
hosted by the AYF’s Orange County ‘Ashod Yergat’ chapter. In his
remarks, he reiterated community concerns over the forced choices
being presented to the Armenian people by the protocols and discussed
the unprecedented level of activism around the issue.

Presenting a photo-montage of global anti-protocols activities
spanning the last two months, Thomassian stressed the resound impact
of the Diaspora’s actions in Armenia. "Anywhere you had an Armenian
community around the world, you saw people express their disapproval,"
he said. "Our voices were heard and shared all the way to Yerevan,
where 60,000 people demonstrated against the signing of the protocols."

That there is widespread opposition to the documents is not
surprising. "There’s a lot to be lost here and very little to be
gained," said Thomassian, explaining the many preconditions Armenia is
faced with if it wants to normalize relations with its neighbor. "The
protocols could very well evolve into a package deal that includes
a quick resolution to the Karabakh conflict."

Thomassian discussed the current strategies and tactics being employed
by the "Stop the Protocols" Campaign, from educating and mobilizing
Armenian communities across the US to work within the American
political system to advance the Armenian Genocide resolution to a
vote in Congress.

He also discussed many of the ARF’s recent initiatives in Armenia. The
party has been working around the clock in parliament and at the
grassroots level to not only prevent ratification but also to address
the underlying problem of corruption, he explained. ARF activists
have been visiting villages, organizing communities to oppose the
documents. Meanwhile, the ARF has been meeting with other parties
opposed to the protocols in Armenia to strategize future joint actions
against ratification.

But neither Sarkisian, nor the protocols are the "end all problem
here," Thomassian said, explaining that the present situation is
largely due to corruption and a lack of democracy in Armenia. "The
protocols didn’t pop out of nowhere; they are the result of oligarchs
selling out the interests of the people for their own self interest."

Thomassian discussed the ARF’s call for a serious overhaul of the
corruption and oligarchic rule in Armenia, talking about the party’s
initiative to build the groundwork for radical changes in Armenia."The
long-term objective of the ARF is social reforms, government reforms
and democratic reforms," Thomassian said. "In the last few weeks the
ARF has been introducing dozens of pieces of legislation in parliament
on issues concerning the national debt, women’s’ rights, poverty,
and social security."

"The protocols are in limbo right now, but that doesn’t mean we
are meaningless; we need to dig in further and do more work, be
more active and get our voices heard that much louder," Thomassian
exclaimed. "everything we have done to this point has had an impact
and if we can increase the pressure and create enough obstacles,
this thing might completely collapse."