Opinion: Who Should Meet with Secretary of State Clinton?
2010/02/20 | 17:00

diaspora

On February 9, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was scheduled
to meet with several American-Armenian organizations in Washington,
DC. The meeting intended to provide a forum for raising issues of
concern to the community; especially related to recent developments in
Turkish-Armenian relations.

A massive snow fall in Washington, DC postponed the meeting but not
before disagreements as to who was and was not invited, and why, broke
out at the community level. The debate seems to have pitted the
Armenian Assembly and the AGBU, on the one side, against the Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA) and the ARF on the other. The
former have charged the latter with `sowing the seeds of provocation’.
The anti-Protocol forces, in turn, have accused the Assembly for being
`exclusive’ and wanting to dominate the talks. Traditional community
bickering or something more sinister? What follows is one man’s
opinion. (Editor)

`A Reply to the `Complaint’ of the ANCA’

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) statement of Feb 12,
2010 calling itself an `open and inclusive’ organization or otherwise
describing its activities as a `unifying’ force in the community would
be laughable if it were not so disingenuous, self-serving and tragic.

Anyone with any knowledge of the real facts would know that the ANCA
is nothing more than the advocacy arm of a single partisan political
party- namely the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), widely
referred to as the Dashnag party. This is the organization that for
years fancied itself as the leading voice of the Armenian people.
Despite its sometimes noble historic past, this is the same political
party that served as a coalition partner of the Armenian government up
until recently. While they now whine about political corruption in
Armenia’s government, never once did they complain until the Turkish
Armenian Protocols were announced.

Apparently the corruption was okay as long as it was their corruption
but now after the Protocols, they are loud in their denunciation of
the same government they were part of.

Where was the ARF/ANCA when 10 demonstrators were killed on the
streets of Yerevan by that same government on March 1, 2008? Where are
they now when political prisoners are still in jail in Armenia?

This is the `inclusive’ and `unifying’ ARF/ANCA organization that is
now complaining its subsidiaries are not invited to meet the U.S.
Secretary of State. Everyone knows that the Armenian Relief Society
and the Prelacy walk in lockstep with the ARF on every single issue
the community faces. ANCA simply wants their presence at this State
Department meeting to fill the room with others who share their
opinion on the Protocols.

Let there be no mistake about it- the ARF and its subsidiaries will be
represented at the meeting- that is the ANCA. If they want more, let
those groups display their real independence. Let the ARF free the
Prelacy from its tight control keeping the church divided all these
many years. Let the women in the ARS be allowed to do their worthy
charitable work and make their own decisions without dictates from
above.

Of course that will never happen. It is more important to have many
subsidiaries present so that they can appear to be the majority voice
of the Armenian American community.

We all know the truth however and apparently so does the State Department.

Michael Haratunian
Feb 13, 2010; Glen Head, NY