October 26, 2020
Garen Yegparian
BY GAREN YEGPARIAN
By now you’ve seen the news about Mercury Public Affairs terminating its registration as a foreign agent of the Republic of Turkey, and how this came about.
For me, this is an Armeni-verse achievement that ranks up there with (in our times) the re-independence of Armenia/Artsakh, the two HUGE Los Angeles demonstrations – Genocide centennial and protesting Azerbaijan’s latest aggression, and passage of Genocide by both the House of Representatives and Senate simultaneously.
This may seem like an overstatement. And, on a substantive level, it would be. But the WAY Mercury bailing-out on Turkey was achieved is on a par with the above successes.
What makes it such a great achievement is that multiple levers of power were used to deprive Ankara of a mouthpiece in the United States.
The political realm came into play. The relationships developed with elected officials led to them pressuring Mercury.
The economic/financial/dollars realm came into play. Some of Mercury’s clients threatened to stop using its services. This angle is one which has not been fully appreciated by our community and leadership despite the very cynical, follow-the-money, mindset expressed by many in our midst.
Old, established, relationships came into play. A partner in Mercury’s hierarchy is someone with whom we have worked in the past.
The “streets” angle came into play. Our protesting in front of Mercury’s office no doubt embarrassed them to some degree (though, this may be hard to believe about a firm that would hire itself out to the likes of Turkey).
Our efforts at building power in various realms are finally bearing fruit.
We still have to better engage our compatriots who have attained high corporate or other business positions. The same applies to those of us in the media, a field in which we lack sufficient representation. Even our very large number of attorneys is underutilized. But, we are clearly getter better at the games required to exert power.
This is an example of how every one of us has the potential to contribute to our cause through her/his circles and connections.
Everyone, keep engaged and be ready to flex your (figurative) muscles!