1 - Turkish Generals Led War on Artsakh:
This was a Turkish, not Azeri, Victory
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- Armenians mourn fallen heroes, demand Pashinyan’s resignation
Azerbaijan, Armenia exchange prisoners
with Russian peacekeepers’ mediation
3- Armenia continues to fight COVID-19 pandemic
4- Los Angeles Midwives, First LA Midwifery Team
with Hospital Delivery Privileges
5- COVID vaccine developers refuse to give Erdogan
platform for positive press
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1 - Turkish Generals Led War on Artsakh:
This was a Turkish, not Azeri, Victory
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
Exiled Turkish journalist Cevheri Guven disclosed in a video report
the names and activities of three Turkish Generals who had a decisive
role in leading Azerbaijan’s war on Artsakh, starting on Sept. 27
2020. It is already known that modern drones and missiles purchased by
Azerbaijan from Israel, Turkey and Russia had a devastating effect on
Armenia and Artsakh. It is also known that 200 Turkish military
advisors and several thousand Syrian mercenaries participated in the
war on behalf of Azerbaijan. However, this is the first time that a
detailed report is made public about the presence of these Turkish
Generals in Azerbaijan during the war.
One of the Turkish military leaders is Lieutenant General Sheref
Ongay. The second is Major General Bahtiyar Ersay, and the third is
Major General Goksel Kahya. The presence of these Turkish Generals in
Baku is linked to the dismissal before the Artsakh War of Colonel
General Nejmeddin Sadikov, Azerbaijan’s First Deputy Minister of
Defense and Chief of General Staff who had been at his post for 27
years. He was accused of treason and cooperation with the Russian
military intelligence, according to Russian and dissident Azeri
sources. Sadikov was reportedly arrested after his dismissal which was
denied by Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense. However, he has not been
seen in public since his dismissal. Sadikov was reportedly born in
Derbent, Dagestan, and is of Lezgin origin. He has a poor knowledge of
the Azerbaijani language. It is also alleged that his cousin is
serving in the Russian Army in Gumri, Armenia. Sadikov was educated in
Russia. It is important to note that a large number of Azeri soldiers
were sent to Turkey to get their military education. Sadikov did not
allow those returning from Turkey to serve in critical military
positions. He was opposed to Turkish dominance in the leadership of
the Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces. As a result, Turkey asked for Sadikov’s
dismissal after which those trained in Turkey were given leading
posts.
Returning to the three Turkish Generals, Sheref Ongay is the Commander
of the Turkish Third Army, deployed in Erzingan. He was in control of
the Artsakh War. Ongay graduated from the military academy in Ankara
in 1982 and served in various units of the ground forces. In 2014, he
was appointed Commander of the 9th Army Corps. He was for a while the
head of the infantry school in Tuzla.
The second Turkish military leader in Azerbaijan, Major General
Bahtiyar Ersay, was earlier jailed for being involved in a scandal
(Operation Sledgehammer). However, he was pardoned and released,
possibly because he made a plea bargain with the authorities,
disclosing the names of the other participants in the conspiracy. He
was subsequently promoted to the rank of Brigadier General becoming in
charge of the 2nd Commando Brigade which fought with great brutality
against the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) in Eastern Turkey. He is
now the Chief of Operations at the Command of Turkish Land Forces. He
stayed in Baku throughout the Artsakh War and personally managed the
operations. Before the start of the war, two satellite communication
centers were built in Baku and at the military airport of Gabala to
contact the soldiers on the ground and the headquarters in Turkey.
Both centers were managed exclusively by the Turkish Army. The
Azerbaijani military was ordered to obey all commands of the Turkish
superiors and not argue with or contradict them. Ersay was in charge
of the Syrian mercenaries who had earlier fought in Syria and Libya on
behalf of Turkey. Furthermore, Ersay managed the highly technical
military equipment provided by Turkey to Azerbaijan.
The third Turkish military man is Major General Goksel Kahya who was
in Azerbaijan since July of this year. He is close to the Defense
Minister of Turkey. Previously, he was Deputy Undersecretary in the
Ministry of Defense. While taking part in the war in Libya on behalf
of Turkey, he was captured by the opposition Libyan forces and then
released. Kahya was in charge of the Turkish drones operating in Libya
which gave him valuable experience in managing the drone war against
Artsakh.
Since the end of the Artsakh War, the Azeri public has expressed its
unhappiness that Russian peacekeepers are located on the territory of
Karabagh. Some analysts have described the Russian presence in
Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia as a defeat for Turkey and the United
States, and a victory for Russia, having located its forces “under the
nose of NATO member Turkey.” As Russian online newspaper Vzglyad
concluded: Artsakh War’s “plan was Turkish, the Generals were Turkish,
and the drones were made in Turkey…. Baku can celebrate victory, but
in terms of command and control, Turkish Generals can celebrate
victory.”
Retired Lieutenant Colonel of the Azerbaijani Army Oleg Guliyev, now
living in Moscow, told the Vzglyad newspaper: “Azerbaijan must fully
reclaim Karabagh. This is correct and fair. But we must reclaim
Karabagh ourselves. If we reclaim it on a Turkish leash, then we will
reclaim only Karabagh, and we will lose the rest of our country.”
Clarification
In my last week’s article, I referred to a letter purportedly written
by Catholicos Khrimian Hyrig. After my article’s publication, I
discovered that the letter was actually written more recently by
historian Hayk Konjoryan imitating Khrimian’s writing style and
nationalistic views. I regret any confusion that this may have caused.
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2- Armenians mourn fallen heroes, demand Pashinyan’s resignation
Azerbaijan, Armenia exchange prisoners
with Russian peacekeepers’ mediation
By Lillian Avedian
and Leeza Arakelian
(The Armenain Weekly) After a three-day period of national mourning,
tens of thousands participated in a nationwide strike on Tuesday,
resuming mounting pressure against Armenia’s prime minister to step
down over his decisive role in the conclusion of the Artsakh War.
During the massive rally led by the ‘Movement for the Salvation of the
Homeland,’ Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) representative
Ishkhan Saghatelyan offered the My Step faction a deadline to discuss
these demands in-person. In staying the course, Saghatelyan told
reporters on the night of Tuesday, December 22 that if Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinyan remains in power, there would only be ruins left to
rule.
The process of demarcating the borders of Armenia and Artsakh
following the November 9 ceasefire agreement has been fraught with
uncertainty, creating security concerns for residents of border
villages. Under the agreement, the districts of Zangelan and Kubatli
were transferred from Artsakh to Azerbaijan, creating a new border
between Armenia’s southernmost province of Syunik and Azerbaijan.
Parts of the major Goris-Kapan-Meghri highway now pass through
Azerbaijani territory as well.
On December 17, Kapan mayor Gevorg Parsyan shared that Armenia’s
Ministry of Defense had ordered volunteer detachments to withdraw from
their defensive positions overlooking the town by 5 p.m. local time
the following day, since those territories were handed over to
Azerbaijan under the ceasefire agreement. These posts were set up
during the war by locals in order to defend Syunik against the
advancement of Azerbaijani troops. During meetings with community
leaders from Syunik on the 18th, Armenian Minister of Defense
Vagharshak Harutyunyan stated that Russian peacekeepers would be
deployed to the area to guarantee its security. He assured them that
the process of border demarcation was taking place with the
participation of high ranking officers from both sides and that no
territory would be conceded from the Republic of Armenia.
“Not even a single millimeter of land has been surrendered from the
region of Syunik,” insisted PM Pashinyan in an attempt to dispel
rumors of land loss ahead of his planned visit to the region on
December 21st. He wanted to “look directly into the eyes” of residents
and answer their questions, but his visit was cut short as roads to
his passage were blocked by protesters. He returned to Yerevan without
visiting Meghri, Kapan or Goris. On the eve of Pashinyan’s arrival,
Goris mayor Arush Arushanyan called on residents to gather at the
gates to the entryway of Syunik to block his entrance. Arushanyan was
arrested on charges of illegally organizing a rally, and has since
been released.
Six Armenian soldiers were found in the Azerbaijani-occupied Hadrut
region and returned home on December 20th after a successful search
operation was conducted with the combined efforts of the Artsakh State
Emergency Service, the International Committee of the Red Cross and
Russian peacekeepers. Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan said the
young men had been cut off from the Armenian Armed Forces for 70 days.
The bodies of nine soldiers found near Armenian military positions in
southern Artsakh were handed over to the Defense Army on December 16
by Russian peacekeepers. The circumstances surrounding their deaths
have not been revealed. The fate of dozens of soldiers captured by the
Azerbaijani military near the Hin Tagher and Khtsabert communities
following last week’s hostilities remains unknown. The area was the
site of renewed fighting after Azerbaijani forces attacked the two
villages on December 11, as a result of which the villages were placed
under Azerbaijani control.
Meanwhile, Artsakh Ombudsman Artak Beglaryan submitted his resignation
on Tuesday, December 22. Beglaryan will be taking up another position
within the Artsakh government, where he says he will be addressing the
ongoing challenges in the Republic.
Azerbaijan and Armenia held a prisoners’ exchange, in which two
Azerbaijanis were delivered to Baku and four Armenians to Yerevan, on
Dec 28 with the mediation of Russia and the International Committee of
the Red Cross.
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3 - Armenia continues to fight COVID-19 pandemic
The Armenian government has commissioned 600,000 doses of coronavirus
vaccines from World Health Organization-backed COVAX; medical and
social workers, seniors and people suffering from chronic diseases
will be the first to get vaccine shots free of charge, and according
to Gayane Sahakian, the deputy director of the National Center for
Disease Control and Prevention,
COVAX is a global partnership which aims to finance COVID-19 vaccines
to be distributed fairly to more than 180 countries that have joined
it. The Armenian government’s supply contract with COVAX is worth $6
million. The first vaccine which COVAX will make available to the
participating countries is the one produced by the British company
AstraZeneca. It is expected that the manufacturer will deliver it to
COVAX in February or March.
They will be enough to vaccinate 300,000 people (roughly 10 percent of
Armenia’s population). According to the Ministry of Health, there were
15,498 active coronavirus cases in Armenia as of December 28. Armenia
has recorded 157,948 coronavirus cases and 2,775 deaths; 139,675 have
recovered.
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4- Los Angeles Midwives, First LA Midwifery Team
with Hospital Delivery Privileges
LOS ANGELES—On Wednesday December 16, midwives, nurses and birth
professionals from across California joined a Zoom celebration to
congratulate Lilit B. Sarkissian and Naomi E. Drucker on the “birth”
of LA’s newest midwifery practice, Los Angeles Midwives, A
Professional Nursing Corporation. The midwifery team is the first in
Los Angeles with hospital delivering privileges—providing both home
and hospital birth options to women in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Midwives co-founders are Certified Nurse-Midwives whose
primary offering is birth services (delivery, prenatal and postpartum
care) to expectant mothers, and Well-Woman Care to women ranging from
12-80 years old. The event was a chance to learn more about the
founders, the type of care they provide, the future of birth in a
post-COVID Los Angeles, and how midwives can help improve women’s
health in California.
“I’m so excited about this moment. Since I was 9 years old, I knew I
wanted to deliver babies and provide care to women at this most
precious and empowering moment of their life” said Lilit Sarkissian.
“I have dedicated my life to learning about and working in this field
as a researcher, bedside nurse, childbirth educator, nursing professor
and today—as a midwife.”
Los Angeles Midwives seeks to provide care to women that empowers them
by giving them the choice between birthing at home, or in a hospital
while maintaining the personalized care that is a hallmark of
midwifery. Childbirth is a pivotal moment in a woman’s life and both
midwives believe that the self determination of women to make the best
health care decision for themselves and their babies begins with
having access to the options that best fits with their vision of their
ideal birth.
The festive event, which took place in the Year of the Midwife, not
only celebrated the creation of this new business, but also the
expansion of the type of care that Los Angeles Midwives provide to
women. The program began with a warm remembrance of Debbie Frank, who
was a midwifery leader and pioneer in Los Angeles who opened the door
to making this type of care possible in the LA area.
“Lilit and I dreamed while working side by side as nurses – that we
would one day become midwives and create a practice that could help
bridge midwifery care from the home to the hospital,” said co-founder
Naomi Drucker. She added, “many women desire midwifery care but
hesitate for fear of losing that continuity if things get complicated-
which is when they need their trusted team the most! Also a change of
birth setting either by choice or by necessity should not require a
change in provider which could create a margin for error due to
unnecessary information handoffs.
While everyone was in attendance to celebrate this new milestone, they
also wanted to learn how Los Angeles Midwives would be impacted by
California’s recent passage of SB 1237, the Justice & Equity in
Maternity Care Act. The guests were joined by Paris Maloof-Bury, CNM
and Kathleen Belzer, CNM, the current and past Presidents of the
California Nurse-Midwives Association, who provided the guests with an
overview of the new California law, and its envisioned implementation
in the State.
“The California Nurse-Midwives Association and I want to congratulate
Los Angeles Midwives on their opening, and look forward to their
success!” said Maloof-Bury. She added, “I’d like to invite Naomi and
Lilit to help us at CNMA to chart a way forward for other
nurse-midwives and hospitals across California to expand this type of
offering, thus giving women and birthing people greater access to
midwifery care in the setting of their choosing, along with the
continuity and safety that come from integrating midwives and
hospitals.”
Private practice midwives in California are currently allowed to
deliver a baby in a home or birth center setting, but generally do not
serve women in hospital settings. It is rare for midwives to have
delivering privileges in the LA area, which is what makes Los Angeles
Midwives an appealing option for women who want to receive midwifery
care, but want to have the peace of mind of the labor and delivery
resources available in a hospital setting.
Both founders are able to provide this type of care because they were
long time labor and delivery nurses at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center,
received their Certified Nurse-Midwifery degree from Frontier Nursing
University, and completed their midwifery clinical rotations with the
UCLA Midwives group. They embrace the Hallmarks of Midwifery while
understanding how to be most effective in a hospital setting.
Keeping with the “birth” theme of the celebration, the event ended
with the midwives “revealing” their new logo, which was designed by a
very appreciative new dad as a way of thanking Lilit and Naomi. Since,
both Lilit and Naomi serve as adjunct clinical nursing faculty at UCLA
and Mt. St. Mary’s, respectively, the night couldn’t end without a
little active learning game. The participants answered fun questions
such as “how many high heels does Naomi own? how old would Florence
Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, be today? and, what do
Naomi and Lilit’s husband’s have in common?” The answers being 0, 200
and both men have delivered one of their children.
The evening’s celebration ended with a hopeful outlook on the years
ahead for Los Angeles Midwives and midwives from across the country as
they continue to work to improve health outcomes for women at all
stages in their life, especially at some of the most pivotal moments
of their lives.
For more information, visit www.LosAngelesMidwives.com
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5- COVID vaccine developers refuse to give Erdogan
platform for positive press
(Combined Sources)—Pfizer and BioNTech will supply the United States
with 200 Million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine.
BioNtech was co-founded by Dr. Ugur Sahin and his wife Dr. Ozlem Tureci.
BioNTech until now was mostly focused on cancer treatments. It had
never brought a product to market.
Sahin, 55, was born in Iskenderun, Turkey. When he was 4, his family
moved to Cologne, Germany, where his parents worked at a Ford factory.
He grew up wanting to be a doctor, and became a physician at the
University of Cologne. In 1993, he earned a doctorate from the
university for his work on immunotherapy in tumor cells.
Early in his career, he met Türeci. She had early hopes to become a
nun and ultimately wound up studying medicine. Türeci, now 53 and the
chief medical officer of BioNTech, was born in Germany, the daughter
of a Turkish physician who immigrated from Istanbul.
On the day they were married, Sahin and Türeci returned to the lab
after the ceremony.
In 2001, Sahin and Türeci founded Ganymed Pharmaceuticals, which
developed drugs to treat cancer using monoclonal antibodies.
After several years they founded BioNTech as well, looking to use a
wider range of technologies, including messenger RNA, to treat cancer.
“We want to build a large European pharmaceutical company,” Sahin said
in an interview with the Wiesbaden Courier, a local paper.
Sahin and Türeci sold Ganymed for $1.4 billion in 2016. Last year,
BioNTech sold shares to the public; in recent months, its market value
has soared past $21 billion, making the couple among the richest in
Germany.
The two billionaires live with their teenage daughter in a modest
apartment near their office. They ride bicycles to work. They do not
own a car.
In Germany, where immigration continues to be a fractious issue, the
success of two scientists of Turkish descent was cause for
celebration.
“With this couple, Germany has a shining example of successful
integration,” wrote the conservative-business site Focus.
A member of Parliament, Johannes Vogel, wrote on Twitter that if it
was up to the far-right Alternative for Germany party, “there would be
no BioNTech of Germany with Özlem Türeci & Ugur Sahin at the top.”
“If it were up to critics of capitalism and globalization,” he added,
“there would be no cooperation with Pfizer. But that makes us strong:
immigration country, market economy & open society!”
This is reinforced by the fact that German Chancellor Angela Merkel
held a video-conference meeting with the founders of Biontech and
thanked them, noting that the whole world is “proud of them.”
Yet no contact or meeting has taken place thus far between the Turkish
spouses and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The couple did not issue any reactions to Erdogan’s statements in
which he congratulated them on developing the vaccine; he said was
prepared to receive the vaccine himself. Erdogan also claimed to have
had a conversation with Sahin.
According to Ruetir news on December 20, the Turkish Zaman newspaper
reported that Sahin and Tureci “do not respond to Erdogan’s calls,”
noting that they “do not want to talk to him, because they object to
the oppression that he is practicing on all segments of Turkish
society.”
Ahval News reported on December 21 that Türeçi and Şahin have decided
not to hold a call Erdogan because, as they have said, “we are not his
advertising medium.”
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