Emil Karabekian – Page 62 – Armenian Directory & News

Armenpress News Agency , Armenia September 7, 2017 Thursday George Clooney persuades spouse not to visit Azerbaijan for security risks YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. World famous Hollywood actor George Clooney admitted that he it was he who persuaded Amal Clooney not to visit Azerbaijan, ARMENPRESS reports the actor told The Hollywood Reporter. “We had agreed with Amal that we will not allow any job to put us under risk”, George Clooney said. In September 2015, Amal went to the Maldives to try to get President Mohamed Nasheed out of jail, that's the former leader, imprisoned on terrorism charges that were deemed bogus by the U.S. State Department. "The Maldives has the highest per-capita rate of recruiting ISIS, so it was a very nerve-racking time, and as Amal was coming into town, her co-counsel [Mahfooz Saeed] was pulled off a motorcycle and stabbed in the head as a warning”, Clooney told. He admitted that he had to make a deal with her wife to keep her away from Azerbaijan. “When she finally got out of there, she had another client in jail in Azerbaijan," added Clooney, "and I said, 'I'll tell you what, let's make a deal: I won't go to South Sudan and you don't go to Azerbaijan. How is that?' And she said, 'For now, fine.' " Famous British lawyer Amal Clooney defended the interests of Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismailova who has been jailed in Baku for 7.5 years. Clooney took the case to the ECHR. She has also defended the interests of the Armenian side in Perinchek’s case.

ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia September 2, 2017 Saturday Serzh Sargsyan: NKR Armed Forces protect not only security of Artsakh, but also Armenian, and generally speaking of all Armenians Yerevan September 02 Marianna Mkrtchyan. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan congratulated Artsakh on Independence Day. According to Armenian President's press service, the congratulatory message, in particular, reads: "Dear compatriots, I congratulate you on the occasion of Independence Day of Artsakh. 26 years ago, today, the Armenians of Artsakh proclaimed their independent statehood. From the fire and the ashes of the war, he was able to reborn and face the world with his heroic army, state institutions, serious economic progress, exemplary educational and cultural foci, and ultimately his organized public. A society that is true to its national values, but modern and capable of applying on the ground the best that humanity has created in the scientific, economic, political and other spheres. Over the past 26 years, Artsakh has emerged as a strong, free and democratic state. Peaceful Artsakh is not only combat-ready, but also viable and competitive. Defenders of Artsakh are able to fight and know what they are fighting for. The Armed Forces of Artsakh defend not only the security of Artsakh, but also Armenia, and, by and large, all Armenians. Last April's military actions, initiated by Azerbaijan, once again demonstrated the impossibility of a military solution to the Karabakh issue. This adventure was initially doomed to failure, since the Defense Army is strong, and behind the back of Artsakh is Armenia and the whole Armenians. On this day we bow our heads to those who fell for the freedom of Artsakh. Long live the free and independent Artsakh!"

PART 3 OF 3

by Sarah Abed; Voltaire Net

http://www.voltairenet.org/article197440.html

Also see parts I and II

I: The Kurds: Washington’s Weapon Of Mass Destabilization In The Middle East

http://www.voltairenet.org/article197437.html

II: The Kurdish Connection: Israel, ISIS And U.S. Efforts To Destabilize Iran

http://www.voltairenet.org/article197439.html

In this third and final part of her inquiry into the claim to create a Kurdish state outside the historic Kurdish territories and to the detriment of the Arab and Christian populations, Sarah Abed draws a terrible observation. This article may seem to be partial to some of our readers. Yet all reported items are accurate and can be easily verified.

VOLTAIRE NETWORK | 31 AUGUST 2017

Part 1 : “The Kurds: Washington’s Weapon Of Mass Destabilization In The Middle East”.

Part 2 : “The Kurdish Connection: Israel, ISIS And U.S. Efforts To Destabilize Iran”.

Much of what the Kurds claim as their own unique culture is actually borrowed from older cultures, such as the Assyrians, Armenians and Suryoye. In fact, much if not all of the land in Eastern Turkey that the Kurds claim as their own once belonged to the Armenians. It is hardly surprising, then, that the Kurds assisted in the Turkish genocide of Assyrians [1] and the 1915 genocide of Armenians [2].


A group of men excavate the remains of victims of the Armenian genocide in modern day, Deir ez-Zor, Syria, 1938.: © Armenian Genocide Museum Institute

Also known as “Shato du Seyfo,” or the “Year of the Sword, ” this genocide targeted Christians in the Ottoman Empire during World War I, mainly in 1915 [3]. The size of the Assyrian population was reduced by as much as 75 percent as a result.

On the Nineveh plains of northern Iraq, the Kurds dwell in cities such as “Dohuk” (formerly known by the Assyrian name of Nohadra). But these cities are “theirs” only in that they have established a relatively recent presence there.

Employing the criteria of cultural identity and thousands of years of historical authenticity, these lands are, and have been, uniquely Assyrian. The Kurds were essentially “given” these lands in the early 1970s as a means of drawing their eyes away from the oil-rich lands in and around the Iraqi city of Kirkuk. To this end, there were large migrations of Kurds into Dohuk which displaced, often forcibly, Assyrians who had far greater legal and historical claims to these lands.

This is a tactic commonly employed by the Kurds when attempting to ascribe validation to their “sacred quest” of establishing a Kurdish state – something which has never existed at any point in recorded history. By defining “Kurdistan” as any place where Kurds happen to dwell at any given point, they seem to be going by the maxim “possession is nine-tenths of the law” – which may work well in determining criminal liability, but not so well in determining one’s homeland.

In the early 1970s, the Kurds of Nineveh began to fall into what would become a familiar pattern of being used as a pawn of U.S. interests. In this instance, they betrayed their host country when the U.S. – through its puppet, the Shah of Iran – began arming them and encouraging them to rise up against the government.

The Iraqi government cracked down, which resulted in many Kurds being forced out of the lands they had only recently acquired. Iraq and Iran came to a diplomatic resolution and the Kurds were left holding the proverbial bag in what would also become a recurring scenario. Nearly the exact same phenomenon occurred in the 1980s and 1990s when, during the first Gulf War, a no-fly zone was established that granted the Kurds a tangible measure of international support and protection.


Kurdish guerrillas of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, guard the entrance of Irbil, Iraq, Sept. 1, 1996, after they seized the main Kurdish city from the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan on, Aug. 31, 1996. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s forces stormed Irbil to dislodge one Kurdish group, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and allow its rival, the KDP, to move in. Internal quarrels have long plagued the estimated 20 million Kurds who live in the mountainous region where the borders of Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Armenia and Azerbaijan converge.: © Anatolia

Kurdish guerrillas of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, guard the entrance of Irbil, Iraq, Sept. 1, 1996, after they seized the main Kurdish city from the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan on, Aug. 31, 1996. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s forces stormed Irbil to dislodge one Kurdish group, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and allow its rival, the KDP, to move in. Internal quarrels have long plagued the estimated 20 million Kurds who live in the mountainous region where the borders of Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Armenia and Azerbaijan converge. (AP/Anatolia)

“Despite the oppression the Kurds have suffered at the hands of the Turks, they have not learned to be tolerant. In the Kurdish autonomous of North Iraq, The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) are acting in the same way as the Turkish government has for 90 years against Kurds and Assyrians. Reports of systematic abuses against Assyrians within the Kurdish autonomy in Iraq are constantly increasing in number. There is organized harassment, sanctioned by the Kurdish authorities. The aim is obviously the same as that of the Turks, to assimilate or expel the Assyrian indigenous people who have lived in these parts of the country for more than 7,000 years.” Augin Haninke wrote in her article The Kurds: Victims and Oppressors with Assyrian [4]

As explained in the video above, Kurdish security forces in Syria tortured and murdered Assyrian military commander David Jindo after a false invitation under the pretense of cooperation. This was a move reminiscent of Kurdish leader Simko Shikak’s 1918 assassination of Assyrian Patriarch Mar Shimun XXI Benyamin, which took place when he invited the patriarch into his home.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of northern Iraq claims that it is $25 billion dollars in debt, despite having negotiated its own oil deals and received significant amounts of foreign aid [5]. One has to question how much corruption exists within the Kurdish administration for it to be in the financial situation it claims to be in. This has resulted in circumstances where small charity groups are left to facilitate and distribute aid to the Assyrians and Yazidis, who are supposed to be under the governorship of the KRG.


Sporting a revised version of the phrase “Mesopotamia: The Cradle of Civilization,” this sign is located near the Assyrian heritage site of Khinis in Dohuk Province. Such sites are typically unguarded and are often vandalized.: Courtesy of Assyrian International News Agency (AINA)

In 2011, imams in Dohuk encouraged Sunni Kurds to destroy Christian churches and businesses. In response, shops were attacked and clubs were besieged by mobs of people numbering in the hundreds. Hotels and restaurants were attacked with small arms fire [6].

In recent years, Kurds have continued acting disingenuously towards Christian minorities, including Assyrians, and even Yazidis. Their abuses have gone far beyond historical revisionism – an example of which can be seen in the picture below. This was also seen when they took refuge in northern Syria in the early 19th century and proceeded to drive Arabs and Armenians out of numerous towns.

In July 2014, as Daesh began its incursion into Iraqi territory, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) began its systematic disarmament of Assyrians and several other ethnic groups so that it could use their weapons in its own struggle.


A disarmament order that was circulated by the KRG in Assyrian towns on the Nineveh plains.

Notices were circulated threatening severe punishment for noncompliance. Assurances were given that the Peshmerga would provide some degree of protection.

But as Daesh advanced, the Peshmerga took the weapons and fled, following the same example as the Iraqi Army.

This left the Assyrians and Yazidis with no means to resist or defend themselves against Daesh. Reports even surfaced of these same Peshmerga gunning down Yazidis who tried to prevent them from fleeing with all the weapons.

Haydar Shesho, a Yazidi commander who managed to procure weapons from the Iraqi government, was then arrested by KDP authorities for organizing an “illegal” militia.

This scene was repeated elsewhere throughout the country, as 150,000 Assyrians were forced to flee the Nineveh plains, their ancestral land.

These actions can only be seen as a deliberate ploy by the Kurdish leadership to allow foreign forces to violently cleanse these areas of all non-Kurdish residents and then, with the help of their U.S. allies, retake and “liberate their lands.”

On April 13, 2016, Kurdish security forces blocked hundreds of Assyrians from participating in a protest outside of the Kurdistan Regional Government Parliament building. The protest was planned in response to the ongoing confiscation of Assyrian land by Kurds in northern Iraq.

Many testimonies have surfaced, such as a statement given to the UK Parliament by Yazidi ex-captive Salwa Khalaf Rasho, in which it is said that the Peshmerga, eager to flee first ahead of Yazidi civilians, has refused requests to stay and protect Yazidis or at least leave them their weapons. They had even reassured the Yazidis that they should return to their homes, where they would be defended.

Some Peshmerga ultimately started firing on Yazidis when their protests grew forceful – killing some of them – in order to clear the way for their convoy of vehicles to pass unhindered. Yazda, an organization that campaigns for Yazidi genocide recognition, wrote in its last report in January 2016: “Had they [Yazidis] been defended for one day, they could have been evacuated safely and the massacres and enslavement crisis could have been averted.”

The following is an excerpt from Rasho’s testimony to the UK Parliament in which she pleaded for help after escaping eight months of Daesh slavery, rape and multiple attempted suicides [7].

“My name is Salwa Khalaf Rasho. I was born in 1998 and was in the ninth grade. I was leading a simple and modest life with my family until the day when Daesh attacked Shengal on August 3, 2014. I liked my city, Shengal, very much. I grew up under the principle of coexistence with all societies within the community, regardless of one’s religion or sect, because the values of my religion do not allow to hate others and discriminate against them.

Therefore, Shengal was well known as the city of tolerance and ethnic diversity. What happened was shocking and unexpected, because we saw Daesh as our brothers. With this, I mean the Arab tribes of the villages that belong to Shengal. Suddenly, they became monsters and wolves. They collaborated with Daesh when Yazidi women and children were enslaved and men were killed.

There were about 9,000 Peshmerga in my city who were armed with various types of weapons. They said to us, ‘We will protect and defend Shengal, and Daesh will only enter Shengal over our dead bodies. We will defend Shengal until the last bullet.’”

Unfortunately, they ran away without any resistance and without warning or giving notice to the civilians so we could escape from falling into the arms of Daesh monsters. They left us women and children to our cold-blooded fate. I and the people with me tried to flee into the mountains like the others.” Watch: How Kurds disarmed Assyrian Christians and abandoned them to Daesh:

In light of these horrors, it should easily be understood why the Kurds would have a vested interest in claiming Arab, Assyrian or Armenian history as their own. Failing in that endeavor, they often resort to destroying any relevant history altogether. In this aspect, they operate in a similar manner to Daesh.

Every time the Kurds failed in an attack against Turkey, they would migrate to Syria and try to claim Syrian land as their own. For instance, they tried to claim the Syrian city of Ayn al Arab, naming it “Kobani.” The origin of the name is the word “company,” a reference to a German railway company that built the Konya-Baghdad railway. The Kurds also claimed Al Qamishli, another Syrian city, as their illegal capital and renamed it Qamishlo [8].

It’s worth mentioning that the Kurds are not even a majority in the land they claim as theirs in northeast Syria. For example, in the governorate of Al Hasakah, they amount to about 30 to 40 percent of the population. That number has decreased since the outbreak of the current Syrian conflict, as many Kurds have left for European countries.

Most of the have fled to Germany, where their numbers are about 1.2 million, a little less than the number of Kurds living in Syria. However, they do not seem concerned about seeking autonomy there. They only seek it in the Middle Eastern countries that have provided them with refuge all of these years – these are the countries they want to stab in the back instead of thanking them for their hospitality.

Watch: Widely-documented human rights abuses:

Amnesty International’s many refutable allegations against the Syrian government and the Syrian Arab Army cannot be taken at face value in the absence of other corroborating reports [9]. In some cases, however, they do report truthfully, such as when they released a report in 2015 accusing the YPG, the militia of Syria’s Kurdish population, of a range of human rights abuses [10].

“These abuses include forced displacement, demolition of homes, and the seizure and destruction of property,” the group wrote. “In some cases, entire villages have been demolished, apparently in retaliation for the perceived support of their Arab or Turkmen residents for the group that calls itself the Islamic State (IS) or other non-state armed groups.” Amnesty International has also documented the use of child soldiers, according to Lama Fakih, a senior crisis advisor for the group.

The Kurds claim that their “Kurdistan” is “multicultural and multireligious,” which is disingenuous when you consider that those additional cultures consist of people now dwelling amongst a Kurdish majority in lands the Kurds took by force. These people will be faced with the prospect of casting meaningless votes on Kurdish independence since, even if they all voted “no,” they would nonetheless be outvoted by the Kurdish “yes” majority and as a result would still find themselves subject to a Kurdish government and agenda.

The Sykes-Picot agreement, officially known as the Asia Minor Agreement, was a secret 1916 agreement between the United Kingdom and France, to which the Russian Empire assented [11]. It set the borders for countries like Syria, Iraq, and Jordan, but the Kurds held little or no influence. The main purpose of the agreement for the French and British was to bolster their own influence and power in the region. The Kurds have made the argument that they were promised land at the time, but were then cut out of the deal at the last minute.

Kurdish history in the 20th century is marked by a rising sense of Kurdish nationhood focused on the goal of establishing an independent Kurdistan in accordance with the Treaty of Sèvres of 1920. Countries like Armenia, Iraq and Syria were able to achieve statehood, but the prospective Kurdistan was in the way of the newly founded state of Turkey, established by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The state of Kurdistan has simply never existed.


Kurds leave Kirkuk, Iraq for Erbil on March 28, 1991 after the Iraqi army bombarded the area, to reclaim it from Kurdish rebels.

The only areas in the Middle East where the Kurds were able to establish some semblance of legal autonomy are the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq – where minorities are well-protected under new laws – and Israel [12].

As a result of the disparity between areas of Kurdish settlement and the political and administrative boundaries of the region, a general agreement among Kurds could not be reached regarding borders. However, the Treaty of Sèvres was not implemented and was superseded by the Treaty of Lausanne. The current Iraq-Turkey border was agreed upon in July 1926. While Article 63 of the Treaty of Sevres explicitly granted full safeguards and protections to the Assyro-Chaldean minority, this reference was dropped in the Treaty of Lausanne.

It’s worth noting that the Iraqi Kurds are situated on the country’s oil-rich fields [13]. Syria’s Hasakah province – which the Kurds are illegally claiming as their territory and which includes their self-appointed capital, Al Qamishli – also contains some of Syria’s most valuable oil fields. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the U.S. is putting its money on the Kurds.

According to Rûdaw, in an article written in 2014, “Last year Ahmed Turk, a Kurdish politician in Turkey, declared that the Kurds have their share of ‘guilt in the genocide, too,’ and apologized to the Armenians. ‘Our fathers and grandfathers were used against Assyrians and Yazidis, as well as against Armenians. They persecuted these people; their hands are stained with blood. We as the descendants apologize,’ Turk said.” [14].

The Kurds have a centuries-long history of persecuting minority groups, having committed genocide against them with alarming frequency. Historical accounts of acts of genocide by the Kurds from 1261 through 1999 are documented in Genocides Against the Assyrian Nation.

In A.D. 1261, in what was referred to as “the coming of the Kurds,” thousands of Assyrians fled the Nineveh plains villages of Bartillah, Bakhdida (Qaraqosh), Badna, Basihra and Karmlis, moving toward the citadel of Arbil to escape a substantial Kurdish emigration. King Salih Isma’il had ordered a great number of Kurds to move from the mountains of Turkey to the Nineveh plains. Assyrian villages on the plains were looted and the thousands of Assyrians who were not able to escape to Arbil were butchered by the Kurdish newcomers. A monastery for nuns in Bakhdida was invaded and its inhabitants brutally massacred. A New York Times article from 1915 addressing the mass slaughter of Christians at the hands of Turks and Kurds. (Courtesy of armenian-genocide.org)


A New York Times article from 1915 addressing the mass slaughter of Christians at the hands of Turks and Kurds.

Kurdish tribes in Turkey, Syria and Iran conducted regular raids and even paramilitary assaults against their Christian neighbors during World War I. The Kurds, acting in accordance with a long-standing tradition of a perceived Kurdish right to pillage Christian villages, were responsible for many atrocities that were committed against Assyrian Christians. A Kurdish chieftain assassinated the patriarch of the Church of the Aast at a negotiation dinner in 1918, the aftermath of which led to the further decimation of the Christian population.

The Armenian genocide was carried out during and after World War I and implemented in two phases: the wholesale killing of the able-bodied male population through massacres and subjection of army conscripts to forced labor, followed by the deportation of women, children, the elderly, and the infirm on death marches leading to the Syrian desert [15]. Driven forward by military escorts, the deportees were deprived of food and water and subjected to periodic robbery, rape and massacre.

Other indigenous and Christian ethnic groups, such as the Assyrians and the Ottoman Greeks, were similarly targeted for extermination by the Ottoman government in the Assyrian genocide and the Greek genocide, and their treatment is considered by some historians to be part of the same genocidal policy that targeted the Armenians. Most Armenian diaspora communities around the world came into being as a direct result of the genocide.

In the eastern provinces, the Armenians were subject to the whims of their Turkish and Kurdish neighbors, who would regularly overtax them, subject them to brigandage and kidnapping, force them to convert to Islam, and otherwise exploit them without interference from central or local authorities.

Egged on by their Ottoman rulers, Kurdish tribal chieftains raped, murdered and pillaged their way through the southeastern provinces where for centuries they had co-existed, if uneasily, with the Armenians and other non-Muslims. Henry Morgenthau [16], who served as U.S. Ambassador in Constantinople at the height of the bloodshed, described the Kurds’ complicity in his chilling 1918 memoir Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story:

“The Kurds would sweep down from their mountain homes. Rushing up to the young girls, they would lift their veils and carry the pretty ones off to the hills. They would steal such children as pleased their fancy and mercilessly rob all the rest of the throng…While they were committing these depredations, the Kurds would freely massacre, and the screams of women and old men would add to the general horror.” [17].

It is important to reiterate that there are many Kurds to whom some of the characterizations presented in this analysis cannot and should not be applied. There are Kurds who have assimilated into their current cultural societies and reject the ideals of the separatist Kurds. Their concerns are mostly political in nature and specific to the nations in which they reside.

They are not interested in establishing a united Kurdish country in the four countries they occupy, through Balkanization, land theft, genocide or any of the other violations against humanity that have been addressed here. In fact, these Kurds have faced discrimination from the Kurdish community as a result of their unwillingness to support the establishment of a Kurdish state.

The Feyli Kurds in northern Iraq are a prime example. Many of them expressed opposition to a referendum on independence announced by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on June 7, 2017, as they feared it could lead to an escalation of the area’s ongoing crisis.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi laid out the Iraqi government’s official position on June 18 [18], stating, “The Kurdistan Regional referendum on secession is illegal, and the federal government will not support it, fund it or participate in it.”

The United States [19] and Iraq’s neighbors, including Turkey, Iran [20] and Syria, oppose the country’s territorial division [21].

Fouad Ali Akbar, a Feyli member of the Baghdad provincial council, told Al-Monitor, “They are Shiite Kurds…neither Shiites nor Kurds have done Feylis justice. Most Feylis are moderate and culturally diverse, and this has prevented them from earning the trust of Kurds and Shiites, who, for ethnic and sectarian reasons, have not wanted them to have a stable identity with normal rights like other Iraqi citizens.”

Feyli activist Hassan Abdali said, “We, the Feyli Kurds, consider ourselves original Iraqis. We have deep historical and social roots in Iraq. We defended the country and its people in all the Iraqi liberation movements, in the Iraqi revolt against the British, and we took part in Kurdish movements and Shiite revolutions and also in the fight against the Islamic State (IS). And we faced persecution from Arab and Kurdish nationalist movements.” [22]

Ali Akbar also told Al-Monitor, “The majority of Feylis are voicing concerns about the potential displacement, killing, confiscation of funds and systematic looting that they might face in the event of the declaration of independence of Kurdistan as a result of the threats they receive whenever a dispute between the central government and the KRG erupts.”

Sarwa Abdel Wahid, head of a KRG parliamentary bloc in Gorran (an Iraqi Kurdish political party), said at a joint press conference with Feyli representatives, including legislators, “The referendum to be held in September in Kurdistan is a partisan referendum that does not represent the ambition of all the Kurdish people, as it has failed to go through the legitimate national institutions.”

Finnish investigative journalist Bruno Jantti described his experience working in Iraqi Kurdistan while investigating Daesh:

“When working in Iraqi Kurdistan, I was struck by the prevalence of regressive attitudes, including racism and sexism. I returned recently from Iraqi Kurdistan where I spent a couple of weeks investigating the Islamic State (IS) group. Working mostly in the vicinity of Sulaymaniyah and Dohuk, I could not help but notice a great many societal and cultural characteristics that somewhat surprised me.

Considering what is happening right next door in Syria, the level of anti-Syrian racism did catch me off guard. I came across such prejudice almost daily. A taxi driver quipped in Sulaymaniyah: ‘These Syrians are ruining our country.’ Another taxi driver was quite upset at Syrian kids who were washing car windows and selling tack. ‘These are dirty kids.’ he said. It was all but unusual that internally displaced persons of Iraqi or Syrian Arab descent who had fled to Iraqi Kurdistan were discussed using such language.

It wasn’t just taxi drivers. In the Sulaymaniyah governorate building, an officer deemed it appropriate to prep us for our interviews in refugee camps in the area. She told me, verbatim, that Syrian refugees ‘complain about everything.’ In another city, a police chief was astonished and disappointed that my colleagues and myself were applying for a permit to work in a camp inhabiting Syrian refugees. The police chief stated: ‘But these are Syrian refugees!’ There was no shortage of contempt in his voice.

I had been fully aware that Kurdish nationalism flirts with highly questionable portrayals of Arabs, Persians and Turkish people. In Iraqi Kurdistan, I was surprised at how prevalent some of those attitudes seemed to be.” [23]

The Kurds have gained popularity through effectively marketing themselves to Western audiences as revolutionary, feminist, Marxist “freedom fighters” [24] who have a burning desire to create their version of a utopia where peace for all will reign — an image that Stephen Gowans recently critiqued in “The Myth of the Kurdish YPG’s Moral Excellence.” [25].


U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syria Democratic Forces raise their flag in the center of the town of Manbij after battling ISIS in Aleppo province, Syria: © ANHA

What they actually seek to create is an illegal autonomous state carved out of existing sovereign countries. The freedom they seek is to be brought about by means of slaughtering natives in the countries that they want to Balkanize and divide on sectarian lines [26]. They have set about vacating areas of indigenous people, utilizing fear and forceful tactics that are supported by their sponsors but that are in violation of globally accepted human rights. To agree with their cause is to agree with genocidal actions that, in essence, tear people away from their homes and lands while fitting conveniently into the imperial views of Western nations.

Up until recently, Kurds with separatist ambitions were seen in a positive light. But their hidden agenda has now been exposed and their true intentions revealed.Their past and present alliance with Israel and the United States is indicative of these intentions. This can not be dismissed or underappreciated, as it is the hidden foundation on which they have built their mission. The Greater Israel project is in full swing and needs to be halted before it makes any further headway [27]

To support the Kurds’ demands for autonomy, and the establishment of a federation at the expense of others in the region, is illegal, profoundly illogical, and a violation of human rights for all of the reasons that have been discussed here. And it bears remembering as well that one of the top leaders of Daesh was a Kurd [28]. If the Kurds truly want to live in peace and coexist with others, they must end the excessive historical revisionism in which they incessantly partake; they must forgo alliances that threaten the stability of the countries in which they currently reside; and they must work together and unite with their brethren who share the same geographical land. Only then will the Kurds truly have friends other than the mountains.

Sarah Abed

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[1] “Genocides Against the Assyrian Nation”, Assyrian International News Agency (AINA).

[2] “Today’s Turkey continues the Armenian genocide”, Thierry Meyssan, Translation Pete Kimberley, Voltaire Network, May 14, 2015.

[3] “Seyfo 1915 — Sold for a hen”, The Syriac Orthodox Youth Association of Sweden, April 22, 2015.

[4] “The Kurds and Assyrians: Everything You Didn’t Know”, Max J. Joseph, The Syriac Orthodox Youth Association of Sweden & Assyrian International News Agency, March 31, 2016.

[5] “With Lamborghinis and Rooftop Sushi, Why Is Kurdistan Broke?”, Sharon Beth, Voice of America, July 26, 2016.

[6] “Islamic Cleric Incites Muslim Kurds during Friday Prayers, Attacks on Assyrian Businesses Follow”, Assyrian Information Managment, December 1, 2011.

[7] “Salwa Khalaf Rasho, statement to UK parliament”, Ezidi Press, March 15, 2016.

[8] “Syria: The Criminal Empire’s Strategy Of Divide, Conquer, and Destroy”, Sarah Abed, The Rabbit Hole, March 2, 2017.

[9] “Syria: ’We had nowhere to go’ – Forced displacement and demolitions in Northern Syria”, Amnesty International, October 13, 2015.

[10] “US-Backed Forces in Syria Accused of Human Rights Violations. The Kurdish groups may also not share America’s goals in the conflict”, Max J. Rosenthal, Mother Jones, November 9, 2015.

[11] A Line in the Sand: Britain, France and the struggle that shaped the Middle East, James Barr, Simon & Schuster, 2012. The Man Who Created the Middle East, by Christopher Simon Sykes, William Collins, 2016.

[12] “Iraqi Kurdistan sees a Jewish revival, thanks to the Islamic State”, Dov Lieber, Times of Israel, March 15, 2016.

[13] “How Much Oil Does Iraq Have?”, Gal Luft, Brookings Institution, May 12, 2003.

[14] “Kurds and the Armenian Genocide”, Deniz Serinci, Rûdaw , April 23, 2014. “How Should Kurds Address Armenian Genocide?”, Kani Xulam, Rûdaw, May 5, 2015.

[15] “The Armenian Genocide. Frequently asked questions”, Genocide 1915.

[16] “Morgenthau, Ambassador Henry, Sr.”, Rouben Paul Adalian, Armenian National Institute.

[17] Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story, by Henry Morgenthau, Doubleday, Page & Co., 1918.

[18] “العبادي يؤكد «لا قانونية» استفتاء الأكراد على الانفصال”, Jawdat Kazem, Al Hayat (Iraq), June 18, 2017.

[19] “Congress threatens to cut payments to Iraqi Kurds if they break with Baghdad”, Bryant Harris, Al-Monitor, June 28, 2017.

[20] “The reason Tehran is against referendum on Iraqi Kurdistan”, Arash Karami, Al-Monitor, June 22, 2017.

[21] “إقليم كردستان العراق يجري استفتاء على الاستقلال في سبتمبر”, BBC, June 8, 2017.

[22] “Shiite Kurds challenge Iraqi Kurdistan independence”, Ali Mamouri, Al-Monitor, July 17, 2017.

[23] “On Racism, Patriarchy and Corruption in Iraqi Kurdistan”, Bruno Jantti, TeleSur, January 20, 2016.

[24] “LGBT Brigades In Syria? Western Anarcho-Leftists Cutting Their Teeth With Western-Backed Kurdish YPG”, Brandon Turbeville, Activist Post, July 27, 2017. “Le Rojava, un califat d’extrême gauche ? Réseaux “antifascistes” et terrorisme : le laboratoire kurde”, Observatoire des extrêmes de gauche, 16 août 2017.

[25] “The Myth of the Kurdish YPG’s Moral Excellence”, Stephen Gowans, July 11, 2017.

[26] “Syria: The Criminal Empire’s Strategy Of Divide, Conquer, and Destroy”, Sarah Abed, The Rabbit Hole, March 2, 2017.

[27] “Washington’s ‘Greater’ Middle East Project – Hand in Hand with Israel”, Sarah Abed & Mark Taliano, 21st Century Wire, March 30, 2017.

[28] “”, Chris Pleasance, Daily Mail, November 4, 2014.

The California Courier Online, August 10, 2017

1 – Commentary

Glendale Armenians Should
Teach a Lesson

To Americana Shopping Mall Executives

By Harut Sassounian

Publisher,
The California
Courier

www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

2 – Commentary

Ethnic
Minorities Gain a Voice in Armenian Parliament

3 – Anesthesia
Physician Joins Medical Mission

To Armenia,
Recording 6 ‘Firsts’ in Care

4 – ANCA Welcomes Cong.
Valadao's

Leadership on De-Mining in Artsakh

5 – Former Notre Dame Coach

Ara
Parseghian Dies at 94

6 – Don Boyajian Announces Candidacy to Congress

7 – Young
Armenian Chess Players

Dominate
‘Match of the Century’

8 – Armenia’s
Men and Women’s U16

Teams
Become FIBA Champions

9 – Armenians
to Serve in Key

Posts
in Lebanese Government

10-
Kradjian Momjian Named San

Francisco
‘Teacher of the Year’

11- Americana at Brand Rejects

Genocide
Documentary Billboard

12- Mkhitaryan
Nominated for UEFA

Europa
League Player of the Season

13- US
Sanctions

On Russia May

Affect
Armenia

*******************************************

1 – Commentary

Glendale Armenians Should
Teach a Lesson

To Americana Shopping Mall Executives

By Harut Sassounian

Publisher, The California Courier,

www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

Three years ago, on the eve
of the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide, Americana shopping mall officials
in Glendale, illegally and in an arrogant manner, banned the sale of Armenian
Genocide-related T-shirts by three young Armenians who had signed a contract,
disclosed their merchandise in advance, and paid the rent for a cart on the
property.

Afterwards, ominously, Doris
Nesheiwat, Senior Director of Specialty Leasing at Americana, in an email, warned the young
Armenians: “Anything genocide themed, sweat shirts, t-shirts, phone covers and
anything that has a genocide theme needs to come off the cart completely
please.”

After I exposed Americana’s scandalous and unwarranted behavior in a
column, and complaints from the local Armenian community, Americana issued a half-hearted apology by
describing the ugly incident as a “misunderstanding,” and allowed the young
Armenians to sell their T-shirts.

The Armenian community which
numbers close to 100,000 — half of Glendale’s population — and a big portion
of Americana’s shoppers, needs to know in a definitive way what is causing
Americana executives to repeatedly take positions against publicizing the
Armenian Genocide. Being smart businessmen, they must realize that it is
counter-productive to antagonize the majority of their customers by taking
offensive positions on the Armenian Genocide.

In recent weeks, Americana executives once again took a hostile position by
refusing to provide advertising space on their billboard for an Armenian
Genocide documentary, “Architects of Denial,” produced by Hollywood
celebrities Dean Cain and Montel Williams.

This time again, Americana officials came
up with a nonsensical and offensive reason for rejecting the paid ad. Americana’s outdoor media agency, Outfront Media, told the
documentary producers that Americana
executives feel, without having seen the documentary, it is "too
political.” This is outrageous! A documentary on the Armenian Genocide cannot
be labelled as “too political.” This is a human rights issue which has nothing
to do with politics!

When I learned that Julie
Jauregui, Americana's
General Manager, was the one who used the term “too political" in
rejecting the ad, I called her asking for an explanation. In response, I
received an e-mail from Emily Davis, responsible for Americana’s Public Relations and
Communications, stating: "We have strict standards for our advertisements
and we carefully review all content. This did not comply with the advertising
guidelines for our portfolio properties throughout Southern
California.”

This carefully crafted
statement is completely meaningless! Thus, I wrote back to Emily Davis,
wondering how could the advertising for this documentary “not comply” with Americana’s “strict standards for advertisements,” when in
fact, Americana's
executives had neither seen the documentary nor the text of the billboard ad
before rejecting it. The only information Americana
officials knew was that this ad was for an Armenian Genocide documentary. I
asked Davis if she implied that the topic of the
Armenian Genocide itself violates Americana’s
“strict standards for advertisement." After mulling over her reply for
three days and consulting her senior colleagues, Davis responded that they are sticking to
their previous answer!

Reaching a dead-end with Americana, I had no choice
but to take the matter to the Glendale City Council last week, where four of
the five Council members are Armenians. This fact alone, well-known to
Americana executives, was another serious miscalculation by them, since they
are legally obligated to adhere to scores of agreements they have signed with
the City in return for generous subsidies and lavishly advantageous lease
considerations. Any deviation from these legal obligations could force the City
to take decisive action against Americana
to enforce the signed agreements.

In my public remarks to the
City Council, I urged the City to arrange a meeting with Americana executives and local Armenian
community leaders to resolve this issue. Otherwise, the community would have no
choice but to resort to protests and boycotts. Joining me in addressing the
City Council was Margarita Baghdasaryan, Community Outreach Director, the
Armenian National Committee of America, Glendale Chapter.

The City Council members
were naturally sympathetic to our presentations and promised to intervene by
arranging a meeting with Americana
executives. The purpose of the meeting is not only to straighten out this
latest wrong-headed decision, but get to the bottom of what is behind the
repeated rejections of Armenian Genocide materials by Americana officials. We need to settle this
issue once and for all! We cannot continue to deal with genocide-related
objections raised by Americana
periodically. We need to know what is the root cause of this repeated
insensitive and insulting behavior of Americana
officials. If they continue to take a hostile position on the Armenian Genocide
issue, maybe hitting them in the pocket book through protests and boycotts, as
well as City Council enforcement, would bring Americana executives to their senses!

*******************************************************************************************************

2 – Commentary

Ethnic Minorities Gain a Voice in Armenian
Parliament

By Maxim
Edwards

Armenia
is the most ethnically homogeneous of all the post-Soviet states. But it has
become a pioneer in the Caucasus by being the
first country in the region to offer guaranteed parliamentary representation to
its minority communities.

Following April’s elections, Armenia
now has four ethnic minority MPs – one each from the country’s Yezidi,
Assyrian, Kurdish, and Russian communities – in its 105-seat parliament.

But the process by which they were elected, which required them to ally
with one of Armenia’s existing political parties, raises doubts about the
extent to which they can effectively represent minority interests.

The four new minority deputies are: Arsen Mikhaylov, the long-time president of
the Assyrian community organization “Atour”; Yezidi representative Rustam
Makhmudyan; the Kurdish community leader Knyaz Hasanov; and Tatyana Mikaelyan,
a former bank manager born in Tatarstan, representing the Russian community.
Hasanov even chaired the new parliament’s inaugural session under a tradition
giving the oldest member that honor.

They were chosen under a provision in the new constitution, adopted
in 2015, that sets aside four seats in parliament for
minority representatives nominated by parties. Three of the new deputies
represent the governing Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), and Mikaelyan the
Prosperous Armenia bloc of oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan.

Prior to this year, Armenia
had only ever had two non-Armenian MPs: the current speaker of parliament, Edik
Sharmazanov, is of Pontic Greek descent and an ethnic Georgian, Nana
Togoshvili, served in the 1990s.

The fact that the representatives are selected through a party list “to my mind,
restricts their role as ethnic representatives,” said Hranush Kharatyan, an
ethnographer and former presidential advisor on national minorities, in an
interview with EurasiaNet.org. “It seems to me that representatives of specific
minority communities should be elected without party obligations.”

But, she added, “whether it’s good or bad, only time will tell.”

The four minorities represent tiny portions of Armenia’s official population of
slightly over 3 million. According to the 2011 census, the Yezidis number about
35,000; Russians about 12,000; Assyrians about 3,000; and Kurds 2,000.
Throughout the Soviet period, Azeris comprised Armenia’s largest ethnic minority,
with over 160,000 members, according to the 1979 census. But the overwhelming
majority fled the country between 1988 and 1991, amid the outbreak of the
conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Minority groups today have varying political agendas. Russians are mainly
urban, and for the most part, are integrated into Armenian society. Yezidis, by
contrast, are more isolated and often semi-nomadic, creating challenges in
education. The Yezidis and Assyrians also have sought to call attention to the
plight of their co-ethnics, who are among the most vulnerable victims in the wars
in Iraq and Syria.
Makhmudyan has said that one of his priorities is to officially recognize the
massacres of Yezidis in the Middle East as
genocide.

Some in Armenia’s
opposition have suggested that the new minority representatives are serving as
a means for the Republicans to cement their grip on power. Hasanov, in an interview with
Sputnik Armenia, said that
the Republican endorsement helped the party among Armenia’s Kurds. “The RPA included
us in their list as candidates, and we tried to get representatives of our
community to give their votes to the RPA,” he said, adding that “of course in
our association there are also people with opposition views.”

The question of representation aside, it is a common phenomenon that small
minorities in Armenia
side with governing parties, believing that such affiliation is the easiest and
safest way to protect their interests.

Meanwhile, some analysts contend that the numbers of Armenia’s minorities are too small
to have tangible electoral clout independent of existing parties. The electoral
threshold to gain representation in parliament is 5 percent, or about 100,000
voters – far higher than the combined total of all Armenia’s ethnic minorities, noted
director of the Yerevan-based Caucasus Institute Alexander Iskandaryan.
“Without some quota, there’s very little chance that any minority deputy would
enter parliament,” he said.

“It’s of course true that national minorities mostly vote for the
incumbent party, and I realize that’s not the case in Europe,” said Vartan Ascatryan, Armenia’s presidential advisor on
national minorities, in an interview with EurasiaNet.org. “But here in Armenia,
they require the support of the ruling party to help resolve all kinds of
social and economic problems.”

No other Caucasus country has ethnic quotas
for parliament. Georgia, the most ethnically mixed of the three countries in
the South Caucasus, now has its most
diverse parliament: with 11 out of 150 seats held by ethnic
minorities, including Armenians, Azeris, Ossetians, Abkhaz, and Yezidis. Azerbaijan
has a handful of MPs representing the Talysh and Lezgin communities, as well as
an informal practice of always having at least one Russian and one Jewish
member of parliament.

The separatist entity of Abkhazia is one of the most ethnically diverse parts
of the Caucasus, but ethnic Abkhaz – by most
counts a minority in the territory – dominate its government. Currently, the de
facto 35-member parliament has only three minorities, all Armenians, under an
informal “gentleman’s agreement,” whereby parties nominate
minority candidates in districts where they predominate.

“I think there’ll be a certain resonance
throughout the Caucasus region,” Ascatryan said of Armenia’s new minority quotas. “It
could be an example to other countries — if such a monoethnic country as Armenia
can manage to extend this right to its minorities, then others certainly can.”

Maxim
Edwards is a writer and commissioning editor at openDemocracy Russia (oDR).

****************************************************************************************************

3 – Anesthesia
Physician Joins Medical Mission

To Armenia,
Recording 6 ‘Firsts’ in Care

ORANGE, Calif. (PRWEB) – In late May, Allied
Anesthesia physician Dr. Armen Chalian was part of an outreach team of 32
doctors, nurses and social workers that delivered care to 750 patients and
performed 58 surgeries in Yerevan,
Armenia. The
two-week mission resulted in six medical “firsts” in that country and was
conducted under the auspices of Arpan
Global Charities, a philanthropic medical organization with
outreaches in more than 14 countries. The multidisciplinary team comprised
professionals from St. Joseph Hospital of Orange, Calif., and Children’s
Hospital of Orange County (CHOC).

Medical “Firsts”

During the mission, the team performed and
recorded six medical procedures never done in Armenia. Dr. Chalian said, “We
recorded everything as part of a program to ensure that Armenian physicians
could continue these techniques in the future.”

Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for decortication and lung
resection was among the first-time procedures.

The team also introduced techniques for
postoperative pain management, such as ultrasound-guided blocks and the ON-Q
pain relief system, a pump catheter pain relief method that reduces the need
for opioid drugs and that can improve patient outcomes. Other firsts included
laparoscopic gynecologic, urinary incontinence and several pediatric
laparoscopic surgeries.

Dr. Chalian said that, aside from the obvious
goals of treating patients and delivering equipment in Armenia, the medical team sought to
establish long-term relationships with health care professionals in the
country. “Part of our goal was to create programs, such as sister hospital
networks, to make sure the medical advances introduced could be maintained by
appropriately trained clinicians in Armenia.”

The Team

From St.
Joseph Hospital,
the team included Drs. Brian Palafox, Paul Beck, Bedros Kojian and Armen
Chalian, and Medical Social Worker Marjorie MacDonald. The CHOC team included
Drs. Sudeep Kukreja and Mary Zupanc, Registered Nurse Specialists Kristine
Golden and Cindy Baker-Fox, and residents Drs. Hillary Zieve, Sneha Kemkar,
Kindra Lindrith, Jacob Khoubian and Stephanie Lee.

The volunteers brought thousands of dollars in
medical equipment and supplies from the United States, including sutures,
medications, laparoscopic surgical supplies and pulse oximeters with
transcutaneous hemoglobin capabilities. The team was interviewed on local
television and was featured in local and online media services.

Dr. Chalian said, “We made several inroads
toward shaping the future of Armenia’s
health care system—things like establishing care team protocols and checklists,
the importance of ‘skin-to-skin’ newborn bonding and lactation programs. We
also emphasized important social health issues like advocating protective care
services for women and children.”

**********************************************************************************************

4 – ANCA Welcomes Cong. Valadao's

Leadership on De-Mining in Artsakh

WASHINGTON,
DC – Armenian Americans from across California's Central Valley and
around the United States join with anti-landmine advocates in praising the work
of Congressman David Valadao (R-CA) – a nationally respected figure on the
influential House Appropriations Committee – for his leadership in seeking
support for the completion of a decade-long, life-saving U.S. campaign to
protect the families of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) from mines and other deadly
unexploded ordnance, reported the Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA).

Congressman Valadao has been a leading voice in
the U.S. House behind bipartisan efforts to ensure that the Fiscal Year 2018
foreign aid bill prioritizes continued support for the HALO Trust, a
non-governmental organization that has, since 2006, destroyed 8,733
anti-personnel landmines, 2,584 anti-tank landmines, 180,858 small arms
ammunition, 12,423 cluster bombs, and 48,572 other explosives. This heroic work
has saved countless lives, avoided untold suffering, cleared vast areas for farming,
and – more broadly – contributed meaningfully to regional stability and the
prospects for a durable and democratic peace.

"I value my partnership with the Armenian
National Committee of America on this life-saving, peace-making
initiative," said Congressman Valadao. "De-mining saves lives
and prevents life-altering injuries, providing economic opportunities to family
farmers to work their land free from the fear of mine-related threats, and,
longer-term, creating the conditions for a negotiated peace between Artsakh and
Azerbaijan."

"We are fortunate that Armenians Americans
from across the San Joaquin Valley are represented in Washington, DC by such a
strong and effective legislative leader, one who both cares deeply about the
folks back home and has a proven track record of delivering results for them in
our nation's capital," said the ANCA Central California’s Sevag Tateosian.
"We are encouraged by Congressman Valadao's strong leadership and
look forward to continuing to energetically back his bipartisan efforts on
Artsakh aid and all our policy priorities."

The ANCA spearheaded the bipartisan
Congressional launch of the U.S.
aid program to Artsakh in the FY98 foreign aid bill and has actively supported
transformative projects providing maternal healthcare, clean drinking water,
and mine clearance.

The 21st District of California represented by
Congressman Valadao is centered in the San Joaquin Valley,
home to tens of thousands of Armenian Americans, including many leaders in the
region's thriving agriculture sector.

***************************************************************************************************

5 – Former
Notre Dame Coach

Ara
Parseghian Dies at 94

By Ralph D. Russo

Associated Press

Ara Parseghian reached the pinnacle of his
profession at Notre Dame and endured the most painful personal losses as a
father and grandfather.

He walked away from coaching at the age of 51
after winning two national championships, but never really left the Fighting
Irish. He built a legacy through philanthropy that he hoped would be far more
meaningful than any of his many victories.

Parseghian died August 2 at his home in Granger,
Indiana, where he lived with Katie Parseghian, his wife of 68 years. He was 94.

Parseghian had recently returned home after
spending more than a week in a nursing care facility in South Bend, Indiana.
He was treated for an infection in his surgically repaired hip, and was still
receiving round-the-clock care at home.

"Among his many accomplishments, we will
remember him above all as a teacher, leader and mentor who brought out the very
best in his players, on and off the field," Notre Dame President Rev. John
Jenkins said in statement. "He continued to demonstrate that leadership by
raising millions of research dollars seeking a cure for the terrible disease
that took the lives of three of his grandchildren. Whenever we asked for Ara's
help at Notre Dame, he was there."

Jenkins presided over a
mass for Parseghian on Sunday at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on the campus
of Notre Dame . A public memorial service will be held later
at the Joyce Center.

Parseghian took over at Notre Dame in 1964 when
the Fighting Irish were down. They hadn't had a winning season in five years
and had gone 2-7 in 1963. He quickly restored the Golden Dome's luster and led
the Irish to national titles in 1966 and 1973. He abruptly retired after the
1974 season, saying he was worn out and ready for a change. Despite offers from
other colleges and NFL teams he never returned to coaching.

"When you find any successful coach there's
always a portion of the players who didn't like him. From the top All-American
to the guy who never got to see the field, everybody loved Ara," former
Notre Dame quarterback Terry Hanratty said. "That's a really great human
being."

Parseghian didn't just revive Notre Dame
football. He made Fighting Irish fans believe in the program again. He began
his tenure in South Bend
with an impromptu pep rally that drew 2,000 students to the steps of a
residence hall and eventually persuaded Notre Dame to end its longstanding
policy against playing in bowl games.

Parseghian was so beloved by students that when
the weather turned bad, chants of "Ara, stop the rain!" or "Ara,
stop the snow" cascaded down from the grandstands.

"As a student, I enjoyed the thrill of
being on campus for Ara's last three years as head coach, including the 1973
championship, and saw firsthand the profound impact that he had on my
classmates who played for him," Notre Dame athletic director Jack
Swarbrick said in a statement. "When I returned many years later as athletics
director, Ara was unfailingly generous with his time, and his counsel proved to
be invaluable."

After stepping down, Parseghian went into
television and spent more than a decade calling games on ABC and CBS.

In 1994, his family was hit with devastating
news. Three of his son Mike's children were found to have Niemann-Pick disease
type C. Parseghian helped create the Ara Parseghian Medical Foundation in
response.

He already had been active in the National
Multiple Sclerosis Society after his daughter, Karan, was diagnosed decades
earlier.

The Parseghians lost three grandchildren between
the ages of 9-16 to Niemann-Pick disease from 1997-2005. The foundation has
raised more than $45 million for research on the disease.

In 2014, Parseghian's daughter, Karan Burke,
died at 61.

He received an honorary doctorate from Notre
Dame in 1997. In 1980, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
In 2007, Notre Dame unveiled a statue of Parseghian outside Notre Dame Stadium.

Parseghian was born in Akron, Ohio,
and served in the Navy.

Later in life, Parseghian spent his winters in Florida and the rest of the year in the South Bend area, watching the Irish closely.

Parseghian is survived by wife Katie, son
Michael and daughter Kristan.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to
the Ara Parseghian Medical
Research Fund at Notre Dame.

*****************************************************************************************************

6 – Don
Boyajian Announces Candidacy to Congress

GLENS FALLS, NY — Don Boyajian, a lawyer who recently moved from Saratoga County
to Cambridge, in Washington County,
announced his candidacy for Congress on last week, becoming the fifth candidate
seeking the Democratic nomination in the 21st Congressional District in 2018.

“We’re interested in coming up with real
solutions to help our communities,” Boyajian said in an interview at The
Post-Star on Tuesday. “My whole life, I’ve felt like our region has got
the short end of the stick.”

Boyajian, a trout fisherman and bluegrass
musician in his spare time, said he has a keen understanding of the 12-county
congressional district, both from a lifestyle and policy perspective.

As a student at Colgate
University and Cornell
Law School,
he did research on affordable housing in the Adirondacks and on invasive
species in Lake Champlain.

He focused on agricultural, natural resources
and energy issues as an aide to former Rep. Michael McMahon, D-Staten Island,
and was an environmental policy adviser to former state Attorney General Andrew
Cuomo, who now is New York’s
governor.

“We need a representative that has fight and
grit — that is key — and someone that is on the ground in the district,” he
said.

Boyajian joins a spirited field of candidates
shaping up early for the 2018 race.

*****************************************************************************************************

7 – Young
Armenian Chess Players

Dominate
‘Match of the Century’

ST.
LOUIS—Armenian under-17 and under-14 chess players
dominated the “The Match of the Century,” a chess tournament organized by
world-renowned Grandmaster Garry Kasparov, which pitted the “World Team” versus
the U.S. Team.

The World Team, headed by 16-year-old Hayk
Martirosyan, won the match, beating the US team 19 to 13. The US Team, on
the other hand, was also led by an Armenian, Samuel Sevyan.

“The Match of the Century” organized by Garry
Kasparov is won by the World team against the US team, Sputnik reports.

Martirosyan and Sevyan played against each other
twice. Sevyan won the first match, while Martrosyan won the second, ushering
his team to overall victory in the competition.

The victory was celebrated at the Hall of Fame
of the Saint-Louis Chess Club.

**************************************************************************************************

8 – Armenia’s
Men and Women’s U16

Teams
Become FIBA Champions

ANDORRA LA VELLA, Andorra–Team Armenia, which
dominated from the first day of the FIBA European Championships and, and
finished the tournament with six wins in as many games won the gold, a day
after beating Azerbaijan 88-76 in the U16 (under 16) competition, reported the
International Basketball Federation, commonly known as FIBA. Armenia’s Women’s U16 team also won the
championship when it beat Malta
63-44.

On Sunday, Armenia U18 beat Gibraltar
88-70 triumph to claim not only their first gold at the event, but also their
first-ever medal at the FIBA U16 European Championship, Division C.

Georgii Shakhnazarov led the way in the final
with 27 points, connecting on 4-of-10 from three-point range. Aleksey Chizhenok
had a higher player efficiency rating, a game-high 38, with his 20 points on
9-of-14 from the field, 18 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals. David Karamyan
scored 17 points, Nikita Galtsev was the leading rebounder with 20 points, and
he also had 10 points in the Final, FIBA reported.

Armenia’s
Anna Aslanian was named the MVP of the women’s U16 Championships

On Saturday, Armenia
beat Azerbaijan
in the U16 competition with a score of 88-76

Anna Aslanian of the Armenia’s
U16 team secured her the most valuable player honors, paving the way for Armenia’s 63-44 win over Malta in the 2017 FIBA U16 Women’s
European Championship Division C finals.

Aslanian took home the trophy after averaging
17.4 points, 16.2 rebounds, 3.6 block,s and 3.6 assists per game for the gold
medal winner, Armenia.
She scored in double-digits in every single game, including a monster
performance in Armenia’s win
in the final versus Malta
on July 29, with 22 points, 31 rebounds, and 12 blocks.

The entire team from Malta had six blocks throughout the
Championship. Aslanian saved twice as many just for the Final outing, finishing
the game with 22 points, 31 rebounds, 12 blocks and sevan assists. She almost
singlehandedly outrebounded Malta,
who had 39 rebounds.

Aslanian’s performance gave her a 57 player
efficiency rating, and she had a nice supporting cast in Kristina Melikyan and
Ani Hovhannisyan. Melikyan collected 17 points, Hovhannisyan had 16, as Armenia played superb defense in the second half
and held Malta
to just 19 points after the break.

Joining Aslanian in the All-Star Five in the
tournament are Mariam Okropiridze, Agnesa Rrahmani, Mireya Benitez Lopez, and
Michela Zammit Cordina.

********************************************************************************************************

9 – Armenians
to Serve in Key

Posts
In Lebanese Government

BEIRUT
(Aztag Daily) — In filling posts, the Lebanese government has assigned three
Armenians to key domestic and foreign posts.

Houry Der-Sakisian was appointed Lebanon’s
Comptroller General.

On the diplomatic front, Ara Khatchadourian was
appointed Lebanon’s
Ambassador to Colombia.
Prior to this, Khatchadourian served as the chief of staff of Lebanon’s embassy in Johannesburg, South Africa.

At the same time, Lebanon’s
Ambassador to Kazakhstan,
Vasken Kavalian, having completed his diplomatic tour, returned to Lebanon. He will retain his
ambassadorial rank and is awaiting an appointment in the near future.

For the first time, the Lebanese-Armenian
community has two members within the foreign ministry serving as ambassadors.

********************************************************************************************************

10- Kradjian
Momjian Named San

Francisco
‘Teacher of the Year’

SAN FRANCISCO
(Asbarez) – Betty Kradjian Momjian, a 6th grade Math and Science teacher at San Francisco’s A P
Giannini middle-school was awarded “San Francisco 2016-17 Teacher of the Year”
from the city’s Mayor Ed Lee’s Office, Asbarez reports.

Five K-12 teachers were awarded out of more than
three hundred nominations, just one for a middle-school. She received
congratulatory certificates from San
Francisco’s Mayor, City Supervisors, Assessor, State
Senate, and even Federal Congress, signed by Nancy Pelosi.

Betty started teaching in LAUSD’s John Muir Elementary school in Glendale, CA
and moved to the Bay Area after marriage. She is a member of San
Jose’s ARS Agnouni chapter, and regularly consults with KZV Armenian
School’s principal, where
her two children attended. Betty is a graduate of Holy Martyrs
Ferrahian High
School and Cal State Northridge.

She also won San Francisco Super Teacher of the
year for 2016-17, awarded by Carmen Chu, the City Assessor’s Office. This award
was given after interviewing students for the teacher with the most positive
impact on them.

****************************************************************************************************

11- Americana at Brand Rejects

Genocide
Documentary Billboard

GLENDALE—It was brought to the attention of the
Armenian National Committee of America, Glendale Chapter that the producers of
“Architects of Denial,” a documentary film about the Armenian Genocide, were
unsuccessful in purchasing billboard space at the Americana at Brand on the
premise that the content was “too political.”

“Architects of Denial,” which counts Dean Cain
and Montel Willians as its producers, provides a crucial lens into Armenian
Genocide, as well as the denial of these events by the Turkish government and
several other political authorities. Through the retelling of stories from
survivors, “Architects of Denial” bridges the gap between the historical
mass-exterminations and those occurring today.

This issue is deeply concerning to the Armenian
American community, and the decision to deny advertisement space to a film that
attempts to raise awareness of human rights violations is quite perplexing.

As history has shown, the denial of the Armenian
Genocide leads to the continuation of such hateful crimes. This film has the
right to advertise and educate the community about this important subject.

Americana
at Brand’s decision to reject a billboard advertisement of the film on the
grounds that it is “too political” is unacceptable by this community. It is
disappointing to see the management’s betrayal of the Armenian community, the
same one that contributes immensely to the Americana
at Brand through taxpayer dollars and everyday commerce, the same community
that voted to make the Americana
a possibility. A denial of the request to publicize this documentary is a sign
of disdain to the residents of Glendale
and an attempt to censor historical facts.

As citizens of Glendale, it is imperative to take a stand
against the denial of the Armenian Genocide and protect the ones who raise
awareness. Any attempts at suppressing Genocide awareness is distasteful,
offensive, and has no place in Glendale.

Upon learning of the American’s decision, ANCA
Glendale immediately raised its concerns and expressed its disappointment to
the Glendale City Council on August 1. An official letter has been sent asking
the management of Americana
at Brand and its corporate owner, Caruso Affiliated, to reverse their decision.

*****************************************************************************************************

12- Mkhitaryan
Nominated for UEFA

Europa
League Player of the Season

YEREVAN (Arka.am)
– Armenia
international Henrik Mkhitaryan, Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic have been
nominated for the UEFA Europa League Player of the Season award, after helping
Manchester United to win the trophy.

The inaugural prize will be presented in Monaco later this month when the
ceremony for the group stage draw of the competition – plus the Champions
League – takes place on August 25.

Pogba started every Europa League game in 2016/17 and scored the opening goal
during the 2-0 win over AFC Ajax in the Stockholm
final last May. That helped to earn him a nomination from a panel of judges
that consisted of every manager who was involved in the group stage of the
Europa League, plus journalists.

Mkhitaryan became something of a specialist in Europe throughout his debut season
with United, and his clincher in the final against Ajax was his sixth goal in the tournament.

Ibrahimovic also scored half a dozen goals during the Reds' successful run to
the trophy in Sweden, before
the striker suffered a season-ending injury in the quarter-final win over Anderlecht at Old Trafford.

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13 – US
Sanctions

On Russia May

Affect
Armenia

WASHINGTON, DC – (News.am) – The new US
sanctions against Russia are
in no way aimed at the neighboring countries of Russia,
including Armenia,
said political analyst John Herbst to Voice of America.

Nevertheless, according to him, the inevitable
decline in Russia’s economy,
which will follow the application of the sanctions, may indirectly impact Armenia
as well. Unfortunately, there might be unpredictable negative consequences on Armenia, Kazakhstan and other EAEU members,
he added.

According to political scientist Gevorg Melikyan, Armenia is too strongly linked with
the Russian economy, the negative impact of the decline of Russian economy
being inevitable. He also noted that this will directly affect Armenia
both in terms of transfers and import. The occurrence should be a sign for Armenia
to diversify its political and economic ties, enhancing the cooperation with
other countries, Melikyan added.

Political scientist Suren Sargsyan is also
confident that although the direct sanctions are imposed on Russia, they will influence Armenia as well. In his words, the
sanctions will not have direct impact on Armenia
but there will be indirect consequences, since Russia
is the number one partner for Armenia.

Michael Rubin, a former analyst of Pentagon and
senior expert of the American Enterprise Institute recalls that the
sanctions mainly relate to the oil industry sphere of Russia and cannot directly harm Armenia.
At the same time, he stressed that the growing tension between US and Russia,
which may turn into a trade war, does not benefit the interests of any country
in the South Caucasus.

Because of the tension, Russia may require that the
countries in the same alliance with it restrict ties with the West. Thus, Russia may demand that its neighbors follow the
policy conducted by it, in which case Armenia will find itself in a
complicated situation.

However, according to the US experts, the influential Armenian community
of the US will try to ensure
that the growing tension with Russia
and the sanction lifted by the US
on that country do not harm Armenia,
especially since they were initially aimed at Russia.

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Author: Emil Karabekian

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