1- Azerbaijani Gaza Hostage Wrongly Added In Letter
to Biden Signed by Celebrities
By Harut
Sassounian
Publisher,
The California
Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- As Embassy
Opens, Canada
Pledges Increased Aid for Armenian Refugees
3- Politics or
wealth should not influence Lady Justice
4- UCI Armenian
Studies and Armenian Association Hosts Garo Paylan
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1- Azerbaijani Gaza Hostage Wrongly
Added in Letter
to Biden Signed by Celebrities
By Harut
Sassounian
Publisher,
The California
Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
We are all following the heartbreaking events that are
taking place in Israel and Gaza where thousands of
innocent people are killed, and hundreds have been taken hostage by Hamas. I
condemn all loss of life and hostage-taking regardless of nationality, race or
religion.
Throughout history, as victims of mass murders and Genocide,
Armenians understand well the tragic effects of large-scale killings. Before,
during and after the 2020 Artsakh war, the most gruesome crimes were committed
against thousands of Armenian soldiers and civilians by Azeris.
At the end of the war, Armenia,
Azerbaijan and Russia signed
an agreement that called for the exchange of all Prisoners of War. Armenia kept its end of the bargain by freeing
all Azeri prisoners immediately, while Azerbaijan is still holding dozens
of Armenians in captivity three years later. No one knows their exact number.
These detainees have been wrongly tried and sentenced to long prison terms not
only in violation of the 2020 agreement, but also the Geneva Convention. Armenian
prisoners have been tortured while in Azeri custody and an unknown number have
been killed.
To make matters worse, after occupying Artsakh last month, Azerbaijan
captured eight high-ranking Artsakh government officials, including three
former presidents, the former State, Defense, and Foreign ministers, deputy
army commander, and Chairman of the Artsakh Parliament. They are all held as
hostages with no hope that they will be released anytime soon.
Turning to the tragic predicament of the over 200 hostages
captured by Hamas in Israel
on October 7, 2023, I support all efforts to have these hostages released as
soon as possible. Several hundred Hollywood
celebrities, including Madonna, Chris Rock, Justin Timberlake, Gwyneth Paltrow,
Jerry Seinfeld, and Tyler Perry, signed a joint letter to Pres. Joe Biden
urging him to “not rest until all hostages are released.”
Last week, an article appeared in various entertainment
magazines and websites that publicized the letter signed by the celebrities to
Biden. The press release about the letter was distributed to the media by
Melissa Zukerman, the Managing Partner at Principal Communications Group, a PR
agency in in Los Angeles.
Despite the good intentions of the initiators of the campaign, a regrettable
mistake detracted from the commendable effort.
The letter included a paragraph that said: “We urge everyone
to not rest until all hostages are released. No hostage can be left behind.
Whether American, Argentinian, Australian, Azerbaijani, Brazilian, British,
Canadian, Chilean, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Eritrean, Filipino, French, German,
Indian, Israeli, Italian, Kazakh, Mexican, Panamanian, Paraguayan, Peruvian,
Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, South African, Spanish, Sri Lankan,
Thai, Ukrainian, Uzbekistani or otherwise, we need to bring them home.”
I commend the celebrities, Ms. Zukerman and everyone else
who had a hand in preparing the letter to Pres. Biden. However, I was surprised
to see in the list of captured nationalities a reference to ‘Azerbaijani’
hostages. As I had not heard that any Azerbaijani was kidnapped by Hamas from Israel, I
wondered if that information was accurate. So, I sent Ms. Zukerman an email
asking about the veracity of the reference to an Azerbaijani hostage. She did
not reply to my email. She also ignored my follow-up email as well as a phone
message I left for her.
Having done further research, I discovered that there were
no reports about an Azerbaijani hostage, except for eight Azerbaijanis, of
which two were dual Azerbaijani-Israeli citizens, who were regrettably killed
by Hamas during the attack.
I then contacted the agent of one of the celebrities who had
signed the letter and asked her if she knew anything about an Azerbaijani who
was taken hostage by Hamas. The celebrity’s agent told me that in the version
of the letter that her client had signed there was no mention of Azerbaijan or
any other nationality. When I sent her the copy of the letter publicized in the
media, she was shocked to learn that Ms. Zukerman’s office had asked the
celebrities to sign a version of the letter that did not include the names of
the 33 nationalities; Ms. Zukerman’s office must have then sent the altered
version of the letter to Pres. Biden without informing the celebrities that
what they had signed is not what was sent to the White House. Appallingly,
these celebrities were not informed of the change in the letter either before
or after signing it. This is highly unprofessional and unethical.
So, this is how Azerbaijan was included wrongly in a letter
to Pres. Biden, making one its citizens a victim of hostage-taking, while in
reality, Azerbaijan is the one that is guilty of taking Armenian hostages.
Regrettably, Ms. Zukerman ignored all of my attempts to find out from her how
such a mistake could have happened, and why no effort was made to correct it or
at least provide a proper explanation? As far as I know, there are no
Azerbaijani hostages in Gaza
or anywhere else in the world. If I am wrong, Ms. Zukerman had plenty of
chances to correct my information but refused to do so.
Lastly, the letter stated, “No hostage can be left behind”
(www.NoHostageLeftBehind.com), which implies that all hostages in the world, no
matter who had captured them and wherever they are, should be released. Such an
all-inclusive plea should have also referred to the dozens of Armenian hostages
held in Azerbaijan.
Only when we care about all hostages without any
distinction, we can claim that we are true humanitarians.
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2- As Embassy Opens, Canada Pledges
Increased Aid for Armenian Refugees
Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly visited Armenia on October 25 and 26, and the first
Canadian embassy in Armenia
was opened during her visit, marking a milestone in bilateral relations.
During a joint press conference with Armenian Foreign
Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, Joly acknowledged ongoing efforts to promote peace
and stability in the region. However, she stressed the need for additional
actions to ensure that takes place. Joly also called Azerbaijan
to respect Armenia’s
territorial integrity, non-use of force, and the right of return for Armenians
displaced from Artsakh. She further urged Azerbaijan to honor the right of
the recently forcibly displaced Armenians from Artsakh to return and facilitate
unimpeded humanitarian access to Artsakh for their safe return. Regarding
possible sanctions on Azerbaijan,
Joly affirmed that discussions are open, emphasizing the importance of
respecting Armenia’s
territorial integrity as a key concern. Joly announced an increase in
humanitarian assistance, allocating $3,900,000 to aid those who were forcibly
displaced from Artsakh.
Mirzoyan conveyed Armenia’s
commitment to advancing peace and adhering to principles in the Granada quadripartite
declaration. He highlighted the mutual recognition of territorial integrity and
the need for border demarcation between Armenia
and Azerbaijan,
emphasizing regional unblocking based on sovereignty, reciprocity, and
equality. Prior to the press conference, Joly held private talks with Mirzoyan,
followed by extended meetings with delegations. Minister Joly also visited the
Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex to pay her respects.
Joly also met with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and
President Vahagn Khachatryan as part of her visit.
Joly on Thursday, October 26 visited Jermuk, in Armenia’s Vayots
Dzor Province
where she reported that her country will join the European Union’s monitoring
mission in Armenia.
Canada
will send two observers, who will join the EU Mission, Armenian Deputy Foreign
Minister Paruyr Hovhannisyan told reporters.
“It is a pleasure to be here in Jermuk, looking forward to
learning more about the work that has been done by the EU mission which Canada is
joining. Canada
is the first country outside of EU joining this mission. So, we’ll be talking
about the logistics, how we can integrate this important mission which is
important to address the humanitarian issues in the region but also the fact
that it is important to bring much peace and stability,” Joly said during her
meeting with EU observers.
She also visited Armenian combat positions on the
Armenia-Azerbaijan border.
Commander of the 5th Army Corps of Armenia’s Armed Forces
Sasun Badasyan briefed Joly on the operational situation and the occupation of
the sovereign territories of Armenia
by Azerbaijan.
Badasyan detailed that Azerbaijan
has invaded and occupied nearly 19,000 acres of territory in that area.
At the end of the visit she met with forcibly displaced
Artsakh residents.
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3- Politics or wealth should not
influence Lady Justice
By Sylvia Iskenderian
It was March 1990. I was in Armenia
as a guest for International Women’s Day celebrations and to observe and report
back to the Armenian community on the devastating effect of the 1988 earthquake
in Armenia.
My two colleagues and I exuberant but with some reservation
flew to Yerevan.
Although I had been there before, I knew this time would be different. The 1988
earthquake in Armenia and
the pogroms against the Armenians in Baku and Sumgait in Azerbaijan
during the same year and the resulting refugee crisis had shaken the entire
Armenian world. We did not know what we would encounter.
It was three o’clock in the morning when we arrived at
Marriott Hotel—then known as ‘Armenia,’
in the center of Yerevan
City.
My lodging was a small dimly lit but neat single bedroom in
the second building at the back of the main hotel, overlooking some
construction across the road.
We spent the next day with our hosts who took us to Gumri (Leninakan) and Spitak
where the earthquake had struck. The scenes were catastrophic and our mood was
somber as we strode back into the Hotel lobby that evening for dinner.
Suddenly, a great commotion took place. A group of ten or
twelve men dressed in khaki uniforms hastily entered the hotel and headed
towards the dining room across from where we were standing. A few minutes later
the loud music that was playing in there instantly stopped. The men came out of
the hall and headed back to their jeep parked outside. All the bystanders in
the lobby were startled. What was happening?
The uniformed men obliged and told us that two young border
guards were shot dead during skirmishes on the border with Azerbaijan.
They were going to bring their bodies to the Opera square in Yerevan the next day.
The hotel lobby fell silent. We were all alarmed. People in
the dining room began to exit. We were completely unprepared for this. We were
speechless. Fear overwhelmed us.
Gathering our strength, we decided to go to the Opera Square the
next day.
In the morning one of my colleagues, the late Alice Levonian
and I walked to the Opera square carrying my hefty video camera. The square was
already packed with people. We felt we had arrived too late, and that we had no
chance to see anything up close.
However, before we could decide what to do, a crack opened
up in the crowd, everyone pushed aside, and urged us to move forward. We were
ushered through the masses and people promptly helped us on to a platform on
the side of the Statue of Alexander Spendiaryan in the middle of the square! It
was then that we realized that as the public had noticed a video camera in our
hands, they wanted to ensure that the entire event is recorded for the outside
world to see.
Over 100,000 strong crowd had gathered at the square that
morning, mourning the death of those two young soldiers.
Our hearts heavy and overcome by emotion we retuned to our
hotel. The ‘mamig’ whose job was to check on the hotel guests, asked if we
would like to interview the ‘Shahumyantsis’.
We were no journalists. We were three ladies from far away Australia who happened to be in Armenia to
gather information about the earthquake. We had little knowledge about Karabakh
and certainly knew nothing about Shahumyan.
We were taken by surprise. Where was Shahumyan anyway?
Having witnessed the previous day’s events and the heart-wrenching funeral, we
accepted the challenge. It seemed our video camera was doing a great job.
Promptly we were in my room frantically setting up an ad-hoc
interview room. Alice had the job of holding the camera, my other colleague
Silva Kebourian, held the makeshift light we borrowed from the ‘Mamig’ who had
instantly brought it from the storeroom to improve the lighting in the room.
We certainly did not have time to prepare questions. Not
that we knew what to ask!
Before we knew it, two well dressed gentlemen with grim
faces showed up at the door. They came in and sat down.
We need not have worried about the questions to ask. As soon
as we started the video running, they began telling us their story.
We heard what had happened and how it all had commenced. The
Azeri OMON forces without any warning had raided the Shahumyan Council Chambers
in January that year and taken all 12 members of the Council hostage.
At the same time, the OMON soldiers had started to attack
the town. The citizens immediately organized the defense front to protect the
civilian population who were in mortal danger.
This group of ex-Soviet officers was able to free the
hostages and after fighting for over a month, the Azeris retreated, which
stopped the attack for the time being.
However, they were troubled that they might suffer the same
fate as Armenians in Baku and Sumgait if they did not receive any
assistance. They added, “The Armenians can no longer live side by side with the
Azeris.”
This was all too much for us to grasp. After the interview
they asked if we would like to attend a rally where citizens of Getashen and
Martunashen were gathering to discuss the fate of their provinces.
We knew we were caught up in a whirlwind, and it was crucial
to document the events unfolding before our eyes.
The days ahead were solemn and hard to bear. Our visits to
the earthquake devastated zones and seeing people stunned by the enormity of
their losses, as well as the tremendous pressure of a pending war with
Azerbaijan took most of our moments.
The situation was fluid. The terrible pogroms against the
Armenians in Sumgait
in February 1988 were still fresh in our minds. Following the Soviet Union’s
new policy of ‘Glasnost ‘(openness), Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians had demanded
cessation from Azerbaijani rule and re-unification with Armenia. This
started a chain of events that saw firstly the brutal slaughter of Armenians in
Sumgait.
Azerbaijani insurgency resulted in Armenians fleeing Sumgait,
and Kirovabad, Azerbaijan.
Later in January 1990, a seven-day pogrom broke out against
the Armenian civilian population in Baku,
during which Armenians were beaten, murdered, expelled from the city. Seven
hundred people were killed or disappeared. Historical Armenian settlements were
devastated and plundered leading to the exodus of 300,000 Armenians from the
country. Additionally, over 25,000 souls had perished from the earthquake in Armenia’s
Spitak and Gumri regions.
A couple of days later we were again in the midst of a
massive crowd, this time at the foot of the ‘Mother Armenia’ statue in Yerevan
listening to the anguish and protests of the displaced people of Getashen and
Martunashen, who had just lost their homes and lands, forcefully evicted by the
Azeris in the winter of that year.
The concerns of the Shahumyan Armenians were validated. As
we returned home to Australia,
a few months later in the spring/summer of 1991, we heard about ‘Operation
Ring’ started by the USSR.
Mikhail Gorbachev ordered ‘Operation Ring’ in which the
Soviet Army and Azerbaijani OMON special forces surrounded Armenian villages in
Shahumyan. The operation involved ground troops, military, armored vehicles and
artillery. 17,000 Armenians living in Shahumyan’s 24 villages had no choice but
to flee the region not to fall into the same fate as the Armenians of Baku and Sumgait. The town of Shahumyan was totally
evacuated, the church was desecrated and Armenian homes were taken over by
Azerbaijanis.
All this was the precursor of a ground offensive that Azerbaijan launched against the Armenian
population of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian autonomous region within Azerbaijan. A
full-fledged war that began in 1992, ended with Armenians liberating their long
awaited homeland, Artsakh, in 1994.
However, after 30 years of negotiations with the mediation
of Europe’s OSCE Minsk group, neither the
status of Artsakh nor the demarcation of borders came to fruition. The
international community failed to take into consideration the thousands of
years of documented historical evidence of Armenian statehood in that territory.
Moreover, not even the legal agreement made by the
Declaration of June 12, 1921 by the National Council of Azerbaijan SSR,
“proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh an integral part of the Armenian SSR” was taken
into account. This agreement was quickly revoked by the Russian SSR and handed
over to Azerbaijan.
Consequently, Artsakh faced another war of attrition, the
now infamous 44-Day War in 2020. This time, the enemy used every conceivable
means, including horrifying banned weapons, foreign mercenaries, drones,
poisonous phosphorus, and massive atrocities that constitute war crimes, to
achieve its goal. It was not long after that when Azerbaijan imposed a total blockade
on the citizens of Artsakh.
The pleas of the Armenian communities around the world went
unheeded by the international players.
Thus, on September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan unleashed a massive
attack and relentlessly bombarded the territory for 24 hours straight.
The independent Republic
of Artsakh had no choice
but to unconditionally surrender.
The Artsakhtsis having suffered nine months of starvation
and oppression due to the blockade, knew very well that if they remained, they
would suffer the same fate as their compatriots in Baku,
Sumgait, Kirovabad,
Shahumyan, Getashen and Martunashen. There was no way they could trust the
Azeri occupiers.
The entire population of Artsakh, 120,000 people, was forced
to evacuate to avoid living under the murderous regime of Azerbaijan.
Nagorno-Karabagh—‘Artsakh’ as we know it—suddenly ceased to exist. The
Artsakhtsis lost their rights to live on their ancient homeland.
The land emptied from its inhabitants! A thriving community
razed in a single day! Now, only the heart rending sight of abandoned dogs,
cats, and horses roam the desolate streets of the Capital Stepanakert.
There is no more wash hanging out the windows of the humble
apartments. You can no longer hear the chatter of little children playing in
the school yards nor the sound of church bells ringing.
The bustling market, once full of vendors proudly displaying
their fresh produce, delicious local honey, and colorful dried fruits, is no
more. You can no more smell the enticing aroma of the freshly cooked ‘Jingelov
hatz’ in the air.
The streets are deserted and quiet. Store windows still full
of their wares stand empty and void. The faint echoes of Armenian music that
played in the stores have been silenced forever.
I remind myself the Shahumyan representative’s words 30
years ago: “Armenians can not live side by side with the Azeris.”
It is hard to fathom the international community’s sense of
justice. They cannot or choose not to understand the value humanity places on
homeland, culture and history.
If a people whose footprint goes back millennia in the
region, the existence of documented history, ancient monuments, monasteries,
castles, graveyards, villages, cities do not constitute habitat, then what
does?
The world is turning a blind eye to the truth and praising
the business of the corrupt expansionist dictators more than Human Rights and
the dignity of mankind.
If ‘true Justice’ is blind because it should see only truth,
today it is blind to power, dominance and greed. Justice is blind to injustice.
4- UCI Armenian
Studies and Armenian Association Hosts Garo Paylan
By Helena San Roque
The UCI
Center for Armenian
Studies and the Armenian Student Association (ASA), in collaboration with the
Center for Truth and Justice, hosted “Armenian Rebirth: The Last Plight,”
featuring Garo Paylan, at Humanities Gateway 1030 on Oct. 16.
Garo Paylan, a former Armenian member of the Turkish
Parliament, served from 2015 to 2023 for two terms as a founding member of the
pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party. Hewas subjected to an assassination plot
in 2022 for uplifting Armenian genocide
in the Ottoman Empire—present day Turkey— killing over 1.5 million
Armenians during 1915.
“For more than 100 years, [Armenians have] just been trying
to heal our grandparents. So I struggled in Turkey,” Paylan said.
His visit comes during the aftermath of the 2020
Nagorno-Karabakh War in the South Caucasus, a region in southwest Asia. The war
resulted in the Azerbaijani invasion and the ethnic cleansing of over 120,000
Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Artsakh, due to months of
Azerbaijani military aggression and starvation tactics. Tensions around this
region have been ongoing since the fall of the Soviet
Union in 1990 as both countries make claims to this territory.
Paylan also touched on the indifference of larger countries
toward both the Armenians and the Israeli bombings on Gaza,
expressing frustration with the United
States’ involvement in specific
international affairs.
“Unfortunately, nobody cares about Armenians. After three
generations, we suffered another genocide because Armenian lives do not
matter.” Paylan said. “What Israel
is doing is a hate crime, and Mr. Biden cares more about some countries.”
The Biden Administration committed over $3.3 billion in
funds, including military aid, to Israel in 2022. According to an
Aljazeera report, that same year during the time of the Nagorno-Karabakh War, Azerbaijan bought $295 million worth of arms
from Israel, making it the
second largest buyer of military weapons after India. More than 60% of Azerbaijan’s weapons are from Israel as the
two countries maintain close relations.
He explained that Armenia
lacked political leverage, unlike Turkey,
who is close with Russia,
and Azerbaijan who is also
close with Russia and Turkey.
Although Armenia is a member
of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which
guarantees support in military attacks, Paylan claimed that Russian favor had
swayed to Azerbaijan
while he served in office.
“We were told Russians were our allies, and if Turks were to
attack Armenia,
they would help us.” Paylan said. “Russians interests have changed and now they
need to sell and launder their oil to Azerbaijan after the Russia-Ukraine
war.”
Paylan urged the Armenian diaspora to unify in the midst of
the ongoing crisis, looking to other discriminated groups in the Middle East who also face pressure from larger countries.
“If we don’t unite and if we don’t stand up against Turks
and Azeris, they will attack. Because I know Turks. I know Azeris. Look at
Kurds. Look at what’s happening to the Palestinians. There are three identities
that are vulnerable in the Middle East and Caucasus.
One is the Palestinians … and Kurds … of course, and Armenians, unfortunately,”
Paylan said.
He then spoke on the ongoing conflict between Armenia and the
Azerbaijani occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh. He talked about the possibility of
peace through open borders with Turkey
and Azerbaijan,
explaining that trade could help strengthen the political borders.
“If we open borders with Turkey, Turkish people will see
that Armenians are not their enemies. They will be doing trade, tourism,
whatever. Everybody will benefit from each other,” Paylan said. “So we need
this. We need this time, this five to ten years in peace. You’ll see. We’ll be
stronger. We’ll go to the point where we can defend our country.”
However, there was disagreement among some of the audience
regarding the normalization between the Turkish and Armenian border. CSULong Beach
geographic information systems master’s student Haig Minasian echoed the
disagreement over Armenia
opening its borders with Turkey.
“I think his presence is commendable,” Minasian said. “But
what he said about peace and justice being achieved through power and strength
did not make sense. He blamed Russia
as the sole betrayer, but opening the borders will expose more untrustworthy
allies.”
Minasian also stated that strengthening the Armenian economy
through open borders and trade with Turkey
and Azerbaijan
would not benefit the majority of its citizens.
“This only benefits the rich, elite Armenians. Only Azerbaijan will
have leverage, whether or not the [Armenian] economy grows,” Minasian added.
The Armenian Student Association gave an official statement
in an email to the New
University following
Paylan’s talk.
“As Armenian students, we are united by a duty to use our
diaspora privilege to help our homeland. In this, we follow Paylan’s example of
leadership and initiative through this difficult time as our people endure and
recover from ethnic cleansing,”
The statement also emphasizes the role of the diaspora
within the Armenian community: to uplift each other.
After the event, professor of history and Meghrouni Family
Presidential Chair in Armenian studies Houri Beberian resonated with Paylan’s
call for unity.
“It was good to hear a new perspective. A perspective that
seems common sense — that Armenians should unite in order to create solutions.
I hope the message of unity will be carried through the diaspora and the
republic,” Berberian said.
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