ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia
Friday
Russian analyst: In existing realities, diversified policy for Armenia
is an urgent necessity, not a luxury
Yerevan October 27
Angela Stepanyan. In the existing realities and the main existing set
of conditions, a diversified policy for Armenia is not a luxury, but
an urgent necessity, Russian analyst Sergey Markedonov expressed such
an opinion.
"In the case of Armenia, we are not talking about a value choice, but
a pragmatic search for an optimal line of conduct in difficult
conditions." Involvement in the conflict with Azerbaijan, lack of
diplomatic relations with Turkey, two closed borders and the absence
of common borders with Russia's ally, integration associations with
Armenia's participation - obviously not the best set of conditions,
"the analyst believes. November 24, 2017 at the Brussels summit of the
"Eastern Partnership" Armenia plans to sign a partnership document on
the partnership with the EU, which was initialed on March 21 - the
Agreement on Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership. The relevant
talks were initiated by the Council of Foreign Ministers of the EU on
October 12, 2015 in Luxembourg.
In this light, the development of the European vector, according to
Markedonov, is dictated by a number of reasons, for example, the fact
that in the first half of 2017, the EU had more than a third of the
Armenian exports and about half of imports to the EU. As well as
diplomatic reasons - Yerevan seeks not to allow the Karabakh issue to
be monopolized by Baku and Ankara.
Recalling the competing essence of the "Eastern Partnership" for
Russia, Markedonov saw in the text of the Armenia-EU Agreement direct
confirmation, first of all, of the energy sector. In particular, the
presence of "Euroatom" among the signatories of the document on the
part of Brussels, since the text contains very unambiguous
recommendations on closing Metsamor NPP, taking into account the need
to replace it with new capacities.
"Let's assume in theory the possibility of Yerevan's choice in favor
of energy modernization under the auspices of the EU One can no doubt
that Brussels will readily accept such a decision, but this inevitably
leads to the question of the EU's readiness to guarantee the status
quo in Karabakh and to restrain Turkey from Today, Russia is more
active in helping Azerbaijan, which is unlikely to be answered by the
EU today, "Markedonov said.
HOPA, Turkey – A Hamshen Armenian husband and wife have been arrested by Turkish authorities within two days of each other for being Armenian. As a result of the arrest, their eight-year-old daughter Arev, who witnessed her parents being hauled away, is now alone.
According to Turkish media, Cemil Aksu was arrested Wednesday while Nurcan Vayic was arrested two days prior during when Turkish police raided their house in the middle of the night.
Vayic has already been convicted and sentenced to three months imprisonment for her anti-government writings online while the husband has not been charged yet. Aksu and Vayic were both bloggers who actively criticize the Turkish government.
Vayic has extensively written about the growing fascism in Turkish government, which has recently called for persecution of the people of Hamshen. Her friends are convinced that her arrest was a direct result of an organized plot against her.
The town of Hopa, in the Hamshen region of Turkey is 11 miles from the Georgian border near Javakhk.
Armenpress News Agency , Armenia
Tuesday
'Freedom and human rights are above everything' – Mexican MP says
during Artsakh visit
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 24, ARMENPRESS. Members of the Parliament of Mexico
Blanca Margarita Cuata Dominguez, Maria Cristina Teresa Garcia Bravo,
and Carlos Hernández Mirón and Vice Speaker of Armenia’s Parliament
Eduard Sharmazanov on October 24 were hosted in the Artsakh
Parliament, the parliament told Armenpress.
The guests were welcomed by Parliament Speaker Ashot Ghoulyan who said
the Artsakh Republic is interested in having friendly relations with
different countries. He said this visit is a very good beginning for
the bilateral relations.
Speaking about the fight of the Artsakh people, Vice Speaker of the
Armenian Parliament Eduard Sharmazanov touched upon the anti-Armenian
propaganda by the Azerbaijani authorities, as well as the regular
military operations in the line of contact.
“The Artsakh people’s fight is not against Azerbaijan, their fight is
for freedom and peace”, Sharmazanov said.
In response to the question of MP Blanca Margarita Cuata Dominguez on
the reasons of restriction of Artsakh freedom by Azerbaijan, Ashot
Ghoulyan said it is possible to present Artsakh in international
platforms through parliamentary ties and ban Azerbaijan’s
anti-Armenian propaganda.
“Our visit is a very good precedent for the further visits of Mexican
officials and we are going to cooperate with you since we believe that
freedom and human rights are above everything”, Blanca Margarita Cuata
Dominguez said.
MP Carlos Hernández Mirón highlighted the importance of the meeting
and noted: “It’s very important that we raise voices during such
meetings and call for peace and dialogue”.
The meeting also touched upon the process of statebuilding in Artsakh,
the structure of the Parliament and inter-parliamentary ties.
At the end of the meeting Ashot Ghoulyan expressed hope that the
inter-parliamentary relations with Mexico will further deepen.
The meeting was also attended by Vice Speaker of the Artsakh
Parliament Vahram Balayan and Deputy Foreign Minister Felix
Khachatryan.
The Mexican lawmakers also met with the representatives of the Artsakh
parliamentary factions.
I would like to dedicate this article to the sad occasion of the passing last month of my dear high school teacher, Olivia Balian, who changed my life with a noble gesture.
The year was 1968. I was a student at the Sophia Hagopian Armenian High School in Beirut, Lebanon.
When the time came to register as a 10th grade student, I went to the Principal’s office and told the staff that my parents could not pay the tuition. Although I was the top student in my class, I was sent home due to lack of money! This was a heart-breaking experience for a young man, as I loved being in school and desperately wanted to continue my education.
I went home and spent my day at the tire repair shop of my father who could barely earn enough to pay the tuition of my two other siblings. A very old man and respected member of the Ramgavar Party saw me in the shop and wondered why I was not in school. I told him I was sent home due to lack of funding. He offered to help by calling the Principal of the AGBU Hovaguimian-Manougian High School and asking him to register me tuition free. Even though the school was far away from my home, I could not pass the opportunity to continue my education. I took a city bus to downtown Beirut and went to the Principal’s office. Being embarrassed to tell him that I was supposed to get free tuition, I told the Principal that arrangements were made for me to study at a discounted tuition. I was stunned when the Principal screamed at me that there was no such thing as a discounted tuition. I immediately turned around and rushed back to my father’s tire shop!
Olivia Balian
On the third day, one of my classmates from Sophia Hagopian High School came to my father’s shop to inform me that the Principal had sent him to tell me that I should come back to school and register. When I arrived at my school, I told the registrar that I could not pay the tuition. She informed me that my tuition was fully paid and to go and join my classmates. I asked the registrar to tell me who paid for my tuition so I can thank that wonderful individual. I was told that the benefactor wanted to remain anonymous!
So I went to my classroom, but kept wondering who was the person or organization that gave me the golden opportunity to continue my education. I went back to the Principal’s office after classes and begged the registrar to disclose the name of the benefactor. Upon my insistence, she reluctantly informed me that the benefactor was none other than my English teacher, Olivia Balian, on condition that I do not go and thank her and risk the registrar getting fired for breaking her confidentiality. I promised that I would not talk to her. The registrar also told me that when the school year started and she noticed that my classroom desk was unoccupied, she inquired why I was not in school. She was told that my parents could not pay the tuition. She then told the Principal to deduct my tuition from her salary!
The whole year I sat in Ms. Balian’s class, thinking about her magnanimous gesture, but unable to express my appreciation to her. A year later, I came to the United States and eventually received two Master’s degrees, one from Columbia University in New York in International Affairs and the second an MBA from Pepperdine University in Los Angeles.
But I never forgot the kindness and generosity of Ms. Balian who paid for my tuition from her meager salary. Almost 40 years later, I returned to Beirut for the first time, to donate a total of $4.5 million from Kirk Kerkorian’s Lincy Foundation to all 28 Armenian schools in the country. Among the schools I visited was my former High School. While handing the Principal the donation of several hundred thousand dollars, I advised him never to keep any student away from the school for lack of money, because one never knows what that student will become in the future if he had continued his education. He could be a brilliant doctor, a good diplomat, the principal of a school, a church leader or someone who ends up working for a billionaire benefactor who would make a major donation to the school!
While in Lebanon, I very much wanted to see Ms. Balian and thank her for her generosity so many years later. She had retired from teaching long ago and lived in an apartment by herself outside Beirut. I arranged for my former classmates and the Archbishop of Lebanon to take me to her place. She was so thrilled to see me as I was. We had a very warm visit. Sitting next to her, I was finally able to thank her, but she did not want to hear about it and humbly changed the subject. I offered to assist her anyway possible, including financial help or special recognition by the community for her many decades of service to the education of young Armenians. She declined all offers.
I left her apartment with much contentment because I was able to finally acknowledge her generosity after all these years!
While this column is about Ms. Olivia Balian, it is also a testimony that one person can make a great difference in the lives of others. Without her timely assistance, giving me the unique opportunity to study English, I probably would have never come to the United States and would not have ended up as the publisher of an English-language newspaper, The California Courier. I probably would have spent the rest of my life repairing tires at my father’s shop in Beirut!
4 –Portantino
Named Legislator of Year by Armenian
National
Committee of America,
Western Region
5 –‘Architects of Denial’ Opens Nationwide
As Top Grossing Documentary
6 –Hollywood Actor John Malkovich
Visits
Armenian
Genocide Memorial in Yerevan
7 – Czech
President Says ‘Islamic Terrorism’
Connected
with Armenian Genocide
8 –New Armenian App Transforms
Regular Photos into
Artworks
9 – Commentary
American
Alliance with Turkey Was Built on a Myth
By
Steven A. Cook
Foreign Policy
10-AAF
Shipped Over $4 Million of Aid
To Armenia
and Artsakh July-Sept. 2017
11-Armenian
Nuclear
Plant
to Shut Down
Under
New EU Deal
*******************************************
1 –Commentary
Unique High School Teacher
Who Changed My Life
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
I
would like to dedicate this article to the sad occasion of the passing last
month of my dear high school teacher, Olivia Balian, who changed my life with a
noble gesture.
The year
was 1968. I was a student at the Sophia
Hagopian Armenian
High School in Beirut, Lebanon.
When the
time came to register as a 10th grade student, I went to the Principal’s office
and told the staff that my parents could not pay the tuition. Although I was
the top student in my class, I was sent home due to lack of money! This was a
heart-breaking experience for a young man, as I loved being in school and
desperately wanted to continue my education.
I
went home and spent my day at the tire repair shop of my father who could
barely earn enough to pay the tuition of my two other siblings. A very old man
and respected member of the Ramgavar Party saw me in the shop and wondered why
I was not in school. I told him I was sent home due to lack of funding. He
offered to help by calling the Principal of the AGBU Hovaguimian-Manougian
High School and asking him
to register me tuition free. Even though the school was far away from my home,
I could not pass the opportunity to continue my education. I took a city bus to
downtown Beirut
and went to the Principal’s office. Being embarrassed to tell him that I was supposed
to get free tuition, I told the Principal that arrangements were made for me to
study at a discounted tuition. I was stunned when the Principal screamed at me
that there was no such thing as a discounted tuition. I immediately turned
around and rushed back to my father’s tire shop!
On the
third day, one of my classmates from Sophia Hagopian High School came to my
father’s shop to inform me that the Principal had sent him to tell me that I
should come back to school and register. When I arrived at my school, I told
the registrar that I could not pay the tuition. She informed me that my tuition
was fully paid and to go and join my classmates. I asked the registrar to tell
me who paid for my tuition so I can thank that wonderful individual. I was told
that the benefactor wanted to remain anonymous!
So I
went to my classroom, but kept wondering who was the person or organization
that gave me the golden opportunity to continue my education. I went back to
the Principal’s office after classes and begged the registrar to disclose the
name of the benefactor. Upon my insistence, she reluctantly informed me that
the benefactor was none other than my English teacher, Olivia Balian, on
condition that I do not go and thank her and risk the registrar getting fired
for breaking her confidentiality. I promised that I would not talk to her. The
registrar also told me that when the school year started and she noticed that
my classroom desk was unoccupied, she inquired why I was not in school. She was
told that my parents could not pay the tuition. She then told the Principal to
deduct my tuition from her salary!
The
whole year I sat in Ms. Balian’s class, thinking about her magnanimous gesture,
but unable to express my appreciation to her. A year later, I came to the United States and eventually received two
Master’s degrees, one from Columbia University in New York
in International Affairs and the second an MBA from Pepperdine
University in Los Angeles.
But I
never forgot the kindness and generosity of Ms. Balian who paid for my tuition
from her meager salary. Almost 40 years later, I returned to Beirut for the first time, to donate a total
of $4.5 million from Kirk Kerkorian’s Lincy Foundation to all 28 Armenian
schools in the country. Among the schools I visited was my former High School.
While handing the Principal the donation of several hundred thousand dollars, I
advised him never to keep any student away from the school for lack of money,
because one never knows what that student will become in the future if he had
continued his education. He could be a brilliant doctor, a good diplomat, the
principal of a school, a church leader or someone who ends up working for a
billionaire benefactor who would make a major donation to the school!
While in
Lebanon,
I very much wanted to see Ms. Balian and thank her for her generosity so many
years later. She had retired from teaching long ago and lived in an apartment
by herself outside Beirut.
I arranged for my former classmates and the Archbishop of Lebanon to take me to
her place. She was so thrilled to see me as I was. We had a very warm visit.
Sitting next to her, I was finally able to thank her, but she did not want to
hear about it and humbly changed the subject. I offered to assist her anyway
possible, including financial help or special recognition by the community for
her many decades of service to the education of young Armenians. She declined
all offers.
I left
her apartment with much contentment because I was able to finally acknowledge
her generosity after all these years!
While
this column is about Ms. Olivia Balian, it is also a testimony that one person
can make a great difference in the lives of others. Without her timely
assistance, giving me the unique opportunity to study English, I probably would
have never come to the United
States and would not have ended up as the
publisher of an English-language newspaper, The California Courier. I probably
would have spent the rest of my life repairing tires at my father’s shop in Beirut!
Turned EntrepreneurPaolo Pirjanian, PhDPASADENA, CA – In this presentation, Paolo Pirjanian,
PhD, will share his experiences in starting a robotics company, developing
technologies, building products, and selling the products. He will talk
about the challenges involved in such ventures which go beyond the technical
challenges.
Dr.
Pirjanian is the founder/CEO of Embodied Inc., a robotics and AI company based
in Pasadena.
Most recently he was the chief technology officer of iRobot where he led
technology and product innovation leading to a break-through visual indoor
mapping and navigation technology which is now powering millions of home
robots. Prior to joining iRobot, he was the founder and chief executive officer
of Evolution Robotics, Inc. Earlier in his career, he worked as a lecturer,
teaching AI at the computer science department at the USC and as a researcher
at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Pirjanian
is still serving as the chairman and board of directors of various technology
organization and companies. He has more than 100 issued patents in robotics, AI
and related fields.
LOS
ANGELES (LA Times) – Los Angeles schools chief Michelle King is recuperating from surgery and has
appointed a Associate Superintendent Vivian Akchian to run the school system in
her stead.
In an
email over the weekend, she told senior staff that Ekchian would serve as
acting superintendent “for the remainder of my absence.”
“I have
the utmost confidence in Mrs. Ekchian’s leadership and ability to oversee all
business matters, and maintain the district’s upward trajectory toward 100%
graduation,” King wrote..
Ekchian
is serving as acting L.A. Unified superintendent while Michelle King
recuperates. (Al Seib / Los Angeles
Times)
Ekchian
followed up with an internal email confirming that she had agreed to step in.
After
injuring her leg, King, 56, had begun using a cane at work and then simply
stayed at home, directing the district via phone and email. She hasn’t attended
a board meeting since Sept. 12. Her last day in the office was Sept. 15. When
contacted last week, a district spokeswoman downplayed the effect of the
medical issue.
“Unexpectedly,
my doctor informed me that I am not yet released to return to work, due to my
continued need to recover from my medical procedure,” King wrote to her senior
staff. “The doctor will reassess my progress at the end of this month.”
King
became superintendent of the nation’s second-largest school system in January
2016. She had worked for the district for three decades, starting as a teacher
and steadily rising through the ranks. She is the first African American woman
to hold the superintendent’s job.
Ekchian,
too, has risen through district ranks, from her job as an elementary school
teacher in 1985. A Glendale resident, she has
served as a principal, as a director of instruction, as head of human
resources, as chief labor negotiator and as a regional superintendent in the
west San Fernando Valley.
4 –Portantino
Named Legislator of Year by Armenian
National
Committee of America,
Western Region
GLENDALE,
CA – On October 8, Senator
Anthony J. Portantino, D – La Cañada Flintridge, was recognized as the 2017
Legislator of the Year by the Armenian National Committee of America Western
Region (ANCA-WR). ANCA-WR recognized Senator Portantino at their annual gala
for his unwavering support of the Armenian Community. Portantino
joined notable honorees Garo Paylan, the heroic Armenian Member of the Turkish
Parliament; Terry George, the director of The Promise; documentary filmmaker
Bared Maronian; and Hon. David Valadao. Earlier this year, Portantino
co-hosted a screening of The Promise in Sacramento.
“It is an honor to be recognized
by my friends in the ANCA Western Region. The Armenian community has
welcomed me and shared their amazing history and rich culture. I am pleased to
be in a position where I can work collaboratively to increase the recognition
and understanding of the genocide while highlighting the leadership, business
and educational contributions of Armenian Americans in the diaspora,” commented
Portantino.
Portantino represents California’s 25th Senate District, which is
home to the largest Armenian American community in the nation. He chairs the
Senate Budget Subcommittee on Education and the Senate Select Committee on California, Armenia and Artsakh Trade, Art and
Cultural Exchange. Earlier this year, Senator Portantino successfully included
funding for Armenian Genocide curriculum implementation and the Armenian American Museum
in the California State Budget signed by Governor Brown. He also successfully authored a
resolution to place freeway exit signs on the 210 freeway directing visitors to
the Pasadena Armenian Genocide memorial.
“From his days as a California
State Assemblymember, throughout his campaign for State Senate, and
consistently since his election, Senator Anthony Portantino has been a genuine
and sincere friend to the Armenian-American community, not just through his
words, but through his actions. He has successfully transformed ideas into
tangible results and has created practical solutions to address the needs of
the Armenian people, not just in the 25th Senate District orCalifornia, but even in Armenia and Artsakh. We are truly
grateful to Senator Portantino and are proud to recognize and honor him with
this year’s Legislator of the Year Award,” remarked ANCA-WR Chair Nora
Hovsepian.
Senator Portantino was previously
honored by the ANCA-WR while serving in the State Assembly, making him the
first political leader to be named Legislator of the Year twice.
The film ‘Architects of Denial,’ executive
produced by Dean Cain and Montel Williams opened this past weekend in select
movie theatres in 10 major cities nationwide as the top grossing new
documentary. Craig Sussman, who is overseeing worldwide distribution for the
film commented, "The producers are thrilled with the opening weekend
results for the film, which exceeded expectations. These results bolster our
enthusiasm for our concurrent digital release and DVD which is currently
available through Amazon."
The new documentary film is about the Armenian Genocide of 1915. The film
opened October 6, in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco,
Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Minneapolis
and Denver.
Based on last weekend's strong performance, the film has been added for an extended
play at Arena Cinelounge Sunset (Los Angeles),
opening October 13, 6464 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood.
In spite of forces trying to thwart the film's
marketing campaign, the film still managed to make an impact ranking Number 30
as one of the top films of the week. The film has been a four-year labor of
love to show the horror of genocide, and in particular, the Armenian Genocide.
The film's producers feel “Architects of Denial” unites Americans in a
humanitarian campaign represented in the film by those who support the
recognition of the genocide from WikiLeaks Editor-In-Chief Julian Assange to
actor George Clooney.
The film also includes commentary from: Genocide Witnesses and Family Members
of those that perished, Julian Assange, Editor-In-Chief of WikiLeaks; Sibel
Edmonds,former FBI translator; Dr. Gregory H. Stanton, Founder and President of
Genocide Watch;Geoffrey Robertson, Founder of Doughty Street Chambers, the
largest human rights law firm in the UK; Harut Sassounian, Acclaimed Genocide
Historian; Thomas De Waal, a British journalist who is an expert on the
Caucasus region, including Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh; Lady Baroness
Caroline Cox, a member of the UK House of Lords; David Babayan, a scholar on
the history of Nagorno-Karabakh and the Caucasus region; Bako Sahakyan,
President of Nagorno-Karahakh; Adam Schiff, U.S. representative from
California's 28th Congressional District; Serzh Sargsyan, President of Armenia;
Catholicos Karekin II, the Supreme Head of the Armenian Apostolic Church; John
Marshall Evans ,former U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Armenia; Anna
Astvatsaturian Turcotte ,prominent Armenian-American writer and lecturer, and
Abdullah Demirbas, former Mayor of Sur, Diyarbakir, Turkey, to name a few. The
documentary traces the turbulent modern history of the Armenian people, from
their decimation by Ottoman Turks at the onset of World War I until the
present, when they are threatened by Turkey,
as well as its ally, Azerbaijan.
It chronicles the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and includes interviews with its
survivors, who detail the horrors they or their family members had experienced,
and experts, who graphically illustrate the real connection between its
hiStorical denial with present-day mass exterminations in conflict zones around
the world.
For further information, please visit www.architectsofdenial.com
The film, which can now be seen in select U.S cities, is also now available On
Demand via Amazon, iTunes, Fandango Now, Vudu, Cable VOD (Cox, Spectrum,
Xfinity).
YEREVAN
(Armradio.am) – Hollywood legend John Malkovich visited the Armenian Genocide
Museum-Institute (AGMI) on Oct. 10, accompanied by artistic director and chief
conductor of the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia Sergey Smbatyan.
Afterwards the Hollywood
star visited the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute.
AGMI Deputy Director Lusine Abrahamyan briefed
the guest on the history of the Armenian Genocide.
Malkovich left a note in the Museum’s guestbook.
He later laid flowers at the eternal fire and paid tribute to the memory of the
genocide victims with a moment of silence.
Malkovich later responded to journalists,
sharing his impressions of the visit, and his astonishment over the horrendous
crime committed about a century ago.
Malkovich arrived in Armenia to perform at the Oct. 11
opening ceremony of the 5th Aram Khachaturian International Festival.
STRASBOURG,
France –
(Armradio.am) – Today’s growing level of international crime is connected with
the genocide of Armenians, said Czech Republic President Miloš Zaman.
“The level of international crime is growing
because of Islamic terrorism. I am open and frank, and I do not use the phrase
“Islamic terrorism” lightly but, in the overwhelming majority of cases, it has
Islamic origin. It is connected with genocide of Armenians,” Zaman said at a
Q&A session following his address to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe (PACE).
“I was heavily criticized when I declared the
same thing as France
did, for instance, but as the Assembly knows, the French Parliament even
adopted a law about that genocide. On the other side, I have been criticized
for having a good economic relationship with Azerbaijan. I am probably Jekyll
and Hyde, but nobody knows who is Jekyll and who is Hyde,” Miloš Zeman said.
The President made the statement in response to
a question from Armenian lawmaker Arpine Hovhannisyan. She acknowledged
Pres. Zaman’s personal input in raising awareness of the Armenian genocide and
asked about plans to include crimes against humanity as a topic within school
curricula.
The Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic approved a resolution on April 26, 2017,
condemning the genocide of Armenians and other religious and national
minorities in the Ottoman Empire during the
First World War.
YEREVAN (iTel.am) – Armenian specialists launched their
Ktav app for transforming photos into artworks using styles of famous Armenian
artists.
The app, which recreates styles of Martiros
Sarian, Minas Avetisyan, Carzou, Hagop Hagopian, Vruir Galstian, Arshile Gorky
is available for iOS and Android devices.
Lenz startup’s team of eight specialists was the one to develop this free app.
Co-founder of the startup Grisha Tadevosyan told Itel.am that users can select
their own photos or take a picture via the app, choose the style of the
preferred artist and see the result.
“This Machine Learning-based program is the first work of Lenz startup. We have
no targeted audience, we just aim at making our great artists more famous not
only among our compatriots but throughout the world. The app has registered
1000 downloads so far. 500-600 photos are styled daily,” he said.
Ktav app was first exhibited during DigiTec 2017.
Tadevosyan said that the team is currently working on adding styles of other
artists as well.
This week,
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pushed the U.S.-Turkey relationship from
bad to worse. On Tuesday, he claimed that “spies” had infiltrated U.S. missions in Turkey
and said that Turkey didn’t
consider the U.S. ambassador
to Ankara, John Bass, to be a legitimate
representative of the United
States.
Turkey’s
president thus escalated a tit-for-tat diplomatic crisis that started on
Sunday, when the U.S. Embassy announced that the United
States had been forced “to reassess the commitment of the
Government of Turkey to the security of U.S. mission facilities and
personnel,” and as a result would no longer process non-immigrant visas. The
decision was undoubtedly a response to the arrest of Metin Topuz, a “foreign
service national” who has worked with the Drug Enforcement Agency’s office in
the Turkish capital for many years, but was accused of supporting the
Fethullahist Terror Organization by the Turkish government, which holds the
group responsible for the failed coup in July 2016. The Turkish government
responded in kind to the U.S.
refusal to process visas — before Erdogan followed up with his rhetorical
broadside.
The Topuz case can be logged into an
increasingly long list of conflicts that have challenged the U.S. relationship with Erdogan’s Turkey
over the last few years. It is now clear that Turkey
and the United States are
less allies and partners than antagonists and strategic competitors, especially
in the Middle East.
But it would be a mistake to lay Washington and Ankara’s
troubled relations at the feet of Turkey’s charismatic and pugnacious
president. In truth, the United States
and Turkey have been headed
for a collision since Christmas Day in 1991, when the Soviet
Union disintegrated.
So much analysis and commentary about Turkey
over the last decade has emphasized Erdogan’s consolidation of his personal
political power. Although this work has been generally accurate, it tends to
obscure three important factors in Turkish politics and foreign policy. First,
for all that Erdogan is the central decision-maker, his ideas about Turkish power
and mistrust of the West have broad support among Turks — and with good
historical reasons.
Second, the United
States and Turkey share neither values nor
interests. Finally, the world has changed a lot since the heyday of the
U.S.-Turkey alliance, over a quarter century ago.
All political parties in Turkey have tended to flirt with Iran
over the years.
This is a reality that often dumbfounds American
officials, who tend to work with a set of outdated ideas about Turkey.
Policy continues to be made based on the mythology of the Cold War, which has
produced a romantic retrospective of Americans and Turks “standing
shoulder-to-shoulder during the great ideological battle with the Soviet Union” or some such formulation. The myths of the
Cold War era obscure the reality that, without the common Soviet threat, there
was not much to bind Washington and Ankara together. The
bilateral relationship was not based on friendship, trust, or values, but
rather the exigencies of the countries’ shared conflict.
Even after Russian guards lowered the hammer and
sickle from atop the Kremlin all those years ago, American officials
erroneously assumed that Turkey
would remain shoulder-to-shoulder with its American partners. In the early
1990s, some in the foreign policy community thought Turkey
was uniquely positioned to guide the newly independent Turkic states of Central Asia — whose citizens share cultural and
linguistic affinities with Turks — in stable, democratic governance. In the
middle and latter part of that decade, the foreign-policy community regarded Ankara as a driver of security and peace in the Middle East. More recently, Turkey was held out as a “model”
for Arab countries seeking to build more prosperous and democratic societies.
None of these projects proved successful,
because they overestimated Turkey’s
capacities, underestimated the historical legacies of the Ottoman domination of
the Middle East, and misread Turkish domestic
politics and the worldview of the country’s current leadership. With each
failure, the United States
and Turkey
drifted further apart.
Although the details of each of these episodes
are important, there was something else at work that contributed to the
unsuccessful outcomes. The American foreign-policy community is slowly learning
that much of what it believed about Turkey turned out not to be the
case. The country’s leaders — including the military command — are neither
democrats nor pro-Western. In fact, they are deeply suspicious of the West,
especially the United States.
It is a common misconception that relations
between the United States
and Turkey
were always warm, similar to traditional allies like the British or Germans.
There were good working relationships between American and Turkish officers at
NATO, of course, but those ties always had an element of mistrust, stemming
from the often prickly nationalism of the Turkish side suspicious of American
intent regarding Kurds and Washington’s
commitment to Turkish security. The same could be said for the Turkish
political leadership.
Most importantly, Turkey’s
leaders do not share the interests of the United States. At a level of
abstraction, of course, both Ankara and Washington oppose the
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, support peace between Israelis
and Palestinians, fight terrorism, and want Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to
fall.In each case, officials from both
governments can articulate how the other has undercut their efforts in these
areas. From an American perspective, Turkey’s
periodic warming of its ties with Iran
has weakened efforts to contain Tehran’s nuclear
development, while Ankara is also guilty of
enabling extremists in Syria
and supporting the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
These tensions pre-date Erdogan and the rise of
the Justice and Development Party. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, for
example, the Turks chafed mightily over international sanctions on Iraq.
And of course, there were differences over many years concerning Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus
in 1974, the subsequent American arms embargo, and security in the Aegean.
The world has changed so much that Turkey, a NATO ally, works with Russia — whose leaders are intent on weakening
the Western alliance — in Syria
while the United States
fights the self-declared Islamic State with Syrian Kurdish forces who the Turks
believe (rightly) to be part and parcel of a terrorist organization that has
waged war against Ankara
since 1984. The strategic relationship has now been reduced to American access
to Incirlik Air Base, from which the United States and its allies
conduct operations against the Islamic State. From time to time, the Turks have
threatened to rescind permission to use the facility for this purpose.
The very fact that it has become relatively easy
for each country to work with the other’s adversary suggests that the strain in
U.S.-Turkey ties is less about Erdogan’s worldview or former President Barack
Obama’s retrenchment but about the way international politics is ordered a
quarter century after the Cold War.
Since the “war of the visas” began, journalists
have been asking whether the spat between the United
States and Turkey will escalate. Given the
reservoir of anti-Americanism in Turkey,
any Turkish leader derives political benefits from conflict with the United States.
But the larger question is: How does the United States manage Turkey’s
shift from strategic partner to a relationship that recognizes Turkey’s
importance as both a onetime partner and an adversary? If American policymakers
continue to view Turkey
through the Cold War lens, they will continue to get nowhere. Already, American
diplomats are fruitlessly invoking U.S.
and Turkish shared values, while American citizens and U.S. government employees are
jailed and abused. It’s time to recognize that the world has changed — and so
has the U.S.-Turkey relationship.
CookSteven A. Cook is the Eni Enrico Mattei
senior fellow for Middle East and Africa
studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
GLENDALE,CA — The Armenia Artsakh Fund (AAF) delivered over $4
million of humanitarian assistance to Armenia and Artsakh during the
third quarter of 2017.
The AAF itself collected $3.7 million of
medicines and other supplies donated by several charities, including Direct
Relief ($3.1 million); Catholic Medical Mission Board ($445,000); and
AmeriCares ($164,000). In September 2017 AAF air freighted the first shipment
of medicines donated by Direct Relief to AGBU
Claudia Nazarian
Medical Center
(Syrian Armenian Doctors group in Armenia).
Other organizations which contributed valuable
goods during this period were:Armenian
Missionary Association of America ($299,000); Project Agape ($109,000); Two
fire trucks donated by the City of Glendale
($22,000) shipped to Artsakh Ministry of Emergency Situations and Queltico LLC
($14,000).
In the past 28 years, including its shipments
under its predecessor, the United Armenian Fund, the AAF has delivered to Armenia
and Artsakh a grand total of $761 million worth of relief supplies on board 158
airlifts and 2,368 sea containers.
"The Armenia Artsakh Fund is regularly
offered free of charge millions of dollars worth of life-saving medicines and
medical supplies. All we have to do is pay for the shipping expenses. We would
welcome your generous donations to be able to continue delivering this valuable
assistance to all medical centers in Armenia and Artsakh," Harut
Sassounian, the President of AAF stated.
YEREVAN (PanArmenian.net) – The new
framework agreement to be signed between Armeniaand theEuropean Unionstipulates the closure and safe decommissioning of Metsamornuclear power plant, the document released by the EU
reveals.
Also, the deal envisages the early adoption of a
road map or action plan to that effect, taking into consideration the need for
its replacement with new capacity to ensure the energy security of Armenia
and conditions for sustainable development.
The deal paves the way for close cooperation
with the country in a number of areas, including energy, transport,
environmental protection, trade and investment.
The frame work agreement will be signed in November.
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ASTANA. KAZINFORM David Akopyan, the personal photographer of the President of Armenia, wants to present his newly famous photograph to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazinform correspondent reports.
David Akopyan has worked as a personal photographer of the Armenian leader for seven years and attended all his meetings and events with participation of the President of Kazakhstan. Therefore, in his archive, there are a lot of photos of Nursultan Nazarbayev. "I imagined what photo I wanted to get but I did not expect that I would be able to do it in that way. To be honest, I really like this photo," the Armenian photographer said.
David Akopyan posted a photo depicting Nursultan Nazarbayev on his Facebook and Instagram pages last night. "I did expect that the photo would cause such a public reaction. This morning I woke up already famous in Kazakhstan. Now, I have more Kazakhs than Armenians as Facebook friends," he said. Kazakh reporters have been calling the photographer since the morning.
The story of David Akopyan's picture has excited the curiosity of his Armenian colleagues, as well as a journalist from France. "I want to give this photo to Nursultan Nazarbayev," said the Armenian President's personal photographer. David Akopyan intends to present his gift at the earliest event, at which he will accompany the President of his country.
Arthur Davtyan, Harutyun Merdinyan and Vahagn Davtyan presented Armenia at the World Gymnastics Championship on October 2-8 in Montreal, Canada.
Harutyun Merdinyan, a member of the Armenian gymnastics team, took the fifth place (14.700 points) in pommel horse, Arthur Davtyan’s 13th in the all-round (83.332 points) and Vahagn Davtyan could not overcome the qualification round,RA Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs reports.
YEREVAN, October 5. /ARKA/. The Armenian National Assembly ratified Thursday two agreements signed with Jordan and the United Arab Emirates on encouragement and mutual protection of investments.
Hovhannes Azizyan, deputy economic development in investments minister, presenting the agreements, said the aim of these documents is to create favorable environment for investments, development of mutually beneficial economic cooperation, attraction pf private capital and an effective use of economic resources.
“By signing these agreements the parties have assumed a commitment to encourage investments and create favorable environment for investors, which will make it possible to spur bilateral contacts,” he said.
Speaking about Jordan, Azizyan singled out food-processing, agriculture and tourism as promising areas for cooperation.
For cooperation with the United Arab Emirates, he pointed out production of spirits and canned fruits and vegetables. He said that the country’s investors also expressed interest in diamond-cutting and jewelry industries, and the parties are negotiating now over the matter.
In his words, these agreements will allow Armenia to attract quite considerable investments.
The deputy minister said that Armenia has 41 similar agreements with CIS, Eurasian Economic Union and EU countries. Negotiations are now being held with other seven countries. A similar agreement is expected to be signed with Japan soon.
According to statistical reports, he said, Armenia’s key investors are those countries which have bilateral agreements with Armenia. In particular, investments from these 41 countries make up 90% of all investments in Armenia. –0—