Author: Tania Jagharian

1 -        It is not Wise for Armenian
            Officials & Catholicos to be in Conflict
            By Harut Sassounian
            Publisher, The California Courier
            www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2-         Vrej Agajanian Selected as Glendale Mayor
3 -        Amid pandemic, Artsakh elects Arayik Harutyunyan as president
4-         Chicago Doctor beats COVID-19,
            returns to fight virus at Community First Medical Center
5-         Slogans on Chinese donation to Armenia sparking Turkish discontent

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1 -        It is not Wise for Armenian
            Officials & Catholicos to be in Conflict
            By Harut Sassounian
            Publisher, The California Courier
            www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic which is killing hundreds of
thousands of people around the world, including in Armenia, and
paralyzing the economy and societal life as we know it, the biggest
controversy these days in Armenia and the Armenian communities in the
Diaspora has become a statement issued by His Holiness Karekin II, the
Catholicos of All Armenians, and the harsh reaction by various
Armenian officials and some members of the media.

Unfortunately, such a confrontation was not unexpected. Ever since the
Velvet Revolution which brought Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to
power in Armenia, there has been a tense atmosphere prevailing in
Armenia and the Diaspora regarding those supporting Pashinyan’s
government and those opposing it. While there is nothing wrong to be
on the opposite sides of a political issue, the confrontation is so
heated that often insults, cuss words, and even physical threats are
exchanged, particularly on social media. In an earlier interview with
the Armenian media, I had urged that Armenians should not treat those
who disagree with them as enemies! I had said that “we can disagree
without being disagreeable.”

It is understandable that most Armenians viewed the previous leaders
as oppressors under whose unjust rule the Armenian people suffered
tremendously. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians emigrated to Russia,
Europe and North America not just because of economic hardships, but
also due to social inequalities. Therefore, to a degree, it is natural
that the majority of Armenians would harbor such toxic feelings toward
the previous regimes.

However, I suggest that Armenians should focus on rebuilding the
economy of Armenia rather than being consumed with hatred for the rest
of their lives. Those who abused their positions and enriched
themselves should be tried in courts and properly punished for their
misdeeds.

Turning to the latest episode of the current acrimony, Catholicos
Karekin II issued a statement to News.am last week, suggesting that
former President Robert Kocharian’s detention in prison be changed.
Here is the translation of the statement by the Catholicos:

“Under the circumstances of this pandemic, we are seeing that in
various countries of the world special attention is being paid to
individuals who are detained in prisons, welcome steps are being taken
toward releasing those who do not pose a danger to society or changing
the terms of their detention, in order to protect them from this
virus. In such issues the position of the Church is based on the
divine message of love, care, and compassion, and in this context, our
counsel is that the authorities of our homeland continue to take the
necessary steps in this direction. Regarding Robert Kocharian, the
second President of Armenia, being informed of the expert opinions of
doctors about his health, we consider it important that along with
implementing justice all preventive means and measures be taken,
including the changing of the method of detention, in order to protect
his health from future complications during this pandemic period.”

The next day, Alen Simonyan, the Deputy Speaker of the Armenian
Parliament, a member of the ruling party, wrote in his Facebook page
the following harsh response to the Catholicos:

“Today Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II said that he considers
it important to change the terms of detention of Robert Kocharian. Let
me say that thousands of citizens of Armenia have already for a very
long time considered it important the issue of changing the All
Armenian Catholicos. I think citizen Ktrij Nersessian [the layman’s
name of the Catholicos] who has been continuously silent, silent and
silent for decades, today, under the new conditions, can freely be the
guarantor of citizen Robert Kocharian, and for that sufficient funds
can be found.”

Also reacting to the Catholicos was Mane Gevorgyan, spokeswoman of the
Prime Minister. She curtly stated that the government does not intend
to comment on the “hopes and desires” of the Catholicos. The
spokeswoman also recalled that Priest Vahram Melikyan, spokesman of
the Mother See of Etchmiadzin, had presented a guarantee that if
businessman Samvel Mayrapetyan is released from jail and goes to
Germany for treatment, he would return to Armenia, but has not done so
since January 2019.

To make matters worse, the Deputy Primate of the Diocese of Yerevan,
Archbishop Navasard Kchoyan was charged by the Armenian government
last week with fraud and money laundering. The National Security
Service [NSS] claimed that Archbishop Kchoyan had colluded with an
Armenian businessman to defraud a third person. The NSS announced that
Kchoyan owned 33% of an offshore company. Archbishop Kchoyan’s lawyer
denied the accusation.

Etchmiadzin reacted by urging government officials and the media to
respect Archbishop Kchoyan’s presumption of innocence. The Church
headquarters also stated that it is “bewildering” that the NSS
announced the charges one day after Catholicos Karekin II called for a
change in the detention terms of former President Robert Kocharian.
Several high-ranking clergymen also criticized the officials who had
attacked the Catholicos.

We hope that the mutual accusations will cease as Armenians would
become more respectful of everyone’s freedom of speech, without
insulting those who disagree with them. At a time that the pandemic is
taking many innocent lives and Armenia’s economy is in peril, it would
be wiser to concentrate on resolving the grave issues facing our
nation.

Unique Virtual March on April 24

Since public gatherings are banned in most countries, the HyeID
non-profit organization is suggesting a unique way of commemorating
the Armenian Genocide this year from the comfort of your homes.

During the week of April 24, please go to the weblink:
April24.hyeid.org and click “join,” indicating your agreement to the
following statement: “We have to stay home this April 24, but we join
the on-line march… We demand Justice for Turkey’s Genocide of 1.5
million Armenians in 1915.” Your agreement will be shown on the
worldwide map on screen, indicating the number of those who have
joined the on-line march in each country.

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2-         Vrej Agajanian Selected as Glendale Mayor

GLENDALE—On Monday, April 13 Glendale City Council Member Vrej
Agajanian was selected as the city’s mayor by fellow council members.
Agajanian takes over the position from outgoing Mayor Ara Najarian.
This is Agajanian’s first time serving in the position of Mayor.

Agajanian was first elected to office in April 2017.  During his
tenure, he has also served as chair of the Glendale Housing Authority
and commission/board member on the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport
Authority.

In addition to serving on the City Council, Agajanian is a member and
past President of the Armenian Engineers and Scientists of America, is
a board member on the Glendale Police Foundation, and member and past
board member of the Glendale Kiwanis Club. Over the years, he has also
served as chariman of the Board of Trustees of the Armenian Society of
Los Angeles, Auditor of the DM Educational Foundation, and chairman of
the Shushi Orphanage School Board of Trustees.

He is a television host and commentator, CEO of two local television
stations, and holds a California Certified Professional Engineer
degree. He is married to Dina Agajanian and they have two grown
children.

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3 -  Amid pandemic, Artsakh elects Arayik Harutyunyan as president

By Raffi Elliott

YEREVAN—Arayik Harutyunyan was declared President-Elect of the
Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) following a decisive victory in
the second round of voting on Tuesday, April 14. Harutyunyan, a
46-year-old businessman and native of Artsakh, had previously served a
decade-long term as Prime Minister of the de facto republic between
2007 and 2017.

The election, which had been scheduled for March, gained an aura of
controversy when authorities in Stepanakert refused to postpone voting
amid the global COVID-19 pandemic even as authorities in Armenia
cancelled a planned constitutional referendum for early April. The
first round of voting went on ahead as scheduled on March 31st, while
authorities there promised to take every precaution to minimize
contagion risk.

Voters, who were expected to cast ballots for both parliamentary and
presidential candidates simultaneously, showed up in large numbers at
the polls. Artsakh’s Central Election Commission (CEC) announced a
turnout of over 73 percent for the first round of voting in which
Harutyunyan came out on top with 49.3 percent of the vote—just shy of
the 50 percent required to avoid a runoff against his nearest rival
Masis Mayilyan with 26.4 percent. Harutyunyan’s Free Fatherland party
also won the largest representation in Artsakh’s National Assembly
with 40 percent or 16 of the 33 allocated seats — again just shy of a
working majority. Other parties include former Defense Minister Samvel
Babayan’s Justice Party with 7.9 percent, the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (ARF) with 6.4 percent and the Democratic Party with 5.8
percent.

While the election was strongly condemned by Azerbaijan and declared
illegitimate by several international bodies, it has been hailed as
free and fair by both the Artsakh and Armenian governments. “The
unprecedented participation numbers and variety in the candidate
roster to choose from is a compelling sign of the further
strengthening of Artsakh’s democratic institutions,” said Armenian
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. “The fact that opposition, rather than
pro-government parties make up the second and third largest factions
in Parliament also attest to this.”

For an election in the post-Soviet space, this result was not
initially contested by losing candidates. However, travel restrictions
and other disruptions caused by the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic
prevented the large-scale deployment of independent observers from
Armenia and abroad to validate the results. Still, voting violations
and cases of suspected vote buying schemes in favor of Harutyunyan
have been reported to the CEC.

Authorities in Stepanakert then faced even more public outcry for
pushing on with a second round of voting despite the emergence of five
new confirmed COVID-19 cases stemming from people who had voted in the
previous round. Both Mayilyan and General Vitaly Balasanyan publicly
appealed for a postponement of the second round of voting following
the confirmed cases. However, first responders implemented mass
testing in the region and all additional cases came back negative.
Turnout in the second round was unsurprisingly lower than the previous
one at only 45 percent, since Mayilyan had asked his supporters to
avoid the polling stations.

While both frontrunners and the third place runner up Balasanyan had
previously held positions in the government of outgoing President Bako
Sahakyan, none received his endorsement. Major General Balasanyan, who
has garnered a reputation as a controversial, hawkish and agitating
figure in Artsakh politics since retiring from the military, had
recently gotten into public spats with Prime Minister Pashinyan as
well. However, Pashinyan has a good working relationship with both
Harutyunyan and Mayilyan.

Tuesday’s vote is the first since the Republic of Artsakh amended its
constitution in 2017 in favor of moving from a semi-presidential
system to a fully presidential one (at a time when Armenia did the
exact opposite). Then-President Bako Sahakyan’s second and final term
was thus controversially extended by two years until a new election
could be held.  “We’re moving forward. It is our duty to build a
prosperous future for our people,” Harutyunyan said in his first
address to the people of Artsakh since winning the election, “I wish
us all success.”

This article appeared in The Armenian Weekly on April 15, 2020.
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4-         Chicago Doctor beats COVID-19,

            returns to fight virus at Community First Medical Center

By Ravi Baichwal

CHICAGO (WLS)—A Chicago cardiologist who became infected with COVID-19
beat the virus and has bounced back to fight it on the front lines.

“My job is tiring so I don’t know if it is because of the virus itself
or my job,” explained Dr. Khachig Ishkhan, an interventional
cardiologist at Community First Medical Center. “Actually we are
overwhelmed with patients, so yeah, I’m tired.”

The COVID-19 patients keep coming at Community First Medical Center on
Chicago’s Northwest Side, where the patient profile is 60% Medicare
and 20% Medicaid and resources, including personal protective
equipment, is limited. About a month ago a particularly ill man
presented with COVID-19 symptoms.

“The person was coughing and short of breath and he was very sick,”
Dr. Ishkhan said. “Me and multiple nurses and respiratory therapists
and pulmonary therapists were exposed to that patient.”

It was one of many such encounters and with little COVID-19 testing
available, Dr. Ishkhan just kept going with his 12-hour days, staying
on call every night of the week.

By the last week of March, he was experiencing mild COVID-19 symptoms,
mostly headache. He then got tested and found he now had the
antibodies to the disease like 93 percent of Chicago doctors,
according to the Chicago Medical Society. His fears of getting the
disease had come true.

But that fear quickly gave way to new strength as the doctor on the
front lines realized his relative immunity has positioned him to lead
in this unprecedented emergency.

“You know, as a doctor or a nurse we always have to take care of the
patient first,” Dr. Ishkhan said. “Without thinking about anything
else, that is our duty. That is the oath that we took.”

This article appeared in ABC7 Chicago on April 15, 2020.
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5-         Slogans on Chinese donation to Armenia sparking Turkish discontent

By Fan Lingzhi

Chinese medical donations to Armenia mentioning Mount Ararat, a
controversial territory with Turkey, have sparked Turkey’s discontent,
with Chinese analysts noting that the misuse of the reference was
likely caused by grassroots donors which does not represent China’s
official stance on the territory.

Turkey’s Anadolu Agency (AA) reported the controversial donation
package, and  said that Chinese Ambassador to Turkey Deng Li explained
the package only had Chinese scripts and the English versions were
later added.

But the Global Times learned from a source familiar with the situation
that Deng’s words were misreported.

Deng said understanding of scripts on the donated supplies should
stick to the Chinese, but he did not say the English scripts were
later added, the source said.

The medical supplies, including masks, protective outfits and
ventilators, were transported by the Armenian government to the
country on Wednesday.

The Chinese Embassy in Turkey provided a photo of the supplies to the
Global Times, which showed a Chinese verse of “peak of high mountains,
banks of Yangtze River” on the packages. “May our friendship higher
than Mount Ararat and longer than Yangtze River” is printed in English
under the Chinese.

The supplies were donated by Southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality
beside the Yangtze river.

The AA report quoted Turkish foreign ministry spokesperson Hami Aksoy
as saying that Ambassador Deng has “shown efforts to resolve the
issue.” “Ambassador Deng said their aid packages to Armenia were
prepared by a local authority and were sent to Yerevan,” Aksoy said.
The local authority only wrote Chinese scripts on the packs, and there
are no references to the mountain in them. “The references, which were
written in English, were added later.”

Aksoy added that Deng is investigating the situation, and Turkey will
be informed of the results. “With this incident, (Deng) said he has
full respect for Turkey’s sovereignty and unity of land,” Aksoy added.
But local Turkish-language media Takvim reported the explanation was a
“lie” because the English scripts were there when they left China.

The source told the Global Times that Turkish social media started to
pay attention to the incident on Thursday. The Chinese side has
communicated with them, saying the meaning should stick to the
Chinese, but did not say the English scripts were later added. “There
could be misinterpretation,” the source said.

The ownership of the controversial Mount Ararat, or Mount Agri in
Turkey, is a historical issue over which China does not take sides or
join the disputes of other countries, said Wang Xianju, a research
fellow at the Euro-Asian Social Development Research Institute of the
Development Research Center of the State Council in Beijing.

Wang told the Global Times that the donor may have used its name in
Armenia as the supplies are heading to the country. The donor may use
Mount Agri if the supplies are donated to Turkey. The use of the name
does not mean the donors have preferences on the issue, he said.

As for the ambassador’s “full respect for Turkey’s sovereignty and
unity of land,” Wang believes it does not refer to a specific mountain
but is a statement of China’s stance. Territorial disputes should be
addressed through peaceful negotiations of countries involved, Wang
said.

Some Western media, including Radio French Internationale (RFI),
picked up the incident and tried to hype it with sensational headlines
like “Turkey takes off gloves” amid China’s move to curb the COVID-19
pandemic.

The source noted the Turkish side is not obsessed with finding fault
in China. The Turkish foreign ministry knew the procedure and some
media personnel have told him in private that amid cooperation of
countries to curb the pandemic, China did not do it deliberately.

“It is possible that the translation agency made the mistake as most
Chinese people may not know the history between Turkey and Armenia
involving the mountain, which is totally understandable,” the source
said.

Wang believes the scripts on the donation package are aimed to show
that people of the two countries help each other amid the global
crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a shared enemy for all and countries should
stick to the pandemic control, not having their attention diverted to
other topics. “Turkey and Armenia are neighbors closely related and
mutually dependent, and should cooperate in fighting the pandemic,
which is most beneficial for people of the two countries,” Wang said.

This article appeared in Global Times, China on April 13, 2020.
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