The political bloc of PM Nikol Pashinyan—’My Step’—dominated Sunday’s municipal elections in Yerevan. Comedian-turned politician Hayk Marutian garnered over 81-percent of the votes (more than what was required to have a top mayoral candidate). With this victory, Marutian is positioned to become mayor of Yerevan—Armenia’s largest city with a population of 1.8 million people.

The election featured eight parties and four party blocs nearly two months after former mayor Taron Markaryan resigned in the aftermath of mass protests. Since the first Yerevan mayoral elections in 2009 (previously, the mayor was selected by the President), the Republican Party (RPA) has always comfortably won the 65 seats in the Yerevan Council of Elders; but it appears those days are gone, as this time, the RPA did not even submit candidates. To learn more about Marutian and his rise to prominence, read columnist Raffi Elliott’s profile here.

These were the first major elections in the wake of the Velvet Revolution—a veritable test for the new authorities on many dimensions, including their popularity, as well as ability to hold free and fair elections in a country with a track record of vote buying and corruption. To the best of his knowledge, Pashinyan says he’s confident that Sunday’s elections were not tainted with these “criminal elements.”

In New York this week ahead of his address to the United Nations General Assembly, Pashinyan pushed for snap parliamentary elections. Mr. Pashinyan expressed a sense of urgency in moving up the June 2019 legislative elections to improve the country’s economic environment.

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Lorig Charkoudian, originally from Newton, Massachusetts, won the Democratic Primary for the Maryland House of Delegates to represent District 20 (the area that includes Takoma Park and Silver Spring, Md.), with the help of dozens of volunteers who worked on her campaign and over 9,000 votes from residents.

Charkoudian whose stated slogan is, “Join us to build a more just and inclusive Maryland,” has dedicated more than two decades to public service in her state. This work has taken her everywhere from schools to farms, neighborhoods, courtrooms, small businesses, hospitals, government agencies, and even prisons.

She has developed innovative programs to reduce prison recidivism, written legislation for food security and public health, worked with the courts to increase access to justice for low income people, developed programs to build community wealth, provided violence prevention services, and marched in the streets for social justice.

Charkoudian has been the driving force in the growth of Crossroads Farmers Market and the development of the Takoma Park Silver Spring Commercial Kitchen where local entrepreneurs, many of them immigrants, share the kitchen’s facilities as they develop their food based businesses.

She credits her appreciation for the power of food as an economic engine and community builder to her Armenian upbringing. “I grew up eating the churtmah, merjumek, dolma, taboule, and babaganoush that my grandmothers and mother made from vegetables grown in their gardens. This food fed our community and our souls, and was good for our bodies and the environment.”

Currently, Charkoudian is the Executive Director of Community Mediation Maryland, a non-profit organization that provides training and resources for individuals to mediate disputes within their own communities.

Charkoudian has a PhD in Economics from Johns Hopkins University, thus bringing an analytical approach to policy making.

Charkoudian, mother of Aline (age 15) and Raffi (age 12) who were heavily involved in her campaign, was raised in a political family. Her mother, Bethel Bilezikian Charkoudian, was active in the Civil Rights Movement in the early 1960’s and currently serves on the Newton Parks and Recreation Commission, representing the commission as she also serves on the Newton Farm Commission. Her father, Levon Charkoudian, was Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Community Affairs under Governor Francis Sargent.

Charkoudian’s family has always had a strong presence and active involvement in the Armenian Community. Two of Lorig’s grandparents were survivors of the Armenian Genocide. Her aunt, Arppie Charkoudian, was the International President of the Armenian Relief Society (ARS). Charkoudian herself attended the AGBU Armenian Elementary School in Watertown, Massachusetts.

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Beloved French-Armenian singer-songwriter, actor, and fierce proponent of the Armenian cause Charles Aznavour has died. A spokesperson told news outlets that Aznavour passed away at his home overnight in the south east of France. He was 94 years old.

Aznavour was the son of Armenian immigrants who fled the region during the Armenian Genocide. He was born Shahnour Vaghenag Aznavourian on May 22, 1924 in Paris.

Man who has warmed hearts of hundreds of millions of people for 80 years is not with us anymore. This is a day of sadness, a day of mourning in our country’s & people’s history: hero of #Armenia Charles #Aznavour has died. This is a universal loss. #NP pic.twitter.com/qaUqD8TFIX

— Government of Armenia (@armgov) October 1, 2018

World leaders join the international community in mourning Aznavour’s loss. On Twitter, French President Emmanuel Macron said he had invited Aznavour to Yerevan to perform at the Summit of la Francophonie. Translated from French, Macron wrote of Aznavour, “Deeply French, attached viscerally to its Armenian roots, recognized all over the world, Charles Aznavour will have accompanied the joys and sorrows of three generations. His masterpieces, his timbre, his unique radiance will survive for a long time.”

The international icon’s career spanned more than 80 years; he penned 1,300 songs and sold more than 180 million records. Aznavour also appeared in more than 60 films including François Truffaut’s 1960 drama Shoot the Piano Player.

But it was Aznavour’s rousing, melancholy lyrics that touched the hearts and lives of millions, many of whom are sharing their indelible memories of the entertainer today.

A master of the chanson, Aznavour sang of unrequited love and loss and tales about his life growing up in an immigrant family. But he also sang about topics that were considered taboo and unconventional at the time including homosexuality.

As a humanitarian, Aznavour was committed to the Armenian people. He spent his life advocating for Armenian Genocide recognition. After the devastating earthquake of 1988, he organized instrumental international relief efforts.

Aznavour had recently wrapped up a tour in Japan. He was scheduled to tour across France and Switzerland later this fall.

Author information

Leeza Arakelian

Leeza Arakelian is the editorial assistant for The Armenian Weekly. She is a formally trained broadcast news writer and a graduate of UCLA and Emerson College. Leeza has written and produced for local and network television news including Boston 25 and Al Jazeera America.

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Recently, I had the privilege to attend a New York reception for Armenia’s new Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan. Organized by Armenia’s US Embassy, it was a colorful and eclectic gathering, featuring both old and new faces and a mélange of audience questions ranging from the insightful to the absurd. PM Pashinyan’s responses were mostly things he has said before; nevertheless, his words were refreshing for a community that rarely hears politicians who speak on point, without pomp or pretense, and with an abiding respect for the people they serve.

My goal here isn’t to review this event per se. Rather, I wish to develop one aspect of it: The event was billed as a meeting “with the leaders of the Armenian-American community,” and yet it wasn’t always clear to me who that leadership is, what it represents, and how indeed we arrive at such determinations. Who qualifies as a community leader, in this day and age? A provocative question, perhaps. But an important one to consider.

Returning home that evening, I struggled with these issues, and came away thinking it is high time to reflect on what we mean by “community leadership,” and how such meanings continue to change over time. By excavating these, I hope to offer food for thought that may guide us moving forward.

There was a time, decades ago, when our community could be described in rather straightforward terms. The vast majority of people traced their immediate roots to the yergir–Western Armenia–and to the Armenian Genocide. Leadership and legitimacy belonged, for the most part, to the political parties (Dashnak and Ramgavar, especially), their affiliated organizations (ARS and AGBU, in the philanthropic sphere; Baikar and Hairenik in the literary sphere), and the representative church bodies.

These organizations’ primacy drew upon their lore and accomplishments in the Old Country, while for succeeding generations they renewed themselves by working to keep Armenians Armenian, mainly through language, culture, and history. At the same time, these groups offered ideological stances that helped guide their people through the long years of exile, dispossession, Cold War, etc. Whether it was the Dashnaks and their stubborn dream of a free, independent, and united Armenia, the Ramgavars with their pragmatic defense of Soviet Armenia and the status quo, or the near-universal mourning and condemnation of the Genocide, the leading organizations carved out a rather stable, bipartite playing field. While the content of this playing field wasn’t always friendly or collaborative, the system – like the Cold War itself — proved to be durable and steady, lasting well into the 1960s and beyond.

But beginning in the 1960s and ‘70s, this steady-state began to change. There were various reasons ranging from the global to the local but the larger effects were undeniable: A fresh generation of Armenian-Americans had begun to think and act in new ways.

Meanwhile, the influx of new Armenians – from the Middle East and elsewhere – both challenged and re-energized our existing community structures. Ultimately, the field of play became widened: Increasingly we saw groups popping up that were non-partisan, multi-sided, or unaffiliated with traditional structures. Whether their pursuits were academic, cultural, professional, advocacy-focused, or simply social, such groups gradually redefined the terms of community involvement, with aims and methods that were often pragmatic rather than ideological, “assimilated” rather than purely patriotic, “neither this side nor that,” and so forth.^[1] The existing framework, while still in place, was becoming enhanced, more diverse and, some would say, decentered or even challenged.^[2]

Then came 1988, and the floodgates really opened…as did Armenia itself: First there was the Karabagh movement, then the devastating earthquake, and within a few years we witnessed the USSR’s total collapse and the emergence of a fledgling, independent state. As these developments engulfed Armenia, our people worldwide couldn’t help but seek engagement – many watching from afar with renewed interest, many more contributing to aid and solidarity efforts, with a small-but-growing number of enterprising spirits seeking more direct involvement. Such activities, while certainly informed by patriotism, were equally driven by pragmatic considerations as the new Armenia presented needs both urgent and immediate.

In this environment, the diaspora’s attention became broadened, as an Armenia-focused agenda rivaled and at times surpassed, the need to keep our diasporan communities strong and vibrant. As homeland and diaspora became interpenetrating parts of a new, emerging whole, we witnessed those whose primary focus was no longer here, ‘holding the fort,’ but over there…in Armenia. (Indeed, the distinction between ‘here’ and ‘there’ became increasingly blurred.) At times, this diversification seemed to spread our communities’ resources too thin, but the renewed focus on Armenia also seemed natural, as the homeland and its people were something we had cherished and sworn to serve for so long.

Amidst all of this, something significant happened: During the ‘90s, and accelerating through the 2000s, there has been a move away from knee-jerk, emergency assistance, and increasing focus on Armenia’s long-term development. The reasons for this are many, and not really my focus here,^[3] but the fact is that alongside our community-based groups, a small subset of individuals – most of them affluent – were no longer content with writing checks to those in charge.

Rather, they began to move in a different direction, establishing their own mechanisms for tendering support. For example, my own employer—James Tufenkian—felt he had not only money but also expertise to offer, and thus established his own foundation in Armenia. In doing so, he gradually hired and trained his own staff, implemented projects directly on the ground, and introduced international best-practices into his organization. I could point to other examples, as well; part of a trend where diasporan engagement is no longer about immediate assistance.

Instead of soup kitchens and orphanages, today’s entrepreneurs look at aiding civil society groups, promoting education and creativity, and investing in those seeking to improve themselves and their living conditions across Armenia.

Let’s fast-forward to today: Events like last Sunday’s are billed as “community leadership gatherings,” but the profile of that leadership has changed from what we once knew. Now, alongside the boots-on-the-ground, traditional leaders – the editors, educators, activists, advocates, and professionals – there are nearly as many representing a new brand of leadership: Super-wealthy individuals who have set up their own private foundations, venture groups, or exchange programs – e.g. COAF (Garo Armen), Paros (Roger Strauch), Birthright Armenia (Edele Hovnanian), TUMO (Sam Simonian), Armenia 2020 (Noubar Afeyan, Ruben Vardanyan), and more. These individuals are undeniably doing substantial work in and for Armenia, but are largely ‘one-man shows’ [sic] accountable mainly to themselves and to their donors, and who intersect rather vaguely with ongoing work in our communities here. And yet, these new actors undeniably carry popular appeal among our public, offering nourishment and inspiration to many who endorse their good works in the homeland. In that sense, they are playing a valuable, albeit different, leadership role.

So this newly ascendant elite is not a ‘community leadership’ in the traditional sense. And yet, it’s hard to deny its role in forging new sorts of popular engagement vis-à-vis Armenia. Perhaps, then, we should simply enlarge our purview, and agree that this segment carries value equal and complementary to our existing, grass-roots efforts. In other words, leadership today consists of both 1) engagement and action for benefit of the homeland; and 2) ongoing efforts to hold us together and perpetuate us as a people. Indeed, it is hard to imagine one leadership sphere operating without the other: After all, can a New York fundraiser for Artsakh’s border villages succeed unless there is an educated, motivated audience for it?

But there is more, I’m afraid; something requiring harder thinking beyond just clarifying or broadening our vision. This is the increasing class divide between ‘old’ and ‘new’ leadership. Since independence, and with plenty of encouragement from Yerevan, there has emerged an overriding emphasis on money. Those who have it and spend it are acknowledged as community leaders, while those who don’t, well… sorry. The result increasingly is a ‘pay to play’ environment, which runs counter to the longstanding ethos and practices of our communities.

Now, some will say that ‘pay to play’ has always been present, to some extent. Maybe so. But today, it is pervasive, seeping into every corner of our community life, rescaling the balance of everything it touches.

Fading, it seems, are the days when we relied on all sorts of leaders: A church annual meeting, for example, might include in its deliberations accountants, garage mechanics, schoolteachers, shopkeepers, as well as affluent professionals and business folk; each contributing in one way or another. That model, while still operative in some locales, is becoming passé, it seems, on the national stage.

In its place is a bold, new elitism—informed by neoliberal ideology—where private wealth trumps collective decision-making, and where a culture of corporate power, celebrity, and individualism somehow magically begets wisdom, sophistication, and progressive ideas.

In such an environment, our balance as a community—indeed, the very notion of community—becomes crucially challenged. For as I’ve indicated above, while the new elite have much to offer, their rhetoric and modus operandi sometimes implies that they think they can go it alone, as self-generated benevolent agents. But without strong communities, from the bottom up, there wouldn’t be much of a constituency for such benevolence, would there?

To illustrate this problem, I point to an Open Letter, published in the New York Times on October 28, 2016, entitled “The Future for Global Armenians is now.” The letter, signed by 23 individuals, called for a “higher level of sustained commitment” from the global Armenian community, so as to “bring Armenia to no less than the same global standards as those of the countries in which many of us in the Diaspora live” and foster an “unprecedented spirit of partnership and coordination among all Armenian organizations and individuals.”

Yet in spite of its noble call for unity, the letter—which claimed to represent a pan-Armenian nation—fell short. Its 23 signatories consisted only of an exclusive list of prominent, wealthy, or powerful individuals. Only two signatures came from women.

If the signatories’ intent was to lead the nation, then what about the rest of us? How about the construction workers in Yerevan who are barely paid by their oligarch overlords, the communities living amidst toxic strip-mines of Meghri, the former professors-turned-taxi drivers who eke out a living on the margins of today’s Yerevan economy? How about the unsung, blue collar heroes who toil in relative obscurity upholding our schools, filling our churches and community centers in diaspora? And what of the young activists in Armenia who have moved mountains to refashion the political landscape of the country? Nowhere are they represented in this statement.

Indeed, I get the sense that this message is intended for everyone, but not meant to be by everyone. Put differently, there appears to be a rhetorical commitment to “for the people,” but an aversion/avoidance of “with and by the people.” If so, then we have a problem.^[4]

One problem with the new elite is that its methods and reflexes don’t always mesh well with communal living: We can’t just work for the people, as if they are beneficiaries or charity cases; we must also work with the people, and that means everyone. Are we to believe that no one – no labor organizers, no environmentalists, no feminists or investigative journalists – are worthy or sophisticated enough to sign statements such as the above? Are these people any less ‘worldly,’ any less global, simply because they aren’t at the top of the capitalist food-chain? This is frankly elitist, insulting, and ultimately counterproductive. Indeed, if we are truly concerned about our communities, then it’s incumbent on us to strengthen ourselves collectively – from top to bottom, at home and abroad – where one segment cannot fulfill its potential without strengthening the other. That is the kind of national unity I hope we have in mind.

I find it ironic, somehow, that such ideas are flowing on the occasion of Nikol Pashinyan’s visit. For Pashinyan’s message – empowering each and every citizen, emphasizing the rights and responsibilities of all, and seeking to restore some public into the notion of public service – would seem to beg for a broader leadership line-up than the one the Embassy assembled last Sunday.

Perhaps we should heed Pashinyan’s message, and seek to refashion the playing field in diaspora as well… a playing field that makes use of all of our talents and abilities, in an environment where we encourage entrepreneurship and healthy competition, for sure, while emphasizing ongoing collaboration and mutual support. We have a way to go in restoring such balance, but it can be done.

Notes:

1. Some examples of this trend are NAASR re academia, the Armenian Assembly re advocacy, Friends of Armenian Culture Society re culture, the Armenian Reporter re journalism, and PAND (Philadelphia Armenian Nor Daree) in the social sphere.
2. Regarding ‘challenges to the existing framework,’ we might also mention groups, e.g. ASALA, that arose as a radical response to perceived conservatism of the mainstream parties.
3. For more detailed treatment of this matter, see my article entitled “Twenty-Six Years On: From Charitable Assistance to Social Change,” appearing in the Armenian Weekly on 9/21/2017.
4. To my knowledge, there has been only one public critique of this Open Letter. That came several days later, as several dozen activists decried the statement’s tokenism and gender-inequality, as it claimed to represent the nation, but with only 1 woman among 23 signatories. To this day, I have seen no other critiques, and certainly no critiques of the letter’s broader content or its elitist, neo-liberal implications.

Author information

Antranig Kasbarian

Antranig Kasbarian is a member of the ARF Central Committee, Eastern United States. Over the past 20 years, he has been a lecturer, activist, and community leader; he has also worked regularly as a journalist, activist, and researcher in Nagorno-Karabagh. He is a former editor of the Armenian Weekly, and holds a Ph.D. in geography from Rutgers University. He joined the Tufenkian Foundation in 2003, launching its program in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabagh), and served as its executive director until 2015. He is currently the Director of Development of the Tufenkian Foundation, pursuing a range of charitable/strategic projects in Armenia and Artsakh.

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In August 2018, US President Trump angrily announced that sanctions will be implemented against Turkey, and personally against the Turkish ministers of interior and justice. What was the reason for Trump’s fury? The refusal to release Andrew Brunson, a US evangelical pastor arrested and jailed over two years ago, on still unproven charges of aiding terrorist organizations in Turkey and aiding the failed coup attempt against President Erdogan in June 2016. The alleged mastermind of the failed coup attempt is Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric who lives in exile in Pennsylvania and Erdogan has repeatedly demanded his extradition from the US. In the absence of any real evidence, the Americans have not complied with the Turkish demands for Gulen’s return, and therefore, Turkey resorted to an age old tactic of hostage taking to achieve its objectives. The arrest and jailing of pastor Brunson, as well as several Turkish employees of the American Embassy in Turkey were meant to pressure the US to exchange them for Gulen. President Erdogan was even quoted a few months ago to have stated: ‘You give me my cleric, I give you your pastor.’  

The use of hostages is a normal state of affairs in Turkish politics. Other recent examples include the arrest of a German journalist of Turkish descent, used as a hostage to secure the return of several Turkish military officers who had sought asylum in Germany. A similar demand for the return of Turkish military officers who fled to Greece was made by Turkey by taking hostage a Greek soldier who allegedly crossed the Greek-Turkish border.

The Greek, Armenian and Jewish minorities living in Turkey have been treated as hostages by the Turkish state throughout history. The religious and community leaders of these three minorities are pressured to declare their allegiance to the government, despite openly discriminatory conditions, unfair legislations, denials of historic facts, and so on. The pressure on the hostage minorities is maximized during crisis times. The most recent example is again related to the Pastor Brunson affair. Just as Trump demanded the release of the pastor, for no apparent reason, out of the blue, all the minority religious leaders including the Armenian Acting Patriarch, the Greek Patriarch, the Jewish Chief Rabbi were paraded with one of the presidential aides of Erdogan; they signed a declaration that ‘minorities live happily in Turkey, completely free to practice their religious and citizenship rights without any pressure.’  It was obvious that the declaration that minorities are not under pressure was obtained by pressure applied by the state on the minority leaders who had to comply – or else… Sometimes, the state does not even have to exert any pressure and, as a classic case of Stockholm Syndrome, some minority leaders like the chairman of an Istanbul Armenian hospital foundation, voluntarily profess their love for their Turkish masters or parrot the state version of history.

This pattern keeps repeating itself in Turkey. During the Cyprus crisis in the 1960s and 1970s, the Greek Patriarch in Istanbul was obliged to condemn the Greeks and praise the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. When German Parliament recognized the Armenian Genocide and acknowledged its responsibility, the Istanbul Armenian Acting Patriarch condemned the decision and defended the Turkish version of history. When Israel takes any steps against Palestinians or Muslims in general, the Jewish minority in Turkey pays for it with attacks and vandalism against Jewish synagogues, shops and homes. When Greece is perceived to treat its Muslim citizens unfavorably, the Greek minority in Istanbul is punished by the state as retribution.

Sometimes one hostage community is used against another hostage community. When Armenians worldwide started to push for Armenian Genocide recognition in the parliament of several states, the Jewish minority leaders in Istanbul were pressured to actively engage Jewish parliamentarians and influential political leaders in those countries to stop genocide recognition legislation. Jewish minority leaders in Istanbul were ‘persuaded’ by the Turkish state to convince the Jewish lobby in the US to counteract Armenian and Greek lobbies.

But the most obvious and painful hostage incident in Turkish history relates to the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide. When World War I ended with the defeat of Ottoman Turkey in 1918, the victorious Allies started occupying Istanbul and other regions of Turkey. In cooperation with the occupying British forces, the new Ottoman government went after the Ittihat Terakki leaders for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and for wholesale massacre of its own Armenian citizens. Turkish and British police started rounding up dozens of Ittihat Terakki leaders and commanders, at least the ones who had not fled yet. Trials ensued in Istanbul and most of the wartime Ittihat Terakki leaders, including Talat, Enver and Cemal who had already fled, were sentenced to death in absentia. Two lesser officials who were sentenced to death were executed by hanging in Beyazid Square in Istanbul in April 1919. The Turkish public opinion was dead set against these hangings; concerned with increased protests against them, the British decided to transport all the jailed Ittihat Terakki leaders to the British colony island of Malta in the Mediterranean and continue the trials there. Almost 150 Turkish leaders were interned in Malta. Almost all of them were actively involved in the massacres and deportations of Armenians from various regions of Anatolia. Some of them had amassed great fortunes with stolen property, possessions and lands left behind by murdered or deported Armenians.

In the meantime, the Turkish resistance movement led by Mustafa Kemal in Anatolia started to gain momentum against the Istanbul government, which was regarded as a puppet regime friendly to the occupying Allied forces. Mustafa Kemal and the newly formed government in Ankara demanded the release of the Malta prisoners. The Allied forces had sent British Colonel Rawlinson to Turkey to assess the situation in Eastern Anatolia, ahead of the Sevres Peace Treaty negotiations. Rawlinson had met with Mustafa Kemal, other Turkish commanders and community leaders. He was married to the niece of Lord Curzon, who was the British Prime Minister and chief decision maker at the peace treaty negotiations.  Declaring that Rawlinson is a ‘valuable catch,’ Mustafa Kemal promptly decided to arrest Colonel Rawlinson in order to force the British to release the Ittihat Terakki leaders jailed in Malta. After several rounds of negotiations, the British resolve to hold on to the Malta prisoners started to weaken. The hostage taking tactic of Mustafa Kemal succeeded, as Lord Curzon finally declared that ‘one Briton is worth more than a shipload of Turks.’ An exchange of prisoners was agreed and Colonel Rawlinson, along with 20 other British prisoners of war, was exchanged for the 121 Turkish prisoners of Malta at the port of Inebolu in the Black Sea in October 1921. The freed Ittihat Terakki leaders were never tried for their war crimes nor their roles in the Armenian Genocide. In fact, most of them assumed leading positions in the new republican government as ministers and members of parliament. The state policy of hostages, denial of historic injustices and racist ultra nationalistic hatred of minorities inherited from Ittihat Terakki leaders continue today.

Author information

Raffi Bedrosyan

Raffi Bedrosyan is a civil engineer and a concert pianist, living in Toronto. Proceeds from his concerts and CDs have been donated to the construction of school, highways, and water and gas distribution projects in Armenia and Karabagh—projects in which he has also participated as a voluntary engineer. Bedrosyan was involved in organizing the Surp Giragos Diyarbakir/Dikranagerd Church reconstruction project. His articles explain the significance of this historic project as the first Armenian reclaim of church properties in Anatolia after 1915, as well as other Turkish-Armenian issues. He gave the first Armenian piano concert in the Surp Giragos Church since 1915, most recently at the 2015 Genocide Centenary Commemoration. He is the founder of Project Rebirth, which helps hidden Islamized Armenians reclaim their original Armenian roots, language, and culture.

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This week, heads of state from all across the French-speaking world are landing at Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport for the official kickoff of the 17th Francophonie Summit. For most of these leaders, this is a first visit, official or otherwise, to the land of apricots. However, for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, this trip will be somewhat unique. While this will indeed be the first trip by a sitting Canadian Prime Minister to Armenia, most may not know that this won’t be his first experience with Armenian hospitality.

While researching a previous piece on the upcoming Francophonie summit for the Weekly, I received an intriguing email from my uncle. In it were old photographs of former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau—Justin Trudeau’s father—visiting the Armenian Genocide memorial at Dzidzernagapert.

The photos, depicting the newly-retired former Prime Minister Trudeau holding a red carnation—in the company of Prof. Lavrentiy Ashoti Barseghyan, then-Director of the Armenian Genocide Institute—were dated 1984; judging by the weather and the clothes worn, probably in the summer.  Justin Trudeau, who would have been thirteen years old at the time, does not appear in any of the photographs. However, knowing that he had been sighted with his father in Moscow (all flights in and out of the USSR back then went through Moscow), I was willing to bet that may have been present in Yerevan as well. Sadly, our only link to the photograph, Prof. Barseghyan had passed away, and his family could not recall any specific details about that day.

Left with little choice but to piece together a moment in the lives of a former prime minister, and that of a sitting one, from bits of information and deductions, I dug through government archives for anything I could find about this trip.

By the time he left office in June of 1984, Pierre Trudeau had served as Prime Minister of Canada for the better part of sixteen turbulent years. A polarizing figure in Canadian politics since he first won my home riding of Mount-Royal in 1965, he was praised by supporters for introducing official bilingualism, multiculturalism and patriating the Canadian Constitution. Known as the ‘Swinging Prime Minister,’ his natural charisma and dapper style earned him his very own cult of personality, dubbed “Trudeaumania”; a moniker which would later be applied to his equally ‘selfie-genic’ son, Justin. Wary critics, however, denounced his cozy relationships with communist dictators, his disastrous economic policies and hedonistic lifestyle.

By the end of his last term, it was clear the job had taken its toll on the Prime Minister. He had presided over a hostage crisis in Montreal, an independence referendum in Quebec and a very public divorce. Throughout this time, he had managed to alienate Canada’s NATO allies, and at home, polarized both French-Canadian nationalists and the Western provinces.

Following a walk in a snowstorm, the philosopher-Prime Minister tearfully announced his retirement on June 30, 1984. Taking a break from public life, he and his children got on a plane and headed on the path of the ancient Silk Road. Their journey took them to the Soviet Union (his third trip to the country), and eventually, Yerevan.

That’s when he was introduced to Prof. Barseghyan who was overseeing the construction of the then-unfinished Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute. There is very little public information about this trip, and surprisingly, Pierre Trudeau doesn’t even appear on the list of notable visitors to the Dzidzernagapert. A throwaway comment did provide an essential clue to the current prime minister’s whereabouts in 1984. In a walking-interview at this year’s Davos Forum, Trudeau was filmed telling a journalist from Georgia’s First Channel that Tbilisi was “a wonderful city” when he was a kid. The Station’s website (erroneously) dates that visit to 1982, despite the Trudeaus not being known to have traveled to the Soviet Union then.  

Placing a young Justin Trudeau in Tbilisi in 1984 and a photograph of his father less than 200 miles away in Yerevan that same year, I could safely deduce that father and son must have traveled together. Armed with this assumption, I contacted a confidential source in the Prime Minister’s office currently in Yerevan to oversee the final preparations for his arrival. She was able to confirm that Justin Trudeau was indeed in Yerevan back in 1984, even asking to include this never-before-seen photograph in the Prime Minister’s archives.

The original photos, which Prof. Barseghyan had allowed my uncle to snap pictures of back in the early 1990s may have since been lost to history. One can speculate that they may either be in his family’s personal files or hidden away in the Museum’s archives. As this article goes to press, Justin Trudeau is just stepping off his CC-150 Polaris jet for what the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation just confirmed to be his second visit to Armenia. He may find that things have changed after 34 years.

As I continue to reconstruct the details of his original visit, anyone with additional information about the trip should feel free to contact me.

Author information

Raffi Elliott

Raffi Elliott is a Canadian-born entrepreneur and occasional journalist who likes to ramble on about socioeconomic and political issues in Armenia. He lives in Yerevan with his family. He also holds a masters degree in International Relations.

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As a young nation, Armenian society needs to develop infrastructures integral for statecraft. One of the most important attributes in governance is knowing how to control the narrative. This is done through: a) Identifying the message coming in; and b) knowing where that country stands geopolitically to recalibrate the right message for itself, its constituents, and its neighbors.

Who Controls the Narrative Controls the Outcome

“War is Deception.” This principle has been mastered by the Turks, who have dominated Western Asia for millennia through the Seljuks and the Ottomans.

To guard against deception, one needs to understand who they are, and their surroundings. A nation has difficulty keeping its rediscovered freedom after being occupied. It’s like a wild animal becoming domesticated, with its progeny reintroduced back to the wild. Once reintroduced, that animal no longer knows how to hunt. It no longer knows what it is.^[1]

This analogy applies to Armenia. Armenia’s ruling “Nakharar” class has long been extinguished, first by the Byzantines, then by the Arabs, and finally, the Turks. Armenia’s ruling class mentality, which gave rise to fierce nations, such as the Hyksos and its domination of Egypt 3,000 years ago,^[2] or Urartu, a state prophesied to bring the Assyrian Empire down,^[3] has been replaced by a business-oriented mindset.^[4] The business-oriented mindset is dangerous when it comes to governing a society, as its focus is on the “now,” and the bottom-line. ^[5]

In order to retain sovereignty, Armenia’s leadership must build infrastructure to prepare for 21^st century foreign messengers. As technology changes, so too does the messenger and the target audience. Society has moved from the newspaper to social media, where immediate and unverified information is disseminated in a matter of seconds, appealing to raw emotion.^[6]

Armenia’s recent revolution: “Velvet” or “Pied Piper” Revolution?

The key for any successful Armenian leadership [Diasporan or governmental] is to understand the many different narratives being promoted, as well as the medium promoting those messages, to protect those who belong to the Diaspora, Armenia, and Artsakh.

Western leaders have long understood the importance of narrative. There’s a reason why National Football League broadcasts are draped in imagery promoting the US military and patriotism, while being financed by the US government;^[7] why “Google” has long partnered with the US government.^[8] There’s a reason why China and Russia have begun to invest heavily in social media platforms such as Weibo and VK.com^[9] to rival American platforms like Facebook or YouTube.

Armenia and its Diasporan organizations need to seriously evaluate what messages are being promoted, who is being promoted, and what they represent. No responsible leader provides a platform for famous reprobates to get “clicks” or immediate remuneration, even if it can be justified that certain famous reprobates bring attention to certain causes…^[10]

The fair question that needs to be asked is, was Armenia’s recent revolution a “Velvet Revolution,” or a “Pied Piper Revolution”?^[11] In order to put into in proper context, the analogy of the Pied Piper relates to the recent Revolution in Armenia where it was the youth that was targeted by foreigners.

I do not know the details of the everyday life of the average Armenian, or what prompted its Revolution. However, the parallels between Armenia’s recent Revolution is similar to the color revolutions in the former Soviet Bloc and Arab Spring.^[12] The narrative of the aforementioned revolutions are pretty much the same; youth driven movements due to gloomy economic prospects and rampant government corruption. Corruption, economic decline, and election fraud all fed the popular frustration that fueled these revolutions,^[13] but these and other injustices can be found in many other countries where no “democratic” revolutions occurred (think Saudi Arabia).

The common denominator with these revolutions is the utilization of new tools in the continued struggle between East and West. The US State Department “has taken a proactive stance in arming [] masses with advanced communications gear and training. With millions of dollars of grants, for instance, State has been financing “stealth wireless networks,” mobile “internet in a suitcase” systems, and software that protects the anonymity of cell phone and internet users in places like Iran, Libya, Syria, and China.”^[14] The pattern emerging is Russia’s buffer states have been targeted one-by-one for regime change.^[15]

Armenia is a minor buffer state between East and West, deepening its political and economic partnerships with Iran and Russia.^[16] Global strategic think-tanks have observed that as long as Armenia was governed by Kocharian or Sarkisian, Armenia’s worldview would be lockstep with Russia’s.^[17]

So where does Armenia lie?

Between East and West

Responsible statecraft recognizes that the perception of immediate neighbors is one of the most important attributes in order to survive war.^[18] Armenian culture has long sought validation and acceptance as being European. This mentality needs a surgeon general’s warning: hazardous to your family and the values taught as a child.

The “pied-piper revolution” has seen some disturbing trends turning west. First is talk of withdrawal from the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union.^[19] Second are one-sided political arrests of “corrupt politicians” who bend toward alliance with Russia, and not the west. Most troubling are sentiments echoing one-sided concessions with Azerbaijan over Artsakh’s territorial integrity, such Armenian National Congress (ANC) member Zoya Tadevosyan proclaiming that “the liberated territories of Artsakh are actually occupied territories.”^[20]

These trends by the new government are dangerous, considering where Armenia is located. Armenia is West Asian, not European. Armenia is not, nor has ever been a European nation-state. This is fact. This is reality. To its west is Turkey, 80 million strong, militarized, Islamized, intent on reviving the Ottoman Empire. To its east is Azerbaijan, locked in bitter dispute with Artsakh over territorial integrity, while suffering an identity crisis between its Turkic and Shi’ite attributes. Iran to the south, with a hot/cold relationship with both Azerbaijan and Turkey. Georgia to the north acting as a bridge between Turkey and Azerbaijan, while alienating Russia at the expense of South Ossetia and Abkhazia for potential NATO accession. And Russia nearby, Armenia’s only guarantor of peace, but, acting in its own self-interests (as it should).

Showing weakness in the South Caucasus is deadly. The Republic of Armenia was prudent by not accepting the protocols when they were initially advocated for, despite the “business acumen” of certain leading Diasporan organizations.^[21] One only need look at how Tayyip Erdogan changed his stance on Bashar Assad when it was expedient to do so,^[22] or how Erdogan has been able to easily manipulate German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, a beacon of “western idealism,” into paying Turkey more for a refugee crisis Turkey itself incited.^[23] (Maybe Europeans are the ones who need advice on governing their own affairs, and should mind their business).

Conclusion

The message being delivered to Armenians today is the same as a hundred years ago, except with new buzzwords and a new delivery system. Over a hundred years ago at the Congress of Berlin, Armenians were promised buzzwords like “human rights” and “nationalism.” We all know how that ended. Today, the word “corruption” is used to infiltrate Armenian society. We, as Armenian society need to learn to subdue emotions, and develop infrastructure to identify who the message is coming from, and why it is being sent. Only then can Armenian society begin to govern its affairs properly among the growing challenges it will face during the 21^st century.

Notes: 

1. Niccolo Machiavelli, Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livy, Book. 3, Chapter XI, (published 1531), <https://www.constitution.org/mac/disclivy1.htm> [as of Sept. 1, 2018] ↑
2. Ancient Egyptians were closer to Armenians than to Africans; a new genetics study reveals, (Jun. 5, 2017) People of Ar <https://www.peopleofar.com/2017/06/05/ancient-egyptians-were-closer-to-armenians-than-to-africans-a-new-genetics-study-reveals/> [As of Aug. 22, 2018]. ↑
3. Jeremiah 51:27. ↑
4. Artsvi Bakhchinyan, The Activity of Armenian Merchants in International Trade (2013) Regional Routes, Regional Roots? Cross-Border Patterns of Human Mobility in Eurasia <http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/rp/publications/no14/14-03_Bakhchinyan.pdf> [as of Aug. 26, 2018] ↑
5. Jason Whitlock, Sometimes, I can’t handle the Truths (Dec. 16, 2010) FoxSports, <https://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/nfl-truths-too-much-even-for-jason-whitlock-121610> [as of Sept. 2, 2018], discusses the pitfalls of a pure capitalist system, and when left unfettered, hurts its constituents: “That’s capitalism at its highest level. Package your product in a way that fools the consumer into believing it’s good for them. Most Americans have no idea Ronald McDonald is killing their kids. No clue. Trust me, I believe in capitalism and I’m making every effort to become a billionaire. But Division I college football doesn’t need more capitalism. Capitalism is a slave to the bottom line. An overdose on capitalism is what created the gross inequities and widespread corruption that is now pervasive throughout the NCAA.” [Emphasis added] ↑
6. Jason Whitlock, BLM, N.W.A. Prove It Takes 1,000 Tweets To Hold Us Back (Feb. 15, 2016) J.School <http://j.school/post/139392087225/blm-nwa-prove-it-takes-1000-tweets-to-hold-us> [as of Aug. 25, 2018], discusses how the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement is similar to the hip hop group N.W.A. by appealing to the lowest common denominator, and using the latest media modes to spread its message: ↑
7. Melanie Schmitz, How the NFL sold patriotism to the U.S. military for millions (Sept. 25, 2017) Think Progress <https://thinkprogress.org/nfl-dod-national-anthem-6f682cebc7cd/> [as of Aug. 23, 2018]. ↑
8. Brandon Specktor, Google Will End Its ‘Evil’ Partnership with the US Military, But Not Until 2019 (June 4, 2018) LiveScience <https://www.livescience.com/62733-google-will-end-project-maven.html> [as of Aug 26, 2018]. ↑
9. Adrien Henni, Russia’s top 10 websites include Facebook, Google, Instagram, and YouTube (Oct. 1, 2016) VentureBeat <https://venturebeat.com/2016/10/01/russias-top-10-websites-include-facebook-google-instagram-and-youtube/> [as of Aug. 29, 2018]. ↑
10. «Եթե որևէ պաշտոնատար անձ ընդունելության արժանացնի քալիֆորնիացի այս պարոնին` ապա դա խայտառակություն կլինի» (Aug. 27, 2018) blog.168.am <https://blog.168.am/blog/169719.html> [as of Aug. 28, 2018]. ↑
11. In 1284, the German town of Hamelin is dealing with a terrible rat problem. The Pied Piper comes in, and agrees to rid the town of rats in exchange for a large fee, and he does so by playing his pipe until the rodents come out to follow him. The town decides not to pay the Piper when he comes back to collect his money. So the Piper takes out his pipe and begins to play again, and this time, it’s the children that begin to dance and follow him. He leads them to a crack in a mountain, which swallows them up forever. ↑
12. Though the Arab Spring primarily started out in Tunisia, its effects were primarily felt in Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain, it’s interesting to note that one year after the bulk of the passing of the Arab Spring, Season Five of Star Wars Clone Wars, four episodes known as the Onderon arc [“A War on Two Fronts,” “Front Runners,” “The Soft War,” and “Tipping Points”] featured the then Republic training foreign insurgents in harsh desert planets. The Republic would then become the Galactic Empire, ruled by Darth Sidious/Emperor Palpatine, with Darth Vader by his side. ↑
13. Giorgi Kandelaki, Georgia’s Rose Revolution: A Participant’s Perspective (July 2006) United States Institute of Peace, Special Report 167 <https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/sr167.pdf> [as of Aug. 22, 2018]. ↑
14. James Kitfield, I Tweet for Freedom (June 29, 2011) NationalJournal, reprinted in “Hillary Clinton Email Archive,” Wikileaks.org (Mar. 16, 2016) <https://wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/emailid/27517> [as of Aug. 28, 2018]. ↑
15. Syrus Ahmadia, Mohammad Reza Hafeznia & Bernard Hourcad, Geopolitics of Buffer Spaces: Characteristics of Iran’s Buffer Situation Between Great Powers in the Nineteenth Century and Twentieth Century (2013) Science International (Lahore). 25:4, 1019, <https://www.sci-int.com/pdf/888971359–1019-1030-%20Syrus%20Ahmadi-Geopolitics%20of%20Buffer%20Spaces%20-%20IRAN%2025-3-13.pdf> [as of Aug. 26, 2018], provides a discussion of the importance of buffer states. ↑
16. Berat’s Box, Wikileaks.org (Dec. 5, 2016) <https://wikileaks.org/berats-box/emailid/36128> (as of Aug. 28, 2018), provides the following excerpt from an email forwarded from Congressman Bill Shuser, 9th District of Pennsylvania “3. What will the resolution accomplish, and what could be the unintended consequences? > > Adopting this resolution could be cataclysmic and undermine US interests. Undertaking this course of action would not only be morally short-sighted, but it would alienate one of our last allies in the region who is working hand in hand with US soldiers and our allies to combat ISIS and give refuge to hundreds of thousands of innocent refugees from the Syrian Civil War. While many of Turkey’s neighbors continue to pivot to Tehran and Moscow, Turkey has remained loyal to the west, helping to protect our interests and countless American lives in the region. Turkey hosts Raytheon missiles despite the pressure exerted by Russia and Iran. > > Adoption of this resolution will directly result in the erosion of the United States’ ability to protect its citizens and assets in the region, ushering in a new era where Iranian influence is unchecked. > > Turkey’s geostrategic position between Europe and the Middle East has made the country an important NATO ally and an essential partner for both the United States and European countries in combating extremism in the region. As Lebanon, Syria, Armenia, and Iraq continue to deepen their political and economic partnerships with Iran and Russia, the United States’ leverage in the region is rapidly diminishing. Adopting the resolution would alienate a close ally and damage US interests.” [Emphasis Added]. ↑
17. The Global Intelligence Files, Wikileaks.org (Feb. 27, 2012), <https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/22/2229139_re-proposal-armenia-recent-resignations-in-armenia-and-their.html> (as of Aug. 28, 2018), provides a discussion between members of Stratfor.com, and American geopolitical intelligence platform, concerning the Armenian parliamentary resignations in 2011: * Both current president [Serge Sarkisian] and former president [Robert Kocharian] have [SIC] good relations with Russia which is to say that whoever manages to stay in power is not going to change Armenia’s direction in world affairs to a significantdegree. ↑
18. Niccolo Machiavelli, Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livy, Book. 3, Chapter XIX, (published 1531), <https://www.constitution.org/mac/disclivy1.htm> [as of Sept. 1, 2018], provides: I conclude, therefore, with this discussion that the virtue of Romulus was so great, that it was able to give time to Numa Pompilius to be able to rule Rome with the arts of peace; but he was succeeded by Tullus, who by his ferocity reassumed the reputation of Romulus; after whom there followed Ancus, so gifted by nature that he was able to use peace and endure war. And first he addressed himself to want to hold the ways of peace, but he soon knew that his neighbors judging him effeminate esteemed him little, so that he decided that if he wanted to maintain Rome he needed to turn to war and imitate Romulus, and not Numa. [Emphasis added]. ↑
19. Nerses Haroutiunyan, Russophobes in Pashinyan’s team: Soros tilting boat of pro-Armenian premier (May 28, 2018) Eurasia Daily <https://eadaily.com/en/news/2018/05/28/russophobes-in-pashinyans-team-soros-tilting-boat-of-pro-armenian-premier> [as of Aug 26, 2018]. ↑
20. Արցախի ազատագրված տարածքներն իրականում գրավյալ տարածքներ են․ ՀԱԿ անդամ (Jul. 31, 2018) Politik.am <http://politik.am/%D5%A1%D6%80%D6%81%D5%A1%D5%AD%D5%AB-%D5%A1%D5%A6%D5%A1%D5%BF%D5%A1%D5%A3%D6%80%D5%BE%D5%A1%D5%AE-%D5%BF%D5%A1%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%AE%D6%84%D5%B6%D5%A5%D6%80%D5%B6-%D5%AB%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6/> [As of Aug. 22, 2018]. ↑
21. AGBU’s Statement Regarding the Protocols (Sept. 10, 2009) Reprinted at Keghart.com <keghart.com/AGBU-Protocols> [as of Aug. 28, 2018]. ↑
22. Oleksiy Volovych, Erdogan — Assad: from Friendship to Enmity (Feb. 7, 2017) Borysfen Intel <http://bintel.com.ua/en/article/02-06-turkey-syria/> [as of Aug 25, 2018]. ↑
23. Caroline Mortimer, President Erdogan: I will open gates for migrants to enter Europe if EU blocks membership talks (Nov. 25, 2016), Independent <https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/president-erdogan-turkey-eu-membership-migrants-refugees-europe-warning-a7438316.html> [as of Aug. 26, 2018]. ↑

Author information

Ted Tourian

Ted Tourian is a tax lawyer in New York City, and licensed in New York and California. The views expressed are solely his, and not attributable to any organization he may be affiliated with.

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NEW YORK, NY—Marking a century of Armenian-American political advocacy, the Armenian National Committee of America Eastern Region (ANCA-ER) just celebrated and honored visionaries whose work has significantly impacted the Armenian Cause.

Hundreds of community leaders and grassroots advocates from throughout the Eastern United States gathered at the ANCA’s 12th annual gala on Saturday, October 13, 2018 at the Grand Hyatt in New York City. This year’s honorees included Oscar-winning director Terry George and producer Dr. Eric Esrailian for their film “The Promise.” Community activist and educator Kenneth Sarajian was also honored for tirelessly incorporating Hai Tahd into every aspect of his life. Three future Armenian leaders—the 2018 ANCA Leo Sarkisian Internship participants—were recognized as well.

Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Division for Human Rights Watch, served as master of ceremonies. Following the national anthems of the United States and Armenia by Hooshere Bezdikian and the invocation by His Grace Bishop Anoushavan Tanielian, Prelate, Whitson reflected on this year’s 100th anniversary of the formation of the American Committee for the Independence of Armenia, the forerunner of the ANCA. She highlighted that among the ANCA’s strengths today was the broad diversity of its supporters; its ability to unify people across multiple generations, from varied geographic and professional backgrounds, and from across the political spectrum to work for Hai Tahd, the Armenian Cause.

In her welcome address, ANCA Eastern Region board member Audrey Mardoian said,  “We were heartened by the large number of youth who attended, and we are confident that the future of Hai Tahd work is in good hands.”

Every year during the gala, the ANCA-ER honors individuals who have made extraordinary contributions toward issues relevant to Armenian-Americans with the Freedom Award. This year, the ANCA-ER honored Terry George, writer and director of “The Promise” and Dr. Eric Esrailian, producer of “The Promise.” Presenting the awards was Consolee Nishimwe, author, human rights advocate and survivor of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

George and Dr. Esrailian helped fulfill the vision of the late Kirk Kerkorian – educating the public about the perseverance of the Armenian nation through the internationally recognized film “The Promise.” Furthering their initiative, the proceeds of the film were used to establish The Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School of Law. In their remarks, both George and Dr. Esrailian commended the ANCA on its help in promoting the film.

George said, “We have endured so much together… the Irish, the Rwandans, the Armenians…That suffering defined our people and it defined us as we traveled around the world. And you look now and the diaspora of the Irish and the diaspora of the Armenians are some of the strongest cultures and people around the world… That feeling of community is what drove me, along with Eric and all of our crew to make this film. We created something that is a learning tool that is eternal… it’s there to teach our children and to teach people who don’t know. One of the most gratifying things about making this film is when people come up afterwards and say I didn’t know this happened… because we are spreading the word… about what happened in the past, but what can’t happen again in the future.”

In his videotaped message accepting the award, Dr. Esrailian discussed the pressure and obstacles involved during the filming of “The Promise.” He commended his team and reflected on the man who inspired the effort—Kerkorian. He called him the “dearest hero of the Armenian nation.”

“The film has truly exceeded our expectations. There has been an overwhelming amount of attention and awareness of the Armenian Genocide since the launch of the film. And we were able to create a movement to keep the promise, to never forget the Armenian Genocide and to hopefully shine a light and prevent future atrocities,” said Dr. Esrailian.

The Vahan Cardashian Award is given annually to an ANCA-ER activist or supporter who demonstrates longstanding accomplishments on behalf of the Armenian Cause. This year, the ANCA-ER honored Ken Sarajian, an educator and lifelong Hai Tahd activist. Along with building key congressional relationships throughout the years, he most recently joined Shant Mardirossian to promote a new Armenian Genocide curriculum at the New Jersey Council of Social Studies, educating teachers on the life-saving efforts of Near East Relief during the Armenian Genocide. Sarajian continues to work diligently within the Armenian community and in his chosen field of public education to promote civic activism and awareness.

In his acceptance speech, Sarajian recognized activists of the past such as Leo Sarkisian and those of the present saying, “This is us doing this stuff together. It is about the people we meet. If we ever think it’s about what we do, we’re wrong. It’s about why we do it. This is us. It’s not just me. It’s what you guys do. So this is my journey. I am a storyteller who tells our story now. Whether it’s in the classroom, Congress or the state legislature, the story is not just about what happened 100 years ago, it’s about what’s happening today as the genocide continues…”

Mardoian returned to the stage to deliver the ANCA Eastern Region’s message. She invited everyone to join her in a moment of silence in memory of 27-year-old ANCA activist Movses Ter-Oganesyan, who passed away earlier in the week, and for 2016 Cardashian Award recipient Levon Palian, who passed away in September.

Then Mardoian discussed many of the ANCA’s accomplishments; she highlighted the work of local ANC’s such as Merrimack Valley’s Armenian Genocide education program, which was implemented at 50 area high schools. She also reminded the audience of the upcoming elections in November, urging them to vote for ANCA-endorsed candidates.

Mardoian then introduced Victoria Messikian, who spoke on behalf of the 2018 Leo Sarkisian summer interns: Boston University junior Antranig Kechejian, Fordham University junior Victoria Messikian, and Indiana University senior Adrienne Tazian-Schwartz. Messikian thanked the ANCA for having the opportunity to learn about the many facets of Hai Tahd during the Washington, D.C-based internship, pledging that the next generation of ANCA activists is ready for the challenge. Shortly after, Tereza Yerimyan, Director of the ANCA Hovig Apo Saghdejian Capital Gateway Program and Leo Sarkisian Summer Internship Program, presented awards to the interns recognizing their participation in the program.

In his remarks, George Aghjayan, Chair of the ANCA Eastern Region Endowment Fund, stressed the importance of ANCA programs such as the Leo Sarkisian and Capitol Gateway, its expanding genocide education efforts and numerous other ANCA initiatives. He noted how the ANCA is preparing the next generation of ANC activists and urged generous donors to expand their support by contributing to the endowment fund.

The final speaker of the evening was ANCA National Board Chair Raffi Hamparian. Hamparian reflected on the impact that Cardashian honoree Sarajian had on his own life as a young man in New Jersey, inspiring him to become a Hai Tahd activist. He outlined numerous important initiatives currently being pursued in Washington, D.C., including support for demining efforts and a rehabilitation center in Artsakh, implementing stronger peacekeeping measures along the Line of Contact in Artsakh, increased U.S. funding for schools in Armenia, support for reforestation in Armenia, and pursuit of justice for the Armenian Genocide.

Special guests included H.E. Mher Margaryan, Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Mr. Robert Avetisyan, Republic of Artsakh’s Permanent Representative to the United States and Dr. Khatchig Mouradian, Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Bureau Member.

The evening also featured a silent auction, featuring numerous items donated from local Armenian and non-Armenian businesses and individuals, as well as organizations such as AYF Camp Haiastan and the ACAA Cruise Committee. Included in the items was a signed original script of the film “The Promise,” items autographed by Serj Tankian, sports memorabilia and many more.

For more information about this year’s gala, please visit www.ancaef.org/gala.

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ANCA

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is the largest and most influential Armenian-American grassroots organization. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters and supporters throughout the United States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA actively advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues. To learn more, visit www.anca.org.

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Several feet below the sacred altar of St. Stephen’s Armenian Apostolic Church, there is a kitchen unlike any other. This one is bustling with dozens of hardworking Armenian women, laughing and catching up about family life and the latest in the community while preparing pounds of gourmet Armenian food and trays of desserts for the annual church bazaar.

These women are the beating heart of this Watertown church. Many make up the Ladies Guild, a collective established in 1953 whose fundraising efforts allowed for the consecration of the church in 1957. What once started as a small but mighty group of women has now become a selfless, humble and friendly group with over 100 members, including wife of the late priest Der Torkom, Zevart Hagopian. “You can’t keep up with her,” says Linda Kechejian of the 81-year-old Yeretzgin.

But preparing for the church’s largest fundraiser of the year is not exclusive to the Ladies Guild. All volunteers are invited to help, and when it comes to the bazaar, these women waste no time.

Their work preparing for the early-November bazaar begins in the middle of summer; Tuesdays are dedicated to pastries and Wednesdays, to gourmet items. The menu is impressive, consisting of exactly what you would expect from homemade Armenian fare: mantuh, two kinds of boureg, kadayif, choreg, sarma, kufteh and baklava—staples of the Western Armenian diet ready to be sold to at least one-thousand Armenians and non-Armenians alike.   

Cheese boureg, the ladies confess, is the most difficult, in fact, “the worst” to prepare because it requires a number of steps. The flaky dough, for example, must be made from scratch. This year, the group prepared at least 2,000 of them.

As for the easiest recipe? A resounding “Nothing!” ensues, followed by laughter, but quickly succeeded by Yeretzgin Hagopian: “Choreg, maybe? Because it’s not complicated.” Leave it to her to identify the single ‘easy’ dish.

But these Armenian favorites would be bland (“anham,” if you will) were it not for the women themselves, and a very important ingredient: love. Deanne Nahabedian has committed so much of her life to the church, it seems she knows this underground kitchen better than her own. “That’s what happens when you hit 51 years. You know where everything goes,” she says, as she leads a Tuesday morning session dedicated to spinach boureg (one which, it’s worth noting, requires 19 pounds of chopped spinach, 10 pounds of muenster cheese and 75 eggs).

Watching over the group is a large black and white framed photograph of the starting seven—“aracheener” as they’re endearingly called. “We’re the worker bees. They were the leaders,” recalls Kechejian of these legendary women, which included Makrouhi Guzelian, Makrouhi Nahabedian, Clara Russian, Araxy Ayvazian, Margaret Kaloosdian, Mary Peroonian, and Anahid Changelian.

Changelian, who used to work for the Hairenik back when it was on Stuart Street when she was 16 years old, also served on the first executive board for the Ladies Guild. “It’s a great organization. The women are all devoted,” she says while delicately folding pieces of manteh. “This group is very lucky to do what we do for the church.”

Sharing a workspace with Changelian that Wednesday morning and helping in the preparation of that day’s quota of 30 pounds of manteh was Sandra Narinian. A lifelong supporter of the church, Narinian says preparation for the annual bazaar is far more meaningful because it brings Armenians together. “Technically, we could all write a $1,000 check each year and not do the bazaar and the oil will go in the tank and the lights will go on,” she explains. “But where would be the fellowship and the fun of doing that? That’s not the way it works.”

“It gives the ladies some sense of belonging,” says Lucy Guzelian, daughter-in-law of the late Makrouhi Guzelian. In an emotional reflection on the women who came before her, she says “it’s a way to get together and honor our parents, grandparents. We are bringing up our children to do the same.”

Many of the other women share that sentiment and hope that younger generations will carry on these special traditions and recipes. They look forward to the idea “that young people will see this work and be motivated to continue it,” says Mary Demirjian in Armenian. “In turn, we will be proud of this next generation, that we passed down something meaningful to them.”

St. Stephen’s Armenian Apostolic Church will be hosting its 62nd annual bazaar this Friday and Saturday. In years past, there has been so much prepared food on the table, it’s been difficult to see the tablecloth underneath. Armenians call that “arad jash,” an overabundance of food. And these ladies definitely surpass that cultural expectation. An undoubtedly blessed group of hardworking women, it’s a miracle they pull it off every year.

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Leeza Arakelian

Leeza Arakelian is the editorial assistant for The Armenian Weekly. She is a formally trained broadcast news writer and a graduate of UCLA and Emerson College. Leeza has written and produced for local and network television news including Boston 25 and Al Jazeera America.

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A high level visit to Yerevan from U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton has raised some eyebrows, offering controversial solutions to sensitive issues like weapon sales and an end to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In what is being referred to as “geopolitical wreckage,” Bolton’s tour of the Southern Caucasus has had an underlying agenda: to isolate Iran, a strategic border ally of Armenia.

Yesterday I had a nice visit to Armenia, an important friend in the region. I enjoyed productive conversations with the Prime Minister and his national security team.

— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) October 26, 2018

In one of several provocative statements, Bolton suggested a significant change to Armenia’s foreign policy—that Armenia purchase arms from the United States instead of Russia. “We think our equipment is better than the Russians’…it increases Armenia’s options when it’s not entirely dependent on one major power.”

Responses across Armenia’s political spectrum have been varied. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, for example, seems intrigued. “The [Armenian] government is not constrained by anything. If there is an offer from the United States that is good for us, we will discuss it,” he told journalists at a recent press conference.

Russia has long been beefing up the weapons supply of Armenia and Azerbaijan, despite criticism that this type of support increases the risk of fighting in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. An indignant Russia says Armenia would be renouncing ‘historical clichés’ and damaging a ‘traditional friendship’ if it ever chose that route; the spokesperson even holding Bolton accountable from an October 25 interview with Radio Liberty in which he said, “I think that’s really fundamental to Armenia exercising its full sovereignty and not being dependent on or subject to excessive foreign influence.” Russia responded, “It would be good if John Bolton thinks over the meaning of his own words.”

The Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), which has a history of close ties with Russia, staunchly opposes Bolton’s suggestion. The leader of the former ruling parliamentary faction Vahram Baghdasarian believed such action would “escalate the situation and aggravate the negotiating process.”

Meantime the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) welcomed the idea. Armen Rustamyan, the leader of the ARF’s parliamentary faction, believes that Armenia today is behind Azerbaijan in its military buildup. “Aggressions and hostilities start when the balance is disturbed,” explained Rustamyan, who would be open to America sharing its arsenal.

The largest and most influential Armenian-American grassroots organization, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), is also not opposed to U.S sales of arms to Armenia, but not if that means Azerbaijan gets a cut, too. That’s part of the group’s enforcement of Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, which restricts U.S. aid—including military assistance—to Azerbaijan. In a statement, the ANCA said, “The danger here is that Azerbaijan, given the size of its military budget, can afford significantly more advanced U.S. arms than Armenia – leading to imbalances both on the battlefield and in terms of political relationships.”

As for Bolton’s suggestion on taking “decisive action” toward a resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, PM Pashinyan emphasized, “John Bolton, or anyone for that matter, cannot speak on my behalf…there cannot be a resolution if it is not acceptable to the people of Armenia, Artsakh and the government of Artsakh.” Pashinyan said he’s striving for transparency during this Pan-Armenian issue; he said the Armenian people will resolve the conflict. In reference to Bolton and the Trump administration, Pashinyan said, “They are moving forward with the logic that they have some kind of ownership of the Karabakh issue. They are attempting to sell it to me without asking my opinion.”

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The heinous murder of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has been exploited by leaders of several countries for their selfish political and economic gains, ignoring the vile nature of the crime. The main participants in this ugly game are Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United States.

On October 2, 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi citizen, visited Saudi Arabia’s Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, to finalize his divorce documents so he could marry his Turkish fiancée, Hatice Cengiz. Khashoggi never left the Consulate. He was murdered and reportedly dismembered by a special team of Saudi investigators who were sent to Istanbul the day before, and after the killing immediately returned to Saudi Arabia on two separate private jets.

Khashoggi, who had worked for years for the Saudi government in important positions, left Saudi Arabia and settled in the United States in 2017 after becoming disillusioned with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s limitless powers. Khashoggi began writing critical opinion columns in the Washington Post, while Saudi leaders made several unsuccessful attempts to lure him back to his native land.

Initially, Saudi Arabia announced that Khashoggi had left its Consulate in Istanbul within an hour or so of his arrival. However, after leaks from the Turkish government that there was no video of Khashoggi exiting the Consulate, the Saudi authorities changed their story, claiming that the dissident journalist was killed during a fistfight at the Consulate. A week later, the Saudi leaders changed their story once again, stating that Khashoggi’s murder was premeditated and not accidental. Saudi Arabia proceeded to fire five security officials and arrested a dozen others, claiming that neither King Salman nor the Crown Prince had any advance knowledge of the murder plan. Given the fact that the Crown Prince is in total control of the country, no one believes that he was unaware of Khashoggi’s killing by the Kingdom’s top security and intelligence officials.

In the meantime, the Turkish government, which has been in constant rivalry with Saudi Arabia for the dominance of the Sunni Islamic world, has been leaking to the Turkish media drip by drip the evidence of Khashoggi’s murder. Initially, the Turks claimed that the information came from Khashoggi’s apple watch which had recorded his torture and murder. When experts advised that the apple watch did not have such a capacity, it became clear that the Turkish government used the watch as a cover up for its secret recording devices installed inside the Saudi Consulate.

In my opinion, the Turkish government’s continuous leaks to the media were meant to send a message to Saudi authorities that it would make public potentially embarrassing evidence about Khashoggi’s killing, unless the Saudis would pay a large ransom for Pres. Erdogan’s silence. It is well-known that the Turkish economy is in shambles and desperately needs tens of billions of dollars to cover its foreign debts. Not hearing a positive response, Erdogan warned the Saudis that he would personally go on national TV and reveal the “naked truth,” unless the Saudis accommodated the Turkish demands. During his speech last week, for the first time, Erdogan made public the timeline of Khashoggi murder and raised serious doubts that it was accidental. However, the Turkish President seemed to keep the hope alive that the Saudis will eventually meet his shakedown demands by not making public all of his secretly collected evidence. In his speech, Erdogan neither mentioned the name of the Saudi Crown Prince nor the Turkish possession of audio/visual materials which had recorded Khashoggi’s painful death. Instead, Erdogan asked several questions that he probably knew the answers, such as: where is Khashoggi’s body and who is the Turkish collaborator who whisked it away at Saudis’ request? Meanwhile, to squeeze the Saudis further, the Turkish press published last week gruesome images of Khashoggi’s dismembered body.

The third culprit is the United States, more specifically, Pres. Trump. When he first got the news that Khashoggi was murdered at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Pres. Trump kept emphasizing his own “great achievement” of selling $110 billion of advanced U.S. weapons to Saudi Arabia during his last year’s visit, ostensibly creating “450,000 jobs for American workers.” As usual, Pres. Trump exaggerated the financial benefits as he had not signed a contract for the sale of $110 billion of U.S. weapons. There was actually an agreement to sell only $10-$20 billion of weapons in the next five years. Furthermore, a year ago Pres. Trump had said that the same weapon sale would create 40,000 American jobs, not 450,000. However, a few days after Khashoggi’s murder, Pres. Trump exaggerated his numbers, this time to 500,000 jobs. A week later, he increased it again to “one million jobs,” and then to “over one million jobs.”

Regardless of how many jobs would be created and how many billions would the sale of the weapons bring, Pres. Trump never expressed his condolences to the Khashoggi family. Even though Pres. Trump kept warning Saudi Arabia of “severe consequences,” he valued the price of the weapons more than a human being’s life! The only American ‘punishment’ was the suspension of U.S. visas to the 18 Saudis who were sent to Istanbul to murder Khashoggi.

Regrettably, most heads of state do not care about human beings! What’s in it for me or my nation is the common practice. In the process, leaders are willing to lie, cheat, and even murder.

Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancée did the right thing by refusing Pres. Trump’s invitation to the White House. She did not want her grief to be exploited by a politician who only cares about his own selfish gains rather than the pain and suffering of the family members of a mutilated murder victim!

This article first appeared in the Californian Courier.

Author information

Harut Sassounian

Harut Sassounian is the publisher of The California Courier, a weekly newspaper based in Glendale, Calif. He is the president of the United Armenian Fund, a coalition of the seven largest Armenian-American organizations. He has been decorated by the president and prime minister of the Republic of Armenia, and the heads of the Armenian Apostolic and Catholic churches. He is also the recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

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The Yerevan City Elections in September proved beyond doubt, that support for the Nikol Pashinyan-led popular movement is more than the few hundred thousand bodies cheering rousing speeches and dancing to funky tunes in Republic Square. There are many more from where these bodies came from, and together, they project the voice of a mobilized electorate which is clearly ready to vote for the change they helped achieve.

This mobilization achieved a landslide 81% victory for the Pashinyan-backed Mayoral candidacy of his party colleague, Hayk Marutyan and the “My Step” bloc in the Yerevan City Elections.

There is a strong chance of a similar wipeout brewing at the soon-to-be-announced Extraordinary National Assembly Elections. The odds in favor of this wipeout have been further shortened after Pashinyan was able to flex his ‘people muscle’ following a vote—by the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) and the Tsarukyan Bloc—which was ironically designed to prevent the use of this ‘people muscle’ to decide the timing of the next National Assembly Elections.

As things are playing out, it seems increasingly likely that Pashinyan’s wish for early elections will come true.

Following the Yerevan City Elections, I heard the commentary of some who seem to believe that the 54% who chose not to vote in the Yerevan City Elections (the turnout was 46%) are somehow filled with those who do not support the Velvet Revolution. As a result of this belief, these commentators seemed to argue that if the ousted RPA was to participate, it would have attracted most of the “boycotting” voters and therefore won them the election.

These commentators are either drunk or living under a meteor. It is time they woke up and smelled the change that has arrived in Armenian politics. Call it ‘superficial,’ if you want. Call it ‘populist,’ if that is what you believe. Call it ‘inadequate,’ if you yearn for more. These are all fair opinions, but to suggest that Armenian politics has not changed is smacking fact in the face.

Judging by the continuing honeymoon period for Pashinyan and his Civil Contract Party, it seems they are the only ones who are actually prepared for this change. They are the ones writing the rules of the game, and then playing by those rules with no serious competition.

However, for the sake of democracy rather than monopoly—or even demagoguery— eventuating in the Republic, the other political aspirants in the country need to accept that there is a New Armenia and start posing the following question to themselves: “What is next for us?”

Pashinyan and his team are like Uber, where the other political parties are like taxis. Uber entered to disrupt a market in which the existing players—taxis—had rejected opportunities to renew, to innovate over many stagnant decades. In fact, when change arrived at their door, taxi companies were initially in denial, even trying to legislatively ban Uber until realizing that what they needed to do was to reinvent themselves, or die.

In Armenian politics, the ‘taxi’ forces do have this opportunity. Armenia’s new Constitution stipulates rules that mandate a ‘minimum one-third opposition’ as well as a ‘three-party/bloc (some want to increase to four) minimum’ within the National Assembly. Therefore Pashinyan’s ticket will not be allowed to hold more than two-thirds of seats within the Parliament, regardless of the size of their dominance in the final count. This is a good thing, because as Uber has shown with some of its conduct, not all who disrupt are perfect, and even the very best deserve competition.

The Lusavor Hayastan Party (led by Edmon Marukyan) and the Republic Party (led by Aram Sargsyan)—cooperative but increasingly lonely with the distance growing between them and Pashinyan—have done a decent job of inventing and reinventing themselves, respectively. They have thus secured a narrow slot in future political reckoning. The newly-established Sasna Tsrer Party seems to have also begun its attempt to pigeon-hole itself into what it has identified as a vacant West-leaning Armenian nationalist segment within the country’s political landscape.

The likes of the Prosperous Armenia Party (led by Gagik Tsarukyan), the ARF and the Heritage Party (led by Raffi Hovannisian) are at a precarious crossroads. Those who survive the immediate future will be the ones who face reality. The survivors will be those who stop moping around about the existing ‘populism’ and accept that they are the ones who need to change in order to remain relevant in this ‘New Armenia.’

Most importantly, the Armenian people should want these and other competing parties to remain relevant, as their presence will only serve to establish, bolster and protect the democracy that the people fought for in the ‘Velvet Revolution.’

I have purposely left out the RPA (former party of Serge Sarkisian) and the Armenian National Congress (led by first President Levon Ter Petrosyan) from the aforementioned list. I think their time is up, and the talented people they undoubtedly possess among their ranks should look for new homes or new brands in order to fulfil their potential to serve Armenia.

There are many who will suggest that the ARF should be added to this list of ‘has been’ political parties with no hope for resuscitation. I disagree because I see a major role for the ARF in future democracy-building in Armenia. However, the party will have to face a prerequisite to make the changes required in order to remain relevant.

The naysayers have amplified in volume after the ARF’s embarrassing result in the Yerevan City Elections—where the 128-year-old party, which brought nationhood to Armenia 100 years ago, achieved only 1.62% of the vote. I believe the reduction of the ARF vote in the Yerevan City Elections—from 18,000 in 2009 to 5,887 in 2018—is at least partially as a result of the public’s rejection of the party’s decision to serve in coalitions with past RPA governments, despite the reasons the party has articulated on many occasions. Further, the polls and current sentiment is a rejection of the ARF’s vocal support for Serge Sarkisian, the leader of the RPA, until he was forced into resignation by the people’s movement.

If you agree that the party’s association with the RPA is a primary reason for existing angst against the ARF, then you agree that you are ranking the party low because of ‘policy’ rather than their ‘ideology,’ their beliefs or their history. If other decisions had been made, or can be made, the ARF would have and can still have an important role in the establishment of a mature democracy in the New Armenia.

Pashinyan has suggested he has no ideology, declaring during his May confirmation hearings to the National Assembly, that “the era for ‘-isms’ [e.g. socialism, communism, capitalism, etc] is over.” While this quote is cute, history shows it will not remain true, and a shrewd political operator like Pashinyan knows this. When he sets future economic policies, Pashinyan will reveal what ‘-ism’ or ‘-isms’ he and his surrounding folks stand for. There have already been a few hints to this end, and there will be more as time passes and decisions are made.

This is where Armenia needs a renewed ARF. An ARF that is the pride of its traditional, center-left, democratic socialist base. An ARF uniquely strengthened by its multinational presence in over 30 countries, with the tens of thousands of members in its organization and associated organizations has the potential to serve as a great resource for the New Armenia. As previously stated, the party’s perceived movement away from their core beliefs—by partnering with a clearly right-wing, oligarch-backed Sarkisian and RPA—has harmed its public standing to a great degree.

Therefore when the ARF asks “what’s next for us?”, they must answer “a return to our roots.” Armenia needs a party that has policies focused more specifically on workers and small businesses, but also on women’s and minority rights, while staying true to Artsakh and a United Armenia. The ARF can fulfil this role better than anyone in Armenia, as no other political entity is set in its ideology and its roots like the ARF.

If this happens, it will force Pashinyan’s Civil Contract Party and other parties in Armenia’s scene to start taking positions on the key policies being presented. This will reveal where the government stands on key issues, where the opposition stands and who the ‘third,’ ‘cross-parties’ or ‘independents’ are. This process will mature political debate and democracy in Armenia.

Barring major developments, Pashinyan and Civil Contract will probably win the next few Parliamentary elections, but the establishment of mature polity in Armenia will draw a map for the public, who will know they have choices for when they want them. Giving them these choices is what democracy is about. It is what the ARF must be focused on as it looks at itself in the mirror.

If the party re-aligns, it will need to do so with the understanding that much damage has already been done to its brand for reasons already stated. To revamp the brand and to regain lost supporters, the ARF might need to acknowledge its mistakes during a period that has been emphatically rejected by the Armenian public. The ARF can take a huge step toward electoral rehabilitation if it admits to its errors. Every party makes mistakes, but only a big party with a proud history and stringent processes like the ARF can muster the courage to review and revamp.

This renewed ARF needs to lead the way with their center-left policies fighting for gender equality, pensions for the elderly and the unemployed with tax policies that can benefit small business and break up monopolies. They need to be arguing about the war on poverty, medicare, interest-free tertiary education loans, the freedom of speech, protection of human rights and the environment, establishment of retirement benefits, and of course, workers’ rights.

This renewed ARF can help build democracy in Armenia.

Author information

Haig Kayserian

Haig Kayserian is the Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU). He has previously held several leadership positions in the Armenian-Australian community. Haig holds a Bachelor’s degree in Media and Cultural Studies from Macquarie University. He is an investor in internet technology startups.

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In honor of Homenetmen’s 100th anniversary, the Homenetmen Eastern USA Regional Executive and 100th Anniversary Committees graciously welcomed Homenetmen Central Executive Chairman, Yeghpayr Karnig Meguerdichian to the east coast last month.

Meguerdichian started his tour of the Eastern Region in Washington, DC on October 23. Meguerdichian, accompanied by Homenetmen Regional Executive member Y. Shant Jamgotchian, Washington Chapter Executive member Kouyr Houry Keurkunian, and 100th Anniversary Committee member Y. Vahe Tanashian, met with Armenia’s Deputy Chief of Mission to the United States, Ara Markarian, the Permanent Representative of Artsakh to the United States, Robert Avetisyan, and ANCA Executive Director, Aram Hamparian, and ANCA Communications Director, Elizabeth Chouldjian, at their respective Washington offices.

At an evening reception, Washington Chapter Executive Vice-Chairman Y. Hovig Apkarian welcomed his guests, followed by a moment of silence in honor of Y. Hamo Sardarbegians and Y. Levon Palian. Meguerdichian honored K. Seta Khoyan, daughter of Archpriest Fr. Dickran Khoyan (one of the founders of Homenetmen). She was presented with a plaque from the Homenetmen Regional Executive.

Meguerdichian’s tour of the region continued to New York on the following day where Meguerdichian, Homenetmen Central Executive member Y. Hratch Mesrobian, and Y. Vahe Tanashian met with Bishop Anoushavan Tanielian, prelate of the Armenian Prelacy Eastern USA. During the evening reception, Meguerdichian met with members of the local chapter and community.

In New Jersey, Meguerdichian met with members of the local Homenetmen chapter and community including New Jersey Chapter Executive Chairman Y. Mark Torossian.

The final leg of Meguerdichian’s regional tour coincided with the Homenetmen Eastern Region’s 100th Anniversary celebration weekend, organized by the region’s 100th Anniversary Committee, hosted by the Homenetmen Boston Chapter.

On Friday afternoon, Meguerdichian visited the Massachusetts State House with Homenetmen Eastern Regional Executive Chairman Y. Aram Kayserian and member Y. Vicken Khatchadourian, Homenetmen Boston Chapter Executive Chairman Y. Sevag Khatchadourian, as well as Y. Hratch Mesrobian and Y. Vahe Tanashian. Massachusetts State Representative David Muradian gave them a tour of the State House and presented the delegation with a proclamation from the Massachusetts House of Representatives, honoring Homenetmen’s 100th anniversary.

That night, members of the community met Meguerdichian during a reception at Holy Cross Armenian Catholic Church in Belmont. The following morning, there was a basketball tournament organized by the Homenetmen Regional Athletic Committee at the Armenian Cultural and Education Center (ACEC) in Watertown and a Khmpabedagan Hamakoumar (Scout Leader Conference) at the Hairenik building organized by the Homenetmen Regional Scouting Committee.

At the Khmpabedagan Hamakoumar, scouting leaders from across the Eastern Region convened to discuss the current scouting program, past and future scouting camps and seminars, the Pan-Homenetmen Jamboree in Armenia, and how to prepare future leaders in the ever-changing region. Additionally, several scout leaders received the rank of Khmpabed (scoutmaster) during the Hamakoumar, including Kouyr Marissa Ovassapian, Kouyr Nina Vosbigian, Kouyr Meghri DerVartanian and Yeghpayr Alex Ourfalian. Meguerdichian also visited the scout leaders and listened intently to their questions and offered thoughtful suggestions and compliments for their hard work. Meguerdichian said he looks forward to seeing the scouting program continue to thrive in the coming years.

On Saturday afternoon, Meguerdichian met with the ARF Eastern Region Central Committee for lunch accompanied by Y. Hratch Mesrobian, Y. Aram Kayserian, Y. Vicken Khatchadourian, and Y. Simon Bardizbanian, where they discussed local, regional and Pan-Armenian topics.

The celebration reached its peak on Saturday night during the 100th anniversary dinner dance at the Boston Marriott Burlington in Burlington, MA. Addressing over 300 guests that evening were 100th Anniversary Committee chairman Y. Vahe Tanashian, Y. Kayserian, and Y. Meguerdichian, who also emceed the event. The dinner program consisted of remarks from 100th Anniversary Committee chairman, Y. Vahe Tanashian, who also emceed the evening, Homenetmen Eastern Region Chairman Y. Aram Kayserian, and Homenetmen Central Executive Chairman Y. Karnig Meguerdichian.  Very Reverend Father Sahag Yemishian blessed the dinner and all those in attendance. Toronto’s Koko Asayan performed.

On Sunday at St. Stephen’s Armenian Apostolic Church in Watertown, Massachusetts, Very Reverend Father Sahag Yemishian and Archpriest Father Antranig Baljian blessed the Homenetmen flag during a special badarak. The requiem service also honored all deceased Homenetmen members.  Directly following church services, a parade of scouts and dignitaries marched from the church to the ACEC led by the Homenetmen Boston Fanfar (marching band).

At the ACEC, a formal ceremony concluded the 100th anniversary celebrations. Emcee Y. Hagop Khatchadourian (Homenetmen Eastern USA 100th anniversary committee member), greeted guests and introduced all central and regional executive and committee members.

The program consisted of remarks from Boston Homenetmen Executive Chairman Y. Sevag Khatchadourian, Homenetmen Eastern Region Executive Chairman Y. Aram Kayserian, ARF Eastern Committee Central Committee member Unger Jano Avedissian, Homenetmen Central Executive Chairman Y. Karnig Meguerdichian, and Very Reverend Father Sahag Yemishian. Rev. Dr. Avedis Boynerian, pastor for Armenian Memorial Church in Watertown, Archpriest Father Antranig Baljian, pastor of St. Stephen’s Church, Watertown and K. Leony Sarmazian, Homenetmen Canada Regional Executive Chairwoman, were also in attendance.

K. Meghri Dervartanian and Baron Hovhannes Khacheryan sang a set of beautiful Armenian songs followed by a traditional and uplifting dance performance by The Sayat Nova Dance Company Boston.

Then Y. Shant Jamgotchian introduced the Dzarayoutyan Shkanshan (Service Medallion) recipients:

K. Heidi Guleserian — Albany
Y. Harout Arabian — Boston
Y. Avo Barmakian — Boston
Y. Ara Barsoumian — Boston
Y. Avo Bedrossian — Boston
Y. Bedig Der Vartanian — Boston
K. Zepur Kahwajian — Boston
Y. Marcel Karian — Boston
Y. Levon Khatchadourian — Boston
K. Heghig Margosian — Boston
K. Linda Marsoubian — Boston
Y. Missak Ourfalian — Boston
Y. Sarkis Ourfalian — Boston
Y. Sarkis Vosbigian — Boston
Y. Toros Vosbigian — Boston
Y. Varoujan Kokuzian — Chicago
Y. Raffi Markosian — Detroit
Y. Mardig Palanjian — Detroit
K. Elizabeth Dramgotchian — Philadelphia
Y. Hovig Apkarian — Washington

In his remarks, Meguerdichian described the history Homenetmen’s early days, when the founders’ vision was to establish a gathering place for Armenian orphans displaced by the Armenian Genocide. Y. Karnig said the founders could not have possibly imagined that the clubs they established have grown to become an organization with 28,000 members of over 100 chapters, spanning 26 countries worldwide.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary, Y. Karnig presented Y. Sarkis Stepanian, who formerly served on Regional and Central Executive, with the Arjanyats Shkanshan (Excellence Medallion) for his lifelong dedication to Homenetmen.

On his final day, Meguerdichian toured the archives at the Hairenik building in Watertown. Meguerdichian, Jamgotchian, and Sarmazian met with members of the ARF Eastern Region Central Committee and the editorial staff of the Hairenik and the Armenian Weekly.

In an interview with the Armenian Weekly, Meguerdichian addressed how Homenetmen is keeping pace with the modern era while still balancing tradition and still remaining relevant and interesting to today’s youth. In his answer, Meguerdichian described a 160-page study that started about eight years ago focusing on the state of Homenetmen today and its ten-year plan. For example, Meguerdichian said the organization is planning a conference in May for its 18 to 30 year old population, an age group where members may not be as active as they used to be when they were scouts, etc. The goal of this meeting is to understand their expectations and how Homenetmen can get them working and more involved again. Meguerdichian also said that social media has been more crippling than effective in some ways. He explained that even conducting in-person meetings are unfortunately becoming challenging and obsolete. One of the most basic tenets of Homenetmen is to bring Armenians together, to discuss ideas, and to ultimately build a strong community. Those traditions, Meguerdichian said, will not disappear.

Homenetmen Eastern USA Regional Executive extends its gratitude to the Armenian community for its enthusiasm in celebrating this important milestone. The motto for 100th anniversary across the world was “Honorable Past, Triumphant Future.” That being said, here’s to another 100 years.

The post Homenetmen Celebrates Centennial Anniversary appeared first on The Armenian Weekly.

Since 2000, the tracing of ancestry utilizing genetic markers has skyrocketed in popularity. Genealogy is one of few categories of websites that competes with pornography for most user activity and is reportedly second only to gardening as a hobby in the U.S.

Yet there’s something very ironic about the fact that today, very few consider the roots behind the tools that enable us to access ours.

The empirical study of one’s ancestry has had different meanings for different populations in the United States, depending on the time period. The civil rights movement in particular was a cultural turning point for the technology. For many descendants of communities born out of forced migration, most notably African-Americans, the idea of tracing one’s roots back to normalcy offered a rare opportunity to reclaim ownership over a history that had otherwise been erased. In the seventies, the very popular book-turned-TV series Roots followed the life of an 18th century slave and followed his descendents all the way to the author/narrator. In 2003, the African Ancestry, a website facilitating the African-American search for roots, was one of the very first example of direct-to-consumer genetic-testing. It was founded in 2003, predating 23andMe (now one of the most popular services) by five years.

This movement and its implications was not lost on the Armenian community, whose ancestors had narrowly escaped a mass genocide in the Ottoman empire nearly a century prior. “While I was interested in my ancient DNA and the migration of man out of Africa,” wrote Weekly editorial board member George Aghjayan back in 2015, “what really motivated me was the hope of connecting with descendants thought murdered during the genocide. Possibly descendants of the sisters my grandmother never heard from after they were sent to the desert. I wanted to bring them back from the dead.”

Aghjayan recalls that these efforts really gained force in the Armenian community by the nineties. The first such project was initiated by Mark Arslan and focused on those who had come from the district of Kghi. Gradually this expanded and now thousands of Armenians have tested at the various DNA companies. In recent years, there have even been annual Armenian genealogy conferences.

But before ancestry testing became an empowering tool for ethnic minorities in the U.S., it was used for the purposes of ethnic gatekeeping. In the late-19th and early-20th century, many whites in America, threatened by the waves of new European immigrants, were intent on creating barriers to newcomers; both real and imagined. Lineage-based organizations emerged, like Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), founded in 1890, which stipulated that its members have ancestral ties to soldiers of the Revolutionary War. In 1910, they wrote that the organization stood for “the purity of our Caucasian blood, the perpetuity of our Anglo-Saxon traditions of liberty, law, and the security and gradual elevation of the white man’s standard of living.” (DAR’s policies have become significantly more liberal and accepting since then.)

Many southern states formally adopted what had up to that point been called the “one-drop rule,” a social and later, legal principle of racial classification that said any person with even one distant African ancestor (i.e. “one drop” of black blood) would be considered black and thus, barred large groups of people from accessing certain benefits, ranging from housing to healthcare. The eugenics movement similarly affected another racial caste that had long been deemed undesirable by white settlers: Native Americans. Long-held racial stereotypes in the U.S. propagated the belief that Native American women were unfit to raise or to have children in comparison to white women, and even as late as the 1960s and 70s, a federally funded effort was underway that resulted in nearly 4,000 native women being sterilized (many, without their consent).

These atrocities are horrific, and nothing can undo the damage. Fortunately, in the century, recognition of these injustices is widespread and efforts at reparation, in many different forms, are underway.

Today, certain privileges are reserved for those descended of marginalized communities, which take the form of everything from scholarships and university admission quotas (i.e. affirmative action) to dental care. There has also been a cultural shift, particularly in metropolitan parts of the country; an awakening to the injustice white supremacy has inflicted on people of color. A backlash has ensued (the #BlackLivesMatter movement) and a backlash to that backlash (the visibility of neo-white supremacists and the election of Donald Trump).

But as institutions shift their standards to account for historically disadvantaged and marginalized communities, we find ourselves at a new, political crossroads.

Had she not run for Senate in 2012, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren’s unwavering belief in a distant Cherokee relative may never have been ruptured. But at some point during her campaign, it was revealed that she, a white woman by all visible indicators, had allowed Harvard Law School to include her as part of their diversity quota, listing her as a Native American in their rosters when she was tenured there in the nineties. Preceding the 2018 midterm elections, President Donald Trump reinvigorated these criticisms of Warren, calling her ‘Pocahontas’ at a rally, and stating that if she could prove her Native ancestry by means of a DNA test, he would donate $1 million to a charity of her choosing. Warren, responding to the taunts, actually did perform a DNA test, to prove her native roots.

Warren’s rebuttal to taunts from Trump ended up backfiring—badly. The Cherokee Nation was incensed. Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. condemned Warren’s use of genetic testing. “A DNA test is useless to determine tribal citizenship,” he stated, “Current DNA tests do not even distinguish whether a person’s ancestors were indigenous to North or South America… It makes a mockery out of DNA tests and its legitimate uses while also dishonoring legitimate tribal governments and their citizens, whose ancestors are well documented and whose heritage is proven.”

Debate rages as to Warren’s motives—had she truly been seeking to benefit politically? Or were her claims to Native heritage in her job application a simple mistake made in haste? A moment’s decision in which rationality was trumped by faith in an unquestioned family lore? Regardless, rallying for Native American heritage only when it is politically desirable to do so is wrong—a fact, it is worth noting, that Warren now accepts.

And to the point about DNA-testing, many Native Americans rightly responded that tribal inclusion is not just about blood quotas; it’s also about the importance of lived relationships and a sense of community. But this is a community, it seems, which has learned it cannot afford to be welcoming. “There’s a running joke in Indian country,” Dr. Kim TallBear, a professor at the University of Alberta specializing in racial politics, told journalist Brooke Gladstone in a recent interview, “…when we’re out in the world and we meet people and they say, ‘Oh you’re native! Oh, my great-grandmother was Cherokee!’ our first response is to try not to roll our eyes.”

While this response is on some level understandable, it’s also a sad realization: though while the context has shifted in the modern era, the idea that an awareness of who one is, is nearly always accompanied by an awareness of what one is entitled to. Even if what one is entitled to is well-deserved.

The stakes for Armenians, it is worth noting, are very different. Certainly an awareness of one’s Armenian-ness (written about ad nauseum in our pages) entitles one to feel certain cultural and identity-related privileges. Certainly there are Armenian scholarships and foundations. But as a community, there is not (yet) any particular political benefit to being Armenian today—particularly in Turkey. As a result, there is a generally (with certain exceptions) welcoming attitudes towards non-Armenians, referred to as odar, who express an interest in joining the community’s ranks—even fabricating cutesy titles for folks, like “ABC” (Armenian By Choice). The Armenian Revolutionary Federation, for example, holds no stipulations that members must be of traceable Armenian descent to join (and in fact, the ARF welcomed many Kurds in its early days).

Regardless, though it occupies a different political space for our community, genealogy has been a valuable avenue of research for Armenians, which is why Armenian newspapers are often host to countless articles on the topic (even recently a six-part series into “How to Research your Armenian Roots”) During his research into his ancestry, our editorial board member discovered the descendants of his great-grandmother’s sister, who had thought to have been lost during the Genocide. “The people in this story remain victims of genocide,” concluded Aghjayan his story from 2015, “but they no longer are tallied in the dead. The 1.5 million has been reduced by 2.”

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On December 9, Armenia will have new parliamentary elections, in a totally new Armenia where it seems likely the corruption and election violations that scandalized former elections are now things of the past. Yet in spite of the positive developments, democracy in Armenia remains plagued by a dark cloud: a flawed electoral code left behind from ousted Prime Minister Serge Sarkisian.

On October 29th, legislation put forward by Pashinyan’s government to amend the electoral code failed to pass for a second time; this time with only one vote missing. Some days later, Armenia’s National Assembly failed to vote in a new Prime Minister for a second time, subsequently dissolving itself and forcing the country to have new elections. In one week, the Velvet Revolution was only able to meet one of its two promises/demands.

Most political parties agree the code needs significant amending, especially the controversial territorial rating system on closed party lists that political actors deem to be unfair. According to many critics, the ‘rating’ system allows a path for oligarchs to secure seats in Parliament.

Other components of the reform were to increase the quota for women, lower the minimum threshold for parties and alliances and amend the quota for ethnic minorities. Though work for reform has been done all summer and fall between the Parliamentary Working Group and Prime Minister’s Special Commission on Electoral Reform, it seems the issue came too early for Parliament to come to a consensus, alongside a bit of Republican Party-led sabotage.

Due to this missed opportunity or unfulfilled promise, Mikayel Nahapetyan, assistant to deputy-PM Tigran Avinyan, resigned from his position. His resignation indirectly put blame on the ruling government for not trying hard enough to push for such a key policy promise. While the government would like to blame the other parties in the National Assembly for the failure, they ultimately will not feel its hurt in the upcoming elections where they are expecting to get a majority of the votes.

Nahapetyan is also one of founders of the new Kaghaktsu Voroshum “Citizen’s Decision” Social-Democratic Party, which goes by the acronym SDPCD, which announced its official foundation on November 3 in Yerevan. The new party, driven by Social-Democratic norms, is pushing many different policy issues with social justice as a guiding pillar. Their founding membership at this point seems to comprise of Yerevan-based activists who never felt compelled to join any political party before the April Revolution, yet now feel compelled to take a proactive approach to the current political reality by filling in the ideological voids in Armenia’s political culture.

The SDPCD are especially pushing for social welfare policies directed toward improving the quality and access to education and health care, considering them basic needs that need to be met by the state. Transparency or direct democracy is an issue that they claim differentiates them from all other parties; for example, all party meetings will be open and recorded for members and non-members.

In terms of post-revolution transitional justice, they mainly emphasize a clean-up of the judicial system that aided the former government’s corrupt endeavors, but have a tolerant approach to all others who engaged in some form of illegal behavior under the auspices of the former ruling-Republican party. They emphasize the return of stolen capital back into the state budget, amnesty for those involved and eliminating businessmen from government structures.

Reform for the electoral code and the law on political parties are also policy issues that they emphasize, claiming that democratic processes cannot begin or be fair without them. Other political analysts and parties have also stressed the need for reform of the latter legislations. The Pashinyan-led revolutionary government has and currently vocalizes these policy points and attempts to enact them to varying degrees.

The SDPCD have not yet decided if they will participate in the upcoming elections due to certain legal procedures requiring approval by certain government bodies. However, they have two paths: either to strengthen and continue institutionalizing their new party, or attempt to enter parliament and continue the processes in parallel. Criticisms as to the redundancy of another Armenian party driven by social democracy were also immediately raised by journalists, with parallels drawn to existing parties, like the Social-Democratic Hnchakian Party and the statedly socialist Armenian Revolutionary Federation.

The young party, along with many others will face challenges entering the new Armenia’s National Assembly without the benefit of electoral code reforms. There are concerns that unwanted oligarchs will probably enter the Republican and/or Prosperous Armenia Party’s factions via the territorial rating system that currently exists.

The territorial ‘rating’ system is a separate localized component to a party national list where citizens can vote for local candidates. Firstly, the problems arise with the fact that each vote for a local candidate is also counted for their party’s national list. Second, up to six candidates are encouraged to compete throughout the 13 electoral districts. What has often happened is that the Republican Party has put forward multiple candidates in the same districts to compete against each other and as a result were able to garner significant amounts of votes for their party. In previous codes only one local candidate was able to be put forward in 41 electoral districts. It is not only essentially unfair but was specifically designed for the former ruling party to stay in perpetual power.

Considering that the new ideologically-driven parties like SDPCD and Sasna Tsrer, along with others, do not have enough time to strengthen their bases until next month’s election, they may not be able to pass the 5% threshold currently needed to enter Parliament. The other option is to enter a faction with a second or third party, raising the threshold to 7%.

The point was to do things the right way and fulfill the promises of the revolution. Those who pushed the revolution wanted a Parliamentary body that cultivated a healthy, ideologically diverse body politic to work and solve the country’s issues, void of corrupt feudal lords and oligarchs. Only time will tell if they get one.

For additional reading on the ins and outs of the current electoral code and its issues, please read Hamazasp Danielyan and Harout Manoogian‘s articles.

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Manuk Avedikyan

Manuk Avedikyan lives in Los Angeles, Calif. He has obtained a Masters degree in Political Science and International Affairs from American University of Armenia (AUA) and has Bachelors in History from California State University of Northridge (CSUN). He enjoys folk music, sports, and natural beauty.

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With U.S. sanctions on Iran going into effect this month, Iranians in Armenia are beginning to feel the pinch. Iranian citizens discovered their bank accounts are being frozen, and banks across the country have implemented similar policies affecting all clients who list Iran as their place of birth regardless of ethnicity or current citizenship. As such, even ethnic Armenians living in Armenia with Armenian citizenship (i.e. repatriates), who happen to be born in Iran, are being affected. Other repatriates complained that banks forbade them from holding Dollar or Euro accounts, despite holding Armenian Citizenship.

Avnik Melikian, a repatriate from Iran living in Armenia since 2006, who holds Armenian citizenship told the Weekly: “Obviously, the Trump sanctions are ridiculous, they are not affecting the regime in anyway, it’s the regular people who are affected. And really, they’re discriminated against and being rejected worldwide.” She went on to say that though she’s proud of the country she was born, as an Armenian citizen, she feels her government should protect her rights.

Repat Armenia, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping Diaspora Armenians relocate to Armenia, estimates that up to 10,000 Iranian-Armenians have chosen to make Armenia home since Independence. A more significant number still have business interests or maintain residences here. Several thousand Iranian expats also live in Armenia. Most are involved in business or study at the local universities. In short, the contributions of this demographic of Iranian-Armenian Diasporans are strategic. This makes banks’ blindness to them worrisome.

The Central Bank, for its part, announced it had not instructed Armenian banks to take such a measure, meaning that the policy has been implemented independently by the country’s private financial institutions.

Iranian nationals in other countries have reported similar asset freezes. Despite the European Union refusing to back Washington’s trade embargo, some European banks have already begun refusing to process payments made by Iranian-registered companies doing business in the EU.

The sanctions come after the Trump administration unilaterally pulled out of the Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (known colloquially as the Iran Nuclear Deal) citing its perceived failure. The leaders of Great Britain, France and Germany, all of whom are signatories to the deal have expressed “regret and concern” at the decision to reimpose sanctions in a joint statement.

The new sanctions have placed Armenia, which maintains good relations with Iran and depends on it for trade, in an awkward position. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made clear to U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton, during a working visit to Yerevan, that his government respects the foreign policy priorities of other nations, “but the Republic of Armenia has its own national and state interests which do not always coincide with the interests and ideas of other countries.”

Eight countries, including Turkey, have secured temporary exemptions from sanctions due to their high dependence on Iranian oil. U.S. expectations of Armenia remain unclear with no information about any agreement being available to the public. Although a delegation from the U.S. Departments of State and Treasury met with the Armenian Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Economic Affairs and Energy last week for “outlining areas for cooperation,” no official statements have been released.

Previous administrations traditionally turned a blind eye to Armenia’s continued trade relationship with Iran. Armenian officials quietly complied American requests to closely monitor Iranian financial transactions going through Armenian banks to alleviate money laundering concerns. Bolton’s recent comments that the Trump administration would administer the Iran sanctions “very vigorously” has put this long-standing gentleman’s agreement into question.

Bolton’s short visit last month caused a stir in Armenia. His insistence that Armenia comply with US sanctions was criticized as imperialistic in tone. The National Security Advisor appeared satisfied with his trip though, tweeting “Yesterday I had a nice visit to Armenia, an important friend in the region. I enjoyed productive conversations with the Prime Minister and his national security team.” He also acknowledged Armenia’s particular need for trade with Iran, explaining to an RFE/RL reporter “Obviously, we don’t want to cause damage to our friends in the process.”

With the uncertainty over the sanctions continuing, Iranian-Armenians living in Yerevan brace for more difficulties.

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Raffi Elliott

Raffi Elliott is a Canadian-born entrepreneur and occasional journalist who likes to ramble on about socioeconomic and political issues in Armenia. He lives in Yerevan with his family. He also holds a masters degree in International Relations.

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YEREVAN—As with the other 11 registered parties in the upcoming snap elections slated for December 9, the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) launched its campaign this week by unveiling a number of billboards across the country. The RPA had recently announced its intention to run after sitting out the Yerevan Municipal poll. The vote takes place seven months after President Serzh Sargsyan was ousted from his newly acquired post of Prime Minister by the Velvet Revolution.

Most party ads have been featuring variations of a standard design displaying the candidate’s face and party logo capped with a slogan. The RPA’s posters are no different, but they have generated some controversy among Armenia’s citizens.

The posters display the faces of some of the party’s most prominent candidates in a  monochromatic design, which tout different slogans, but all start with the phrase “If you worry about… ” (“Եթե մտահօգ ես… ”).

Sources say even the choice of colors on the posters is not random. High-ranking RPA official, Armen Ashotyan, says the palette was a reference to controversial comments made by then-mayoral candidate and Pashinyan ally, Hayk Marukyan, who described the vote as a struggle between light versus darkness.

The Republican party HQ has released seven variations of these posters. The campaign includes slogans like “If you’re concerned about border security, vote for #1” (#1 being the Republican Party’s placement on the ballot).

Messages like “If you are concerned about losing your job, vote #1” have garnered particular scorn for their perceived cynicism. “Almost two decades of Republican Party rule failed to generate any significant job creation in Armenia,” one voter, who preferred to remain anonymous, told the Weekly, “and here they are promising to be the party of economic prosperity and political security.”

On social media, Armenian citizens responded with parodies of the Republicans’ tactic. One, which uses the same basic design and font type with a slight variation on the message, reads, “If you have memory-loss, vote Republican,” referencing the ironic fact that the RPA slogans are denouncing the policies of a seven-month old government, while having failed to tackle the very same issues during their 20-year long majority in Parliament . Another depicts a scantily clad phone-sex operator with the slogan, in the same font as the Republican Party adverts: “If you’re feeling lonely, call Kara.”

One viral video superimposed the audio from the Republican Party’s actual campaign advertisement—expressing doubt about the new government’s ability to maintain growth, prosperity and security—with images of the Republicans failing at those very things.

Living up to the time-honored Armenian tradition of capitalizing on trends for commercial purposes, a Thai massage salon in Yerevan took inspiration from the RPA’s campaign aesthetic for a new ad telling customers: “If you are concerned about your nervous system, choose the hot rock massage.”

Some of the RPA’s posters, however, reveal a broader strategy. In the months since losing their parliamentary majority, Republicans have stated their intention to reinvent themselves into a new opposition force, structured around populist and conservative principles. The party’s electoral platform lays out the following two critical principles for its ‘national-conservative’ doctrine: 1) the importance of the Armenian Apostolic Church and 2) that traditional families form the core of Armenian society. The platform also stresses the importance of former Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan’s “Nation-Army” concept. This strategy has been implemented over the last two months, in the controversy over a planned Christian LGBT event in Yerevan and the attempts to table several bills designed to pigeonhole Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan as a threat to Armenia’s national security as well as traditional values. This conservative approach is now embodied in a poster that reads: “If you’re concerned about preserving traditional values, vote Republican.”

Though this campaign may seem blissfully sardonic to many Armenian voters, the message is resonating with some. One voter who spoke to the Weekly on the condition of anonymity, remarked, “It’s true that the Republicans made a lot of mistakes during their term, but the mistakes committed by the Pashinyan government in the last 7 months are incalculably worse.” They added “Pashinyan’s distasteful decorum has given me more respect for once-unloved RPA.”

Author information

Raffi Elliott

Raffi Elliott is a Canadian-born entrepreneur and occasional journalist who likes to ramble on about socioeconomic and political issues in Armenia. He lives in Yerevan with his family. He also holds a masters degree in International Relations.

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WASHINGTON, DC–In a move welcomed by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), the Senate Foreign Relations Committee postponed a vote on President Trump’s nomination of Earle Litzenberger to serve as Ambassador to Azerbaijan – amid growing concerns across Capitol Hill over a recent call by National Security Advisor John Bolton for U.S. arms sales to the increasingly reckless and aggressive Aliyev regime. Mr. Litzenberger was the only one of 19 ambassadorial nominations to be postponed, very likely until next year, when the panel will hold its next business meeting.

“We welcome this opportunity for more careful Congressional oversight of our country’s increasingly challenging bilateral ties with Azerbaijan’s aggressive and abusive Aliyev regime, particularly in light of National Security Advisor John Bolton’s controversial suggestion that the U.S. start selling arms to Baku,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.

“We join with our Senate friends in seeking greater clarity on this point, and, more generally, regarding the Administration’s policy on Aliyev’s worsening pattern of aggression against Artsakh and Armenia, incitement of hatred against all Armenians, unapologetic blacklisting of U.S. legislators, obstruction of the Royce-Engel peace proposals, threats to shoot down civilian aircraft, the destruction of the Djulfa cemetery and other Christian heritage sites, and – of course – his severe crackdown against domestic dissidents and ethnic-religious minorities.”

During the October 4th confirmation hearing, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Democrat Bob Menendez (D-NJ) grilled Mr. Litzenberger about President Aliyev’s “bellicose rhetoric and sporadic outbursts of violence,” securing from the nominee a commitment that he would urge the Azerbaijani government to step back from any threatening behavior that disrupts the line of contact. Asked by Sen. Menendez whether U.S. security assistance to Azerbaijan should be curtailed based on human rights abuses, Litzenberger responded that the State Department will be “very careful to ensure that nothing that we do or provide [in terms of U.S. security assistance] to Azerbaijan undermines the effort to reach a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.” He went on to note that U.S. security assistance to Azerbaijan will continue to include training in human rights, a point of heightened concern since the Safarov scandal.

Following the hearing, both Sen. Menendez and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) submitted written questions to Mr. Litzenberger, and may follow up with additional inquiries regarding statements made by National Security Advisor John Bolton during his late October trip to the Caucasus calling for arms sales to Azerbaijan and Armenia.

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The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is the largest and most influential Armenian-American grassroots organization. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters and supporters throughout the United States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA actively advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues. To learn more, visit www.anca.org.

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TBILISI, Georgia—In Tbilisi’s Havlabar neighborhood, a historically Armenian enclave in the Georgian city, polling stations resemble street markets. Buses unload voters surrounded by stacked boxes displaying food and other goods. Women are checking off voter names from a list, while their colleagues call those who have yet to cast their ballots.

Enthusiasm is running low. Armenian voters share a similar sense of apathy with their Georgian homologues. “All the candidates have their own interests in mind. Voters are at the bottom of their list,” says Tatev, a Tbilisi-born Armenian who skipped the vote. Anna Sarkisyan, another Tbilisi native, told the Weekly, “We’re presented with two unsavory choices. Neither offer any tangible benefits for the Armenian community.”

Liza Torosyan, a reporter who covered the election for Aliq Media, a local Armenian-language news outlet, shares the sentiment. “Georgian politicians only remember the Armenian minority when elections come along,” she tells the Weekly. Indeed, Georgia’s Armenians mostly remain underrepresented in the country’s political life. With only three ethnic-Armenians sitting in the National Assembly and a scattering involved with either of the major parties at the grassroots level, there are few outlets to discuss issues of concern to the Armenian community.

The ruling Georgian Dream Party candidate Salome Zurabichvili failed to win an outright majority in the first round of voting back on October 28. She had inched past Grigol Vashadze of the United National Movement (UNM), the party of former-president Mikheil Saakashvili, by less than one-percent of the vote. This time, GD was showing signs that it was determined to maintain its hold on the presidency. Most opinion polls predicted a Vashadze victory, as he gained the endorsements of other failed candidates. However, Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s one-time Prime Minister and wealthiest man, announced his foundation’s intention to pay off the personal debts for up to 600,000 Georgians in a last minute attempt to woo voters. Ivanishvili is also the founder and primary financier of the Georgian Dream party. Analysts have characterized the presidential election as a sort of proxy-war between his party and that of Saakashvili.

During this second round, observers say the Georgian Dream made liberal use of ‘administrative resources’ to swing the vote in their favor. Special buses were organized to drive people back to the towns where they are registered to vote. Many also received robocalls with a recorded statement by Ivanishvili warning of a civil war in the event of a UNM victory. Armenian voters who spoke to the Weekly also reported being under heavy pressure by the authorities to vote.

One Armenian student currently living in Tbilisi recalled receiving a phone call from her village mayor who told her that failure to vote for the Georgian Dream might mean trouble for her relatives still living there.

Zurabichvili, the only candidate to visit the Armenian-majority province of Samtskhe–Javakheti, warned voters that a UNM victory would mean the return of Saakashvili (currently exiled in Poland). Many still resent him for the closure of Armenian schools in the impoverished region.

Zurabichvili also promised to re-implement a dual-citizenship law. Nationality had remained a contentious issue for Georgian-Armenians, many of whom were forced to give up Georgian citizenship when they applied for Armenian or Russian passports, needed to find work abroad.

In a statement that garnered much controversy, Zurabichvili told crowds gathered in Akhalkalaki “Saakashvili took away your passports and gave them to the Turks,” (referring to a questionable decision by the previous government to grant citizenship to 25-thousand Turkish expats living in Batumi). According to the Central Election Committee, Zurabishvili went on to win Samtskhe–Javakheti with over 65% of the vote.

Though most Armenian voters seem indifferent towards either candidate, some have shown support for the Georgian Dream. Aside from the reformed citizenship law, many Armenians have benefited from electricity and gas subsidies offered to remote communities implemented by the GD government.

With the final tally of the November 28 announced, Zurabichvili became the first elected female president of Georgia, taking 60% of the vote. The OSCE observation mission called the election “Free but unfair.” Echoing these findings, the National Democracy Institute reported the increased use of divisive rhetoric, threats, vote buying, and abuse of administrative resources by the ruling party. There were also increased reports of bribes such as the distribution of food as well as money to voters.

The UNM, for its part, rejected results as illegitimate and organized a rally attended by some eight thousand people. However, with congratulations by foreign leaders, including Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan and President Armen Sarkissian, pouring in, few seem ready to contest the results.

Author information

Raffi Elliott

Raffi Elliott is a Canadian-born entrepreneur and occasional journalist who likes to ramble on about socioeconomic and political issues in Armenia. He lives in Yerevan with his family. He also holds a masters degree in International Relations.

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YEREVAN—On Friday, November 30, the 41st President of the United States passed away at his home in Houston, Texas. President George Herbert Walker Bush was 94 years old. In response, leaders from around the world have reacted, offering messages of condolence to President Donald Trump. In this vein, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan reached out earlier this week to extend his sympathies, issuing the following statement:

“It was with deep pain that we received the news about the death of 41st President of the United States George Bush Senior,” Pashinyan said in the cable, according to his office. “He was a renowned American, a great patriot, who left his visible mark not only in U.S. politics, but also global politics. We Armenians will always remember George Bush Senior with gratitude, both as a politician and a great humanitarian.”

In his message, Pashinyan recalled the time the former president sent his son Jeb, then a real-estate developer, to Soviet Armenia on Christmas Eve to deliver toys and medical supplies to victims of the devastating Spitak earthquake.

Pashinyan also reflected on Bush’s political legacy. “It was during George Bush’s tenure when Armenia regained independence and established diplomatic relations with the USA. He greatly supported the establishment and strengthening of our country’s independent statehood. On behalf of the Armenian people, I ask you to convey our deepest condolences to President Bush’s family and the American people. Our hearts and prayers are with you at this difficult moment.”

Born in Massachusetts on June 12, 1924, George H. W. Bush was the son of wealthy Wall Street banker and future Connecticut Senator Prescott Bush and Dorothy Bush. He is survived by his son, George W., the 43rd U.S. president; his son Jeb, the former Florida governor and 2016 presidential candidate; his sons Neil and Marvin; daughter Dorothy; and 17 grandchildren. He will be buried alongside the former First Lady Barbara Bush, who died in April, and their daughter Robin, who died of leukemia as a child, at his presidential library in College Station, Texas.

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