Biden’s Recognition of the Armenian Genocide Ended the US' Denial of It

 Jennifer M. Dixon

On April 24th last year, President Biden officially recognized the Armenian Genocide. Last year’s announcement constituted an important reversal of decades of US complicity in Turkey’s denial of the Genocide. In the wake of Biden’s statement, commentators highlighted its importance in terms of what it said about the state (read: nadir) of US-Turkish relations and about Biden’s commitment to a moral foreign policy. While such analyses captured central factors behind this long-resisted official acknowledgment, its most important function was to end the US’ own denial of the Armenian Genocide. 

Armenian Studies Chairs and Directors Meet to Discuss the Future of the Field

On September 29, the majority of current Armenian Studies Chairs and Directors in the United States, along with representatives of the Society for Armenian Studies (SAS), National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), and Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation met for an “Armenian Studies Chairs and Directors Workshop: Current Challenges & Future Prospects” at the University of California – Irvine. The meeting which was the first of its kind in the west coast was organized by UCI’s Armenian Studies Program, the UCI Meghrouni Family Presidential Chair in Armenian Studies (Professor Houri Berberian), the UCLA Richard Hovannisian Endowed Chair in Modern Armenian History (Professor Sebouh Aslanian), and the Society for Armenian Studies (Professor Bedross Der Matossian, SAS President).

The Immigration Agents Changed My Family Name – Not!

Mark Arslan

How many times have your heard that immigration agents at Ellis Island (New York) changed your Armenian family’s name when they arrived in this country? This is a prevailing narrative in popular culture, especially in movies and literature, not just for Diaspora Armenians in the United States and Canada, but for other ethnic groups, as well.

However, it is a myth. Armenian names often changed when they settled in America, but for different reasons altogether. Ellis Island, which opened in 1892, was one of many seaports for processing immigrants coming to the U.S. and Canada on passenger steamships in the late 1800s and early 1900s. They also arrived at ports like Halifax (Nova Scotia), St. John (New Brunswick), and Quebec City (Quebec) in Canada; in America, they docked in Providence (Rhode Island), Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), Boston (Massachusetts), and San Francisco (California) as well as many others. The majority of passengers did arrive at Ellis Island. The Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island Foundation, One-Step Web Pages by Stephen P. Morse, FamilySearch, Ancestry and other organizations provide tools for searching passenger arrivals at various ports of arrival. The key resource for documenting passengers arriving at American ports is called a “ship manifest,” which is a form (designed according to the incoming country’s current immigration laws) that lists everyone being “delivered” to that port (more on this later).

Will Trump Ignore a Visit from the President of Nagorno-Karabakh?

John Evans (*)

 

In 451 A.D., Armenian warriors, having just lost a fierce battle with the superior Persian Empire, retreated into the forests of Artsakh in the South Caucasus. They had lost the war, but preserved their Christian faith, and thus considered it a victory. Armenia was the first nation to embrace Christianity, in the year 301.

In 2018, a small but determined Armenian democratic republic, the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh (or “Artsakh,” as Armenians call it) is attempting to survive, threatened by a militarily superior power that wishes to crush it. Professor Audrey Altstadt, in her recent article about Azerbaijan did not mention Nagorno-Karabakh, but perhaps ought to have, as the plight of the citizens of that unrecognized de facto state constitutes a serious violation of human rights.

Dear Armenian-American Millennials

Alik Ourfalian

 

Dear Armenian-American Millennials,

I’m sick and tired of Armenian-Americans, especially our generation of millennials, thinking our biggest concern is genocide recognition when it comes to supporting political candidates.

Over the past few days, I’ve seen a lot of “s/he isn’t going to recognize the genocide”-type comments on social media, as well as people criticizing others for voting with Armenian-American issues in mind because “neither candidate will recognize the genocide anyway.” The U.S. stance on Armenian-American issues extends far beyond genocide recognition. This is not me making a case for any specific candidate. All I’m asking is that you recognize that we have other concerns and issues and to think about how those concerns are affecting our community.

NAASR to Transform its Headquarters Into a Global Center

The National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) will be undertaking a $2.5 million, top-to-bottom renovation of its aging building in Belmont, Massachussetts, to transform it into a welcoming hub for scholars and Armenians and non-Armenians alike, as NAASR meets the challenges of best serving its mission in the future.  Since purchase in 1989, the NAASR headquarters building has served as a place where erudite scholars of Armenian Studies have come for support and research in NAASR’s unique library holdings, and for connection with members and the public over lectures and symposia. NAASR’s Mardigian Library has grown to become world-class as one of the top five libraries open to the public in the diaspora while its building has remained virtually unchanged and is in drastic need of repair.

Survey: Israel and US biggest threats for Turkey

Sevgi Akarçeşme

According to the results of a recent survey of Turkish people's opinions about the country's foreign policy by İstanbul's Kadir Has University, Israel and the US are considered the biggest threats to the country, a finding in line with the traditional hostility toward these countries in Turkey.

The rector of the university, Professor Mustafa Aydın, hosted a group of columnists on Wednesday to reveal the results of the survey, which was conducted in April among urban populations across Turkey, totaling 1,000 people.

White House omits 'G-word'

Barbara Slavin

 

Once again, the Obama administration has shied-away from using the word genocide to describe what befell Armenians in Turkey 100 years ago.

Despite Obama’s pledges as a presidential candidate to use this term, his White House — like those before it — appears reluctant to offend a NATO ally on the front lines of so many conflicts in the Middle East.

Instead the Obama administration speaks obliquely of the “1915 atrocities” that “extinguished” 1.5 million lives — without saying who was responsible for the killing. But academics and think-tankers in Washington say there is growing recognition that the deaths of Armenians in Turkey during World War I was the result of a genocidal campaign by Ottoman Turkish authorities that began with mass deportation of Armenians from Istanbul on April 24, 1915.

SARF Issues Announcement About Armenian Refugee Immigration to the United States

The Syrian Armenian Relief Fund issued a statement, published on January 23, 2015 in "Asbarez," regarding Syrian-Armenian refugees interested in immigrating to the US.The text in particular says:

"In recent weeks, public announcements have been made throughout the Armenian community that the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees along with the United States government have initiated a Syrian resettlement program to assist individuals and families who have become displaced as a result of the continuing unrest in the country.

The Heydar Aliyev Era Ends in Azerbaijan Not with a Bang but a Whisper

Richard Kauzlarich (*)

 

“… [O]ur path is clear…. The system of government and style of society we are developing in Azerbaijan is based on Western values, including democratic pluralism, the free market economy, and a secular republic that respect (sic) universal human rights.”

Heydar Aliyev (quoted by Thomas Goltz in Azerbaijan Diary pg. 477)

On December 3, 2014 the Heydar Aliyev era in Azerbaijan ended. With it went the previously close political relationship between the United States and Azerbaijan. Heydar Aliyev, who was President of Azerbaijan from 1993 until his death in 2003, presided over a foreign policy that emphasized energy relations with the West, and political and security engagement with the United States and a range of transatlantic institutions, such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Council on Europe (COE), European Union (EU) and NATO. This policy eventually also led to Azeri military support for U.S. operations in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. His son and successor, Azerbaijan’s current president Ilham Aliyev, has increasingly moved away from his father’s path and now seems to have approved a final rupture with the past.

Aliyev’s Dictatorship is Threat to Regional and Global Stability

Viken Khlgatyan

Armen Sahakyan 

After inheriting the half-a-century-old reins of power in 2003 from his deceased father, Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev has tried to position his country as a reliable producer of energy and counter-terrorism partner for the West. At the same time he has pursued rapid militarization, anti-Armenianism, and the consolidation of a strongman regime.

Dangerous Trends Developing in the Caucasus

Edmond Y. Azadian

 

Call it with whatever you wish but realize that an intensifying Cold War is looming on the horizon. The East-West confrontation is gaining momentum and further developments in that direction may soon get out of hand.

ISIS Draws a Steady Stream of Recruits From Turkey

Ceylan Yeginsu

 

Having spent most of his youth as a drug addict in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Turkey’s capital, Can did not think he had much to lose when he was smuggled into Syria with 10 of his childhood friends to join the world’s most extreme jihadist group.

After 15 days at a training camp in the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto headquarters of the group, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the 27-year-old Can was assigned to a fighting unit. He said he shot two men and participated in a public execution. It was only after he buried a man alive that he was told he had become a full ISIS fighter.

Turkish Government Co-operated with al-Qaeda in Syria, Says Former US Ambassador

Richard Spencer

Raf Sanchez

Turkey has directly supported al-Qaeda's wing in Syria in defiance of the United States, the former American ambassador to Ankara has said.

The Turkish authorities thought they could work with extremist Islamist groups in the Syrian civil war and at the same time push them to become more moderate, Francis Ricciardone, who was until late June the US ambassador to Ankara, told journalists in a briefing.

That led them to work with Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda's branch, as well as hardline Salafi Islamist groups like Ahrar al-Sham. Mr Ricciardone said that he tried to persuade the Turkish government to close its borders to the groups, but to no avail.

The Unremembered Genocide

Marjorie Housepian

Forty-eight years ago, in September 1966, this essay by novelist and historian Marjorie Housepian-Dobkin (1922-2013), Professor Emerita in English at Barnard College, appeared in the influential magazine "Commentary" (published until 2007 by the American Jewish Committee). At the time, articles of a scholarly nature on the genocide committed against the Armenian people (the Medz Yeghern) were scanty in English and essentially restricted to Armenian publications. Housepian's groundbreaking discussion was not only about the facts of the crime, but also about the aftermath, including Turkish denial and American ambivalent policies, and a critique of Western intellectual attitudes towards the Armenians. The essay remains a compelling read until today. 

In Turkey, a Late Crackdown on Islamist Fighters

Anthony Faiola

Souad Mekhennet

REYHANLI, Turkey - Before their blitz into Iraq earned them the title of the Middle East’s most feared insurgency, the jihadists of the Islamic State treated this Turkish town near the Syrian border as their own personal shopping mall.

And eager to aid any and all enemies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Turkey rolled out the red carpet.

In dusty market stalls, among the baklava shops and kebab stands, locals talk of Islamist fighters openly stocking up on uniforms and the latest Samsung smartphones. Wounded jihadists from the Islamic State and the al-Nusra Front — an al-Qaeda offshoot also fighting the Syrian government — were treated at Turkish hospitals. Most important, the Turks winked as Reyhanli and other Turkish towns became way stations for moving foreign fighters and arms across the border.

Bombs away! US to the rescue – but only of certain minorities, not Muslims

 Robert Fisk

He wouldn’t bomb Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s bloody caliphate when it was butchering the majority Shia Muslims of Iraq. But Barak Obama is riding to the rescue of the Christian refugees – and the Yazidis – because of “a potential act of genocide”. Bombs away. And thank heavens that the refugees in question are not Palestinian.

This hypocrisy almost takes the breath away, not least because the US President is still too frightened – in case he upsets the Turks – to use the “G” word about the 1915 Turkish genocide of a million and a half Armenian Christians, a mass slaughter on a scale which even Abu Bakr’s thugs have not yet attempted. We’ll have to wait another year to see how Obama wriggles out of the 100th anniversary commemorations of that particular Muslim massacre of Christians.

From Russia with Mania

Vartan Matiossian

A certain "Arevagal" has been cluttering my inbox--and of many other people, probably--for the past three years. Instead of blocking him, I have preferred to use the "Delete" button without even reading most of the time. However, some of his Russomaniac rants have provided comic relief. 

Foxman Remarks at Suffolk Not Substitute for Formal Statement

Katie Vanadzin

 

Abraham Foxman’s weekend address at the Suffolk Law School commencement was the subject of considerable controversy for the month leading up to his speech on Saturday. Campaigns were initiated by the National Lawyer’s Guild at Suffolk University as well as by the Armenian Museum of America to urge the University to reconsider its choice of speaker, citing Foxman’s controversial views on the Armenian genocide as well as on the rights of Muslims in America. Foxman, who is outgoing director of the Anti-Defamation League, has come under fire for his organization’s lobbying on behalf of the Turkish government against official recognition of the Armenian genocide on the part of the U.S., as well as the ADL’s series of vague, legalistic statements that attempt to sidestep classifying the Armenian genocide as such.

Past the Tipping Point: An Interview with Ara Papian

Nanore Barsoumian

 

In April, I conducted an interview with Ara Papian, former Ambassador of Armenia to Canada (2000-06) and president of the Modus Vivendi Center, at the Armenian Weekly offices in Watertown. A former diplomat, Papian’s perspective is that of a strategist with a long-term vision. During the interview, we discussed the current geopolitical situation in the Caucasus, including Armenia’s decision to join the Russian-led Customs Union, military ties with Russia, U.S.-Armenia relations, the Syrian crisis, the Iranian nuclear negotiations, and relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan.

For Papian, Armenia has recently aligned itself dangerously close to Russia, subject to the whims of its politicians. He believes that Armenia’s independence is contingent on forging strong relations with many key world players. “I see our independence as interdependence on many powers,” he told me. “What I mean is, if we become dependent only on one power—like Russia or the U.S.—we will really become dependent on them. If we depend on many players—China, Russia, the West, and so on—we will be more or less independent.”