By Ryan Gingeras

Heroin, Organized Crime, and the Making of Modern Turkey explores the history of organized crime in Turkey and the roles which gangs and gangsters have played in the making of the Turkish state and Turkish politics. Turkey’s underworld, which has been at the heart of several devastating scandals over the last several decades,

is strongly tied to the country’s long history of opium production and heroin trafficking. As an industry at the centre of the Ottoman Empire’s long transition into the modern Turkish Republic, as important as the silk road had been in earlier centuries, the modern rise of the opium and heroin trade helped to solidify and complicate long-standing relationships between state officials and criminal syndicates. Such relationships produced not only ongoing patterns of …Source: Publisher

Source: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Heroin_Organized_Crime_and_the_Making_of/tO9IDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1

A historic Armenian cemetery was destroyed during construction in Ankara’s Ulus district as part of a gentrification project, the Turkish-Armenian bilingual Agos weekly reported.

The human remains that were found at the site were sent to a museum for analysis, but according to an association founded by shopkeepers who oppose the project the construction is still continuing.

Speaking to local media, president of the Ankara branch of the Chamber of Architects of Turkey Tezcan Karakuş Candan said the site is designated as an Armenian cemetery in historical sources.

“To continue construction on the site despite knowing this is disrespectful to the multicultural heritage of Anatolia,” Candan said. “Pouring concrete on top of graves and building stores on them is cruel.”

The chamber filed petitions with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization and the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality requesting that the construction be halted.

Concerns about the preservation of Armenian cultural and religious sites in Turkey have recently been growing. On January 27 Agos reported that an Armenian church dating to 1603 in the western province of Kütahya that was on the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s preservation list was demolished after it was acquired by a private party.

Only 10 days before that, Agos had reported that a 19th century Armenian church was put up for sale on a Turkish real estate website. In the ad the church, which is located in Bursa province, was described as “perfect for a touristic attraction because it is in a UNESCO protected area.”

The seller, whose name was not disclosed, also said the church was a good investment as it could be “used as a hotel, museum or art gallery.”

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Armenian President Armen Sarkissian has been admitted to hospital to be treated for COVID-19 complications, his office was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies on Friday.

The Russian news agency Interfax had earlier cited local media reports saying Sarkissian, 67, was undergoing treatment for heart problems.

“Some complications have appeared in connection with the coronavirus infection sustained by the president of Armenia,” Russian news agencies quoted his office as saying. “He is undergoing tests.”

Sarkissian declined on Thursday to sign a decree on the appointment of a new head of the army’s general staff after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sacked the previous chief during a political crisis in which the army urged Pashinyan to resign.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Alison Williams and Timothy Heritage)

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Armenia’s president has returned to work after a medical checkup, his office said on Friday, following media reports that said he had been admitted to hospital over COVID-19 complications.

By Tanya LokshinaandOpen Democracy Russia,

New evidence of torture and inhumane treatment of civilians by Azerbaijani forces emerges.

The original version of this article first appeared on Open Democracy Russia, on 12 March 2021.

During last autumn’s six-week war between Armenia and Armenian over the ethnic-Armenian majority enclave Nagorno-Karabakh, as Azerbaijani forces took control of areas in and around the region, they rounded up local civilians. Most younger civilians had fled the hostilities. Those remaining, with few exceptions, were older people who did not want to abandon their homes. 

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has documented several cases in which Azerbaijani forces used violence to detain civilians and subjected them to torture and inhuman and degrading conditions of detention. Two detainees died in Azerbaijani captivity; one of them, based on the evidence, was most likely the victim of an extrajudicial execution. Azerbaijani forces detained these civilians even though there was no evidence that they posed any security threat – they had no weapons and were not participating in the hostilities. 

Here are the stories of the two detainees who died, via accounts from their close relatives who were taken into custody with them and also subjected to torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. To document these crimes, we interviewed two people who had been held in captivity and their family members, examined photo and video evidence provided by both the families and Armenia’s Representative Office at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), reviewed medical documents, and spoke with lawyers representing the families. 

Claims about continued captivity 

The fighting began on 27 September and ended on 10 November 2020, with a Russia brokered peace agreement. The agreement provided, among other things, for ‘an exchange of prisoners of war and other detained persons and bodies of the dead’. 

By the end of February, Armenia’s Representative Office at the ECHR had asked the court to intervene with the Azerbaijani authorities regarding 240 alleged prisoners of war (POWs) and civilian detainees. In approximately 90% of those cases, the office said, they had photo and/or video evidence confirming that these people were in Azerbaijani custody; in the rest of the cases, they relied on witness accounts. HRW is not in a position to determine the exact number of civilians detained by Azerbaijani forces. Two leading human rights lawyers working on the issue estimated that more than 10% of those detained by Azerbaijani forces were civilians.

More than three months after the truce, Azerbaijan has returned a total of 69 Armenian POWs and civilians. An Armenian foreign ministry representative told HRW that they believe more than a dozen civilians are still in Azerbaijani custody. Their families are increasingly distraught, especially in light of the abundance of graphic videos of abuse of prisoners circulating on social media, and the horrendous accounts of some of those who have been repatriated. 

International law and the treatment of civilians during armed conflict 

Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, which sets out protections for civilians in an international armed conflict such as that between Armenia and Azerbaijan, civilians are ‘protected persons’. The convention requires that anyone ‘taking no active part in the hostilities, […] shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria’. 

During hostilities, the convention permits the internment or assigned residence of protected persons such as civilians where it is absolutely necessary for the security of the detaining power, or, as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has put it, there are ‘serious and legitimate reasons’ to think the interned persons may seriously prejudice the security of the detaining power. However, unlawful confinement of a protected person is a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions; in other words, it is treated as a war crime. 

Likewise, as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights, Azerbaijan is bound by prohibitions on arbitrary detention as well as on torture and other degrading or inhuman treatment. 

The wilful killing and ill-treatment of protected persons that we document below constitute war crimes under international humanitarian law. Azerbaijani authorities should, without further delay, investigate the credible allegations regarding the unlawful detention of these civilians, their inhuman and degrading treatment, and the possible extrajudicial execution of a detainee, with a view to holding all perpetrators to account. They should also promptly free and repatriate any and all civilians who remain in their custody. 

Arega and Eduard 

Arega Shahkeldyan, 72, is huddled in a large armchair by the window in a small rented apartment in Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is slowly recovering from the war. Her family, like many others, fled to the city when Azerbaijani forces were advancing and ultimately regaining control over a large part of Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions. 

The family destitute, having lost their home and belongings. Their future is uncertain. But this is not what Arega is thinking of. She is mourning her husband of many years, Eduard. At the end of October, Azerbaijani forces detained both of them at their home in the village of Avetaranots, in Askeran district of Nagorno-Karabakh, and took them to a prison in Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital. Arega returned home after six weeks. Eduard, 79, died in prison under unclear circumstances. 

Soon after hostilities began on 27 September, most residents left the village, but Arega and Eduard remained behind. Their children made several attempts to take them to Stepanakert, but Eduard flatly refused, arguing that Azerbaijani forces had never entered the village during the first war, 30 years ago, and could not possibly now – there was no way he would abandon his home and possessions. 

On the morning of 28 October, their daughter Gohar called them at 9am to ask how the night had been. Gohar said that she and her husband would come to the village later in the day to collect her parents, whether they wanted to leave or not – it was getting too dangerous. Eduard said everything was OK. But he had no idea that Azerbaijani forces had already entered the village. Fifteen minutes later, Gohar’s husband, Vladik, called again to urge them to pack, but a stranger picked up the phone, speaking in Azeri. ‘Who are you?’ Vladik asked in the same language. ‘I’m Azerbaijani and this is Azerbaijan’, the man said. The phone went dead. 

‘Their soldiers just ran into the house with those big automatic ries, pointing their weapons at us, shouting, threatening us’, Arega said. ‘I started crying, pleading with them not to hurt us, but they twisted my husband’s arms behind his back and led him out of the house. Then they pounced on me. I screamed, I tried to resist, I was telling them I won’t go anywhere but they were yelling and pushing me, so they forced me out. I begged them to at least let me take some warm clothing, but they did not.’

Azerbaijani soldiers took Arega and Eduard to a house higher up in the village, whose owner had fled, and kept them there for the night with two other local residents: Sedrak, a nearly blind neighbour in his seventies, and Baghdasar, another neighbour about ten years younger. In the morning, the soldiers took the four detainees to another abandoned house in the village and put them in a shed. At night, Baghdasar managed to dislodge one of the stones from the shed’s wall and escaped through the hole. The other three didn’t have the strength to follow.

‘We spent all night in that shed, with no food, no water’, Arega said. ‘It got cold and I was shivering in my thin gown. My husband and Sedrak dozed off at some point, but I couldn’t sleep. I was too scared. I just sat there shivering and crying.’

The next day, the soldiers took the detainees to a logging site in the mountains nearby. More soldiers were present. One of them punched Eduard several times and kicked him with his boot, yelling that he had surely taken part in the war 30 years earlier and this was his punishment for killing Azerbaijani people back then. Another soldier, hearing Arega scream as she watched her husband being beaten, tried to reassure her: ‘Don’t be afraid, Granny, it’s going to be OK. You’re old. No one will kill you. Just bear up – and after a while, you’ll be released.’ 

The detainees were forced to climb on to the back of a truck, on top of logs, and travelled for hours. No one told them where they were going. They were hungry, thirsty, cold and frightened. Late that night, the truck arrived in Baku. Their captors locked them in a room in what seemed like a private house, without letting them use the bathroom or giving them any food or water. 

In the morning, men in military uniforms blindfolded them, put them in a vehicle and took them to what their family later learned from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was SIZO-1, a pre-trial detention facility in the settlement of Kurdakhany in Baku. On arrival in the prison yard, the guards untied the blindfolds and allowed the detainees to drink water from a tap. They briey saw another civilian from their village, Maxim Grigoryan, ‘a younger man’ who later disappeared. His family still has no information as to his fate and whereabouts, Gohar sighs. 

Those few minutes in the yard were the last time Arega saw her husband alive. Shortly after their arrival, the guards took Arega to a cell already occupied by another older woman, Azniv. 

In early November, Gohar heard from the ICRC that her parents were in prison in Baku. When the hostilities ended on 10 November, the family thought they would be sent back soon. On 5 December, a man called Vladik, Gohar’s husband, from an Azerbaijani number and said, in Azeri-accented Russian, that he would put Arega on the line. Gohar snatched the phone: “Mamma, are you already here? They brought you back?” But her mother was crying and mumbling incoherently. “Mamma, please pass the phone to Daddy!” Arega started sobbing uncontrollably, then the line went dead. Three minutes later, the unknown man called again from the same number: ‘Your mother was trying to tell you that your father died. I’m sorry.’ 

That morning, before the phone call, the guards had opened the door of Arega’s cell and told her that Eduard had died in his sleep and they were there to take her to his cell, so that she could view the body. She was in a state of shock and does not remember much about those awful moments, except that her husband’s face was black and blue. Sedrak and another cellmate also told her that Eduard had gone to sleep and did not wake. 

Eduard’s family pointed out that he had asthma for many years and had to take medication three times a day. In detention, he no longer had access to his medications. ‘Mamma had a stroke years ago and suffers from high blood pressure, so she had to take prescription medicine every day’, Gohar says. ‘But in prison, they would not give it to her, and no doctor examined her, despite her requests. It must have been the same for Daddy, and the stress of the captivity also took its toll.’ 

On 9 December, the Azerbaijani authorities returned Arega and several other detainees to Armenia. Eduard’s body was also supposed to be returned on the same flight. However, the next day when the family saw the body that had been on the flight, they realised it was another man – younger, with a scar on his face. At first, the Azerbaijani authorities denied they had sent the wrong body. Finally, on 28 December, they shipped Eduard’s body to Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, and the family buried him. On his death certificate, issued by the Armenian authorities following an autopsy, the cause of death is listed as blunt brain injury, brain swelling and acute disorder of vital brain function. 

Clutching her hands, Arega stared from beneath her black mourning kerchief. ‘At least, they finally returned his body’, she says. ‘And I now have a grave to visit.’ 

Sasha and Arsen 

On 7 October, the women and children of the Gharakhanyan family ed Hadrut, a city in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Azerbaijani army was advancing, and it no longer felt safe to remain. But 71-year-old Sasha Gharakhanyan would not hear of leaving his home. Sasha’s 44-year-old son Arsen, who had lived in Moscow for several years but came to visit his parents shortly before hostilities began, could not bear to leave his father all alone. So, he also stayed. 

On 10 October, Arsen was in the centre of Hadrut when he saw the first Azerbaijani soldiers in the city. He rushed home to collect his father, hoping there was still time for the two of them to flee. But when he entered the house, it was already full of Azerbaijani soldiers – at least 15 of them. His father watched helplessly as they pounced on Arsen, tied his hands behind his back and led him away. 

Arsen’s sister Marine had last spoken to her father and brother on 9 October. When their phones stopped working a day later, she and the rest of the family feared the worst. On 9 November, they had the first glimpse of hope: a video began circulating on social media with Azerbaijani soldiers forcing Sasha to kiss the Azeri flag and repeat the phrase: ‘Karabakh – Azerbaijan’. At least he was alive. Ten days later, the ICRC told the family that their representatives had been able to locate and visit Sasha in a prison in Baku, where he was being held in a cell with five other civilians.

On 14 December, Azerbaijan returned Sasha to Armenia as part of a group of 44 POWs and civilians. He spent the next ten days in hospital. Sasha’s wrists and ankles were deeply scarred from having been tightly bound with wire. There were also scars on the back of his head where a soldier hit him several times with a rifle butt and scars on his back from being poked with a metal rod. X-rays showed that one of his ribs on the left had been fractured and that he had a broken nose. Sasha was weak and disoriented and kept asking for his son. But there was no news of Arsen. 

Once Sasha was discharged from hospital, his family took him to Stepanakert, where the six of them still share a tiny two-room apartment with one large bed and one sofa – temporary accommodation provided by the local authorities. On 6 January, after almost three months of having no information about Arsen’s fate, the family saw a videocirculating on social media. It showed Azerbaijani soldiers forcing Arsen to say ‘Karabakh is Azerbaijan’ and call Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia’s prime minister, degrading names. Arsen looked worn out, but he didn’t seem to be wounded or visibly hurt.

‘The day that video suddenly popped up was actually my birthday’, says Aida, Arsen’s mother her eyes swimming in tears. ‘It was such an amazing gift to learn that my son was alive. We began waiting for him to return, like his father did. We even bought him new clothes.’ On 8 January, another video appeared on social media, with Azerbaijani soldiers mocking Arsen and ordering him to ‘say hello to Shusha’ (‘Shushi’ in Armenian, a town taken by Azerbaijani forces in a decisive victory in early November). The second video only reinforced the family’s hopes. 

On 13 January, in response to an Armenian government request, the ECHR asked Azerbaijan to provide information about Arsen’s fate and whereabouts. Five days later, in the course of the search for dead bodies in Hadrut region, with the mediation of Russian peacekeepers and the ICRC, Arsen’s body was found near the village of Aygestan. From the photos we were shown, the grave appeared to be fresh, and the body showed no obvious signs of decomposition. There were clear marks of gunshots through the forehead and chin. The conclusion of the Armenian medical examiners was that Arsen had been shot dead on 15 January, two days after the European Court raised his case with the Azerbaijani government. 

Sasha is too weak to sit through our conversation. He leans back on top on the meticulously made bed, detailing what happened on 10 October – how the soldiers took him to the centre of Hadrut, pushed him, kicked him, poked him with something sharp, tied him up and threw him into the back of a truck ‘like a log’. He describes how they threw stones at his legs, how the wire that tied his legs cut through his skin, and how his captors pulled him up by his bound legs and secured them to a rack on the back of the truck. 

The scarring on one of his ankles is horrendous, as if the wire had cut through to the bone. His right hand is still swollen and he has difficulty moving it. He speaks in a monotone, grudgingly, without looking up. His wife, sitting next to him on the edge of the bed, cannot stop crying: ‘Why did they kill our son? He wasn’t fighting in the war. He was unarmed. He just stayed to watch over his father. So, it’s a war, so they rounded him up – but the war ended and they still didn’t let him go. They abused him, they filmed him, they posted those videos… and then killed him. Why?’

By Tanya Lokshina

Tanya Lokshina is the Europe and Central Asia Associate director at Human Rights Watch.

Source: https://oc-media.org/features/survivors-of-unlawful-detention-in-nagorno-karabakh-speak-out-about-war-crimes/

Father Baret Yeretsian, head of the real estate office of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, informed that important archeological materials have been discovered during the renovation of the Armenian kindergarten in Jerusalem, which need more detailed examination, ARMENPRESS reports regionmonitor.com informed.

One of the valuable findingss is the large cross-stone (khachkar), which dates back to the 12th century or earlier. It is a typical Armenian cross with the inscription “Lord Jesus, remember”, below it an Armenian flowered cross is depicted, as well as grape motifs.

A mosaic was also discovered, judging by the style, probably from the Byzantine period. Copper coins from the Byzantine and (or) Mamluk period have also been found.

Those findings show the early Armenian presence and pilgrimage in Jerusalem.

Media reports about British HALO Trust allegedly providing Turks with maps of minefields in Artsakh have been sent to the Artsakh National Security Service (NSS) for examination in line with the established procedure, the Artsakh Prosecutor general’s office said in a statement. 

Earlier media citied the Artsakh president’s special representative Boris Avagyan, that the UK’s HALO Trust company, engaged in charitable activities in Artsakh, provided the Turkish special services with maps of the minefields in Artsakh, allowing them to successfully pass through those areas during the 44-day war in 2020. 

HALO Trust denied the reports, naming them ‘absolutely false  statements’.

Jenya Muradian recalls the monumental secret she kept for most of her life after a chance encounter with a famous Armenian sculptor.

In the autumn of 1960, Yerevan local Jenya Muradian and her mother headed out for a shopping trip in central Yerevan that would change the face of their city.

As the two women waited in line to pay for a bag of tomatoes, Muradian noticed a mustachioed man staring at her with such intensity that the frightened teenager pointed him out to her mother. Her mother then placed the tomatoes back on their tray and strode out of the market, gripping the hand of her strikingly beautiful daughter.

Outside on the street, the man approached the two, apologized, and explained himself.

The man’s name was Ara Haratyunyan and he had recently been commissioned to create a sculptural epic that would replace Yerevan’s Stalin monument. The artist was looking for a woman who could visually represent the power of motherhood and the “Armenian motherland” and in Jenya Muradian he believed he had found exactly that archetype.

Sixty-one years after that encounter, the 78 year-old Muradian, who today lives in a central Yerevan apartment, explained what happened after the strange encounter.

“My mother immediately refused. Then the sculptor said, ‘OK. Well, if you change your mind, here’s my phone number.'”

When Muradian’s brother heard about the marketplace encounter, he excitedly intervened. Ara Haratyunyan, the famous artist his sister had met, was his lecturer at the Terlemezyan College of Fine Arts. ​

Together, brother and sister then visited Haratyunyan’s studio and Jenya Muradian posed, standing with a hand on her waist, for the first of four or five sessions with the artist. Muradian says she is not sure about the material used, but thinks the artist shaped her likeness from clay.

Muradian says the artist was “not at all talkative” and during the posing sessions his concentration “was so intense that it was a little unsettling. When he looked at you, it felt as if he was seeing inside of you.”

Muradian says when she saw the huge monument unveiled, she asked the sculptor why she had been given a single, stern eyebrow. The artist told Muradian he took some creative license because “it’s the symbol of a strong woman, and that’s the strength I see in you.”

Muradian, who worked as a Russian language teacher, says the monument helped her through some of the immensely difficult periods of her life, in part because of what the artist told her.

The retired teacher says the sculptor “said he saw power in me, but I didn’t feel it. I felt weak and easy to convince…. But I was chosen as an image of strength, so looking up at the monument reminded me that I needed to be just as strong. That helped give me the courage I needed through my life.”

Today, Muradian checks in on the monument from her apartment on most days “as if on a family member” and watches with pleasure the different techniques used to illuminate the hilltop figure on national holidays. Muradian says it is upsetting to see the statue not being cleaned or cared for in the same way many other Yerevan monuments are maintained.

The monument poses a towering logistical challenge for cleaning crews.

During the recent conflict with Azerbaijan, Muradian says she felt “physical pain” as the news was unfolding and she watched mothers mourning their children.

Muradian says she understands why many young Armenians are leaving their country but hopes more can seek to “create prosperity in the homeland” rather than departing for a life abroad.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/mother-armenia-yerevan-iconic-statue/31145539.html?ltflags=mailer

The former regional governor of Syunik on Wednesday announced the launch of a new political party in a move which he claimed to be part of an anti-government campaign “to oust the current regime”. tert.am

“My team members and I have created the Rebirth Armenia party; that rebirth is necessary for our country today,” Vahe Hakobyan said in a televised interview with the Fifth Channel.

Expressing his team’s support to all the political forces and individuals pursuing the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan “as a top agenda issue”, he also stressed the need of stepping up public pressure to achieve his “maximum rapid removal”.

Հայ Յեղափոխական Դաշնակցութեան Արեւմտեան Ամերիկայի Կեդրոնական կոմիտէն ափսոսանքով ծանօթացաւ ՀՅԴ Բիւրոյի կողմէ մեր կազմակերպական կեանքի մանրամասնութիւններու աննախընթաց հրապարակումին, եւ անոր վերաբերող մոլորեցնող անճշդութիւններու արձանագրութեան: Ի տես մեր ազգին դիմագրաւած գոյութենական մարտահրաւէրներուն, մենք կ՛ակնկալէինք, որ Բիւրոն աշխարհատարած մեր կառոյցները գործի լծէ մեր հայրենիքին նեցուկ կանգնելու նպատակին, սակայն անիկա ընտրած է ներքին ճեղքեր բանալու ուղին, հարուած մը հասցնելով մեր կուսակցութեան կայունութեան։

Մեր կազմակերպական ներքին տարակարծութիւնները վերահսկողութենէ դուրս բերելու յաջորդական քայլերը, որքան ալ անհասկնալի եւ անընդունելի, օղակներ ըլլան վերջին տարիներու այն արշաւին, որ նպատակ ունի ճնշել Արեւմտեան Ամերիկայի դաշնակցականներու ազատ արտայայտութիւնը, ու կը միտի պատժել Շրջանը իր այն կեցուածքներուն համար, որոնք ներքին կարգով եւ ժողովներու ընթացքին, միշտ ալ գերադասած են պահպանել Դաշնակցութիւնը՝ իբրեւ ինքնուրոյն, արտաքին ազդեցութիւններէ անկախ եւ ազգային-գաղափարական դիմագիծով ուժ:

Մեր կազմակերպական շրջանին հասցուող վերջին եւ հերթական հարուածը եկաւ, երբ ՀՅԴ Արեւմտեան Ամերիկայի Կեդրոնական կոմիտէութիւնը կը պատրաստուէր գումարելու իր 55րդ Շրջանային ժողովը, որ ի շարս այլ քննարկումներու նաեւ պիտի ընտրէր զինք ղեկավարող Կեդրոնական կոմիտէ:

Մեզի համար անհասկնալի, եւ կանոնագրային հասկացողութիւններու մէջ չտեղաւորուող քայլով մը, ՀՅԴ Բիւրոն կասեցուց ժողովը եւ նշանակեց Կեդրոնական կոմիտէ, այսպիսով խախտելով շարքայիններուն՝ ընտրելու իրաւունքը ու ոտնակոխելով ժողովրդավարութեան հիմնական արժէքը, որուն կրողը եղած է ու պէտք է ըլլայ Դաշնակցութիւնը: Այս իսկ պատճառով եւ ի հեճուկս Բիւրոյի՝ արգելակելու փորձերուն, եւ այլ ելք չգտնելով, Շրջանի կազմակերպական միաւորներու պատգամաւորները կազմակերպական կարգ ու կանոնը յարգելով, գումարուեցին Շրջանային ժողով, եւ ընտրեցին կեդրոնական կոմիտէ: Այս քայլը կը վայելէ ոչ միայն ՀՅԴ Արեւմտեան Ամերիկայի, այլ նաեւ նման քայլերու թիրախ դարձած այլ շրջաններու դաշնակցականներու լայն զանգուածին աջակցութիւնը։

ՀՅԴ Արեւմտեան Ամերիկայի շրջանը եղած է դաշնակցական ընտանիքի ամէնէն կենսունակ շրջաններէն մէկը, ազգային արժէքներու իր անզիջող կեցուածքով, համայնքային եւ համազգային իր ծառայութիւններով, որոնց վկան է համայն հայութիւնը, նաեւ մասնաւորապէս մեր համայնքի լայն խաւը: Նոյնինքն տասնամեակներով այդ ծառայութեան լծուած ղեկավարներուն կ՛ակնարկէ Բիւրոն իր յերիւրածոյ յայտարարութեանց մէջ, երբ զանոնք «խմբակ» կ՛որակէ, աժան նուաստացումներով վիրաւորելով նաեւ մեր շրջանի շարքայիններն ու համակիրները, որոնց վստահութիւնն ու յարգանքը վայելած են սեւացման ենթարկուող նշեալ ընկերները:

ՀՅԴ Բիւրոն ընտրած է անընդունելի եւ մեր կողմէ մերժուած կարգապահական տնօրինումներու ճամբով իր կամքը պարտադրել շարքայիններուն վրայ։ Յստակ է, որ ներկայ ղեկավարութիւնը կը նախընտրէ սպառնալիքի եւ բռնադատելու ընտրանքը, անտեսելով երկխօսութիւնն ու բանավէճը։

Հակառակ այս բոլորին, օրինական կարգով ընտրուած Կեդրոնական կոմիտէն մինչեւ վերջին օրերս համագործակցութեան իր լայնախոհութիւնը ցուցաբերեց այս անյարմար վիճակէն դուրս գալու համար, սակայն ափսոսանքով անակնկալի եկաւ՝ տեսնելով սրումի տանող վերոնշեալ ցաւալի յայտարարութիւնը:

Պարտաւոր կը զգանք հաստատելու, թէ ՀՅԴ Արեւմտեան Ամերիկայի Կեդրոնական նոմիտէն՝ իբրեւ օրինական շարունակութիւնը մեր կազմակերպական կարգին, բնական եւ միակ երաշխաւորն է իր ինչքերուն, ինչպէս նաեւ զօրակցողը բոլոր այն ոչ-շահաբեր կառոյցներուն, որոնք կը գործեն միմիայն տեղական օրէնքներուն համապատասխան եւ որոնք համայնքին ու հայրենիքին կը տրամադրեն անվերապահ ծառայութիւն։

Ուստի, անհեթեթ, քանդիչ եւ խիստ դատապարտելի կը գտնենք Բիւրոյի այն յերիւրանքները, ըստ որոնց իբր թէ կալուածներ ու հաշիւներ «զաւթուած» են, որովհետեւ բոլոր ոչ-շահութաբեր հասարակական կազմակերպութիւնները, որոնք կը գործեն այս համայնքէն ներս, ամէն բանէ առաջ կը վերահսկուին Միացեալ Նահանգներու դաշնակցային եւ Քալիֆորնիոյ օրէնքներուն ներքոյ: Անոնց հաշիւները կը տնօրինուին անկախ հաշուապահական հաստատութիւններու կողմէ, որոնք հերթական քննութիւններ կատարելով, անոնց արդիւնքները կը հաղորդեն Ներքին եկամուտի սպասարկութեան (IRS), երկրին օրէնքներուն համաձայն ։ Այս բոլորը գրեթէ անկարելի կը դարձնեն, որ որեւէ անհատ կամ խմբակ «զաւթէ» որեւէ գումար կամ հիմնարկ։ Վստահ ենք եւ կ՛ակնկալենք, որ կուսակցութեան բոլոր շրջաններուն մէջ թափանցիկութեան այս սկզբունքները կը յարգուին։

ՀՅԴ Արեւմտեան Ամերիկայի պատմութեան այս հանգրուանին, անհրաժեշտ կը գտնենք անգամ մը եւս արժեւորելու եւ հաստատելու Դաշնակցութեան կազմակերպական ու բարոյական նկարագիրը։ Աւելի քան 130 տարուան կեանքի իր պատմական հոլովոյթին մէջ, Դաշնակցութիւնը բնական հետեւողութեամբ իւրացուցած է ապակեդրոնացման գործելաձեւը ու համարկած է այդ գործելաձեւը կազմակերպական իր դիմագիծին հետ, այդ դիմագիծը բնորոշող գաղափարական հիմնական արժէքներուն հետ, ինչպէս՝ ժողովրդավարութիւն, ընկերվարութիւն, յեղափոխութիւն ու հայրենասիրութիւն, որոնք իւրայատուկ նկարագիր եւ արժէք տուած են Դաշնակցութեան։ Հետեւաբար, կազմակերպական մեր նկարագիրի անխուսափելի տուեալներէն է ապակեդրոնացման սկզբունքը, որ մեր գործունէութեան հիմնական գրաւականը եղած է։ ՀՅԴ Կանոնագիրի առաջին էջերէն իսկ կը հաստատուի անոր կազմակերպական ապակեդրոնացումի եւ գաղափարական-բարոյական կեդրոնացումի զուգընթաց կարեւորութիւնը: Անոնք եղած են ցարդ եւ կը մնան մեր կուսակցական կառոյցի եւ գործելակերպի հիմնական սկզբունքները:

Կեդրոնական կոմիտէս կոչ կ՛ուղղէ իր բոլոր ընկերներուն, աշխարհացրիւ դաշնակցականներուն, եւ մեր ազգանուէր հայրենակիցներուն, միասնաբար բարձր պահելու Դաշնակցութեան բարոյական արժէքները, կազմակերպական նկարագիրը, ինչպէս նաեւ Դաշնակցութեան եզակի դերակատարութիւնը, զոր ունեցած է եւ պիտի շարունակէ ունենալ յանուն ազգի եւ հայրենիքի:

ՀՅԴ Արեւմտեան Ամերիկայի Կեդրոնական Կոմիտէ

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation Western U.S. Central Committee was appalled to see the ARF Bureau’s unprecedented and misleading public announcement disseminating blatant falsehoods about our internal organizational matters. Given the existential challenges facing our Nation, we had anticipated that the ARF Bureau would mobilize our worldwide structures to address the needs of our Homeland. But instead it has chosen to create internal fissures that have destabilized our party.

Successive efforts to exploit our internal organizational differences, no matter how incomprehensible and unacceptable, are part of a campaign waged during recent years to suppress the free expression of ARF members in the Western U.S. and to punish this region for those positions, even though they have always been aimed at preserving the ARF as an independent force with its own national-ideological character insulated from external influences.

The latest blow to our region in this ongoing destructive campaign came when the ARF Western U.S. was preparing to regularly convene its 55th Regional Convention, which in addition to discussing other issues, was also going to elect a Central Committee to lead the organization pursuant to our organizational norms and By-Laws.

In a move which for us is incomprehensible and falls outside our norms and By-Laws, the ARF Bureau unilaterally canceled the Regional Convention and appointed a Central Committee, thereby disenfranchising its members’ right to elect its own leadership and trampling on the fundamental democratic principles, whose torchbearer has been and must continue to be the ARF. For this very reason, despite the Bureau’s efforts to prohibit the Convention, the elected delegates from local chapters stayed true to our decentralized organizational structure, asserted their rights, proceeded to convene a Regional Convention in accordance with organizational rules, and elected a Central Committee. This effort has seen broad support from the ARF rank and file, not just in the Western U.S., but in other organizational regions where, during the past several years, similar authoritarian tactics had been employed.

The ARF Western U.S. has been one of the most active and vital regions of the ARF family through its unwavering adherence to national values and its service to the community and the nation as witnessed by all, especially a wide spectrum of our community. In its public announcement, the Bureau derogatorily mischaracterizes leaders who have devoted decades in service to the community and the nation as a mere “grouping,” and through cheap shots insults our region’s rank and file and supporters who have trusted and respected those very members whose names and reputations it has shamefully tarnished.

The ARF Bureau has opted to use unacceptable disciplinary methods, which have been rejected by us, to  try to ensure that members fall in line with its decisions. In short, the current leadership has chosen intimidation and coercion over dialogue and discourse.

Despite all this, the duly-elected Central Committee has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to cooperate in order to find a way out of this damaging situation; but sadly, this willingness was met with an escalation of the divisiveness created by the Bureau’s surprising announcement.

We feel obliged to affirm that the duly elected ARF Western U.S. Central Committee remains the sole guardian of its assets pursuant to relevant local, state and federal laws and regulations governing organizational continuity, and continues to support all non-profit community organizations which serve the needs of our region and our Homeland.

On this basis, we strongly condemn the Bureau’s absurd, destructive, defamatory and false allegations that assets and accounts have been “seized.” All organizational operations are fully compliant with state and federal laws governing non-profit entities in the U.S. The organization’s finances are managed by outside accounting firms, which not only perform periodic audits but also report all revenues and expenses to the Internal Revenue Service as mandated by law. This makes it virtually impossible for any one individual or group to “seize” any asset or institution. While the Bureau’s announcement makes these false allegations of “seizure” or “embezzlement” against our organizational leaders who continue to comply with relevant laws and statutes, we expect but have not seen the same transparency being implemented in all other regions of the party.

At this critical juncture in the history of the ARF Western U.S., we find it imperative to once again assess and reinforce the organizational and moral character of the ARF. During its 130-year history, the ARF, through its natural evolution, has adopted a decentralized mode of operation, which goes hand in hand with its ideological principles—democracy, socialism, revolution and nationalism—which have given the ARF its unique character and distinction. Thus the adherence to that principle has become the basic foundation of our structure and operations. The parallel importance of organizational decentralization and ideological-moral centralization are engrained within the very first pages of the ARF By-Laws. They have been and continue to remain the basic principles of our organizational structure and mode of operations and must be protected and implemented to continue on the most constructive path forward.

The Central Committee calls on all its members, all ARF members worldwide and all our dedicated compatriots to work hand-in-hand to uphold the ARF’s moral values, its organizational character, as well as the ARF’s unique role, which it has had and will continue to have in the name of our homeland and Nation.

ARF Western U.S. Central Committee