Gagrule.net

Gagrule.net News, Views, Interviews worldwide

Detached from Armenian reality, Pashinyan has become meat for two dogs

By

Edik Andreasyan

Detached from Armenian reality, Pashinyan has become meat for two dogs.

The fight for Armenia has started, and Pashinyan is in the middle, he doesn’t know what to give in to so that they leave him alone. Politics is left in the corner. Now everyone is speaking openly: you will give Zangezur, you will give half of Sevan, you will give Jermuk, Vardenis, Vaik and a part of Ararat Marz, the land connection with “Nakhchivan” (what a corridor, what a thing, dear boy) will be secured. : On the other hand, they say, “Dear Ararat Mirzoyan, it’s good that you’re complaining, but as soon as you have free time, you’ll come and we’ll tell you which one is next.” Don’t blame us for your trouble either. You brought the ordeal on yourself. You destroyed the CSTO, you incited the 44-day war with your stupid mind, you gave Hadrut and Shushi, you fled from Karvachar, you ceded territories from Armenia,

So, dear Nikol, get up now, let the Turk clap and you dance… The Turk has entered the still village: this mountain is mine, this tree is mine, who came and took over secretly… Oh you, Nikol, hey… Nikol… Well, give it, Mr. Pashinyan, can you not give it? Levon Ter-Petrosyan would say: you are a boy, keep it. 29 thousand 800 square kilometers… Where is it written? In student textbooks? So where are the borders? Who should you draw? Google map? Hey-hey… It’s good that Yerevan and Kotayk region leave you. They will put the name of Ellar autonomous Sanjak, and go live with the Turk. Or invest 150,000 dollars and we will give you citizenship. Dear Nikol, you will gather your oligarchs, make those investments, and they will give you Turkish citizenship in your country.

Otherwise, you will rely on the “nearby” abroad: Canada, France, USA, Rostov Region, Nizhny Novgorod. If you behave well, you might even be appointed temporary warden of Ellar. Your smile will be happy too… It doesn’t look bad, huh?
Well, let’s leave this nightmare aside. We are few, but they call us Armenians. It’s okay that we have degenerated a bit, but we are Hayk’s generation, right? So we have to stand firmly on our rocks and resist, not to fall into this all-consuming whirlpool. Davit from Sassoon did not call Biden, Macron, or, especially, Charles Michel. He went and tore off huge boulders, as if he had lost his mind, stacked them on top of each other and announced that our house will be built for you… It’s not GPS… We must become a Nation-David, dear Armenians, let’s go back to back, so that whoever enters our house will not think that there are people in the house. there is none. We will become the dog of our house, we will gnash our teeth at the snakes that crawl into our house.

Ter-Petrosyan says: let’s unite around Nikol. No, papi dear, can you imagine if Sassoon would unite around Zran Vergo? We need a little different qualities, I think. If David is not found, an Uncle Toros will be found among us, a wise old woman, a Dzenov Ohan… Alternatively, after Tsran Vergo or Kaj Nazar, who, in addition to all that, are also Left Lanterns, where should we go? At least brave Nazar was lucky… Nikol doesn’t have that either, hen, he has become meat in the mouths of two dogs, they tear him apart as they can. If only he is devoured, hell, the earth is also devoured by dogs smelling blood.

Nicole has to leave in a hurry. That character is not for us. He is dangerous, he loves his seat, he is ready to sign the anti-constitutional paper you want, bring it, confirm it by force and make us all face the “historical” fact. Who should oppose: KP-Shnikik’s National Assembly or Safaryan Seda’s SD? And maybe Andreasyan Karen’s State Prosecutor’s Office and Anna Vardapetyan’s Prosecutor’s Office? We have NSS and police… Can they oppose, hold his hand or himself so that he does not sign? And Nikol is such a swindler that he will easily bypass all those “obstacles” and will handle the matter in the hands of the people. What if he held a referendum and the people voted in favor of the final capitulation of Armenia? Everyone knows this flat reasoning, right… Just so the exes don’t come back. And that’s how they will go and say “yes” to that agreement of quick destruction.
Now they say that if Nikol leaves, or if they are removed, a war will start. There is no such thing.

Believe me, Nikol has as much to do with the war as Armenia has to do with the price of gasoline. There is a global market for both oil and war. You just don’t have to stick your finger into the war hive and stir it up. Go, agree on some things with Aliyev, destroy the CSTO, mock the CIS, fly in the face of Putin and Lavrov and one more thing: bring international observers, play the congressman’s game, enter into alliances with NATO, leaving the support of Aryan Persia, Macron to fall behind the interview, or democracy… But Aliyev shot and came forward… By the way, it’s worth wondering whether the observers brought body armor and helmets with them, or whether they got up and came in T-shirts and panties. Don’t forget to give strawberries, strawberries… Those people, 40 people, will observe our 1000-kilometer border with Azerbaijan for 2 months. And see if they manage to find that limit,

Edik Andreasyan

‘Armenia’ bloc: 2021 election results are appealed to Constitutional Court and have legitimacy deficit

By

Aram Vardevanyan, “Armenia” bloc member, told NEWS.am that the results of the 2021 elections were appealed to the Constitutional Court of Armenia.

He added that the Constitutional Court didn’t dare to register all of this, “It’s another matter,” he said.

According to Vardevanyan, Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan actually pointed out in his response that the results of the 2017 parliamentary elections were not challenged in any way by the opposition Elq bloc.

“By the way, the latter was a member of this parliamentary faction and bloc,” the deputy noted.

He recalled that the results of the June 20, 2021 elections were appealed to the Constitutional Court.

“It is noteworthy that the election results were challenged not only by the “Armenia” and “I Have Honor,” but also by the Zartonk and Mighty Fatherland parties. That is, on the whole, the election results were challenged both by political units that passed the relevant threshold by the CEC and by political units that failed to pass this threshold. This indicates a lack of necessary trust, the necessary component of fairness to the election results,” said the parliamentarian.

According to the legislator, this is also due to the violations that have been recorded.

“Let me just remind you that for the first time in the history of the Republic of Armenia during the elections there was a ruling of the Administrative Court, which clearly indicated the abuse of administrative resources by representatives of the Civil Contract party. This was also included in the decision of the Constitutional Court. For the first time in Armenian history, the Constitutional Court recorded an unprecedented level of mutual hatred generated by the Civil Contract party. For the first time, the Constitutional Court refused to defend the validity of the very draft Constitution, according to which one parliamentary faction cannot get so many mandates to adopt constitutional laws or elect officials of constitutional bodies without taking into account the position and votes of the opposition,” Vardevanyan stressed.

Pashinyan surrogates Arsen Torosyan paved the way handing Artsakh to the enemy

By

There is no chance of recognition of Artsakh’s independence and there has never been, we engaged in self-deception. Arsen Torosyan: factor.am:

Arsen Torosyan, deputy of the “Civil Contract” faction of the National Assembly, states in a conversation with Factor TV that the status quo created after the 2020 war is fraught with dangers. “Do we want to remain under the threat of being killed endlessly, or should we resolve the conflict?” And for that purpose, he sees the need to “heal the wounds of the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples, who have been going through 30 years of wars and military conflicts, instead of deepening the enmity”. “Azerbaijan was wounded in the war of 1994, giving 25,000 victims and having 600,000 refugees, or are we the only victims? We should heal the wounds bilaterally.

It is a trap for us to incite lasting enmity with Azerbaijanis. we should not feed enmity,” says Torosyan. Arsen Torosyan, a member of the administration of the ruling force, CP, believes that the state failed in previous years, not being able to achieve the independence of Artsakh. He says that this idea was a self-deception. “There is no chance to recognize the independence of Artsakh and there has never been.” According to Mr. Torosyan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his colleagues are working to ensure that the solution to the Artsakh issue is not a mine or a delayed explosion.

The fatalism of being powerless in the face of force and the lack of diplomatic skills lead to the “let’s agree to everything, let’s get away” thinking. Oskanian

By

The former Foreign Minister of Armenia, Vardan Oskanian, provided the media with his article on the Karabakh negotiations. The article is below.

Perhaps we do not need additional facts to record that the authorities of Armenia formed in 2018 were far from basic knowledge of diplomacy and international relations and continue to be so. Despite the conspiracy theories, I am still sure that this circumstance is the main reason for the human and territorial losses we have had and are still continuing.

Nikol Pashinyan’s first diplomatic mistake was that he made an agreement with Aliyev not to fire on the front line in order to stabilize and strengthen the positions of the newly created authorities inside the country, which the Azerbaijani side fully fulfilled.

At first glance, it may seem that this was an innocent, even ingenious step. However, it was the first diplomatic blunder, which created expectations of significant concessions by Armenia in a short time in exchange for peace on the border with the Azerbaijani side.

The cause of wars is always the consistent formation of the expectations of the conflicting parties and in the end their delay, violation or non-satisfaction.

Pashinyan’s second mistake was that he completely disregarded all the stages of the negotiations and the relevant documents, announcing that he would start the negotiations from his zero point. This was precisely the desire of Azerbaijan, which created an opportunity for it to get rid of the unwanted provisions and fundamental principles found in the negotiation documents, but accepted by the mediators, such as the right of self-determination of Artsakh, while at the same time demonstrating to the mediators and a wider range of countries the lack of seriousness and unreliability of the Armenian side. to the agreements reached.

Pashinyan’s third diplomatic failure was his lack of a clear position and policy on the Karabakh issue, on the one hand, and his conflicting and contradictory statements on the other hand. At first – vague and chaotic thoughts, then – the assertion that the solution of the issue should be acceptable to the people of Armenia, Artsakh and Azerbaijan. And finally, the phrase “Artsakh is Armenia and that’s it.” I think that it was the deep contradictions of his thoughts that gave Azerbaijan a reason to justify the impossibility of resolving the issue through negotiations and to a certain extent to justify the incitement of the war.

There is no war that cannot be avoided. Claiming the opposite is a false and dangerous assumption that justifies political impotence and inaction. If a war has started, which we would like to avoid, then the leadership of Armenia made a mistake in simple political calculations and failed in the negotiation process.

Unfortunately, this trend and the parade of diplomatic mistakes continue, causing us new but definitely avoidable human and territorial losses.

The fatalism of being powerless in the face of force and the lack of basic diplomatic skills lead to the “let’s agree to everything, let’s get away” thinking. There is no other way to explain how the five points of the further negotiation agenda proposed by Azerbaijan in the post-war period could be considered completely acceptable at the level of the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister, without even starting negotiations.

Meanwhile, the answer could be formulated very simply in the interest of Armenia. Approximately like this.

“It is your right to bring any issue to the negotiation agenda and the Armenian side will not avoid discussing them. Therefore, based on the same logic and having such an expectation from you, we present the issues on the agenda of the Armenian side.

  • the future status of NKIM,
  • The fate of Shushi and Hadrut as an integral part of Nagorno-Karabakh,
  • the issue of the return of Armenian prisoners of war held in Azerbaijan,
  • withdrawal of Azerbaijani armed forces from the sovereign territory of Armenia,
  • The possibility of restoring the Minsk Group negotiation format,
  • The issue of the terms of the peacekeeping forces stationed in Karabakh,
  • other questions.”

In this proposed agenda, there is no question that could provoke unexpected diplomatic and military opposition. This agenda is definitely understandable and comprehensible to the mediating parties. It is the absence of this that causes surprise among all those who still do not believe that the current government does not even have the skill to formulate this.
Today, the primary task of Armenian diplomacy is to enter long-term negotiations with a balanced agenda.

Diplomacy is a platform of endless possibilities. Even in the most hopeless situations, it is possible to correct something, proofread. Fatalism has nothing to do with real powerlessness. It is the combination of lack of skills, knowledge, experience and stubbornness of not admitting one’s own mistakes and not listening to advice. This is exactly what we have been witnessing for more than three years. And exclusively for this reason

Is Ararat Mirzoyan playing or is Ararat Mirzoyan being played?

By

“The meeting in Brussels was unprecedented. Charles Michel, the mediator of the meeting between Pashinyan and Aliyev, did not use the word “Karabakh” in his message.

He spoke about the fact that the authorities of Armenia and Azerbaijan should prepare their people for long-term peace. Nikol did not say anything about that meeting in Yerevan. Nor did he formally complain to Charles Michel for the fact that the latter did not use the word “Karabakh” (recall that last time Nicole formally complained to Michel for the wording “ethnic Armenian population”).

Instead, Aliyev was eloquent. The President of Azerbaijan announced that the “Peace Treaty” with Armenia will be concluded based on the 5 principles presented by Baku. That said, 6 points presented by Yerevan were rejected, including the subject of the status of Artsakh. According to Aliyev, Artsakh will be part of Azerbaijan, and Nikol agreed to it. Nikol Pashinyan did not respond to Aliyev’s statements. This was done by Ararat Mirzoyan, who accused Baku of being destructive, because, according to him, it is not possible to reach an agreement without solving the Artsakh issue. After Brussels, Moscow is intensively communicating with Mirzoyan, which evaluated Brussels’ mediation very negatively. The opinion of experts regarding Mirzoyan’s statement was divided.

Those views are contradictory. Some believe that Mirzoyan is taking separate steps at the behest of Moscow and does not coordinate his steps with Nikol, that is, he is playing. The other part believes that Mirzoyan raises the issue of Artsakh at the behest of Pashinyan in order to show the domestic audience that he is allegedly fighting to protect the interests of Artsakh, and to report to Aliyev that he did not say this and should not worry about their Brussels agreements. . According to this version, Mirzoyan is being played by Nikol both to woo Moscow and to remain personally “pure” in front of Aliyev. In any case, let’s record that Nikol, for the sake of his own seat, is dragging Armenia into the greatest adventure and the greatest upheavals.”

Source: 7or.am

Azeri Consul General Departs from L.A. Leaving Behind a Trail of Deception.,

By

By Harut Sassounian,

The Consul General of Azerbaijan, Nasimi Aghayev, departed from Los Angeles at the end of August to become his country’s new Ambassador to Germany. Aghayev left behind a trail of deception. I hope the German government keeps a close watch on this questionable Azeri “diplomat.”

Let us start with the most recent scandal. Last week, Aghayev proudly posted on Twitter and Facebook a certificate bearing the signatures of four out of five Los Angeles County Supervisors, expressing their appreciation for his service as the Consul General of Azerbaijan.

The first hint was that something was amiss was when it was noticed that the name of the fifth L.A. Country Supervisor, Sheila Kuehl, was not on the certificate. Such documents are usually signed by all five Supervisors, which is diplomatic protocol. There must have been a particular reason why Supervisor Kuehl’s signature was missing. When the Armenian National Committee of America — Western Region (ANCA) asked Supervisor Kuehl’s staff why her signature was not on the certificate, they said that they had asked the L.A. County Protocol’s Office not to add her signature. It turns out that the other four Supervisors had also not given their permission to add their names to the certificate.

Shortly after Aghayev posted the certificate on Twitter and on his Facebook page, each of the four Supervisors — Holly Mitchell, Hilda Solis, Kathryn Barger, and Janice Hahn told the ANCA through separate Tweets that their signatures “were mistakenly added to the certificate without their authorization.”

The four Supervisors attached to their Tweets the letter of apology issued by Lourdes Saab, Chief of Protocol of LA County Supervisors. The letter was sent to all four Supervisors. Here is an excerpt from one such letter: “The County of Los Angeles Office of Protocol mistakenly added Supervisor Kathryn Barger’s signature to a scroll presented to the Consul General of Azerbaijan last week and would like to publicly note this error.”

After I contacted Brenda Duran, Deputy Executive Officer, Los Angeles County Executive Office, asking her to clarify the status of the certificate issued to Azerbaijan’s Consul General by mistake, she replied in writing: “The County of Los Angeles’ Office of the Protocol (Office) apologizes for any confusion. The Supervisors’ signatures were applied in error. Accordingly, the Office is declaring that the unauthorized scroll is void and should be taken down from any social media or any other platform. Because the County of Los Angeles is not bound by an unauthorized and erroneous action taken by an office in excess of that office’s authority, no one should rely on the subject scroll as any kind of declaration by the County of Los Angeles.”

Nevertheless, the certificate wrongly issued to Azerbaijan’s Consul General is still posted on his Twitter and Facebook page, falsely claiming that he was honored by the L.A. County Supervisors. That certificate is null and void and publicizing such an erroneously issued certificate is dishonest. Instead of being embarrassed, Aghayev lashed back at the ANCA for bringing this mistaken certificate to the attention of the Supervisors.

No one should be surprised that this is not the first time that Azerbaijan’s Consul General is involved in such scandalous and dishonest behavior. There are four other examples. I wrote an article last October, revealing that Azerbaijan’s Consul General publicized a proclamation issued and later canceled by the Mayor of San Diego. The Mayor apologized, rescinded his proclamation the following day and pledged not to issue proclamations on Azerbaijan in the future. Similarly, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh issued on February 2021 and later cancelled a proclamation to commemorate the so-called “Khojali Day.” The Mayor rescinded his proclamation two weeks later and apologized to the Armenian community.

The same scenario was repeated in Portland, Maine. Mayor Kathleen Snyder initially issued a proclamation on February 17, 2021 to commemorate “Khojaly Remembrance Day.” However, on April 1, 2021, the Mayor wrote: “I have decided to rescind the Mayoral Proclamation…. I once again apologize for the pain and harm that the issuance of this proclamation has caused.”

Finally, the City of Torrance, California, issued a proclamation on October 15, 2021 to celebrate “Azerbaijan Day.” Later that day, Torrance Mayor Patrick Furey stated that the City “issued a proclamation in error. On past occasions, the City has proclaimed Azerbaijan National Day in the City of Torrance on the effective date. In light of recent events in the associated region, the City has respectfully requested that the Consulate General of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles remove the proclamation from all media.”

Nevertheless, the rescinded proclamations of San Diego and Torrance remain on Consul General Aghayev’s Facebook page.

Amazingly, such an incompetent and dishonest Consul General is elevated to become Ambassador to Germany, instead of being fired. Given Aghayev’s repeated undiplomatic behavior in Los Angeles, Pres. Aliyev could not have made a worse choice in promoting him to the rank of Ambassador.

Samos, Greece: Meet the famous Turkish-Armenian Sevan Nişanyan A linguist, writer & self-taught architect in exile, Face-to-Face meeting with journalist Wally Sarkeesian Video, Photos

By

Greece Island Samos, Sevan Nişanyan, Ira Tzourou, Wally Sarkeesian

“The bird has flown away”

Samos Island: Sevan Nişanyan is a Turkish-Armenian linguist and travel writer. An author of a number of books, Nişanyan was awarded the Ayşe Nur Zarakolu Liberty Award of the Turkish Human Rights Association in 2004 for his contributions to greater freedom of speech.

On July 14 Sevan Nisanyan, a famous jailed intellectual, announcing he’d escaped from a Turkish prison. He had been behind bars since January 2014 and wasn’t eligible for parole for another 10 years.

he’s a self-taught architect who renovated his home village of Sirince in the hills above the Greco-Roman ruins of Ephesus, turning it into a tourist attraction on Turkey’s Aegean coast. That’s what got him in trouble In late July, Nisanyan surfaced in Greece, where he received a temporary resident permit and has applied for political asylum.

Nisanyan, found new life in one of the Greek Island called Samos and is doing almost exactly what he use to do in Turkey, writing and rebuilding villages with his newly married wife Ira Tzourou both are very active.

Wally Sarkeesian, this man is fearless when I decided to go see him at Samos Island. I kept my trip very secret for his safety and security. After I arrived at the Island, he told me no worry the Turkish Government is very happy that I left.

Nişanyan, a graduate of Yale and Columbia, whittled away his time locked up by writing, reading, and debating with his fellow inmates — “professional thieves, drug sellers, plenty of murderers, organized gang personnel, armed robbers, wife-stabbers, con artists, the lot.” He spent 3.5 years of an 11.5-year prison sentence in eight facilities, not all of which were quite as pleasant as Foça. “A couple of them were horrible,” “[There was] extraordinary overcrowding. 120 people in a ward designed for 40.”

Canada: Justin Trudeau’s majority greeted with optimism by provincial premiers

By

Justin Trudea-electionAfter nearly a decade of a prime minister notorious for public tussles with premiers who challenged his policies, Canada’s provincial leaders reacted Tuesday to the electoral victory of a Liberal leader who has promised to work harmoniously to advance their interests.

During his time as prime minister, outgoing Prime Minister Stephen Harper was not shy about aggressively engaging premiers who spoke out against his government and displayed an outward contempt for first ministers’ meetings.

Perhaps most infamous was his battle with former Newfoundland and Labrador premier and fellow Tory Danny Williams, with whom Harper clashed almost immediately after assuming office in early 2006. At the core of their high-profile spat was Harper’s decision to incorporate non-renewable energy resources into the federal equalization formula.

More recently, Harper has sparred with Ontario’s Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne, particularly over her government’s proposed provincial pension plan, which Harper said would amount to tax grab and mean higher taxes for Ontarians.

He has also battled verbally with Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, who led the NDP’s victorious charge in a province long considered an unbreachable Tory fortress. Her government opposes some energy projects championed by the federal and provincial Conservatives.

Just days after the 42nd federal election was called, Harper called Notley’s government “a disaster.” Notley quickly fired back, saying that the people of Alberta had roundly rejected and had “had enough” of the Alberta Conservatives.

On Tuesday, Notley said in a written statement that Albertans had demonstrated “the importance of democracy” by electing Justin Trudeau and the Liberals.

“I look forward to working collaboratively with him to build a strong Alberta within a strong Canada,” said Notley.

The surname Trudeau evokes varying reactions in Notley’s province, where the energy policies of former prime minister and Justin’s father Pierre Elliott Trudeau enraged voters. Many considered the National Energy Program a betrayal of the Canadian West in a bid to appease voters in the East.

Justin Trudeau visited Alberta multiple times on the campaign trail. In the days before the election, he openly acknowledged the unfavourable legacy of his father in the province, vowing that he wouldn’t sell western resources — namely oil and gas — to buy eastern votes.

Notley’s message was largely in line with that of Calgary Mayor Nasheed Nenshi, who said that his city has prospered under Liberal governments in the past. Nenshi is among the group of big city mayors that includes Toronto’s John Tory and Vancouver’s Gregor Robertson who have repeatedly called for greater support from the federal government for transit and infrastructure projects.

Source: CBC

Fresno County Recognizes Karabakh Independence

By

FRESNO—Fresno County became the first County in California to officially recognize the independence of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (Artsakh). On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution sponsored by Supervisor Andreas Borgeas that officially recognizes the Nagorno Karabakh speaker1Republic – a region historically and ethnically Armenian situated between Armenia and Azerbaijan – and also calls upon the California Legislature to grant official recognition.

The Permanent Representative of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in the United States, Robert Avetisyan, commented that “[w]e are grateful for [this] initiative, and hope that the adoption of this Resolution will set a deeper cooperation towards stability, as well as democratic and economic prosperity in our region.”  The Consul General of the Republic of Armenia in Los Angeles, Grigor Hovhannisian, commented that “[e]very step toward the recognition of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is a step toward peace and friendly relations in the South Caucasus. I whole-heartedly welcome recognition efforts by community and elected officials, as a continuation of friendly relations and solidarity between the people of the Republic of Artsakh, the Republic of Armenia and Fresno, California.”

County Supervisor Andreas Borgeas said, “I am thrilled to stand beside our Armenian friends – here, in Armenia and Artsakh – and hope Sacramento will also officially recognize the independence of NKR. While Fresno County is the first County in California to pass such a resolution, my goal is for this initiative to help inspire more recognition efforts throughout the state, country and eventually Washington, D.C.”

“[T]his resolution by the Fresno County Board of Supervisors is timely, appropriate and significant,” commented William Bairamian, Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee – Western Region. State legislatures in Maine, Rhode Island and Massachusetts have already passed similar resolutions.

The Armenian Consul General Grigor Hovhannisian was joined at a press conference with representatives from the Armenian community to recognize the 98th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide as well as to celebrate the importance of recognizing the independence of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

Another Turkishness Gimmick! Davutoglu’s Revisionism Targets the Diaspora

By

Turkish Foreign Minster Ahmet Davutoglu

BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN

Ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and in its continuing efforts to revise history and distort the truth, official Ankara has set its eyes on the Armenian Diaspora, this time revising the definition of the word to water down the political and legal elements that define a diaspora. In an interview published in the Turkish Milliyet on July 7, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced that he has sent a directive to all Turkish embassies in which he redefined the Turkish diaspora. “We consider all those who emigrated from those lands, and not only the Turks, to be the diaspora—the Armenians, Jews, Greeks, the people called El Turco in Latin America, and the Arabs in Argentina…

Those are our people… Those are people whose culture and language resemble ours.” Based on these “redefined criteria,” Turkish representations around the world “ will now open their doors to those people who were once Ottoman subjects, they will contact them, and they will even invite them to national days. The contacts with the Armenian diaspora are said to have already started,” according to Milliyet. Asbarez warned its readers recently of an effort to infiltrate the Armenian community. It is a direct by-product of this diplomatic directive that has propelled the Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles to reach out to well-meaning yet confused community members to open, what is potentially a dangerous dialogue. According to Wikipedia, a Diaspora is “the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland; or “people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location”; or “people settled far from their ancestral homelands.” “In an article published in 1991, William Safran set out six rules to distinguish diasporas from migrant communities,” Wikipedia goes on to explain. “These included criteria that the group maintains a myth or collective memory of their homeland; they regard their ancestral homeland as their true home, to which they will eventually return; being committed to the restoration or maintenance of that homeland; and they relate ‘personally or vicariously’ to the homeland to a point where it shapes their identity.” Davutoglu’s redefinition of Diaspora and his blatant perpetuation of Turkish revisionism and denial is the second of a three-point outline he has concocted—introduced—to advance Turkish-Armenian relations ahead of the Genocide Centennial. The first point is what Davutoglu says concerns “feelings,” whereby the Turkish foreign minister wants to assure Armenians that “I understand your pain; we will listen to the Armenians.” This patronizing approach of showing “respect” toward Armenians’ feelings, not only diminishes the fact of the Genocide, but it waters down the incident, making the Genocide seem like an accidental mishap that must be dealt with. While he acknowledges that in past Turkey has denied the Genocide, his new approach is nothing more that using another euphemism to address this matter. “The Armenians are not facing a foreign minister who claims that nothing happened in 1915. I do not call the incidents genocide. We must develop a new language on the issue. We are not denying your suffering, we understand it. Let us get together and do whatever is necessary. That, however, cannot be a unilateral declaration of guilt,” Davutoglu told Milliyet. Davutoglu, the newspaper explains, has developed a concept called “just memory,” which is supposedly based on feeling the pain of the Armenians and “not trying to shut them up.” He either actually believes or wants the entire world to believe that the Turks should not be compared to the Nazis, because the Genocide was not a systematic effort to annihilate an entire race but rather a consequence of events the caused “paranoia in people who feared that they would be exiled from Anatolia.” Davutoglu also claimed that there are efforts to sign a joint declaration before 2015 with Armenia that reflects this version of the events. The third point in this preposterous plan deals directly with the provisions of the Armenia-Turkey protocols, whose ratification by Turkey is pre-conditioned on a pro-Azeri resolution to the Karabakh conflict. Armenia’s Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian rejected this three-pronged solution, saying Thursday at a press conference that the international community has already proposed its own three point plan, which includes ratifying the Armenian-Turkish protocols without preconditions; carrying out the provisions of the agreements, again without preconditions; and refraining from linking the Armenian-Turkish issue with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Nalbandian asserted that Turkey has failed to take serious measures toward any rapprochement for 97 years, saying “Turkey has been unable to face its own history.” “If Turkey intends to work in the same manner for the next three years and proposes ‘a combination of some steps’ which lead to nowhere, the result is obvious,” said Nalbandian. By redefining what a Diaspora is, Turkey is advancing a dangerous policy to change the role of its diplomatic representations into centers that can—and have started to—have an impactful role in [our] community life. Individuals who do not recognize this threat and are actively taking part in this divisive tactic, must closely evaluate their personal interests and not become pawns in this dangerous effort to diminish our national struggle. At the same time, the Armenian government must become more assertive on this issue and instead of the reactionary and tacit responses to Turkey’s malicious policies, must aggressively advocate and advance the Armenian Cause. Less than three years remain to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide. The political aspects of this milestone, perhaps, far outweigh the efforts to properly mark this anniversary. Our national aspirations that include just reparations and restitution for the victims of the Armenian Genocide, as well the territorial demands of the Armenian nation are paramount to advancing the Armenian Cause. It is high time that we, as a Nation, start speaking the same language and acting on the imperatives that will advance justice. The government of Turkey began implementing this new approach to its decades-old denialist policy long ago by pouring millions of dollars into Turkish organizations outside of Turkey and bolstering Turkish presence in political life in various countries. Davutoglu can redefine terms and concepts as much as he wants. The fact remains that Turkey will have to pay for its crimes—current and past.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Milliyet article reference above was reported by Asli Aydintasbas and translated into English by Katia Peltekian.