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This was originally published in February 2, 2008 Armenian Reporter.
by Emil Sanamyan
Armenian groups endorse rival Democratic candidates
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) this week endorsed Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) in the Democratic primaries. In a January 30 statement, ANCA chair Ken Hachikian said that “based on his strong record in office, his bold statements as a candidate, and our judgment as to the policies he will pursue as President, we believe that, among a strong field of Democratic candidates, Senator Obama will best reflect the views and values of Armenian American voters.”
A day earlier, ARMENPAC, a political action committee, endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.). “Out of all the candidates for President, it is my belief that Hillary Clinton will be the strongest advocate not only for the recognition of the genocide, but for all Armenian issues,” said ARMENPAC Co-Chair Annie Totah.
Senators Obama and Clinton are the main candidates for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination; former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) withdrew this week.
Turks discuss U.S. presidential candidates
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described Sen. Barack Obama as a political amateur after the candidate for Democratic presidential nomination issued a statement in support of the Armenian-American agenda on January 19.
Mr. Erdogan counseled the U.S. senator to “outgrow his amateur period of his political career” and take note that Turkey was a much larger country than Armenia, local media quoted the Turkish leader as saying on January 22.
There was no immediate Turkish government reaction to a similar statement on Armenian issues made by Sen. Hillary Clinton on January 24, but speaking at a Washington think tank this week former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Mark Parris said both statements could start a Democratic presidency off “on a sour note” in terms of relations with Turkey.
Writing about the statements in the Turkish Daily News on January 26, its Washington correspondent Umit Enginsoy said that they reflected a close race between the two senators and their effort to court voters. He noted that neither President Bill Clinton nor George W. Bush upheld their pledges to affirm the Armenian Genocide after they were elected.
“Analysts say that although Clinton and probably Obama may also change their positions if elected president, their present statements favoring the Armenian cause are pretty strong,” he said.
The English-language Turkish newspaper wrote on January 17, “Turkish diplomats and other high level officials generally favor Senator Clinton over Senator Obama,” recalling that the Clinton presidency marked “arguably the highest point in U.S.-Turkish relations over the past four decades” and that they anticipated “no surprises” from Sen. Clinton.
“They tend to view Sen. Obama as an unpredictable and inexperienced politician on foreign policy, surrounded by some advisers hostile to Turkey,” the paper suggested and went on to add that since he “comes from a minority” Sen. Obama “may attempt to transform U.S. foreign policy in ways that may hurt Turkey, if he is elected president.”
While Turkish officials report no specific qualms about Republican presidential candidates, and would particularly welcome Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) as president, “many Turkish officials have reservations over a Republican victory in the face of the party’s hard-line policies in the Middle East.”
Watchdog: West puts other interests before democracy abroad
U.S., European, and other democracies are letting authoritarian states violate human rights while using pseudo-elections as a smokescreen to earn international legitimacy, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in its annual World Report released on January 31.
“It’s now too easy for autocrats to get away with mounting a sham democracy,” HRW executive director Ken Roth said in a statement. “It seems Washington and European governments will accept even the most dubious election so long as the ‘victor’ is a strategic or commercial ally,” he said. The report argued further that human rights abuses as part of the U.S.-led “war on terror” have also undermined international standards.
In its review of Armenia, HRW acknowledged the improved conduct of elections in May 2007, but cited incidents of ill-treatment in police custody and harassment of political opposition supporters. It also claimed that media freedom was limited.
HRW also criticized European leaders for their reluctance to accept Turkey into the European Union (EU). As a result, the report argued, the EU “lost leverage itself and diminished the clout of those in Turkey who have cited the prospect of EU membership as a reason for reform.”
Sibel Edmonds case featured in British newspaper
The former translator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) added new details to her allegations of wrongdoing in U.S. government that may have damaged national security.
In feature articles on January 6 and 27, the Sunday Times (London) published the charges of Sibel Edmonds (covered by the Armenian Reporter last year and previously) that Turkish and other foreign governments successfully co-opted senior members of the U.S. government.
In particular, Ms. Edmonds, 37, alleged that in 2001 a senior State Department official exposed a covert Central Intelligence Agency counter-proliferation operation to the Turkish government, which in turn shared the information with other foreign governments seeking nuclear weapons.
The charges were previously heard in a closed session of the U.S. Congress, but the Justice Department has since barred Mrs. Edmonds from testifying, citing national security concerns.
The Times was able to confirm that the FBI in fact looked into the case in 2002, but no formal charges were apparently filed.
The State Department official told the newspaper last week that “It is impossible to find a strong enough way to deny these allegations which are both false and malicious.” See http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3257725.ece
Russian intelligence officer was Azerbaijan’s UN envoy?
Eldar Kouliev, Azerbaijan’s ambassador at the United Nations from 1994 to 2001 was “a deep-cover [Russian] intelligence officer,” a former Russian spy, Col. Sergei Tretyakov, who defected to the U.S. in 2000, claims in a recently published book.
Ambassador Kouliev (Guliyev) was a veteran Soviet and then Russian diplomat, before joining the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry as ambassador to the UN. He is currently an executive director for a Russian-Azerbaijani community organization in Moscow.
In a comment to Azerbaijani media, Mr. Kouliev called the allegation a “stupidity,” but neither he nor a spokesperson for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry denied it outright.
The former ambassador called Mr. Tretyakov a “traitor who destroyed hundreds of people.” According to a book review in the Washington Post on January 27, Comrade J: The Untold Secrets of Russia’s Master Spy in America after the End of the Cold War , written by Pete Early, was commissioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Central Intelligence Agency.
Alexa Millinger contributed to this week’s column.
This was originally published in February 2, 2008 Armenian Reporter.
by Emil Sanamyan
22 states to hold primaries on Tuesday
WASHINGTON – As of January 31, none of the candidates seeking the Republican Party’s presidential nomination had promised to promote issues of particular concern to Armenian-American citizens. The leading candidates for the Democratic Party’s nomination last week issued statements directed at Armenian-Americans.
Voters in 22 states will have an opportunity on Tuesday, February 5, to help choose the Republican and Democratic candidates for president. Veteran Arizona Senator John McCain, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas remain in the Republican race following the withdrawal of former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani this week.
Mr. McCain, who has served in the Senate since 1986, has consistently opposed congressional resolutions on the Armenian Genocide and has a mixed record on other Armenian issues.
During a January 6, 2008, town hall meeting in Salem, N. H., Hofstra University student Roy Seter asked Mr. McCain about his position on the Armenian Genocide. Mr. McCain said he “didn’t support the measure” to affirm the Genocide, the Hofstra Chronicle reported on January 18. He added, however, “I will be glad to condemn genocide wherever it takes place.”
The Armenian National Committee of America cited Mr. McCain’s correspondence with Arizona constituents in October 2007, in which he said: “Condemning modern Turkey for the acts of the Ottoman Empire would serve only to harm relations with the Turkish people while injecting the Congress into the sensitive role of historian of a period clearly preceding the births of all but a very few congressmen. That is not a development I wish to help facilitate.”
Earlier in his career, Mr. McCain introduced legislation in 1989 supporting a peaceful and fair settlement of the Karabakh conflict and initially supported restrictions on U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan introduced in 1992; he reversed that position in 1999.
Mr. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, does not have a clear record on Armenian-American issues.
Mr. Huckabee in 2001 issued a proclamation commemorating the Armenian Genocide. However, he followed that by a proclamation that obscured the genocide by commemorating victims of what he described as “Turkish and Armenian Tragedy.”
Mr. Paul opposes U.S. involvement in nearly all foreign crises, opposing any U.S. action to stop atrocities in Darfur or promote democracy abroad. He told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in November 2007 in reference to the Armenian Genocide resolution, “Getting ourselves involved in something that had been 100 years ago – it makes no sense at all. We should deal with our problems here.”
On the Democratic side, as reported in last week’s edition of the Armenian Reporter, Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton both stated unequivocally, “as President, I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.” Mr. Obama pledged to support Armenia’s development, and to work toward “a lasting and durable settlement” in Karabakh “that is agreeable to all parties, and based upon America’s founding commitment to the principles of democracy and self determination.”
Ms. Clinton wrote that she would “work to expand and improve U.S.- Armenia relations” and support “a fair and democratic resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”
“USAPAC, like other Armenian-American advocacy organizations and community activists, will continue to work with all of the presidential candidates throughout the primary campaign, into the general election and beyond,” said Executive Director Ross Vartian.
“We will continue to inform the candidates on issues important to the Armenian-American community, and to solicit their support. We will urge the candidates that have not yet spoken on Armenian issues to do so,” he added.
The two parties will hold primaries or caucuses on February 5 in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah.
The Democrats will hold a primary in Idaho, Kansas, and New Mexico on that day. The Republicans will hold contests in Montana and West Virginia on that day.
This was originally published in January 26, 2008 Armenian Reporter.
by Emil Sanamyan
Reach out ahead of Super Tuesday
WASHINGTON – Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, who is seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for president of the United States, last weekend, issued a comprehensive statement in support of Armenian-American concerns. Fellow Democratic hopefuls Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina issued similar statements during the week.
This week in South Carolina and Florida, and on February 5 in 22 other states, voters will have an opportunity to help choose the candidates for president. Democrats looking to reach out to significant Armenian-American communities in several of the primary states have issued these timely statements to highlight their positions on issues of interest to Armenian-American voters.
Referring to “one and a half million Americans of Armenian heritage in the United States,” Mr. Obama pledged to support Armenia’s development, and to work toward “a lasting and durable settlement” in Karabakh “that is agreeable to all parties, and based upon America’s founding commitment to the principles of democracy and self determination.”
Although he has not officially signed on to the Armenian Genocide resolution in the Senate, he pledged to support its passage, adding, “as President, I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.”
In her statement, Ms. Clinton highlighted her past support of Armenian Genocide resolutions in Congress and, like Mr. Obama, promised, “as President, I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.” She also wrote that she would “work to expand and improve U.S.-Armenia relations” and support “a fair and democratic resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”
Mr. Edwards wrote that he supports the Genocide resolution in Congress, noting, however, that it is not directed at “our friends in Turkey.” Referring, like Mr. Obama, to “our nation’s one and a half million Americans of Armenian heritage,” he wrote that as president he would “prioritize our special relationship with Armenia and the goal of a lasting peace to Nagorno Karabakh and the entire region.”
As a senator, Mr. Obama has repeatedly spoken out on the need to affirm the Armenian Genocide, including in letters to the president and secretary of state. He protested the firing of John Evans as ambassador to Armenia for using the word “genocide.” As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he voted, however, over Armenian-American objections, to affirm the president’s ultimately unsuccessful nominee to replace Mr. Evans.
Mr. Obama’s advisors include Harvard Professor Samantha Power, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of the Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide , who has repeatedly spoken out in favor of a congressional resolution on the Armenian Genocide, most recently in a Time magazine article last October.
An opponent of the war in Iraq, Mr. Obama opposes a potential military confrontation with Armenia’s southern neighbor, Iran. He has called for a diplomatic solution there. Mr. Obama enjoys the support of Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Rep. Adam Schiff of California, who has the largest Armenian-American constituency nationwide, as well as the Turkish caucus co-chair Rep. Robert Wexler of Florida.
Ms. Clinton is a co-sponsor of the Genocide resolution in the Senate. In mid-October she told the Boston Globe editorial board that in view of Turkey’s strong opposition, Congress should proceed with caution. But she did not withdraw her co-sponsorship.
Like Mr. Obama, she has repeatedly spoken out on the need to affirm the Armenian Genocide, including in letters to the president and secretary of state. Ms. Clinton’s range of supporters in Congress includes national campaign chair Sen. Bob Menendez, a strong supporter of Armenian- American issues, Rep. Brad Sherman of California, who has a significant Armenian-American constituency, and Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr., of New Jersey, who is co-chair of the Armenian issues caucus in the House.
As a senator, Mr. Edwards cosponsored the Armenian Genocide resolution. He also supported Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, which restricted U.S. aid to Azerbaijan because of its blockade of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
Democratic Party primaries will be held on February 5 in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah. Kansas will hold caucuses on that day.
Alexa Millinger contributed reporting for this story.
