Iran claims the United States supports anti-Iranian groups in the Islamic Republic, while America argues that a recent move to start Azeri-language broadcasts in Iran is not a provocation. Quite ironically, the Bush administration – unable or unwilling to capture Osama Bin Laden – seems to have benefited from no. 1 terrorist’s criticism in Iran.

According to the Los Angeles Times, “Some Iranians blamed Sunni Arab radicals for an explosion Saturday [in Shiraz, Iran] that killed 12 and injured 202 at a gathering where a preacher criticized the Wahhabi form of Islam that inspires Osama bin Laden.”

Although allegations that the U.S. is supporting bombings in Iran are broad and likely untrue, the U.S. is planning to launch a propaganda war among ethnic minorities in Iran later in Fall 2008. “The US government is planning to beam Azeri-language radio broadcasts into Iran.”

According to a press release posted on the website of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, the latter agency will hold a hearing on Armenia on April 17, 2008.

U.S. HELSINKI COMMISSION TO HOLD HEARING ON ARMENIA
(Washington, D.C.) Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL), Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission) and Co-Chairman Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), will hold a hearing entitled, “Armenia after the Election,” on Thursday, April 17 at 2:00 p.m. in room B-318 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

Since the February 19 presidential election, Armenia has experienced its most serious political crisis in over a decade. The March 1 confrontation between the authorities and supporters of the opposition resulted in at least eight fatalities and the imposition of a state of emergency, causing serious damage to Armenia’s reputation. Although Prime Minister Serzh Sarkissian has been elected President, some opposition leaders refuse to recognize the outcome and government opposition relations remain tense. The state of emergency has been lifted but restrictions on freedom of assembly continue in effect.
The hearing will focus on the ramifications of these developments for Armenia and the United States, especially the ongoing Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) negotiations on Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia s qualifications for assistance from the Millennium Challenge Account.

Testifying before the Commission will be:

Mr. Matthew Bryza, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs

Mr. Vigen Sargsian, Assistant to the President of the Republic of Armenia

Mr. Arman Grigorian, Spokesman for former President Levon Ter-Petrossian

Published in Massachusetts in the Needham Times, Belmont Citizen-Herald, Watertown Tab and Press, and elsewhere.

Blue Cross has unhealthful relationship with ‘No Place for Hate’

March 24, 2008

By David Boyajian

With health insurance now compulsory in Massachusetts, and premiums high enough to cause altitude sickness, it’s inexcusable that the state’s largest insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, is still misusing its subscribers’ money by sponsoring the alleged anti-bias program known as “No Place for Hate.”

Eleven municipalities — Arlington, Bedford, Belmont, Lexington, Medford, Needham, Newburyport, Newton, Northampton, Watertown and Westwood — recently gave their NPFH program the boot. They discovered that its creator and sponsor, the Anti-Defamation League, denies the factuality of the Armenian Genocide committed by Turkey and doesn’t want America to recognize that genocide. And they understood that NPFH — the name is a federally registered ADL trademark — was violating its own human rights principles by being affiliated with a genocide-denying organization.
 
The ADL has hypocritically opposed acknowledgment of the Armenian holocaust to win political points with Turkey, which has close relations with Israel. In actuality, the ADL is a highly controversial, ethnic-specific organization known to be focused on political lobbying, not universal human rights.
 
So why hasn’t Blue Cross Blue Shield followed the lead of towns that have severed ties to NPFH?
 
Here’s what we know. Several years back, Peter Meade, the recently retired Blue Cross Blue Shield vice president, “was instrumental in mobilizing Blue Cross” to become the state’s first official NPFH corporation. And Meade sits — amazing coincidence No. 1 — on the board of the New England ADL and received its Chairperson’s Award.
 
Meade also chairs the Greenway Conservancy, which will oversee future upkeep of Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway. For some strange reason — amazing coincidence No. 2 — he opposes the Greenway’s proposed Armenian Heritage Park, which might include a small plaque that remembers the victims of the Armenian Genocide.
 
It’s an obvious conflict of interest for a member of the genocide-denying ADL to sit in judgment of anything Armenian. But so far the well-connected Meade has gotten away with it, aided by the Boston Globe, which won’t report that conflict of interest.
 
And here’s amazing coincidence No. 3: Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Boston headquarters is hosting this year’s board meetings of the Greenway Conservancy.
 
How much has Blue Cross Blue Shield been spending on NPFH programs? It won’t give me a figure, and I can guess why. Blue Cross Blue Shield was recently in the spotlight for the controversial $16.4 million retirement package it lavished on ex-Chairman William Van Faasen.
 
Interestingly, Van Faasen declared in 2001 that Blue Cross Blue Shield was “pleased [to] assist the ADL” with NPFH. Which brings us to amazing coincidence No. 4: Van Faasen received the ADL’s coveted Maimonides award.
 
Another Blue Cross Blue Shield executive, Vice President Fredi Shonkoff, “helped spearhead” the company’s designation as NPFH. How might that have happened? Amazing coincidence No. 5: Shonkoff sat on the ADL’s board, along with Peter Meade.
 
Are you getting the feeling that the ADL and its board members and friends have been throwing their weight around inside Blue Cross Blue Shield, the Greenway Conservancy and the state’s NPFH municipalities?
 
Think of the powerful ADL as the hub of an enormous wheel with these spokes: NPFH — Blue Cross Blue Shield — Shonkoff — Van Faasen — Meade — the Greenway Conservancy — opposition to the Armenian Park — denial of the Armenian Genocide — Turkey.
 
Had a Holocaust-denying organization created and sponsored NPFH, Blue Cross Blue Shield would long ago have cut ties with both of them. Blue Cross Blue Shield apparently believes Armenians and their genocide do not deserve the same respect.
 
And, yes, the ADL still denies the Armenian genocide. Last August, ADL National Director Abe Foxman deliberately used ambiguous phrases such as “tantamount to genocide” and language that parroted Turkey’s line that the mass murder of Armenians from 1915-23 was not intentional, but rather just an unfortunate “consequence” of wartime conditions.
 
Blue Cross Blue Shield is squandering not only its subscribers’ premiums but also the reputations of a 70-year old health-care institution and its dedicated employees. One hopeful sign: Blue Cross Blue Shield told me, “Each year we carefully evaluate our commitment to the NPFH program.”
 
Though Massachusetts treats Blue Cross Blue Shield as a nonprofit, the feds consider it for-profit. Since corporate contributions to groups such as NPFH are tax-deductible, everyone is paying for NPFH. And if you’re a Blue Cross Blue Shield subscriber, as huge numbers of people in Massachusetts are, you’re shelling out even more.
 
Turkish doctors experimented on Armenians during the genocide just as German doctors did on Jews during the Holocaust, according to a study published in “Holocaust and Genocide Studies.” Would any network of doctors tolerate a health-care corporation affiliated with an organization that denied or diminished the Holocaust? Of course not. Blue Cross Blue Shield network doctors, therefore, should insist that Blue Cross Blue Shield cease participation in all ADL programs.
 
Blue Cross Blue Shield needs to drop its official NPFH designation, stop misusing its members’ precious health-care dollars on NPFH and sever ties with the ADL.
 
David Boyajian lives in Newton.
 
For related material, please see www.NoPlaceforDenial.com and http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinions/x179810955/index.html

Armenian-American socialite Annie Totah, who has raised eyebrows for her usage of ultraconservative anti-Obama articles, has recently met with presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. According to the Armenpac website, the meeting took place last week.

 

Recently Annie Totah, Co-Chair of ARMENPAC, the Armenian American Political Action Committee, had the opportunity to once again get together with Senator Hillary Clinton at her residence in Washington, D.C.

Clinton, whose Presidential candidacy was bolstered with victories in Ohio and Texas, met with supporters at an intimate event in her Washington residence. Clinton, whose solid record of support for Armenian-American issues goes way beyond that of the other presidential hopefuls, was recently endorsed by ARMENPAC.

“I always appreciate the opportunity to speak with the Senator about the issues most important to Armenian-Americans. It’s truly inspiring to think that Senator Clinton, who has been such a good friend to our community, may be the next President of the United States,” said ARMENPAC Co-Chair Annie Totah.

“Along with my fellow colleagues on the ARMENPAC Board of Directors, we make it a priority to meet with, work with and support candidates who are in a position to affect policy and legislation that can be beneficial to Armenians in America and our brothers and sisters on our homeland,” added Totah.

Annie Totah also had the opportunity while at this event to discuss Armenian-American issues with Maryland’s Governor Martin O’Malley, Senator Clinton’s Presidential Campaign Manager Terry McAuliffe and Mid-Atlantic Campaign Director Natalie Jones, among others.

Talking to The New York Times about long-time Clinton family friend and famed Hispanic politician Bill Richardson’s endorsement of Barack Obama, a Clinton ally has compared Richardson to Jesus Christ’s traitor.

“An act of betrayal,” said James Carville, an adviser to Mrs. Clinton and a friend of Mr. Clinton.

“Mr. Richardson’s endorsement came right around the anniversary of the day when Judas sold out for 30 pieces of silver, so I think the timing is appropriate, if ironic,” Mr. Carville said, referring to Holy Week.

Wow, so Hillary is Jesus?

California’s News Blaze has a story on an Armenian Genocide survivor who died at the age of 106 – five months after her story was told in the U.S. Congress for a resolution commemorating the Armenian Genocide that was soon killed by George W. Bush and the Turkish lobby.  Hayganous Markarian did not live to see a symbolic act of recognition of her survival. But she survived the worst international crime – genocide.

106-year old Hayganoush Markarian was one of last two known Bay Area survivors

Hayganoush Markarian, one of only two known remaining survivors of the 1915 Armenian Genocide living in the Bay Area, passed away at the age of 106 on March 13.

Last October, Markarian’s story of survival was presented by Rep. Lynn Woolsey to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs during a hearing regarding a resolution officially recognizing the Armenian Genocide by Congress. Rep. Woolsey showed committee members Markarian’s photograph and urged her colleagues to pass the resolution. The resolution passed in committee and awaits a vote by the full House of Representatives.

Markarian was born Hayganoush Azarian on January 24, 1902 in the city of Kharpert in current-day eastern Turkey. The area was the historic homeland of Armenians until the Ottoman Turkish government began a systematic campaign to exterminate the Armenian population in 1915, which culminated in the death of 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children through massacres and forced deportations.

In Kharpert, Markarian lived with her parents, older brother, and four sisters. When the Turkish government began the Armenian Genocide, first through the conscription of Armenian men and boys into special army units, Markarian’s brother and father fled into hiding. Her brother, Karekin, dressed as a girl in order to safely cross dangerous areas. He made his way to Russia, then Sweden, and finally to the United States. Her father, Minas, who had been a successful businessman, hid among some of his Kurdish clients, moving from residence to residence to avoid detection. Meanwhile, Markarian’s mother found a way to keep the rest of the family together in Kharpert during the mass deportations, avoiding massacre until the end of WWI when they were reunited with Markarian’s father. Unfortunately, Minas suffered an early death as the result of the difficult conditions he had faced hiding in water wells for long periods of time.

In 1923, Markarian’s mother moved the family to Aleppo, Syria, where Hayganoush married Markar Markarian in 1925. They remained in Aleppo, raising five children, until 1956 when the entire family moved to Lebanon. In the meantime, their eldest son, Armen, migrated to the United States to pursue an education, and remained in America to teach. In 1969, the rest of the Markarian family followed Armen to the United States.

In both Syria and Lebanon, Markarian was an active member of the Armenian Relief Society, the oldest Armenian women’s organization operating in the world. The organization was established in 1910 in New York City to provide humanitarian assistance to Armenians in need. Markarian continued her membership until her death this week.

Hayganoush Markarian’s funeral will take place on Wednesday, March 19, at 11 am, at St. Gregory Armenian Apostolic Church in San Francisco. She is survived by Armen and Victoria Markarian, Arsen and Alice Gregorian, Zohrab and Elizabeth Markarian, Sinan and Seta Yazejian, Constantine and Nayiri Bouboussis, and six grandchildren. [And ten million Armenians around the world.]

While the Clinton campaign has dropped a nationalist Turk from their fundraising team, at least one “hillraiser” – a reference to those who have raised $100,000 for the New York Senator’s presidential bid – is a registered agent of the Republic of Turkey whose contract includes fighting the Armenian Genocide.

John Merrigan, a contract lobbyist on behalf of Turkey, is listed on Clinton’s website’s Hillraisers page. A federal government link features Merrigan’s and another colleague’s contract with the Turkish government under the Foreign Agent Registration Act. The first point in the contract is “Preventing the introduction, debate and passage of legislation and other U.S. government action that harms Turkey’s interests or image” – with a clear reference to Armenian Genocide affirmation in the U.S. Congress.

Apparently, it is legal for registered foreign agents to collect funds for presidential candidates. Yet it would be interesting to know what the Clinton campaign thinks about this.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign has reportedly stopped taking contributions raised by a nationalist Turkish filmmaker. Mehmet Celebi, nonetheless, is still listed on Clinton’s website as a “hillraiser” and there is no talk from the Clinton campaign of donating the $100,000 Celebi raised to a charity organization.

A charity organization that empowers Turkey’s minorities would be a perfect recipient for the $100,000. The movie is not only anti-Kurdish and anti-Semitic but also spreads a universal message of hate against all minorities in Turkey. A Turkish columnist suggested two months ago that Celebi’s “Valley of the Wolves” ultra-nationalist TV series had influenced the killings of Christians in Turkey, including the assassination of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in January of 2007.

So the $100,000 money that Celebi has already raised for the Clinton campaign should be given to an organization that helps Jewish, Kurdish, Armenian and other minorities in Turkey. One possibility could be putting the money into erecting a statue for Hrant Dink in Istanbul.

Although Clinton’s Celebi link is not a new discovery, it gained national attention after the content of a YouTube.com video, that I was first to post, was republished by several Kurdish websites, then noticed by other blogs and was soon picked up by the New York Post.

Minutes ago on ABC Live Hillary Clinton’s senior campaign adviser Kiki McLean said Mrs. Clinton would be ready on day one to be commander-in-chef. Then she corrected herself saying, “chief.” 🙂

A column by Lisa Karpova in the Russian Pravda newspaper writes about the post-election protests in Armenia accusing “the empire” – an apparent reference to the United States – for the unrest in the tiny Republic and for supporting former president Levon Ter-Petrosyan:

Perhaps the empire just doesn’t get it. They need to re-examine their despicable, foolish and devious scheme to bring an orange scenario to an embattled, besieged Armenia. Under blockade by neighboring Turkey and Azerbaijan, Armenia continues to prosper despite some instances of corruption and economic isolation. Armenia is not fertile ground for any sort of orange scenario. Armenians are generally politically astute, pro-Russian and not easily swayed. They are also acutely aware of the fact that there is no future for them as vassals of the empire.

Armenian history is said to be 12,000 years old, and Mt. Ararat is the historic scene where Noah‘s Ark is said to have rested, a revered and treasured Armenian landmark. An archeologist’s dream come true, Armenia is a land of quaint churches and elaborately and meticulously carved khatchkars (Orthodox crosses).

Constant and reliable, the centuries old friendship and alliance with Russia is unshakable. Most Armenians are aware of the fact that there probably would be no Armenia if not for Russia. No plots or schemes by the empire are going to change that reality.

The empire also wins no friends among Armenians for its consistent policy of [Armenian] Genocide denial. These policies go beyond the geo-political considerations given as an excuse, such as the US base in occupied Western Armenia, under control of Turkey and their alliances with Armenian enemies Turkey, Israel and Azerbaijan. And then there are the oil pipelines…constructed to bypass Armenia, a country in a strategic position between east and west, a crossroads as it were.

As a result of the Armenian Genocide of 1894-1923, Armenians lost most of their homeland and over 1.5 million Armenians were murdered in the most horrendous and brutal fashion imaginable and unimaginable. To this day, no Nuremberg trials, no compensation or apology have occurred. Therefore, the memory of this tragedy in an ongoing issue of importance to Armenians.

In Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrosian is generally despised for his corrupt ruinous policies while President of Armenia. He is also despised for proffering the notion that the recently liberated Armenian land of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) should be returned to Azerbaijan. Artsakh is now an independent country. The US regime is financially backing Ter-Petrosian and causing trouble in the background. Ter-Petrosian had the strange idea that he had a snowball’s chance in hell of winning an election to be President. Fat chance. Now he sends agitators to do his bidding, a la Soros funding, all the best agitators money and the empire can buy.

[…] 

On March 1, 2008, Armenia’s President Robert Kocharian declared a 2-day state of emergency [not 2 but 20-day – Blogian] in compliance of article 55.6 of the RA (Republic of Armenia) Constitution (threat to state and population security). Fortunately, anti-terrorist, anti-orange scenario joint exercises were held by Armenia and Russia in anticipation of such occurrences. Meanwhile the empire is mouthing duplicitous, hypocritical words about “excessive use of force.”

[…]

Kocharian, throughout his term as President, has had a warm, brotherly relationship with his counterpart in Russia, Vladimir Putin. Like the outgoing president, Robert Kocharian, Mr. Sarkisyan is from Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). Both men were commanders in the war.