ARMENIANS LOSE OBAMA ADVISOR; TURKS LOSE CLINTON FUNDRAISER
Samantha Power, the Pulitzer-prize winning author of "A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide," resigned last week from her position as an unpaid foreign policy advisor to Presidential candidate Barack Obama. She was an influential member of Sen. Obama's inner circle.
Ms. Power's resignation is a major blow to Armenian-Americans who counted on her to remind Sen. Obama of his pledge to reaffirm the Armenian Genocide, should he become President.
Ms. Power had played an instrumental role in getting Sen. Obama to issue a strongly-worded statement on the Armenian Genocide and Armenian issues in general. She also made a video in which she recounted Sen. Obama's outstanding record on issues of special concern to Armenian Americans, including his "very forthright statement on the Armenian Genocide; his support for the Senate Resolution acknowledging the Genocide; his willingness as President to commemorate it and call a 'spade a spade'; and to speak the truth about it...."
Ms. Power, a Harvard professor and Time magazine columnist, was forced to resign after the publication of an interview she gave to the Scotsman newspaper while she was in Britain to promote her latest book. She was quoted as saying that Sen. Obama's Democratic rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, is "a monster." The Scotsman published her negative characterization of Sen. Clinton, despite the fact that Ms. Power had told the newspaper that this particular remark was "off the record."
The Los Angeles Times reported on March 8 that Ms. Power "had previously confided to friends that she had ambitions to one day be Secretary of State." Even though her comment about Sen. Clinton caused her to lose her key role with the Obama campaign, Armenian-Americans hope that she would regain her inner circle status, should Sen. Obama be the next President.
Coincidentally, the Turks also lost last week one of their own -- a major financial supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
The Clinton campaign said last week that it would no longer accept contributions raised by Mehmet Celebi, a prominent Turkish-American. He was listed on Sen. Clinton's presidential campaign website as a "Hill-raiser," a designation for those who have raised more than $100,000 for her White House bid. In addition, Celebi was nominated as a Democratic Convention delegate from Illinois by the Clinton campaign.
Celebi is a partner in a firm, BMH Worldwide, that helped produce "Valley of the Wolves: Iraq," an anti-American and anti-Semitic Turkish film that depicts a Jewish American doctor who extracts organs from Iraqi prisoners and exports them to Israel, England and the United States.
Ann Lewis, senior advisor to the Clinton campaign, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency: "We were unaware of Mr. Celebi's involvement in this film and we obviously do not agree with it. He is no longer raising money for this campaign."
Celebi's removal is a major blow to Turkish-Americans, since he is one of their important political leaders. He is a former Vice-President and Board Member of the American Turkish Associations of America (ATAA) and former President of the Turkish American Cultural Alliance (Chicago). Not surprisingly, Celebi has been a vocal denier of the Armenian Genocide. Just last September, he outlined his distorted views of the Armenian Genocide in an opinion column published in the Turkish Daily News.
Now that the Clinton campaign has decided to no longer receive contributions raised by Celebi, it must do the right thing by returning the funds raised by this controversial individual. It is not proper for the Clinton organization to keep the $100,000 Celebi had raised and then state that he is no longer associated with the campaign. If the Clinton campaign wants to truly disassociate itself from Celebi, then it should give back the money he collected for Sen. Clinton's presidential bid. Furthermore, Sen. Clinton must cut all ties with Celebi by announcing that he is no longer a Democratic Convention delegate from the State of Illinois on behalf of the Clinton campaign.
While both Armenian-Americans and Turkish-Americans lost valuable supporters in the respective Obama and Clinton camps, the reasons for the departures of Samantha Power and Mehmet Celebi cannot be equated. Ms. Power misspoke, apologized and resigned from her important position with the Obama campaign. Celebi, on the other hand, has not apologized for his role in the scandalous Turkish movie on Iraq. Furthermore, the Clinton campaign has not returned the funds raised by Celebi and has not removed him from its list of delegates to the Democratic Convention.
- By Harut Sassounian, Publisher, The California Courier
ARMENIANS LOSE OBAMA ADVISOR; TURKS LOSE CLINTON FUNDRAISER
By Harut Sassounian, Publisher, The California CourierSamantha Power, the Pulitzer-prize winning author of "A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide," resigned last week from her position as an unpaid foreign policy advisor to Presidential candidate ...ARMENIA UNDER SIEGE
By Edmond Azadian, The Armenian Mirror-Spectator Weekly, Published By Adl Eastern District Committee Of Usa And Canada 1Ever since independence, Armenia's main asset has been its internal stability. And every external and internal force has threatened to destabilize the country to get its agenda promoted. At every such ...CHANGES TO THE STATE OF EMERGENCY
Translated by L.H.RA President Robert Kocharian signed a decree on March 13 on changes to March 1, 2008 decree. According to the decree, point 4/4 of RA President's decree on "Declaration of the state of emergency" is ...TURKISH "AKSION" PERIODICAL ENCOURAGED BY LEVON TER-PETROSIAN'S RETURN TO POLITICS
By Hakob Chaqrian, translated by K.A.Some of the Turkey' circles are encouraged by Levon Ter-Petrosian's return to politics. Some of the leading Turkish newspapers consider his return to be a proper occasion most likely in the issues of ...ARMENIAN CAUCUS RALLIES SUPPORT FOR ARMENIAN AID PRIORITIES
Prepared by K.A.Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairmen Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) are currently collecting signatures among their House colleagues on a letter urging the leaders of the U.S. State-Foreign ...NEWEST POSITION OF GB ON 1915
Translated by A.M. 2A message entitled "Shame on the British Government" and addressed to "Azg", says that GB Foreign Ministry representative Lord Mallock-Brown, answering on March 4, the question of the Baroness of Landuff ...A FOREIGN MINISTER AND CE COMMISSIONER DISCUSS HOME SITUATION IN ARMENIA
Translated by K.A.RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian met Wednesday with Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Thomas Hammarberg, and the delegation led by him. The parties touched upon the February 19 presidential ...ARMENIA AMONG THE STABLE COUNTRIES
By P.K., translated by L.H.141 countries are involved in Brookings institution's "List of the weak countries". Four main indexes are taken into consideration - economy, policy, security and social sphere. While assessing the economic ...ROUBEN HAKHVERDIAN. "WHEN INTELLIGENTSIA DOESN'T LEAD, THE PEOPLE BECOME THE INTELLIGENTSIA"
By Nana Petrosian, translated by K.A.Rouben Hakhverdian declared himself a craftsman and left the intelligentsia circles at March 11 meeting at "Hayeli" club. At the same time, he stated that when the intelligentsia doesn't lead, the people ...UNESCO CELEBRATES ANNIVERSARIES OF WILLIAM SAROYAN AND VICTOR HAMBARDZUMIAN IN 2008-2009
Translated by K.AUNECSO is going to celebrate the 100th anniversaries of William Saroyan and Victor Hambardzumian in 2008-2009. The celebration events for William Saroyan will be held in Armenia and in the USA, particularly ...
BUSINESSMAN SAMVEL KARAPETIAN READY TO INVEST 250 MLN USD
Translated by L.H.AMERICAN-ARMENIAN BUSINESSMAN SEROB TER-POGHOSIAN RESPONDS TO THE CALL OF THE PRESIDENT
STATEMENT OF THE UNION OF ARMENIANS IN RUSSIA
Translated by L.H.ARA ABRAHAMIAN INCREASES HIS INVESTMENTS BY OTHER 150 MLN USD
Translated by L.H.MORE DETAILS ON ARMENIA-TURKEY SECRET CONTACTS REVEALED
By H. Chaqrian, translated by A.M.
"TURKEY AND AZERBAIJAN TO TAKE JOINT MILITARY ACTIONS IN KARABAKH"
By H. Chaqrian, translated by A.M.SERGE SARGSIAN ANTICIPATES ACTIVE WORK OF MINISTERS TO ELIMINATE THE DIVIDED SOCIETY
By Maritea Khachatrian, translated by L.H.
DEBATE ON DUAL CITIZENSHIP FOR ARMENIAN DIASPORA ADDRESSED IN SPECIAL DOUBLE ISSUE OF DIASPORA: A JOURNAL OF TRANSNATIONAL STUDIES
APPEAL OF THE UNION OF ARMENIANS OF RUSSIA TO THE PEOPLE OF ARMENIA
Ara Abrahamian, Chairman of the Union of Armenians in Russia, Translated by K.A."IN ORDER NOT TO BREAK THE CEASEFIRE REGIME ANY MORE"
Translated by L.H.AZERBAIJAN STILL SEARCHES FOR PROVOCATIONS OF ARMENIA
By Hakob Chaqrian, translated by K.A.STATEMENT OF THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
ARMENIANS LOSE OBAMA ADVISOR; TURKS LOSE CLINTON FUNDRAISER
By Harut Sassounian, Publisher, The California CourierARMENIA UNDER SIEGE
By Edmond Azadian, The Armenian Mirror-Spectator Weekly, Published By Adl Eastern District Committee Of Usa And Canada"ISRAELI GENOCIDE SCHOLARS RESPOND TO REPORTED STATEMENTS OF AMBASSADOR GABY LEVY DENYING THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE."
Prof. Yair Auron, PhD, Dept. of Sociology, Open University of Israel yairau@oumail.openu.ac.ilProf. Israel W. Charny, PhD (retired Tel Aviv University and Hebrew University), Executive Director, Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide, Jerusalem, Edit
- 1884 Birth in Batoom of Levon Takhtajian, lecturer of Yerevan State University (agricultural economy and linguistics).
- 1901 Birth of Kostandeen Hakobian, Scientist, Doctor and Professor of Agricultural Sciences, in Meerzeek. He got a State Award for the creation of a Kazakh species of white-headed cattle.
- 1914 Birth of Balasan (Vruyr Balasanyan), translator and writer, in Moscow, .
- 1918 Start of the Trebizond negotiations between the delegations of Turkey and the Transcaucasian Seym. The German-Turkish attack took place at the same time. The negotiation effort was in vain as the Mensheviks, led by Chkhenkely, agreed to cede to the territorial demands of Turkey.
- 1921 Start of the Red Army's extensive attack on Yerevan, which ended in its victory two weeks later.
- 1921 End of the London Conference. It made indefinite allusions to a national home for the Armenians in Western Armenia. The Turkish part rejected it later.
ARMENIAN NEWS
INTERACTIVE NEWS
INFORMATION
MY ARMTOWN
How to quit smoking?
How to write in Armenian on Windows XP?
All materials published on this website are taken from open sources and are copyrighted by their respective owners. You cannot reproduce or copy any materials published on armtown.com without written consent of original copyright holder. If you want to remove any material, please send us an email with proof of ownership/copyright and your material will be removed immediately. All materials published for information purposes only.