BIG PINES, CA–The past, present, and future of Armenian-Turkish relations were the focus of a three day seminar on March 20-22 that brought some 70 young Armenian Americans to the Armenian Youth Federation’s campgrounds in Big Pines, California.

The seminar covered a broad range of issues related to the current push to normalize ties between the two countries, including the history of the Ottoman Empire as well as the political and economic realities surrounding the troubled relations between Armenia and Turkey today.

“We wanted to present the current status of Armenian-Turkish relations and where it is going or should be going,” said Shahan Boghikian, whose educational committee organized the seminar. “If and when relations are normalized, it is our generation, both in Turkey and Armenia, that will start the socialization process between the two peoples.”

The various discussions sought to build a framework of understanding that will help a new generation of youth actively influence Armenian and Turkish societies, according to Boghikian. He also noted that the weekend’s theme was Agos, the Armenian word for pathway.

A Mutual Understanding of History

The bridge building role of a new generation of Armenian activists was the focus of the seminar’s first presentation, which traced the development of Armenian-Turkish relations from the early days of the Ottoman Empire to the Armenian Genocide.

“The entire history of Armenian-Turkish relations amounts to about a thousand years of shared experiences,” explained Professor Garabet Moumjian who delivered the presentation.

These historic issues, however, have been dealt with only marginally on both sides, with Turkey banning any discussion of the Armenian Genocide. This, along with decades of animosity toward Turkey’s denial, has made it difficult for the budding of a positive and progressive movement toward normalizing relations, he explained.

While he acknowledged that good neighborly relations are necessary for survival in an increasingly globalized world, Momujian noted that as much as this is important for Armenia’s, it is more important for Turks.

Moumjian said that because the larger part of Turkish society has been in denial for the past 94 years it has forgotten about an indigenous people that lived with them for nearly a millennium. “They have to deal with it with a real effort to know the past, and study it as opposed to forcefully forgetting it,” he said.

Armenia’s Legal Rights

A crucial aspect of that past is the fact that the Ottoman Government and its secular successor have stripped the Armenian people of their legal and historic rights to live on their ancestral homeland free and secure to exercise their right to self determination. Furthermore, a nearly incalculable amount of real property both in terms of land property and possessions were lost during the Armenian Genocide.

Any relations between Armenia and Turkey must be founded on a mutual acceptance of this reality, according to the weekend’s second speaker, Steven Dedeyan, who is a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation’s Western USA Central Committee.

“As with any crime, in order to help ensure that it will not be recommitted, there has to be a remedy for the crime,” he said, adding that the Genocide has been a “sore on the body politic of the Armenian nation,” carried on for almost a century because the issue has not been resolved.

As a result, the Armenian nation today has very legitimate claims against the government of Turkey, explained Dedeyan, discussing the Armenian nation’s legal and political rights under international law and specifically the Treaty of Sevres.

According to Article 89 of the Treaty of Sevres, Turkey and Armenia had agreed to submit to the arbitration of the US President and accept his decision to establish the Armenian-Turkish frontier “in the Vilayets of Erzerum, Trebizond, Van and Bitlis.” Article 90. Meanwhile, stipulated that both parties agreed to renounce “all rights and title over the territory so transferred” once Wilson’s stamp was set on the document. Both articles stood as stand alone provisions within the treaty, with the full force of international law, whether or not the treaty was ratified.

On November 22, 1920, US President Woodrow Wilson affixed his official seal on the his arbitral award issued pursuant to two articles, determining the Armenian-Turkish border. “That action effectively and legally transferred the historic Armenian territories of Erzerum, Trebizond, Van and Bitlis under Turkish occupation to the first Republic of Armenia,” Dedeyan said.

Because article 89 and 90 are still legally binding on Turkey, the “current border between between Armenia and Turkey is illegal; it’s a de facto border,” Dedeyan said. “This is the crux of the dispute between Armenia as well as the Armenian Diaspora as heirs to this legacy and Turkey today.”

“The legal border and frontier of Armenia and Turkey can only be governed and determined by treaties and here is where the problem arises for the Turks,” he added. “This is why they have no official relationship to Armenia.”

Since Armenia rarely discusses this issue it has left Turkey in the drivers seat as it consistently hinges the normalization of its relations with Armenia on signing a treaty that recognizes the current de-facto frontier between the two countries.

“This is a problem, Dedeyan explained. “If we sign such a treaty with Turkey, we will be giving up our political and legal rights,” he said. “The border that currently exists has no legal basis today.”

In essence, the Turkish government is using economic and military pressure today to force the Republic of Armenia to get what it cannot achieve given the current status of the treaties. This makes scrutiny of recent dialogue between Ankara and Yerevan all the more important. Under these circumstances, if Wilsonian Armenia is to be lost, it will have been the Republic of Armenia that gave it away and in the process, the diasporan heirs will have had their opportunity for justice undercut.

For Dedeyan, it’s vital that this generation of activists work to ensure that the reconciliation between Armenia’s and Turks be rooted in the restoration of Armenia’s legal rights. “Armenia cannot survive as an independent state with these current borders, let alone compete with Turkey, or in the world in general, on an equal economic footing,” he stressed.

Economic Inequality

The success of any relationship building measure requires a certain degree of equity, but that is currently devoid in the ongoing normalization process, noted Aram Kaloustian, the third presenter of the day and a member of the ARF’s Western US Central Committee.

Armenia, under blockade by Turkey and Azerbaijan since 1993, has a far smaller and weaker economy than Turkey whose economy is ranked as the 15th largest economy in the world. Kaloustian presented the possible impacts on Armenia’s economy that open borders with Turkey would bring.

Citing a 2007 AIPRG conference on this issue held in Yerevan, Kaloustian said that analysts have predicted that an unbound frontier will allow the establishment of transport networks and energy links from Turkey through the Caucasus to Central Asia. The end of the blockade, he added, will also open up Armenia’s economy for Turkish business and vice versa.

But Armenia’s economy may be at a serious disadvantage in this scenario, Kaloustian noted, explaining that it is still in its infancy and ill-equipped to compete against its Turkish counterparts.

“On the short term, the biggest factor that will be affected is the cost of transporting goods in and out of Armenia,” he said, underscoring how the Russian-Georgian war last August closed off Armenia’s main access point to the world, costing the country millions in lost trade.

Kaloustian noted that while the cost of shipping goods into and out of Armenia will drastically drop and certain sectors of the economy would benefit, these benefits would not be felt by the majority of the Armenia’s in the republic. If the Sarkisian Administration fails to address key concerns regarding economic corruption in Armenia, any benefits of the open border would overwhelmingly only be enjoyed by few within the republic.

“Armenia’s economy is small and concentrated in the hands of few. This puts Armenia at an unequal footing to compete with Turkey,” explained Kaloustian.

This is a reflection of the fact that Armenia does not have the laws in place to protect its national economy from being monopolized by Turkish corporations according to the previously cited AIPRG conference report.

Highlighting the lack of preparedness in Armenia for an open boarder, one need only look at the energy sector of Armenia’s economy. When the Armenia-Turkey border opens, in the short run, Armenia will become an energy producer, exporting electricity from its hydroelectric plants to Turkey’s eastern provinces, which have remained largely underdeveloped since the Armenian Genocide. “Unfortunately, the Armenian energy sector is primarily owned by foreign companies,” Kaloustian pointed out.

The average Armenian will not see the benefit of the border opening and it will have a limited impact in securing a short term relief from Armenia’s deepening economic recession. In this light, it becomes readily apparent that there may be a significant danger of trading away Armenia’s rights to lands necessary for its long-term stability and economic prosperity in return for short term reduction of costs and opportunities in a limited number of sectors, the benefits of which would unlikely be felt by the majority of Armenian citizens.

According to Kaloustian, the lifting of the blockade may also lead to a upsurge in development in the occupied provinces, where impoverished and oppressed Kurds currently make up the majority. Investment has already slowly begun to trickle into places like Garin and Van, transforming them into prominent centers of manufacturing.

“The richer and more developed these regions become, the more difficult it will be to transfer the land back to Armenia,” Kaloustian warned, noting how more and more generations of non-Armenia’s will settle on those lands once it becomes comfortable to live there.

A Contemporary Issue

The seminar ended with an open forum moderated by the weekend’s director Aram Madelian, who opened the floor for participants to discuss the topics presented. Debate over the implications of normalizing relations with Turkey and possible new avenues of activism toward attaining justice for the Armenian Genocide took center stage.

During the back and forth, some participants criticized the Armenian government’s handling of its rapprochement with Turkey; others expressed concerned with how open borders with Turkey would impact their lives here in America.

“What’s important for us to realize is that the matters discussed during this seminar are not issues to be relegated to the past, but causes for contemporary concern that must be addressed by us as a community, said Vache Thomassian, the chairman of the AYF, during the closing discussion. “Whether we live in Armenia, Europe, or the United States, the decisions made in Yerevan and Ankara in the coming months will affect us all for generations to come.”

LOS ANGELES–The Armenian Youth Federation is gearing up for its sixth annual Little Armenia Beautification Project when hundreds of volunteers are expected to mobilize in an effort to comb the streets of Hollywood, to clean up and beautify the Little Armenia region of Los Angeles.

The cleanup will take place on Sunday, March 29. The opening ceremony will commence at 9:00 am at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, located in the heart of Little Armenia on the corner of Vermont and Fountain. Before hitting the streets, volunteers will participate in a formal program that includes an address by California State Assembly Member Kevin de Leon and other honored guests. The clean-up will last until 3:00 pm.

With Los Angeles home to one of the largest Armenian communities outside the Republic of Armenia, the Little Armenia Beautification Project has become an anticipated avenue for community activism.

The City of Los Angeles Sanitation Department has estimated that more than 23,000 pounds of trash have been removed in the past, as a result of AYF volunteer efforts. This year, the program will go one step further by removing graffiti from walls and planting trees throughout the area.

Hollywood Presbyterian, the formal sponsor of the beautification project, reached out to the AYF this year to collaborate on the project.

"We are located in the heart of little Armenia and want to work at a grass-roots level with members of the community. That’s why we reached out to the AYF to help help promote this effort and become a part of little Armenia both literally and in in spirit," said the hospital PR spokesperson Maral Habeshian.

Committed to engaging Armenian youth in the Little Armenia community, the AYF Hollywood Musa Dagh Chapter is hosting this year’s organized cleanup.“Little Armenia is home to one of the largest Armenia Diaspora communities in the United States and it is imperative we take responsibility for the well being of not only our community, but also the greater Hollywood community,” said chapter chairperson Arek Santikian.

“It’s our home away from home and we should feel proud to be giving back to it,” he added.

Every year, for the past five year, the AYF has rounded up Armenian youth from across California and the western United States to give back to this community. This one-day campaign has also attracted volunteers from Arizona, and Nevada to make the trip to Los Angeles and help the AYF remove thousands of pounds of trash from the streets in Little Armenia.

The Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) was founded in 1933. Since then, it has grown to become the largest and most influential Armenian American youth organization with chapters throughout the United States and affiliated organizations around the world. The group actively strives to advance the social, political, educational and cultural awareness of all Armenian youth. More information about the youth group is available at AYFwest.org.

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CRESCENTA VALLEY, CA–The Armenian Center in Crescenta Valley was teeming with excitement on Saturday, March 14, as members from the Armenian Youth Federation came together in the center’s hall to compete in what has become the most anticipated educational event on the AYF’s yearly calendar.

Dubbed the “4th Annual Biggest Quiz Bowl in AYF History,” this competition has been hosted annually by the organization’s Crescenta Valley Zartonk Chapter since 2006. This year’s quiz bowl pitted six chapters against one another in a friendly competition on the history of the Armenian Zartonk, a period covering the 18th and 19th centuries, when dedicated intellectuals and activists tirelessly laid the groundwork for a literary, cultural and political awakening.

The event, which required participants to prepare months in advance, has been the pride and joy of the chapter since its inaugural year, according to its chairperson Aris Hovasapian.

“The intent of the quiz bowl, from its inception, has been to explore themes that have not been at the forefront of AYF’s educational efforts,” Hovasapian said. “We wanted to select topics to which we have historically been underexposed.”

The first quiz bowl, he recalled, focused on the February Rebellion of 1921; the next centered on the rebirth of Armenian nationalism during the Soviet Era. Last year, chapters learned about the vital role played by women in the Armenian revolutionary movement.

Hovasapian explained that every year, chapters from throughout Southern California establish teams and study groups in anticipation of the annual quiz bowl.

While the quiz bowl challenges competing chapter to take a journey into uncharted territory, equally challenging are the logistical aspects for the event’s organizers, according to Saro Haroun, who was in charge of putting together this year’s quiz bowl.

“Preparing for the quiz bowl starts nearly 6 months prior to the actual date of the event,” Haroun said, explaining how chapter members from AYF Zartonk’s educational committee are required to study the reading material and develop questions to be used in the actual competition. “This is all in addition to actually taking care of the logistics of the event, such as finding a host, securing the judges, and promoting the event.”

This year, the chapter decided to raise the bar with the topic and questions, Haroun said, adding that the study guides were composed of university level reading that covered dense concepts and challenging issues.

“When I first received the email with the study guide to this year’s quiz bowl I thought it was going to be extremely hard,” said Serob Aprahamian, a member of the Valley Sardarabad team.

Although Sardarabad won this year’s competition, winning wasn’t easy, he stressed, noting how his team had to adopt a strict study regimen. “We decided to split the packet up among four team members, distributing work evenly to be more efficient,” he said.

Several chapters followed a similar formula, preparing flashcards and outlines from the reading material that had been provided by the Crescenta Valley chapter months in advance. Some even went so far as to organize internal review sessions where team members would quiz one another on their assigned reading.

Orange County’s Ashod Yergat Chapter prepared by having weekly study groups. “Our quiz bowl team prepared for the event by reading the comprehensive material, extracting key points in an outline format, and making study cards to review key figures and events,” said Ashod Yergat member Alex DerAlexanian, who described his own systemic approach to studying as one initially driven by the desire to win.

“But I was quickly taken aback by intriguing material,” he said, noting how he studying for the quiz bowl opened his eyes to the role of the Armenian Diaspora in the development of a homogenous national identity for the Armenian people. “Learning about the Mkhitarist brotherhood’s efforts to collect, research, refine and publish Armenian History, literature, geography and language helped me develop a much deeper understanding of the amount of work and sacrifice it took for Armenians to get where they are today,” he added.

“It was rather inspiring actually,” DerAlexanian, 22, exclaimed. “In the 19th century, Armenians my age were graduating from Universities in Europe and Russia and going to the provinces to raise awareness of the plight of our nation under Turkish occupation.”

This topic is very important, stressed David Arakelyan, from the Glendale Roupen chapter. “The Zartonk was the intellectual awakening of our people. It not only fueled the revolutionary movement and the independence movement, but also saved the nation from assimilating into the dominant trends shaping their every day realities,” he said.

The event’s host, Mourad Topalian, emphasized that poignant point throughout the evening, relating each question he asked the participants to the current struggle for the Armenian Cause. “Hai Tahd is not a new phenomenon; Armenian men and women were dreaming of, and working for, the liberation of their people long before Armenian Americans began working in Washington DC toward the just resolution of our cause,” he exclaimed after asking a question about Israel Ori’s attempt to liberate Armenia from Persian domination in 1659.

“These people were thinking about freedom and democracy, women’s rights and civil liberties, long before the United States Constitution was even written,” Topalian said. “These are still very pertinent issues today, for all people.”

Myrna Douzjian, one of the quiz bowl’s three judges, also reflected on the topics resonance with contemporary Armenians, explaining how the efforts of Armenians of the 19th century to “define a transnational Armenian identity and to revive the vitality of the Armenian language and culture are pressing concerns for Armenian communities worldwide.”

“Interestingly enough, over a century later–after the collapse of the Ottoman, Russian and Soviet empires, the independence of the fledgling Armenian state, and the large-scale, multi-phased remappings of Armenian populations across the globe–many of the issues that the Zartonk period put forth remain relevant for Diaspora Armenians today, though in contemporary terms,” she said. “The AYF’s decision to engage in the study of this period serves as a testament to that reality.”

Douzjian, who is currently a Ph.D. candidate in comparative literature at UCLA, was joined on the judge’s panel by Sevag Garabedian and Talar Chahinian, all alumni of the Crescenta Valley Zartonk chapter.

“I had a lot of fun as a judge in this year’s quiz bowl,” said Chahinian, who is a lecturer at UCLA with a Ph.D. in comparative literature. “I think it’s a wonderful way for the youth to engage more closely with Armenian cultural history.”

Garabedian, for his part, described the evening as an elevating and nostalgic reminder of his days as members of the chapter, organizing educationals and discussions around the same issues.

Arick Gevorkian, a member of the Crescenta Valley ARF Zavarian Gomideh, shared similar sentimen’s. “I was uplifted by the spirit and energy of the AYF members in the room,” he said. “The passion and enthusiasm the quiz bowl participants displayed took me back 20 years; I felt like an AYF member again.”

Editor’s Note: AYF Zartonk will also be launching the “Blueprint for Progress” lecture series on April 5. The series will explore progressive issues in American politics, and will show how Armenian-Americans’ participation in those issues will help us in achieving our political goals in the United States. Among the issues that will be explored are the civil rights movement, organized labor, and sustainability. Lectures are schedule for April 5, May 17, June 28, and July 26. All lectures will begin at 6pm and will be held at the Crescenta Valley Armenian Center at 2633 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA, 91020. For more information email: AYFZARTONK@GMAIL.COM

NORTHRIDGE, CA–Students and human rights activists recently attended a talk by Consul General of Azerbaijan Elin Suleymanov held Wednesday at California State University-Northridge (CSUN), the Armenian National Committee Reported

The lecture, organized at the requested of Suleymanov, was titled “The Geopolitics of Energy Security in Eurasia, Central Asia, Europe and America,” and served as a propaganda event to present Azerbaijan as a stable democracy and investment receptacle for the west.

Suleymanov attempted to portray Azerbaijan as a country of “stability, with unmatched regional cooperation and [as] an ideal location for investment”.

Concerned students, in a collaborative effort, produced flyers on the event and disseminated materials to attendees and passers-by, informing them about Azerbaijan’s bleak human rights record and history of war-mongering in the region.

During the presentation, students also asked the Consul General questions regarding the Azerbaijani President’s repeated and explicit threats of war over Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan’s swelling list of human rights violations, the rampant government corruption plaguing the government, the Sumgait Massacre of Armenia’s and the disinformation campaign of the Azerbaijani government against Armenia.

Those participating were members of various organizations, including the CSUN Armenian Students Association, Shant Student Association, the Armenian Youth Federation and the AEO Fraternity.

Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, has used soaring oil revenues to buildup the country’s military to launch a new war against Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, which have isolated from regional projects,” said Armen Aboulian, Chairman of the ARF Shant Student Association. “As United States citizens, we refuse to partake in a relationship whose profits will be used to undermine the independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and its people’s rights to self-determination.”

Wednesday’s presentation by Suleymanov comes amid heightened activism by the Azerbaijani government in the United States, working with Azeri and Turkish Americans on college campuses and in the halls of Congress and state legislatures, to distort the facts of the Karabakh conflict in Azerbaijan’s interests.

Late last Month, a group of Azeri’s stages anti-Armenia demonstrations in Washington DC, protesting against what they called “Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan” and demanding that Armenia’s "get out" of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan’s government earlier this year announced February 20 – March 1 would be considered Khojaly Awareness Days, kicking off what they called an international memorial effort that would be observed at all the Azeri embassies and consulates in the United States.

On February 22, the Azerbaijani Consulate General in Los Angeles staged a public event on Khojaly. The event came two days after the American Council of Turkish-speaking Students Association at Berkeley University and Northern California Cultural Center sponsored a conference at UC Berkeley titled “Tragedy of Khojaly.”

Since being appointed in 2005, Suleymanov has been actively working to reshape Azerbaijan’s image in the Western United States, speaking at places like the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, and in states like Colorado, Idaho, and Wyoming.

Last August he addressed a group of local world history schoolteachers as part of a two-week training workshop about historical and contemporary links between Europe and Azia hosted at UCLA. Through Suleymanov, these K-12 teachers learned about Azerbaijan’s struggle to survive and to succeed” in an “inflamed” region.

“The misinformation campaign of the Azerbaijani government continues,” stated Andrew Kzirian, Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee–Western Region. “Our community is committed to working with human rights activists to ensure that America knows the facts when it comes to Artsakh and Azerbaijan."