Boyajian: The Woodrow Wilson Center Desecrates Its Namesake’s Legacy and Violates Its Congressional Mandate

Is the Woodrow Wilson Center seeking to discredit the Treaty of Sèvres on its 90th anniversary by honoring Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu?

Woodrow Wilson, the 28th American president, is looking down in horror at what the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWC) is doing in his name.

Most Americans are not aware of the D.C.-based organization, or that their taxes comprise one-third of its multi-million dollar annual budget.

The WWC was created by Congress in 1968 through the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Act to commemorate the late president’s “ideals and concerns” and memorialize “his accomplishments.”

The WWC has in several ways, however, violated its Congressional mandate.

The WWC itself claims that it “takes seriously [Wilson’s] views.” In fact, it has knowingly disregarded many of his views.

And while it professes “to take a historical perspective,” the WWC often closes its eyes to history.

Case in point: In mid-June of this year, the WWC plans to travel to Turkey to bestow its coveted Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service on Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

Curiously, the WWC won’t provide this writer with a press release about it. We know about the award only from the Turkish media and a call to the WWC’s communications chief.

An undeserved award

The WWC’s president/director, former Congressman Lee Hamilton (who recently announced he would be leaving the organization), says that Davutoglu “personifies the attributes we seek to honor at the Woodrow Wilson Center” and has “catalyzed” Turkish policy.

It is appalling that the WWC would honor a top official of a country that in so many ways is a major human rights violator. Moreover, Davutoglu’s own record—including his much-ballyhooed “zero problems with neighbors” policy—is undistinguished.

But even more to the point, Davutoglu’s policies are the very antithesis of Woodrow Wilson’s “ideals and concerns.”

Turkish temper tantrums

Let us start with Davutoglu’s eruption against America due to a U.S. House committee’s approval in March of a resolution (H.Res.252) that reaffirmed the factuality of, and historic U.S. interest in, the Armenian Genocide of 1915-23 committed by Turkey.

Turkey immediately recalled its ambassador. Davutoglu then announced that the House committee vote was an insult to his country’s “honor,” as if Turkey’s continuing cover-up of genocide is somehow honorable. A top official of Turkey’s ruling AK Party threatened the U.S. with “consequences.” Turkey’s relationship with America, he warned, “would be downgraded at every level…from Afghanistan to Pakistan to Iraq to the Middle East process…there would be a major disruption.”

These were not just nasty overreactions by Turkey. They were also nonsensical. The U.S. has, after all, reaffirmed the Armenian Genocide as “genocide” at least five times: three resolutions passed by the full House (1975, 1984, and 1996); an official proclamation (No. 4838) by President Ronald Reagan (1981); and a U.S. legal filing with the International Court of Justice (1951).

More tantrums

Davutoglu threw the same sort of tantrum a week later—withdrawing his ambassador and making threats—when the Swedish Parliament recognized the Armenian Genocide.

Turkey has thrown similar fits when some 20 other countries, the European Parliament, a UN sub-commission, the Vatican, and others recognized the genocide.

No other alleged “ally” threatens the U.S. as frequently and consistently as does Turkey.

Thus, far from “catalyzing” Turkey’s policies, the foreign minister is carrying on his government’s tradition of threats and genocide denial. If such behavior “personifies the attributes” that the WWC “seeks to honor,” the center’s standards must be low indeed.

Davutoglu’s double standards

“Turkey will not allow anyone else to evaluate its history,” Davutoglu blustered after the House committee and Swedish Parliament votes.

He seems unaware that countries constantly evaluate other countries’ histories. Davutoglu evidently thinks that Turkey should be uniquely exempt from the judgments of others.

Davutoglu also seems blissfully unaware that the UN, the U.S., and many other nations and international organizations have condemned and continue to condemn various countries’ past (and present) crimes, such as the Holocaust, genocides, bloody revolutions, and crimes against humanity. These include the genocide now taking place in Sudan.

Not surprisingly, Turkey and Davutoglu have a horrendous record regarding Sudan.

The Turkey-Sudan genocide axis

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was invited to visit Turkey two years ago while he was under indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for “war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

Human rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch, blasted Turkey for inviting the Sudanese dictator. Turkey defiantly proceeded to welcome al-Bashir with a red carpet, an honor guard, and a 21-gun salute.

True to Turkey’s tradition of genocide denial, Turkish President Abdullah Gul downplayed the Sudanese mass killings, attributing them solely to “politics…poverty and environmental conditions.”

Then last year, after Davutoglu’s appointment, the Turkish government once again invited al-Bashir, the target of an ICC international arrest warrant. Only after a huge international outcry was the visit eventually canceled. Davutoglu, like his country, has a blind spot when it comes to genocides.

In the meantime, of course, Davutoglu’s Turkey has been busy accusing other countries—notably China and Israel—of genocide. The hypocrisy is incredible. Should not Turkey first acknowledge its own genocides against not only Armenians but also Assyrians, Greeks, and Kurds?

Now we know why some have dubbed Turkey and Sudan the “axis of genocide.”

But Davutoglu and Turkey’s failures involve much more than tantrums, threats, genocide, and hypocrisy.

Davutoglu’s other failures

Despite Turkey’s so-called “zero problems with neighbors” policy, Davutoglu has largely continued, not “catalyzed,” his country’s failed policies.

For example, there is no end in sight to Turkey’s 36-year long military occupation of northern Cyprus. “Zero problems with neighbors”?

Turkey’s alleged rapprochement last year with Armenia, which Turkey has blockaded since 1993, also disproves the WWC’s assertions about Davutoglu. When he negotiated and signed a set of controversial protocols with Armenia last year, Turkey said these would open a new chapter with its eastern neighbor. Both countries’ parliaments were then supposed to quickly ratify the protocols.

Though many Armenians believe that parts of the protocols are contrary to Armenia’s interests, the Armenian Parliament has been ready to ratify them.

Davutoglu, however, quickly reverted to his government’s old precondition: Turkey would neither ratify the protocols nor open its border with Armenia unless Armenians concluded an agreement with Azerbaijan regarding Nagorno-Karabagh, the Armenian region that Stalin handed to Soviet Azerbaijan, and which declared independence from Azerbaijan in 1991.

Turkey’s backpedaling was condemned by the parties that mediated the protocols—the U.S., Russia, and Switzerland—as well as the European Union. Due to Davutoglu’s duplicity, the protocols have stalled and may die. “Zero problems with neighbors”?

And regardless of one’s views on American policy towards Iran and Israel, it is known that Turkey’s overheated, undiplomatic rhetoric is designed primarily to please a Muslim audience at home and in the Middle East. Turkey’s intemperate language has simply poured oil on fires and complicated American efforts in the region.

Turkey’s Kurdish problems, both within the country and across the border in Iraq, remain unsolved. Raids into northern Iraq by Turkish troops are not a solution.

Even Turkey’s offers to “mediate” regional disputes look rather contrived given that Turkey has not faced many of its own problems with neighbors.

 “Zero problems with neighbors” is a hollow catchphrase. A more accurate name would be Turkey’s longstanding “zero Armenians as neighbors” policy.

Aside, perhaps, from improved Turkish relations with Syria, and a lot of braggadocio and spin, Davutoglu has “catalyzed” essentially nothing for the better. He is surely grateful, though, to Lee Hamilton and the WWC for implying otherwise.

Let us now examine President Woodrow Wilson’s record to see how the WWC has besmirched his name and violated its Congressional mandate.

Desecrating Wilson’s ideals and concerns

President Wilson advocated the right to self-determination of all the nations, particularly Armenia, that suffered under Turkey’s corrupt, violent yoke.

His and America’s support for Armenians—politically, financially, and verbally—was immense and is well-documented. Yet the WWC chooses to desecrate that record by honoring a Turkish official who denies the Armenian Genocide, threatens the American people, plays games with the protocols it signed with Armenia, and continues to blockade Armenia.

Wilson enunciated his famous Fourteen Points, based on a just peace, in 1918, before the end of World War I. Point Twelve left no room for doubt: The non-Turkish “nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development.” He was referring to Armenians, Arabs, Assyrians, Greeks, Kurds, and others.

Unlike the proposed award to Davutoglu, Wilson’s was well-deserved: He received the Nobel Peace Prize of 1919 because of his Fourteen Points and his advocacy of the League of Nations.

Reporting to Wilson during the genocide was his good friend and ambassador to Turkey, Henry Morgenthau, Sr. The ambassador cabled Washington in 1915 that Turkey was engaged in a “campaign of race extermination” against Armenians. The American Embassy served as a channel for Armenian massacre reports arriving from various parts of the Turkish empire. U.S. Consul Leslie A. Davis, who actually witnessed the genocide in the interior, wrote, “I do not believe there has ever been a massacre in the history of the world so general and thorough.”

At Wilson’s direction, Morgenthau gave to Turkish leaders the British-French-Russian declaration of 1915 that dealt specifically with the Armenian mass murders. “All members of the Ottoman Government and those of its agents who are implicated in such massacres,” read the declaration, will be held “personally responsible” for “the new crimes of Turkey.”

By proposing to honor a genocide denier, the WWC’s Lee Hamilton is implying that Ambassador Morgenthau and American consuls were lying.

Referring to Turkey’s crimes against humanity, Wilson spoke these words in Salt Lake City a year after World War I: “Armenia is to be redeemed so that at last this great people, struggling through this night of terror…are now given a promise of safety, a promise of justice.”

America and Armenia

In the spring of 1920, under the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres, the European Allies asked Wilson to arbitrate the boundary between Turkey and Armenia within the four Armenian provinces of “Erzerum, Trebizond, Van, and Bitlis.” Wilson agreed. He had already sent 50 American researchers to survey the people and land.

In November, the president delivered the U.S. decision: Armenia would include more than 40,000 square miles within those four provinces and a Black Sea coastline. Europe also asked America to accept a mandate over Armenia—that is, physical protection from Turkey while Armenians got back on their feet.

Though Congress, in a post-war isolationist mood, eventually declined his appeal for the Armenian mandate, Wilson’s written request noted that “the hearings conducted by the subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations have clearly established the truth of the reported massacres and other atrocities from which the Armenian people have suffered.”

The Senate report, Wilson went on, embodied his “own convictions and feelings with regard to Armenia and its people.”

Americans, he said, “have made the cause of Armenia their own” and had responded with “extraordinary spontaneity and sincerity.” These were understatements.

Turkey signed the Treaty of Sèvres but later repudiated it.

Incidentally, had Turkey fulfilled its obligations under Sèvres and Wilson’s binding arbitration, much of the Kurdish issue would have been resolved 90 years ago. The treaty stipulated an autonomous Kurdish zone—just below the Armenian provinces—in southeastern Turkey and, conditionally, in northern Iraq that may eventually have become independent.

Under Turkish and Soviet attack, in December 1920 independent Armenia was forcibly Sovietized and cut to a fraction of its size, and became landlocked. The Armenian provinces remain under Turkish occupation to this day, while Turkey blockades what remains of Armenia.

The WWC defies Congress

The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Act of 1968 was unambiguous: The WWC was meant to express the 28th president’s “ideals and concerns” and memorialize “his accomplishments.”

If it proceeds with its award to Davutoglu, the WWC will be reaffirming its disregard for Wilson’s “ideals and concerns” regarding the genocide, America’s support for Armenians, and liberating their land from Turkish rule.

Similarly, Wilson’s “accomplishments”—securing aid for Armenian survivors,

U.S. arbitration of Armenia’s boundaries under the Sèvres Treaty, and more—are being ignored and mocked by the WWC.

The WWC is insulting Armenian Americans and all those who survived the Turkish nightmare.

If Lee Hamilton’s own claim that the WWC takes “a historical perspective” were true, it would not honor a man—and by extension a Turkish government—who unashamedly negate the historical record.

Is the Wilson Center seeking to discredit the Treaty of Sèvres on its 90th anniversary by honoring Davutoglu?

Massacring history

The WWC may try to claim that it has dealt substantially and fairly with its namesake’s views and accomplishments regarding the Armenian Genocide.

As much as can be determined from a search of the WWC’s public records, however, that claim would be false. This writer has found very little about the genocide, and most of that is from a Turkish revisionist perspective.

Two years ago, the WWC’s Southeast Europe division hosted a scholar who discussed Turkish policy and the Armenian Genocide. And 24 years ago, the WWC’s Wilson Quarterly had a one-page piece about an article published elsewhere that discussed the genocide.

In contrast, four years ago, the Wilson Quarterly published a sycophantic review praising a widely criticized book by a notorious genocide denier. And two years back, a former U.S. State Department official who dealt with Turkey (and is presently an advisor for the Turkish Policy Quarterly) wrote a mere two sentences about the Sèvres Treaty—solely from the Turkish perspective—in a WWC-sponsored paper about Turkey. The Center’s website (www.wilsoncenter.org) contains a nine-year old article written by a former U.S. Army officer who denies the genocide.

This is a disgraceful record.

A year ago, the editors of the journal Genocide Studies and Prevention initiated a symposium that critiqued the report of the U.S.-sponsored Genocide Prevention Task Force (GPTF). While the symposium used the WWC’s facilities, the WWC was not a co-sponsor, reportedly took little or no part, and thus cannot claim credit for it.

In any case, nothing can justify the Wilson Center’s proposed award for Davutoglu.

The question begs to be asked: Does the WWC have any questionable links to Turkey or Armenian Genocide deniers?

Turkish-tainted corporate cash

A look at the WWC’s funding sources reveals that it is up to its neck in corporate cash, including Turkish-tainted cash.

One major corporation—Boeing—that is a member of the WWC’s so-called WilsonAlliances wrote a letter to Congress asking it to defeat the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.252).

Two other WilsonAlliances members—BAE and Chevron—have reportedly lobbied Congress to defeat the Armenian resolution.

Four WilsonAlliances members—Alcoa, Boeing, Bombardier, and Honeywell—are dues-paying members of the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), which has asked President Obama and Congress to ensure that Res. 252 “doesn’t go to the House floor for a vote.” AIA refers to the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians as merely “the events.”

Six WilsonAlliances members—BAE, Bechtel, Boeing, Chevron, Coca Cola, and Exxon-Mobil—are also dues-paying members of the American Turkish Council (ATC). The ATC calls itself a “business association.” Its membership includes over 100 major Turkish and American corporations. Among its leadership team of some 100 Turks and Americans, it is nearly impossible to find even one person who is not a top corporate executive, former military officer, or former government official. The ATC has long lobbied against Armenian Genocide resolutions. Former Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft, the chairman of its Executive Committee, once told Congress that what happened to Armenians is “widely disputed.”

ATC member Lockheed-Martin Corp., which penned a letter opposing the Armenian resolution, has also contributed money to the WWC.

DLA Piper and other Turkish lobbyists

DLA Piper is a gigantic, worldwide legal and corporate services firm that has registered with the U.S. government as a foreign agent for Turkey. The firm is well-known for having lobbied against Armenian Americans and is currently setting up an office in Istanbul.

Ignacio Sanchez is a lawyer employed by DLA Piper. He “represents national and international clients on a broad range of issues…before Congress” for his firm.

Sanchez also happens to sit on the Wilson Center’s Board of Trustees.

DLA Piper’s contract with Turkey states that its “services shall include…preventing the introduction, debate, and passage of legislation and other U.S. government action that harms Turkey’s interests and image.”

DLA Piper has partially subcontracted its Turkish role to the Livingston Group. Headed by former disgraced House Speaker Robert Livingston, who denies the Armenian Genocide and lobbies against Armenian Genocide resolutions, it has been a registered agent of Turkey.

DLA Piper also has what it terms a “strategic alliance” with The Cohen Group (TCG), headed by former Defense Secretary William Cohen. TCG represents large corporations who do business with Turkey. It is an ATC member, and two of its employees sit on the ATC Advisory Board.

TCG’s vice president, Marc Grossman, was the U.S. ambassador to Turkey from 1994-97. Among former diplomats, he is probably Turkey’s biggest defender.

He has opposed passage of Armenian Genocide resolutions. A few years ago, Grossman reportedly joined Ilhas Holding, a Turkish firm.

It is also known that whistleblower and former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds has made very serious allegations about the ATC, Grossman, and Turkey. These have not yet been adjudicated in a court of law.

And whom did the WWC recently select to be one of its “Public Policy Scholars”? Marc Grossman.

The WWC seems to be quite fond of corporations (and their money), lobbying firms, and people strongly affiliated with Turkey that in many cases oppose acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide.

The above barely skims the surface of the Wilson Center’s cozy financial relationships with huge corporations.

Playing with genocide inquiries

We must digress briefly for an example of how former government officials work their way into genocide inquiries that are best left to those more suitable.

Former Defense Secretary William Cohen (of the Turkish-affiliated TCG) and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright chaired the Genocide Prevention Task Force mentioned above.

As private citizens, Cohen and Albright opposed the Armenian Genocide Resolution. Their appointment to the GPTF was thus justifiably criticized as incompatible with its very purpose.

The GPTF was jointly convened by the Congressionally funded, so-called U.S. Institute of Peace, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the American Academy of Diplomacy (AAD).

The latter is composed of former high-level U.S. State Department officials. AAD’s chairman is retired ambassador Thomas Pickering. He was formerly a vice president of Boeing, the same company that has beseeched Congress not to pass the Armenian Genocide Resolution.

The GPTF’s final 147-page report (“Preventing Genocide: A Blueprint for U.S. Policymakers”) contained just two miniscule references to the Armenian Genocide. Sure enough, they used the terms “forced exile” and “atrocities,” not genocide. The report was also widely criticized by scholars.

Incidentally, who sits on the AAD’s Board? If you guessed the ubiquitous Marc Grossman of the Wilson Center and pro-Turkish TCG, you’d be correct.

Corporate perks

The WWC provides many benefits to corporations that contribute money to its WilsonAlliances. For example, they receive “complimentary use” of the WWC’s facilities, the Reagan Federal Building, blocks from the White House. They also get “private customized meetings with [WWC] staff and scholars to discuss policy issues that are specific to your business interests.”

Did WWC/Turkish-affiliated corporations use “private customized meetings” to urge the WWC to honor Davutoglu, perhaps in expectation that it would enhance their “business interests” with Turkey?

Did any WWC/Turkish-affiliated lobbying firm or person ask the WWC to give Davutoglu an award?

We don’t know the answers to these questions. Only those corporations, lobbyists, and other figures, together with Lee Hamilton and WWC personnel, can answer them, preferably under oath.

In a phone message, Sharon Coleman McCarter, the WWC communications director, said that the center is honoring the Turkish Foreign Minister because of “public service to his country and the world.” Turkey, or some Turks, may like its foreign minister, but, as this writer has shown, he has certainly done nothing to benefit “the world.”

McCarter also claimed that Davutoglu “is in the Wilsonian tradition” because, like Wilson, he has been in academia and government. If you teach and then enter government service, you’re automatically “Wilsonian” and thus a candidate for the WWC award? This is preposterous.

Insulting previous awardees

Who have the nearly 150 previous WWC awardees been? Mostly Americans: philanthropists, doctors, members of Congress, former diplomats, architects, actors, and the like.

They range from James Baker, Dr. Denton Cooley, Betty Ford, Frank Gehry, John Glenn, and Ambassador Howard Leach, to Janet Napolitano, Dolly Parton, Gen. Colin Powell (and his wife), Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Andrew Young.

There are also some foreign political honorees, such as former Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, and some relatively non-controversial figures from Brazil and South Korea.

The threatening, blustering, genocide-denying Davutoglu, from a country with a wretched human rights record, would stand out in the Wilson Center’s Public Service roster like a sore thumb.

It would be an insult to previous awardees.

For its Public Service Award, the WWC had its pick of thousands of principled individuals from the U.S. or elsewhere doing vital humanitarian work, including the recognition and prevention of genocide. Instead, the WWC has engaged in the worst kind of political pandering by selecting Davutoglu.

The Smithsonian and the ATC

The rot may go even higher, up to the WWC‘s parent, the famed Smithsonian Institution, three-quarters of whose annual $1 billion budget comes from taxpayers. It, too, is a member of the genocide-denying American Turkish Council.

The Smithsonian is supposed to be respectful of America’s multi-ethnic heritage and pay homage to our country’s history, part of which is Wilson’s support of Armenians and condemnation of Turkey for committing genocide. There is no good reason for the Smithsonian to be a member of the ATC, which is primarily a lobby for Turkish-affiliated corporations. It should withdraw from the ATC.

And what must the WWC do to return to its Wilsonian roots?

Reforming the WWC

The WWC must abandon its plans to honor Davutoglu. Those who care about Wilson’s legacy—members of Congress, ordinary Americans, and those whose relatives were lost to Turkish genocidal acts—must contact the WWC and insist on this.

Congress and the attorney general must launch investigations into possible conflicts of interest at the WWC, particularly regarding its corporate and Turkish connections. The WWC director and staff must testify under oath.

Wilson Center personnel, and those affiliated with it, particularly scholars, must speak out publicly against pandering to corporations and lobbying organizations.

Those whose business or personal interests may conflict with their WWC role should resign.

The WWC must reject all tainted corporate cash.

Recognized genocide scholars should be invited to speak at the Wilson Center and write in its Wilson Quarterly. The WWC should create a principled program on genocide.

The WWC must establish a meaningful, ongoing dialogue with those persons and their descendants who have been victimized by Turkey’s genocides.

The WWC must return to its Congressional mandate by truly rededicating itself to Wilson’s “ideals, concerns, and accomplishments,” and by advocating against genocide and for the human rights and dignity of all people.

David Boyajian is an Armenian American freelance journalist. He recommends that readers contact the following to protest the WWC’s proposed award to Davutoglu, and the WWC’s overly close relationships with Turkish-affiliated corporations, lobbying organizations, and individuals:

Woodrow Wilson Center:

– President/Director: Lee.Hamilton@WilsonCenter.org

– Executive VP: Mike.VanDusen@WilsonCenter.org

– Outreach VP: Sharon.McCarter@WilsonCenter.org

– Public Affairs: Vicki.Dodson@WilsonCenter.org

– Assistant to the Director: Ken.Nelson@WilsonCenter.org

Special Assistant to the Director: Sean.Singer@WilsonCenter.org

Also:

– Linda St.Thomas, Spokesperson, Smithsonian Institution: stthomasl@si.edu

– The Armenian National Committee of America: anca@anca.org

– The Armenian Assembly of America: info@aaainc.org

– Your U.S. Senator: www.senate.gov/pagelayout/general/one_item_and_teasers/contacting.htm

– Your U.S. Congressman: https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

David Boyajian
David Boyajian is an Armenian American freelance journalist.

26 Comments

  1. The Woodrow Wilson center ought to be ashamed of itself.  But it probably is not so we have to do something about this.  Maybe friendly Congressmen and Senators who fund the WW center could call it and demand change. 

  2. articles like this one SHOW that the ‘great world powers’ haven’t forgotten our genocide. they simply want to BURY IT and US once and for all. we must wake up and react. but more than this, armenians must go on the offensive already.

  3. This is appalling and disgusting – even as the House Foreign Affairs committee passed the resolution under heavy fire from the same lobbyists of the defense contractors and others.  I hope our own organizations will take this up and make it simple for people to send targeted emails that are appropriate

  4. If this is the same Boyajian that I know and from reading this article, i am 100% it is the same Boyajian jan..:) I solute you for writing such an EXCELLENT and outright TRUTHFUL article.  You are such a masterful writer…:)

    I am embarrassed for this organization.. Amot irants.. I hope iranq getina mtnen… what disgrace to the man who stood for justice and truth… it is absolute disgrace.

    I will be sharing this article with everyone on my list and I will start sending e-mails out starting with WWC…

    I am simply flabbergasted on how low one organization can stoop..it is simply disgusting…

    Gayane 

  5. Why isn’t Davutoglu receiving any awards  from the other American Presidents’ centers?  It is really curious that out of all the Presidents it is the Woodraw Wilson Center that is awarding Davutoglu.  Turkish money does wonders doesn’t it?  Or is it that American values are so cheap and easily bought? 
    Davutoglu heads a country that has committed a perfect Genocide.  The Armenian Genocide involved the killing of an entire population for political reasons and for the taking over of their country.  Not only it has gone unpunished, but the perpetrator is actively continuing this Genocide by working on the denial, intimidation, bartering, threatening and cover-up part of it, the goal being to complete a perfect Genocide, with absolutely no punishment.  Turkey is presently massacring an entire nation’s history.  By continuing not to acknowledge  its crime, it is abusing the descendents of the victims by denying them their legal rights and their right for closure.  These acts are inhumane and should be themselves punished.  And Turkey is getting awards for this… from the leader in human rights????!!
    There is a very sad charade being played here.   The United States of America, Britain and Israel who have all the archives on the Genocide and who know very well that a Genocide has been committed are actively taking part in standing in the way of justice and the legal rights of the descendents of the Genocide, again for their own political gains.  Same idea, different package.  Need I say more.  We are working on going through the correct legal channels to get justice for something that the US knows has happened, and yet the US is using illegal tactics and placing unconscionable hurdles to prevent us from getting justice.  Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are.  Were there good Turks?  Absolutely, we owe them our lives.  Are there good Americans?  Plenty, … but so far not enough.

  6. Well, State Department stooges and those sinister shadowy forces representing “internationalist power elites” who manipulate them from various research centers and policy institutes may think, among other considerations, that if Serge Sarkissian was allowed to lay a wreath to Woodrow Wilson’s tomb and make a strong speech, now they should counterbalance Armenians by extending an award to Turk Davutoghlu. These guys see themselves as ‘rulers of the world,’ thinking they can steal God’s authority on Earth as it is in Heaven. In their paranoiac race for total control of the world and manipulation and orchestrastion of many world events, they seem to forget, due to silliness, dim-wittedness, and unholiness, that there’s no such a thing in God-created nature and human life, whether in politics or elsewhere, as total control.

  7. To the racist Editorial Board:

    You’ve gone too far this time!

    I and others have decided to personally contact Google and Yahoo to invite them to come to this site and to see for themselves the biased racism of your board. You have violated the constitutional rights of others. This is the US and not Armenia!! We will also make political calls as well to have this site fully investigated and then SHUT DOWN!!

  8. Robert needs to calm down before he gives himself an aneurysm.  It is time for reasonable open-minded dialogue.

  9. Robert, I don’t know what censorship the moderators  engaged in, but if they are removing known, inflammatory lies that distort history and further injure the survivors and descendants of the first genocide of the 20th century, than I applaud them.  Maybe you should more carefully review your comments before clicking “submit.”  I welcome your thoughts, but let them be well-reasoned, substantiated and truthful.

  10. Robert needs more than that Boyajian..

    Robert is getting on everyone’s nerves with his childish behavior… wow.. do you see any resemblance of his actions to his own Foreign Minister’s actions?  They both have tantrums.. surprise surprise…

    EXCUSE ME ROBERT… just to clarify.. you are definintely correct in saying that we are in US.. this means FREEDOM OF SPEECH…Freedom.. that is the important and crucial WORD.. I understand in Turkey this is not allowed but don’t get US mixed up with Turkey..and threaten with your ignorant and childish tantrums.. Grow up and start acting like a man and look beyond your closed minded state.. start acting like a noble Turk like your many countrymen who are our modern day heros… you will live longer than how you are now…

    I want to know who is “OTHERS” that are plotting this paper/word war against the Armenians??  Wow.. you sure don’t know how to stop huh?? listen.. piece of advice… if you don’t like what you read on our sites.. then GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE.. this is a free country..no one is obligated to kiss your hands and feet… We are NOT forcing you to come into OUR sites and then threaten us for doing something we have the right to.. again.. we are in US.. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.. the land of FREE.. get that??..

    G

  11.  I don’t have time for Robert or for arguing, do you?

    I just did what the article suggested.  I emailed the “Anti-Woodrow Wilson Center for Turkish Lies” and told it what it could do with its award for Davutoglu.
    I then emailed anca@anca.org  and  info@aaainc.org asking them to demand that the Woodrow Wilson Centre change its tune.  When you have to ask an Armenian organization to act, instead of them telling you, things are pretty bad.  No wonder so many Turks laugh at us.  We argue more than we act.  ACT!

  12. Hye JohnK, so you don’t have time to argue with robert the turk! robot.  You did what the article suggested with the award for Davutoglu.  
    Consider,  all the work  accomplished over these years of building up the ANCA to become the grassroots organization to bring together our like-minded members and bringing all those who seek and have the same goals as the ANCA leadership is a great accomplishment.  Who, if not the ANCA…
    You, now, take credit for ‘telling’ an Armenian organization to act… well John,
    how did we accomplish anything at all without you – all these years!  Our grassroots take pride and have been acting and supporting – to the best of each one’s abilities  – for the efforts for our Haiastan, Hai Tad.  Additionally,  opposing elements in the US government, military industries, and many of the great corporations opposed to acknowledging the Turkish Genocide of the Armenian nation – politcally.  (Morality not a consideration).  And, mind you, I’m not arguing – I’m telling you.
    Manooshag

  13. Apres John K… and trust me no one wants to have time for Robert.. but someone had to shut him up because he can’t come in here and demand this and that.. what nerves….ok i am over it…

    I will do the same myself John.. send e-mails to our organizations to act….. I am in the middle of composing an e-mail to WWC.. I am trying not to curse them out so I am taking my time to make sure my e-mail is politically correct…

    Katia K JAN…:) as always you are THE BEST… thank you for the post.. I agree with you 100%…

    Gayane

  14. Dear Manooshag –  no one is taking anything away from ANC or any Armenian group.   People are simply giving them a nudge, which is something that people do all the time to groups that they look to for leadership.  And who’s taking credit?  I just said I would send some emails and I did.

  15. Manoushag, don’t forget that you and John are on the same side!  We need to work our cause from many angles and sometimes the ANCA may also need and appreciate a nudge to act on a current event.  No harm done.

  16. It seems the behind the scenes antics of American big business, lobbyists, and washed up former congressmen have now influenced the decision of an otherwise respected American institution, the WWC. Awarding Davutolglu this award only reinforces in Turkey’s mind its control over our State Dept. and other inner workings of governemtn which in itself should be ashamed of its behavior of putting financial gain over ethical interest of human rights. Has all common sense gone out the window in this country? Human rights activists all over the world should read about this irrational decision and weep. Their good work has been put into reverse and Woodrow Wilson himself would be ashamed and disgusted. They have made a mockery out of human rights. Who will be next to receive this prestigious honor, Adolph Hitler? .

  17. Ayo Serpouhi jan.. absolutely..

    I am writing an e-mail to WWC and will send it to everyone on this planet….

    Thank you
    Gayane

  18. And today,  Hurriyet – http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=us-armenians-seek-to-stop-award-for-davutoglu-2010-05-20
     

  19. It is about time we started to act quickly on matters like this.. it is just unbelievable what it is happening.. we have to do something.. hopefully all this will stop WWC from giving this honor to this man with no heart….. … ….

    Thank you for sharing the links… I just read it….

    I also commented on their site…

    Gayane

  20. I sent a letter to WWICS, received a response from their vice-president explaining that the award is given in recognition of Davutoglu’s ‘individual’ contribution. One may question as to what contribution and for what cause?! They maintained that by honoring Davutoglu they pursue the task of furthering U.S.-Turkish relations and augmenting Turkey’s role in the internatinal community. One may question as to whether there are no multiple diplomatic  levels to further the bilateral agenda? The sensitive point in this adventurism is that the Turkish foreign minister is being honored by the research center that bears the name of a US president who advocated for Armenia and who suggested a set of principles and vision for furthering America’s relations with the countries of the world. Turkey, with its policy of denial of the Armenian genocide, suppression and annihilation of ethnic minorities, and imposition of repressions against those speak the truth by menas of Article 301 clearly does not fit into President Wilson’s vision.

    I also sent a letter to my representative and received a response that he’d look into the matter.

    Our efforts need to be more aggressive on this.

  21. What is the latest  from the ANC  re: which congressmen will lead an investigation re: taxpayer funding and the Wilson Center?

  22. Dear Mr. Boyajian,

    I would like to get your permission to put your article in our web site.

    Thank you

    Michael Sosikian            President 
                                       Defense Council of Western Armenia 

  23. Excellent offer Boyajian jan by Mr. Sosikian…

    I would go for it…

    this article needs to be read by everyone especially by those  who believe US and Turkey epitome of fighting for justice and strong advocate for human rights… HA.. what a joke…….

    Thank you
    Gayane

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