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Harut Sassounian
California Courier Editor
Harut Sassounian is the publisher of The California Courier, a weekly newspaper based in Glendale, Calif. He is the president of the Armenia Artsakh Fund, a non-profit organization that has donated to Armenia and Artsakh one billion dollars of humanitarian aid, mostly medicines, since 1989 (including its predecessor, the United Armenian Fund). He has been decorated by the presidents of Armenia and Artsakh and the heads of the Armenian Apostolic and Catholic churches. He is also the recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
Everything online points to his being a member of Zionist groups. Nothing online suggests he has any connection to Armenia or Armenians. Apart from his name, why does Harut think he might be Armenian?
I have met Iranians, Azeris, and others from the region whose names end in -ian. But he could be Armenian. Why should we be surprised that there might be a few Armenians who will do anything for financial gain? A more interesting question is why the Turks would hire his firm. Is there a strategic reason for hiring a firm with an Armenian (maybe) at the helm?
What is truly shameful is making a career out of hatred. We should all be looking to foster understanding and reconciliation not further stoke the flames of undying enmity. Grow up (its never too late) and come out of your hate filled silo. It really is worth it, you may find that you will leave a much more enduring and positive legacy than the very sad one you are engaged in.
I agree with you, have your people return back to armenians what belongs to us, land, cash, and other property, and offer an honest heart felt apology, and then we can reconcile
He is a Hurya
Despite the name, it seems he is not Armenian. Funny, he even has a wikipedia article. It states there that not only is he a Jew, but also a Zionist hardliner. This means that not only is he not Armenian, he is our enemy by default. The wiki info is most likely factual. Looks like “Turkey chose the right person”…
But I found a quote by him from 2010 about the Israeli-Turkish Mavi Marmara incident:
“The fact that the UN saw fit to hold an emergency security council session to condemn Israel is nothing new,” said Ronn Torossian, a renowned New York publicist and a board member of RAJE. “It is cesspool of Jew hatred and what these so called peace activists on the Turkish vessel pulled off was nothing short of a cleverly devised anti-Semitic lynching” he added.”
Ronn Torossian’s mother is Jewish, not Armenian.
His Father is Armenian Mother is american Jew, Long Story
He carries an Armenian name but doubtful he has Armenian blood.
Who, other than Harut Sassounian, is claiming Ronn Torossian is Armenian? Even a casual search reveals he is a Jewish extremist, with some of the sources for this going back a decade, such as https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2008/10/the-jewish-extremists-behind-quot-obsession-quot/9006/ Mr Sassounian need to find better excuses for article writing than first making an absurd suggestion (that Torossian is Armenian) and then asking an absurd question, does his actions mean he is is not a “real” Armenian. Sassunian’s ideology that there are some Armenians who are “real Armenians” and some who are not should be more troubling here than news that a for-hire hack is writing whatever his paymaster Erdogan asks him to write.
Harut Sassounian needs no defense from me, but if you think he is disloyal to Armenians, or works for Erdogan, you are uninformed, which is surely the kindest thing I can think to say about you. Maybe you work at a Turkish troll farm.
Steve,
Please do not distort my words and read my column again, particularly the title. I did not question if Torossian is a “real” Armenian, but is he “really” an Armenian? There is a big difference between these two questions.
However, Harut, nobody except you appears to be asking the “is he” question, so any difference in meaning between “is he a real Armenian?” and “is he really Armenian?” makes no difference regarding whether the headline is appropriate. Detailing Torossian’s connections and employers and the various dirty little relationships these lobbying firms have is very valuable and needs to be done – and thank you for doing it – but why diminish that value with this silly “is he really Armenian” hook? JDA – I was obviously NOT accusing the author of the article of working for Erdogan, I was saying the SUBJECT of the article, Ronn Torossian, is.
Ronn Torossian’s father is ARMENIAN.
This is well-known in the New York community.
His mother is Jewish.
They are divorced.
So Harut Sassounian has good reason to write what he did. Apologize to Harut.
I didn’t feel that Mr “Sassunian’s ideology that there are some Armenians who are “real Armenians” and some who are not”, to be concerning at all, whether Mr Sassounian meant it that way or not. He clearly stated he didn’t and you still won’t let go of this nonsense and waste of time making baseless charges.
How about if a person had no Armenian blood, and next changed their name to an Armenian one for the purpose of deception. Would that then merit such a question, or are you one of those now claiming “one can be an Armenian if they just think it” type of deal?
In case you didn’t realize it, this article posed this question, because it is unfathomable that an ‘Armenian’, would start working for Erdogan to disseminate his propaganda who very clearly denies the Genocide and that can potentially be very concerning. You are attempting to turn this into something else.
Frankly, if I were Armenian, I’d concern myself more with why “real” Armenians are investing in Bulgaria while their own country is being sold off to foreign “investors.” http://hetq.am/eng/news/83109/bulgarian-businesses-and-real-estate-owned-by-armenian-officials-and-their-relatives.html
I read the article and see no proof of wrongdoing. Despite the fact that Armenia will benefit if the investments were made within, the obligation of any corporate board of governors is to it’s shareholders.
There is nothing wrong or illegal about investing in countries where it makes economic sense.
BTW, Gagik Tsarukyan does more for the people of Armenia, philanthrophically that is, than the government. So, trying to cast some shadow on his character is not only untrue, but is slanderous.
Having said that, if any of these investors have gotten their funds via corrupt practices they should be investigated and prosecuted.
This is about patrilineal vs matrilineal Jewish Law.
According to Jewish Tradition, particularly Orthodox of which Torossian belongs, you are not a “real Jew” unless your mother is. Since this is a racial law based on custom and not a “religious” one, (despite what they may claim), in the past centuries, no one paid attention to this and everyone accepted that this is their law. In today’s age though, this is a racist concept, and brings into question the religiosity of ‘Judaism’ and merely turns it into an ethnicity with set rules and laws.
In Reform Judaism, in contrast to Orthodox or Conservative, they are typically left-leaning, democrat party voting majority in the USA. This is why some people find it confusing why the majority of Jews are irate that Trump became president, despite that Trump’s family is now related to Jews. Well, if one understands the difference between Reform and Orthodox Jews, it starts to make sense. (It’s interesting that Trump’s daughter actually became Orthodox, an exception to the rule, if you are prominent enough I guess.)
Somewhere along the line, Reform Jews started to see that they are losing members because their community was not accepting Jews as Jews unless their mother was, and many Jews with non-Jewish mothers resented feeling outcast in the community (this also meant losing about %50 of those Jews marrying outside their race). For this reason, Reform Jews accept the patrilineal line in addition to the matrilineal line. Thus in the case of the Orthodox and Torossian, it is irrelevant who his father is, provided that his mother is Jewish.
Note: according to my research thus far, the matrilineal law is apparently a random custom, with no Biblical basis. It was merely adopted by an early Rabbi, and in their law, “Rabbinical laws cannot be changed once formulated”. Probably the underlying logic was that this was one form of discouraging Jewish men from marrying non-Jewish women.