Turkish Anti-Armenian Lobbying Extends to City of Armenia in Colombia

The Breitbart website published an article by Frances Martel describing the Turkish lobbying efforts in the Colombian city of Armenia which was founded in 1889 and originally called Villa Holguín. According to Wikipedia, the South American city changed its name to Armenia “in memory of the Armenian people murdered by the Turkish Ottomans in the Hamidian Massacres of 1894-97 and later the Armenian Genocide of 1915-23.” Some scholars dispute this assertion, ascribing the origin of the city’s name to the Biblical reference to Armenia.

Ece Ozturk Cil, the Turkish Ambassador in Bogota, Colombia, sent two letters on December 14, 2018 and January 11, 2019 to the mayor of Armenia, Colombia, inviting him and 10 city council members to visit Turkey as official guests of the Turkish government.

On February 3, 2019, during a special Sunday night session, Armenia’s City Council by a vote of 12 to six approved the visit of Mayor Oscar Castellanos and nine city council members to Turkey, between February 6 and 13, 2019. During the trip, the mayor and city council members of Armenia met with the mayors of Istanbul and Ankara, the Chairman of the Turkish Parliament and visited the Center of Latin American Studies at the University of Ankara. They also met with Turkish businessmen and visited the Blue Mosque and the Grand Bazaar.

The trip generated a major controversy in Colombia. Many residents of the city of Armenia objected to the visit, because of the absence of the mayor and the nine city council members at a time when the city was in economic disarray and mismanaged. Five mayors of Armenia had been ousted in the past three years due to corruption. The citizens felt that the new mayor should have stayed home and taken care of the business of the city. The Regional Prosecutor General opened an investigation into the Turkish trip to review the violations committed by the mayor and the council members. They should also be investigated to establish what bribes or gifts they received from their “generous” Turkish hosts while visiting Turkey.

The local Colombian publication Semana confirmed the link between Armenia (Colombia), Turkey and genocide: “…It turns out that the [city] council of Armenia, [Colombia], decided through Agreement 08 of 2014, to recognize the Armenian Genocide and as such declare April 24 as the official commemorative date, in solidarity with the country that bears the same name as the Colombian city. Subsequently, the Council ratified these links in Minutes 075 of 2015, through which they sought to establish ties of friendship with the Republic of Armenia…”

In response to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Semana explained that “everything seems to indicate that the background of this invitation from the Turkish government is to provide the council members with the other version of a painful historical episode that points to that country as responsible for genocide.”

Semana reported: “As will be remembered, what is known today as the Armenian Genocide happened in 1915 during the First World War and although the figures are still under discussion, there is talk of a minimum of 300,000 and a maximum of 1.5 million deaths. The victims of that extermination were the Armenian people and they point as their executioner to the Ottoman Turkish Empire, today’s Turkey.”

Semana wondered if as a consequence of the city officials’ trip to Turkey they may decide to repeal the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

In the meantime, the only new development since the trip is a mural of a man wearing Ottoman-era clothing on the side of Armenia’s city council building. Breitbart reported that the mural has “no historical correlation to the city” and “is confusing and angering many residents…. The regional newspaper La Crónica de Quindío reported that locals appear baffled, and some outraged, by the expensive mural, which they find irrelevant to their heritage.”

Breitbart quoted a local woman named Maricela Montes telling La Cronica: “I don’t really understand what Armenia [the Colombian city] has to do with Turkey. I think that what they need is to pay back favors for that little trip they took…. It is not logical that something like this would be painted on such a pretty department.”

The newspaper quoted another resident as saying that he is not angry, but merely “confused.” Jorge Jaramillo told La Cronica: “We are confused because we don’t understand what a sultan has to do with Armenia [the city]. What is happening to us? Please, serious statesmen have to take the reins of this city. This is truly horrible for our capital.” City Councilman Luis Guillermo Agudelo told El Tiempo: “the mural is an absurdity…. This is a public building that has a very important connotation…. This is where our gallery was, and now they are totally changing its identity.”

El Tiempo reported that “the council is not only considering cultural favors to Turkey. They are now openly debating amending the 2014 declaration the city passed recognizing the Armenian genocide,” according to Breitbart.

So far, the Turkish invitation has backfired on Turkey because it has generated a lot of discussion about the Armenian Genocide in the Colombian media and has gotten the mayor and the city council members in legal trouble.

It is incumbent on the Armenian Republic’s Ambassador to Brazil, who is also accredited to Colombia, to initiate an immediate action to counter the Turkish lobbying efforts. A similar action has to be undertaken by the Armenian communities in South America. They should also ensure that the City Council does not repeal its earlier decision to recognize the Armenian Genocide and gets rid of the Ottoman mural.

Harut Sassounian

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.

5 Comments

  1. Money tampered with Armenian blood and the income of confiscated Armenian properties working at the end for Armenians. No matter what turkey does, this blood stained money works for Armenians by bringing so much attention and making the turkish atrocities known at places where people are ignorant about the subject.
    Interestingly enough mu son and daughter in law, who is from Colombia started importing coffee from Armenia region and named it Coffee Armenia, with the story how the region was named Armenia because of the Hamidiam massacres. It’s a small step but will continue spreading the work for Armenia. visit coffeearmenia.com to learn about it.

  2. Thank You, Harut, for another fine and revealing editorial article. Since the 80s, I’ve been a loyal reader of your weekly newspaper, The California Courier. Your work has been a vital aspect of my Armenian Diaspora Experience, because it keeps me well informed about things that would otherwise slip by me. You’ve done well to draw our attention deeper into the ungodly genocide denial practice of Turkey and Azerbaijan.

    As a Half-Blood Diaspora Armenian, it has somewhat difficult for me to go deeper than the periphery of the community, especially because my surname isn’t Armenian. But, my mom was a dedicated San Francisco Chapter AGBU President for many years, and she also was the Secretary on the Armenian Church Alliance Committee that purchased the Mount Davidson Cross from San Francisco.

    Yes, clearly Turkey has been spending an astronomical amount of money and time to saturate the world with its criminally fake genocide denial rhetoric. A crummy thing about it is that Turks pretend to not care about it, but when we follow the money we can clearly see that modern day Turkey does take it very seriously, and their genocide denial endeavors are a criminal act of abetting the original Young Turk Perpetrators whom actually did the killing.

    During the 1980s and 90s here in Northern California, it was a commonplace site to see “Colombian Armenian Supremo Coffee” among many retailers whom were selling gourmet coffee. Having become acquainted with the coffee, I looked more deeply into it, and discovered that Colombia does indeed have a city called Armenia. This is clearly another case of Turkish Bribery, and the People of Colombia should prosecute such politicians for corruption.
    .

  3. As a US citizen with Colombian ethnicity, I wholeheartedly agree with your comments. Just like the Jewish genocide should never be forgotten, neither does the Armenian genocide by the Turkish Ottomans. City of Armenia was named after the Armenian genocide and that is how it should remain. Turkish bribery and attempted bribery should always be exposed wherever they be.

  4. My name is Juan Carlos Holguin I was born in Armenia, Quindio, Colombia, South America, my family are descendants of the Holguin’s from the 1800’s… we have a bed and breakfast call “Villa Holguin” in Armenia, Colombia.
    My father worked exporting coffee , from Armenia to USA and Europe; the best coffee was ” Armenia Excelso” type klaus sent to Germany…now I work in Los Angeles repairing crashed cars and I have to deal everyday with a lot Armenian adjuster, some of them believe me, some of them don’t believe that “I am from Armenia” (Colombia)…how can not protect the legacy of our soulmates Armenian massacred and their descendants …you save Christianity, you were the first official Christian Country, you were part of the beginning of humanity… I am proud to be Armenian ! ( Colombian )

    • Thank you Carlos for your honest reply, I hope one day you will visit Armenia and see how warm we welcome you.

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