Fwd: Message from and to Harut Sassounian
Kayaalp Buyukataman
From: Ferruh Demirmen <fdem...@sbcglobal.net>
Date: Tue, Apr 26, 2022 at 9:54 AM
Subject: Message from and to Harut Sassounian
To: Kayaalp Buyukataman <kbuyuk...@gmail.com>
Dear Kaya Bey,
Thank you for passing on Harut Sassounian’s message on California Gov. Newsom’s declaration. https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-Armenian-Genocide-Remembrance-Day.pdf. I suppose he sent that message to you so that you would pass it on to some of us. We learn from his message that the Governor has declared April 24, 2022 as “A day remembrance” for the so-called Armenian genocide. So, what is the big deal?
Is there any doubt that this is just a dirty political payback, that has nothing to do with truth, honesty and decency? We know that when, on May 26, 2020, Gov. Newsom rejected the parole of ANCA-WR’s protégée Hampig Sassounian, on grounds that the terrorist was not fit to be released, the Armenian community in California, led by ANCA-WR, was very upset. But when the Los Angeles Superior Court reversed the Governor’s decision on March 10, 2021, the Governor chose not to appeal. The Governor directed his decision not to the press – as would be the normal thing to do - but directly to ANCA-WR. Why so? The simple reason was that ANCA-WR had decided to support Gov. Newsom in his bid to retain his governorship in the California Recall Election, and urged the Armenian community in California to do likewise.
The Governor won, and everything was again sweet and dandy between the Governor and ANCA-WR. To show his gratitude, the Governor not only decided not to appeal the court’s decision, but announced that he had launched Governor’s “Council on Holocaust and Genocide Education.” The meeting between the Governor and ANCA after the Recall Election was a love-fest: https://asbarez.com/governor-newsom-launches-council-on-holocaust-and-genocide-education/ With all that camaraderie, I suspect Gov. Newsome, if it was in his power, would declare California as the “Great State of Armenia!”
Terrorist Sassounian’s parole was a big disappointment even for the US State Department. https://www.state.gov/the-expected-parole-of-hampig-harry-sassounian/ But that is another subject which I will not delve into. The point is, as usual, the “genocide” fabrication and support they find among the politicians in Europe and America are no more than political kickbacks driven by anti-Turkish, ani-Muslim bigotry and Armenian propaganda. They have nothing to do with truth and honesty. A point made to that end by the Court of Justice of the European Union as far back as 2003 – confirmed on appeal in 2004. https://curia.europa.eu/juris/showPdf.jsf?docid=71894&doclang=EN. And no less important, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on October 15, 2015 that, unlike the Holocaust, the alleged Armenian genocide is merely an opinion, not a court-proven fact.
Harut is well familiar with the ECHR’s decision, as he hailed it almost as a “victory” for the Armenian side! Not only that, while presenting the “2015 Advocates for Justice Award” to Geoffrey Robertson and Mrs. Amal Clooney, he praised these judicial heroes for their wonderful performances at the ECHR hearings! Harut did that as the ANCA-WR Advisory Board Member.
https://anca.org/over-1400-gather-to-celebrate-anca-wrs-most-momentous-year-at-annual-gala/
Does Harut know that the ECHR 2013 and 2015 judgments are now being taught as exemplary decisions at the European universities on the subject of international relations, freedom of speech, human rights, and European law? Surely a “victory” for the Armenian side! For his enlightenment Harut would do well if he also reads France’s Constitutional Council decision of 2016 on the distinction between Holocaust and “Armenian genocide,” and underlying the fact that governments and parliaments have no authority to judge the crime of genocide. That includes the U.S. Congress, President Biden, and Governor Gavin Newsom.
While on the subject Kaya Bey, perhaps you can direct my query to Mr. Harut as to what he thinks about hate crimes committed recently in California and New York: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-california-men-indicted-hate-crimes-case-alleging-they-attacked-family-owned-restaurant
https://nypost.com/2022/04/21/nyc-man-arrested-for-alleged-hells-kitchen-stabbing-cops-say/
If Harut cannot answer, perhaps he, as one ANCA-WR Advisory Board Member to another, could direct the question to the respectable Mr. Mourad Topalian. After all, a man with a certain past, but of high sanding in the Armenian community, Topalian, just like Hampig, is an alumni of AYF, the Armenian Youth Federation. What a coincidence!
Please also ask Harut whether he knew the late Edward Tashji, a man of courage who refused to follow the familiar Dashnak playbook and spoke the truth. Tashji even wrote books that the likes of Harut should read: https://www.amazon.com/Books-Edward-Tashji/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AEdward+Tashji
Speaking of Harut’s most recent article,
My only comment is, the disgrace belongs to those who, year after year, perpetuate the same lie and get away with it.
F. Demirmen
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