“It is alleged that the American continent was discovered by Columbus in 1492. In fact, Muslim sailors reached the American continent 314 years before Columbus in 1178. …In his memoirs, Christopher Columbus mentions the existence of a mosque atop a hill on the coast of Cuba. A mosque would look perfect on that hill today.”

In 2011, when The Lincy Foundation closed its doors, unfounded and false rumors began circulating about the supposed reasons for its closure. The fact is that Mr. Kerkorian had planned all along that at a certain advanced age he would no longer deal with the deluge of daily requests for funding from around the world and distribute the bulk of his wealth after his passing.

Armenians worldwide applauded the Cilician Catholicosate for filing a lawsuit in the Turkish Constitutional Court on April 27, demanding the return of its historic seat in Sis, Kozan district of Turkey’s Adana province. The Cilician See’s former headquarters, established in 1293, was confiscated by the Turkish government in 1921, at the culmination of the Armenian Genocide.

The indictment charges that in 2010 Hastert secretly met one of his former students and agreed to pay him $3.5 million to secure his silence for “past misconduct”, when he was a wrestling coach at the Yorkville High School in Illinois from 1965 to 1981. Since that meeting, Hastert, 73, paid him $1.7 million by withdrawing initially $50,000 at a time from several banks, and after being questioned by bank officials, he reduced each withdrawal to just under $10,000, to evade the banks’ reporting requirements.

In a lengthy article titled, “10 members of Congress took trip secretly funded by foreign government,” The Washington Post disclosed last week the scandalous details of an all-expenses paid trip to a conference in Azerbaijan by 10 lawmakers and 32 staff members in 2013. Former top aides to Pres. Obama -- Robert Gibbs, Jim Messina and David Plough – also attended the conference as guest speakers.

Pres. Sargsyan is clearly indicating that as a head of state, demanding land from Turkey -- a powerful and menacing neighbor -- could have serious consequences on Armenia’s national security, which is not the case when such claims are made by individuals or organizations.

While Americana’s apology was welcome, this hastily posted note misrepresented its wrongful action by calling it a ‘misunderstanding.’ Strangely, the shopping center did not bother to contact the tenants to inform them that the ban on sale of genocide-related clothing was lifted. 

Pres. Obama could lay the foundation for improved Armenian-Turkish relations based on truth and justice, in line with a pending resolution in the House of Representatives, and his previous April 24 statements, declaring that “a full, frank, and just acknowledgement of the facts is in all of our interests.” Pres. Obama’s visit would also encourage Turkish human rights activists to continue their arduous task of assisting the Government of Turkey to reckon with the darkest pages of its past. 

The selection committee of this special award is co-chaired by George Clooney and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel. The committee also includes former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, UN Secretary-General's Advisor on Genocide Prevention Gareth Evans, human rights activist Hina Jilani, and Dr. Gregorian.

Justice Department’s records also reveal that Gephardt and O’Connell traveled to Istanbul and Ankara on Turkish Airlines on March 3, 2014 to meet Turkey’s National Security Advisor. Gephardt flew from Paris to Istanbul and Ankara at a round trip cost of $1,513, while O’Connell flew from Washington, DC to Istanbul and Ankara at a round trip cost of $6,986. The two lobbyists stayed at the Conrad Hotel in Istanbul for three nights at the cost of $710 each. While in Turkey, they spent $600 on limousine service.

During the last 13 years, Erdogan gradually turned into a corrupt despot, assuming the airs of a modern-day Ottoman Sultan. Was he a wolf in sheep’s clothing to start with, or was he spoiled by the international community’s blind support and lavish praise? Notably, Pres. Obama had called Erdogan one of five world leaders with whom he felt especially close. Obama and other heads of state have finally realized that the monster they created is out of the bottle and out of control! The primary victim of misplaced trust in Erdogan was none other than Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad.

The Presidents of the Republics of Armenia and Artsakh along with leaders of major Diasporan organizations issued an unprecedented joint declaration last week, announcing the preparation of a comprehensive dossier of “legal claims” from Turkey to restore “individual, communal and pan-Armenian rights and legitimate interests.”

Feller further asserts that "Arye Gut has for quite a long time been at the service of the Azerbaijani propaganda machine, and is a member of the Azerbaijan-Israel International Association. Alexander Murinson takes as a reality his doctoral thesis that Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Israel are an entente alliance -- and develops the idea that the enemy of one of these states is the enemy of all three."

The Turkish media failed to point out that if the Court of Appeals ruled against Sudjian’s claim, she could then take her case to the European Court of Human Rights. A positive ruling from ECHR would open the floodgates of lawsuits by Armenians worldwide whose ancestors had properties that were confiscated by the Turkish government during the Armenian Genocide.

Dogu Perincek, leader of the Turkish Workers’ Party, failed last week to repeat in Greece the denialist show he orchestrated in Switzerland 10 years ago. Along with members of his blasphemous Talat Pasha Committee, Perincek had planned to travel to Athens to challenge the recent Greek law banning denial of the Armenian Genocide. He dreamed of becoming ‘a hero’ by filing a lawsuit against Greece in the European Court of Human Rights after his anticipated arrest for violating that law.
 

Over a year ago, a handful of young Armenians formed the American Armenian Rose Float Association and embarked on an ambitious project that many Armenians had contemplated for a long time, but no one had tried. They decided to enter the first Armenian float in 126 years in the world famous Rose Parade in Pasadena, California.

Some readers may wonder how a woman described by Elle magazine as having "stunning looks, flirty dresses, tailored pants, colorful heels, and gorgeous hair” is involved in such a complex legal matter? It may be astonishing to most people that Amal Alamuddin, now Mrs. Clooney, is much more than a pretty face! In fact, she is perfectly qualified for this critical assignment.

The JNS.org website (Jewish and Israel news) posted a venomous, anti-Armenian article by Arye Gut with a bombastic headline: "Anti-Semitism in Armenia: A Clear and Present Danger.” Dozens of Azeri and Turkic media outlets rushed to reprint this Armenophobic propaganda, stressing that it originated from a ‘popular’ Jewish news source. The article may have been written in Baku, planted in Israeli and Jewish publications, and then reprinted in Azerbaijan to lead readers into thinking that it comes from an objective third party source.

I was asked by several reputable individuals in leadership positions in Armenia and Diaspora to comment on this controversy hoping to calm down the tense atmosphere. I consented, not because I believe that my column would resolve the immediate problem, but to address the larger issues facing the Armenian nation at this critical juncture in our history.

In recent years, a growing number of Turkish intellectuals, scholars, journalists and human rights activists have taken bold positions on the Armenian Genocide, in opposition to their government’s denials. Although their number is small and their influence on Pres. Erdogan negligible, the fight for truth and justice has to be carried on two fronts: within and outside Turkey. Hopefully, over time, the ranks of such liberal Turks would enlarge, forcing their government to implement reforms on a variety of issues, including the Armenian Genocide.