An Exception to Western Media

David Boyajian, Massachusetts, 15 January 2015

The global Armenian nation is truly fortunate to have founder Dr. Dikran Abrahamian and editorialist-essayist Jirair Tutunjian manning the helm at Keghart, a courageous, independent opinion and information leader dedicated to the Armenian cause and human rights.

Of this compendium’s many wit-filled, hard-hitting, thought-provoking pieces, these are some of my favorites:

The First Volley:
Eleven concise and useful rebuttals of Turkey’s absurd denials of the Armenian genocide.

Think Tanks and Septic Tanks:
Links the Turkic Alliance of America to the multi-billion dollar Gϋlen conglomerate (headed by renegade Turkish Imam Fethullah Gϋlen, holed up in small-town Pennsylvania), and to the obscurely-named Rethink Institute, a Turkic think tank in Washington, DC.

Letter to the Editor:
Twenty-four great suggestions to Armenian letter writers.  #1: Make it snappy; don’t go over 200 words; make the editor’s job easy by writing a crisp and intelligent letter.  #24: Whether your letter is published or not, share it with Armenian media and organizations.

Informing, Influencing Odar Media:
Fifteen brief tips for Armenian writers and organizations that wish to publish material about our cause in non-Armenian media.  # 6: Don’t assume that the media know much about the Genocide; spoon-feed them the facts of the Genocide and Ankara’s denialist stand.

Celebrating Our Victories:
Among the many Diasporan victories to celebrate and learn from: Pro-Azeri resolutions in Hawaii, Tennessee, and Wyoming that went up in smoke thanks to the timely efforts of Armenian individuals and organizations.

Misnomers Galore:
Informative and entertaining.  Things called Turkish that aren’t, such as coffee, which derives its name from Kaffa province in Ethiopia.  The geographical term Anatolia isn’t Turkish (Ana Dolu – pregnant mother) but rather Greek, meaning sunrise/rising/eastward.

New Evidence of German Guilt and German Doctor Condemns Ottoman Turkey: 
These bring to mind a rarely-asked question: How long will Germany escape responsibility for abetting its then (and now) Turkish ally in the Genocide?

The Wobbling Pillar:
A case for greater support for Armenian elementary and high schools in the Diaspora.

NCWA 2^nd General Annual Meeting Covers Wide Range of Issues:
An introduction to the National Congress of Western Armenians, a little-known organization fighting for justice.

Parsing French FM’s Code Language:
Slices, dices, and flushes French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius down the
drain for his disgraceful kowtowing to Turkey on the Armenian Genocide.

Twice-told Story 800 Years Apart:
France has been betraying Armenians for centuries, and in many ways it still does.  Laurent Fabius couldn’t care less.

The Mysterious Case of the Vanishing Aliyev Statue:
A funny take on the grotesque statue of the late KGB officer and Azerbaijani dictator (1993 – 2003), Heydar Aliyev.  Azerbaijan blackmailed Mexico into accepting the thing.  But Mexico doesn’t want it, and so has moved it.   The most appropriate location would be a landfill.

Queen Melisende and Her Three Sisters:
A fascinating piece of Crusader history about this beautiful half-Armenian queen and her diplomatic machinations.

Eastmania, Westmania, Armenia:
A much-needed, easily digestible list of the pluses and minuses of Armenia’s relations with Russia and the United States.

Who’s Winning the Lobby War:
Explores the Turkish lobby’s crude, but too often effective, propaganda efforts in Canada, and the need for more political activism by Canadian Armenians and their organizations.

Encounters with Unsung Armenians:
Legendary mystery writer Agatha Christie and famed author Evelyn Waugh — both British — travel to Syria and Ethiopia and explain their remarkable encounters with Armenians.

Catholicos Karekin II Stands Accused:
Twenty-three allegations to which the Supreme Patriarch is obliged to respond.

Standard Hollywood Double-Standard:
Hollywood and President Obama were livid that Sony Pictures caved in to North Korean threats by, at least initially, not releasing its spoof film The Interview.  Yet Turkish threats in the 1930s stopped MGM’s production of The Forty Days of Musa Dagh (a famed Armenian resistance stand) and prevented the British from filming Revolt in the Desert (about “Lawrence of Arabia”).  Turkey and North Korea make a nice censorious couple.

Villains, Heroes of 2014:
Among the heroes: The courageous, besieged Armenians of Aleppo, Armenia, and Artsakh; British barrister and genocide author Geoffrey Robertson; and Argentina for “giving the brush-off to Turkish anti-Armenian lobbying.”  Among the villains:  Britain’s corrupt, pro-Azeri Prince Andrew; Armenia’s robber-baron oligarchs; pro-Azeri agent Dr. Brenda Shaffer; and Azeri President and blowhard Ilham Aliyev (“aka Baby Aliyev”). You will surely have your own favorites.

In an age when mainstream Western journalism increasingly resembles court stenography, Keghart stands out as an exception.  Abris to Keghart.