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BLOCK'S STANCE ON ETHICS STATEMENT CONCERNS ARMENIAN COMMUNITY
Daily Bruin: University of California - Los Angeles
May 23, 2014 Friday
by Natalie Kalbakian Razmig Sarkissian Khachig Joukhajian
Many Armenian Bruins and alumni feel that the email statement
Chancellor Gene Block sent to the campus on May 16 does not
meaningfully participate with the reality of the Joint Statement of
Undergraduate Students Association Council Ethics circulated among
student government candidates.
The issue is accountability for members of student government, as
well as preventing the Armenian community from coming under attack by
external lobbying organizations, namely from the Republic of Turkey,
which is heavily invested in the historical revisionism of the
Armenian genocide, and from the Republic of Azerbaijan, which denies
the self-determination of the Armenian people of Nagorno-Karabakh
(Artsakh) and promotes anti-Armenian hate speech on a national level.
Students and organizations, including the Armenian Students'
Association, asked USAC candidates to pledge not to take free trips
from lobbying organizations that marginalize students. The original
statement asserted that representatives should not accept gifts from
any non-student organization with a history of discrimination based
on race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, etc.
Former councilmember Sunny Singh accepted a free trip by the
Anti-Defamation League, an organization that is on the record as
opposing the United States' recognition of the Armenian genocide.
Armenian students also raised concerns earlier this year about a
councilmember accepting a free trip to the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee Policy Conference. During this year's conference,
Azerbaijani Ambassador Elin Suleymanov spoke at the "New Allies:
Israel and the Caucasus Region" panel and later engaged UCLA students
in a closed-door meeting where he discussed Armenian-Azeri issues.
Armenian Bruins were extremely concerned that any organization calling
itself credible would give a platform to Suleymanov, who represents
a country that in 2012 added to its egregious human rights record
by extraditing Azerbaijani Lt. Ramil Safarov. Safarov was serving a
life sentence for axe-murdering Gurgen Margaryan, an Armenian officer,
in his sleep during a NATO program. Azerbaijan's government pardoned
him of his life sentence and greeted him as a national hero. Bruins
at this conference, ignorant of this political context, took pictures
with Suleymanov and praised him via social media. After this sensitive
issue was brought up at a council meeting during winter quarter,
the councilmember asserted that it was within his right to attend
such a conference on his own time while in office.
Block's blanket statement that these trips are only educational in
nature concerns Armenian Bruins. If we are to allow external political
lobbies for foreign governments to buy free trips to parts of the
world for our elected student government representatives, the door
is wide open for the Armenian community to be targeted and attacked.
The Turkish and Azerbaijani lobbies (which in fact work closely with
lobbies already criticized in the ethics statement) are throwing
money at elected legislative representatives on a local, state and
national level, and have historically turned the campus into political
battlegrounds.
Most recently, a Tennessee news station discovered that a lawmaker
introduced an anti-Armenian bill just two weeks after receiving
$10,000 in campaign contributions from donors with ties to the
Azerbaijani community.
In 2011, then-Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) was accused of accepting
"blood money" from the Turkish government in return for her opposition
of a bill recognizing Armenian genocide.
In the late 1990s, Armenian UCLA students successfully brought
about the rejection of an agreement signed between the international
studies department and the Turkish Foundation, an arm of the Turkish
government, which included a $1 million endowment for the establishment
of a chair in Ottoman and Turkish studies, out of fear that money
from foreign governments may facilitate the revision of history.
In light of all these political realities, Armenian Bruins are
extremely sensitive to any perceived conflicts of interest from any
of their elected representatives. This sensitivity is no different on
the student government council table, which is why we demand elected
representatives be held accountable for their actions.
The events that have transpired on the council table this year around
conflicts of interest are an embarrassment to this campus community.
No elected councilmembers should receive a free trip anywhere while
they are representing students unless it is directly for advocacy on
student issues. There should be nothing controversial about that.
Block's email leaves Armenian students on this campus feeling uneasy
about his commitment to accountability, or any of these crucial issues
for the Armenian cause, which have been upheld by the California
Assembly when it officially recognized the state of Artsakh and
encouraged the implementation of Armenian genocide education in its
state curriculum.
The Armenian Students' Association demands Block reaffirm his
commitment to the accountability of students by students. The Armenian
Students' Association further demands that Block recognize the
self-determination of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh and reaffirm
his commitment to the recognition of the Armenian genocide by the
United States of America.
Kalbakian is the vice president of the Armenian Students Association
at UCLA and a second-year political science student. Joukhajian is
the political activism chair of the Armenian Students Association
and a fourth-year philosophy student. Sarkissian is an alumnus and
the former president of the Armenian Students Association.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Daily Bruin: University of California - Los Angeles
May 23, 2014 Friday
by Natalie Kalbakian Razmig Sarkissian Khachig Joukhajian
Many Armenian Bruins and alumni feel that the email statement
Chancellor Gene Block sent to the campus on May 16 does not
meaningfully participate with the reality of the Joint Statement of
Undergraduate Students Association Council Ethics circulated among
student government candidates.
The issue is accountability for members of student government, as
well as preventing the Armenian community from coming under attack by
external lobbying organizations, namely from the Republic of Turkey,
which is heavily invested in the historical revisionism of the
Armenian genocide, and from the Republic of Azerbaijan, which denies
the self-determination of the Armenian people of Nagorno-Karabakh
(Artsakh) and promotes anti-Armenian hate speech on a national level.
Students and organizations, including the Armenian Students'
Association, asked USAC candidates to pledge not to take free trips
from lobbying organizations that marginalize students. The original
statement asserted that representatives should not accept gifts from
any non-student organization with a history of discrimination based
on race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, etc.
Former councilmember Sunny Singh accepted a free trip by the
Anti-Defamation League, an organization that is on the record as
opposing the United States' recognition of the Armenian genocide.
Armenian students also raised concerns earlier this year about a
councilmember accepting a free trip to the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee Policy Conference. During this year's conference,
Azerbaijani Ambassador Elin Suleymanov spoke at the "New Allies:
Israel and the Caucasus Region" panel and later engaged UCLA students
in a closed-door meeting where he discussed Armenian-Azeri issues.
Armenian Bruins were extremely concerned that any organization calling
itself credible would give a platform to Suleymanov, who represents
a country that in 2012 added to its egregious human rights record
by extraditing Azerbaijani Lt. Ramil Safarov. Safarov was serving a
life sentence for axe-murdering Gurgen Margaryan, an Armenian officer,
in his sleep during a NATO program. Azerbaijan's government pardoned
him of his life sentence and greeted him as a national hero. Bruins
at this conference, ignorant of this political context, took pictures
with Suleymanov and praised him via social media. After this sensitive
issue was brought up at a council meeting during winter quarter,
the councilmember asserted that it was within his right to attend
such a conference on his own time while in office.
Block's blanket statement that these trips are only educational in
nature concerns Armenian Bruins. If we are to allow external political
lobbies for foreign governments to buy free trips to parts of the
world for our elected student government representatives, the door
is wide open for the Armenian community to be targeted and attacked.
The Turkish and Azerbaijani lobbies (which in fact work closely with
lobbies already criticized in the ethics statement) are throwing
money at elected legislative representatives on a local, state and
national level, and have historically turned the campus into political
battlegrounds.
Most recently, a Tennessee news station discovered that a lawmaker
introduced an anti-Armenian bill just two weeks after receiving
$10,000 in campaign contributions from donors with ties to the
Azerbaijani community.
In 2011, then-Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) was accused of accepting
"blood money" from the Turkish government in return for her opposition
of a bill recognizing Armenian genocide.
In the late 1990s, Armenian UCLA students successfully brought
about the rejection of an agreement signed between the international
studies department and the Turkish Foundation, an arm of the Turkish
government, which included a $1 million endowment for the establishment
of a chair in Ottoman and Turkish studies, out of fear that money
from foreign governments may facilitate the revision of history.
In light of all these political realities, Armenian Bruins are
extremely sensitive to any perceived conflicts of interest from any
of their elected representatives. This sensitivity is no different on
the student government council table, which is why we demand elected
representatives be held accountable for their actions.
The events that have transpired on the council table this year around
conflicts of interest are an embarrassment to this campus community.
No elected councilmembers should receive a free trip anywhere while
they are representing students unless it is directly for advocacy on
student issues. There should be nothing controversial about that.
Block's email leaves Armenian students on this campus feeling uneasy
about his commitment to accountability, or any of these crucial issues
for the Armenian cause, which have been upheld by the California
Assembly when it officially recognized the state of Artsakh and
encouraged the implementation of Armenian genocide education in its
state curriculum.
The Armenian Students' Association demands Block reaffirm his
commitment to the accountability of students by students. The Armenian
Students' Association further demands that Block recognize the
self-determination of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh and reaffirm
his commitment to the recognition of the Armenian genocide by the
United States of America.
Kalbakian is the vice president of the Armenian Students Association
at UCLA and a second-year political science student. Joukhajian is
the political activism chair of the Armenian Students Association
and a fourth-year philosophy student. Sarkissian is an alumnus and
the former president of the Armenian Students Association.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress