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California Courier Online, October 5, 2006

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  • California Courier Online, October 5, 2006

    California Courier Online, October 5, 2006

    1 - Commentary
    Have Turkish Agents Penetrated
    Highest Echelons of US Government?
    By Harut Sassounian
    Publisher, The California Courier

    2 - Lincy Foundation
    Donates $100,000
    To Sahag-Mesrob
    3 - Turkish-Armenian
    Journalist Dink
    Indicted Again
    4 - Cong. Pallone Visits Armenia Fund Office
    5- Dr. Chookaszian to Lecture Oct. 18 at CSUF
    6 - UAF's 140th Airlift Delivers $1 Million of Aid to
    Armenia
    *************************************** ***************************
    1 - Commentary
    Have Turkish Agents Penetrated
    Highest Echelons of US Government?

    By Harut Sassounian
    Publisher, The California Courier

    The Vanity Fair magazine published last year an investigative article
    alleging that the American Turkish Council (ATC) and the Assembly of
    Turkish American Associations (ATAA) had conspired, among other
    things, to make illegal campaign contributions to the Speaker of the
    House, Dennis Hastert, in return for blocking a congressional
    resolution on the Armenian Genocide. The article also mentioned that
    Turkish agents had infiltrated the highest echelons of the U.S.
    government.

    The main source for some of the Vanity Fair revelations was Sibel
    Edmonds who had worked as a Turkish translator for the FBI.
    Unfortunately, she could not disclose most of what she knew on this
    sensitive subject, as she is legally prohibited from making public
    the confidential FBI documents that she had translated in the course
    of her work. All attempts by U.S. courts or Members of Congress to
    get out the full facts have been quashed by the Bush Administration,
    using the cover of protecting national security.

    There have been several disclosures in recent months, mostly from
    anonymous sources, which shed further light on this matter. A few
    days ago, investigative journalist Wayne Madsen posted a special
    report (WMR) on his website which included alarming allegations about
    the extent of illegal activities by Turkish groups in the United
    States. As the report is based on confidential intelligence sources,
    there is no way of independently verifying its content. Here are
    excerpts from that report:

    In 2001, "the FBI counter-intelligence operation was investigating a
    weapons smuggling and influence-peddling ring that was centered on
    the activities of the American Turkish Council (ATC), a major Turkish
    lobbying organization in Washington, DC headed up by George H. W.
    Bush National Security Adviser, retired Gen. Brent Scowcroft.
    According to U.S. intelligence sources, a principal player in the
    ring was [Marc] Grossman, a career foreign service officer who served
    as U.S. ambassador to Turkey from 1994 to 1997 and then moved back to
    Washington where he served as Assistant Secretary of State for
    European Affairs." In June 2001, Grossman, by then-Undersecretary of
    State for Political Affairs, made two phone calls to two foreign
    intelligence agents in Washington, DC. "The calls were intercepted by
    the FBI."

    "At the end of June 2001, the FBI learned, through its surveillance
    of the ring, Beyaz Enerji (White Energy), a Turkish energy firm, told
    its ATC interlocutors in Washington that it was sending a high-level
    team to the United States to negotiate the procurement of nuclear
    materials for Turkey's nuclear power program. In turn, the ATC
    contacted four individuals who had access to Oak Ridge National
    Laboratory in Tennessee and Los Alamos National Laboratories in New
    Mexico and asked them to arrange a three month visit to the labs by
    the Turkish nuclear specialists (October through December 2001) to
    ascertain Turkish requirements.

    "The Beyaz Enerji group also made known its desire to purchase U.S.
    nuclear energy consulting firms that maintained access to facilities
    like Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, and Lawrence Livermore in California.
    However, at the same time Beyaz Enerji was making its play for access
    into U.S. nuclear labs, Brewster Jennings and Associates, the CIA
    cover company of Valerie Plame Wilson, was very close to penetrating
    the Beyaz Enerji ring, known to the CIA as part of a major nuclear
    black market operation involving key players in Turkey, Pakistan,
    Israel, Iran, and the former Soviet Central Asian states. According
    to CIA sources, the ring also involved a key ATC ally in Washington
    -- the America Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a group that
    provided important access to top U.S. political leaders for Turkish
    military and industrial chiefs.

    "When Beyaz Enerji began to encounter 'consultants' with Brewster
    Jennings, they expressed an interest to their ATC interlocutors in
    buying the firm along with other energy consulting companies. In the
    two phone calls intercepted by the FBI, Grossman told the called
    parties to 'stay away from Brewster Jennings . . . they're the
    government . . . they're nothing but a cover.' One of the calls was
    to a Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) top agent in
    Washington. The other call, bearing an almost identical message, was
    made to a Northrop Grumman official who was a key player with the
    ATC. The Northrop Grumman official made a phone call to his ATC
    handler, stating, 'Our guy warned us off Brewster Jennings.' A U.S.
    intelligence source stated that 'Grossman's name was all over the FBI
    wiretaps in 2001.'

    "Grossman, who now works for the Cohen Group of former Defense
    Secretary William Cohen, was, according to U.S. intelligence sources,
    a subject of interest to counter-intelligence agents since his stint
    as U.S. ambassador in Ankara. One of Grossman's embassy officials was
    U.S. Air Force Major Douglas Dickerson, who worked in the embassy's
    military attaché office and was responsible for logistics matters
    with the Turkish military. While in Ankara, Dickerson met and later
    married Melek Can Harputlu, who U.S. intelligence sources claim was
    on the payroll of the MIT -- the Turkish Intelligence Agency. U.S.
    intelligence sources confirmed that Grossman ordered Dickerson to
    assist International Advisors, Inc. (IAI), a lobbying firm registered
    in 1989 by Douglas Feith [former Under Secretary of Defense] under
    the stewardship of Richard Perle [former Assistant Secretary of
    Defense]. The main task of IAI was to represent the government of
    Turkey in the United States and 'promote the
    objective of U.S.-Turkey defense industrial cooperation.' IAI, for
    which Feith was CEO and sole stockholder, also steered hundreds of
    thousands of dollars to Feith's law firm, Feith and Zell (FANZ).

    "Soon, Dickerson, under Grossman's aegis, was promoted to handle all
    U.S. weapons procurement for Turkey, Azerbaijan (where Richard
    Armitage was heading up the U.S.-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce),
    Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan. In 1996, the
    Defense Department's Inspector General's office launched an
    investigation of a U.S. military officer at the Ankara embassy who
    was caught receiving a bribe from MIT agents. Shortly after the
    investigation started, Dickerson was transferred to a U.S. Air Force
    base in Germany. Dickerson's wife, Melek Can worked for the
    German-Turkish Business and Cultural Association, known to be a cover
    for MIT activities in Germany.

    "In 2001, after George W. Bush became president, Dickerson was
    promoted and placed in charge of weapons procurement for Turkey,
    Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan at the
    Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) at Bolling Air Force Base in
    Washington. Melek Can obtained positions with the ATC and ATAA.

    "Following the 9/11 attacks, Melek Can applied for a translator job
    at the FBI's Washington Field Office. In a Justice Department
    Inspector General report, it is stated that Melek Can failed to list
    on her application her prior jobs with ATC, ATAA, and the
    German-Turkish Business and Cultural Association. When FBI translator
    Sibel Edmonds (a Turkish, Farsi, and Azerbaijani translator who
    worked with Melek Can) complained publicly about MIT's penetration of
    the FBI, Senators Patrick Leahy and Charles Grassley pointedly asked
    the FBI why no Special Background Investigation (SBI) was conducted
    on Melek Can. The FBI's responded that Melek Can entered the FBI
    'through the backdoor' with her husband's Top Secret/SBI being
    sufficient grounds to grant Melek Can access to FBI classified
    information. At the same time, the Dickersons were, according to U.S.
    intelligence sources, working closely with the ATC.

    "Edmonds' charges against the Dickersons were highlighted in a June
    2002 Washington Post article. On September 9, 2002, the Dickersons
    left Washington for Belgium, where Major Dickerson was assigned to
    the U.S. Air Force NATO office. Soon, there were three separate
    investigations of Edmonds' espionage charges against the Dickersons:
    the Justice Department IG probe, a similar probe by the Department of
    Defense IG led by Joseph Schmitz, and a U.S. Senate Judiciary
    Committee investigation led by Leahy and Grassley.

    "Two weeks after the Dickersons arrived in Belgium, Schmitz sent a
    letter stating that Major Dickerson's relationship with the ATC while
    at DIA was 'within the scope of his duties.' The DOD IG terminated
    the investigation."

    Attorney General John Ashcroft then "invoked the State Secrets
    Privilege and imposed a 'gag order' on Edmonds' making any further
    comments to the media about her wrongful termination suit against the
    FBI, which was prompted by her raising concerns about the Dickersons.
    The invocation of the State Secrets Privilege by Ashcroft was
    specifically requested by the Defense and State Departments.

    "Upon publication of a Vanity Fair article in August 2005 about the
    Edmonds case and those of other national security whistleblowers, the
    Department of Defense and U.S. Air Force opened a joint IG
    investigation of Major Dickerson and Edmonds' charges, who was still
    safely ensconced at the NATO office in Belgium.

    "When the DoD/USAF IG investigators asked Major Dickerson once again
    about the allegations that had re-surfaced against him, U.S.
    intelligence sources report he told them that he would 'start
    talking' if the investigation proceeded. The DoD/USAF IG
    investigation of Dickerson was once again quickly terminated. In
    January 2006, Dickerson was promoted in rank to Lieutenant Colonel
    and transferred to the U.S. Air Force base in Yokota, Japan, where he
    was assigned as the 374th Logistics Readiness Squadron's acting
    commander.

    "U.S. intelligence sources stated that the 'same people' who have
    continually protected Perle and Feith since the 1980s were also
    protecting Dickerson and Grossman. CIA sources, including those who
    served in Istanbul tracking nuclear smuggling in the late 1980s, also
    confirm that the Turkish-U.S. nuclear black marketeering ring was
    directly tied to the Abdul Qadeer Khan nuclear smuggling ring in
    Pakistan, an operation that sold sensitive nuclear technology to
    Iran, North Korea, and Libya. The ATC and ATAA in Washington are
    directly tied to and supported by AIPAC and the Jewish Institute for
    National Security Affairs (JINSA), reported a U.S.
    counter-intelligence source. In fact, JINSA is an 'Aegean' member of
    the ATC. The source said that Valerie Plame Wilson was targeting the
    ATC and Turkey at the height of her counter-proliferation work in
    2001, but special interests associated with AIPAC and JINSA, which
    the source claims control ATC, scuttled Plame Wilson's operation
    by exposing Brewster Jennings as a CIA front company.

    "The CIA's counter-narcotics division is also keenly interested in
    ATC and its connections to NATO. A Turkish hashish kingpin, Huseyin
    Baybasin, now jailed in the Netherlands for narcotics smuggling,
    stated that the Turkish military and its NATO interlocutors are
    totally involved in the drug trade in Turkey. He said the Turkish
    military uses MIT and Turkish embassies, consulates, military
    missions (particularly the Turkish military attaché offices in
    London and Amsterdam) as drug smuggling facilitators. The Turkish
    military also reportedly uses its hated Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK)
    enemies to help transport drugs throughout Western Asia, especially
    heroin now being produced in Afghanistan at record high levels....

    "Since Grossman joined the Cohen Group as Vice Chairman in January
    2005, the firm has become a top client for the ATC. In October 2005,
    Grossman was appointed a board member of Ihlas Holding, a media
    corporation that recently sold its TGRT Television network to Rupert
    Murdoch's NewsCorp. U.S. law enforcement sources confirm that Feith
    remains under a DoD IG investigation that is being spurred by North
    Carolina Republican Rep. Walter Jones."

    There is a clear need for a congressional hearing to expose all the
    facts of this very serious matter. However, it would be impossible to
    hold such a hearing as long as the White House and the Congress are
    controlled by Republicans who are eager to protect not only their own
    leadership in the House but also many top officials in both the
    Pentagon and the State Department who are allegedly involved in these
    illegal activities.

    Furthermore, while the Bush administration is aggressively
    confronting the Korean and Iranian nuclear programs, shouldn't the
    American public expect a similar concern for Turkey's efforts in this
    regard, particularly since it is alleged that high ranking current
    and former administration officials are covertly assisting Turkey to
    go nuclear?
    ***************************************** *********************************
    2 - Lincy Foundation
    Donates $100,000
    To Sahag-Mesrob
    GLENDALE - The Sahag-Mesrob Armenian Christian School announced the
    receipt of a $100,000 donation last week from The Lincy Foundation.
    Established in 1980, the school was accredited by WASC (Western
    Association of Schools and Colleges) and ACSI (Association of
    Christian Schools International) first in 1998 and once again in
    2004.
    Over 375 students of Armenian descent attend the school which offers
    classes from Nursery to 12th grade. The mission of the school is to
    provide Christian Education, teach the Armenian Language and Culture
    and provide the highest Academic Standards in learning. The
    Accredited High School program offers the following subjects:
    English Language and Literature, World Literature, Algebra I,
    Algebra II, Geometry, Pre-Calculus, Biology, Chemistry, Physics,
    Honors Physics, U.S. History, Honors U.S. History, Civics, World
    History, Arts, Drama, Armenian, Band and Bible. Also, several
    juniors and seniors concurrently take college courses offered at
    Pasadena City College.
    To inquire about the school's mission and academic plans, visit the
    school website at www.sahagmesrobschool.org, or call the office at
    626-798-5020.
    ********************************* ****************************************
    3 - Turkish-Armenian
    Journalist Dink
    Indicted Again
    ISTANBUL (AFP) - An Istanbul court has indicted Turkish-Armenian
    journalist Hrant Dink for "denigrating the Turkish national identity"
    by calling the 1915-17 massacres of Armenians a "genocide", his
    lawyer said on Monday.
    Dink received a suspended three-month jail sentence in October for an
    article about the mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman
    Empire, which many countries recognise as genocide. An appeal was
    rejected in July.
    The European Union condemned Dink's conviction at that point, and the
    journalist "granted an interview to a foreign news agency on the 1915
    events, in which he employed certain words," as his lawyer put it,
    speaking to AFP.
    If convicted again, the journalist will have to serve his original
    sentence plus a possible three more years.
    His lawyer Fethiye Cetin said the new proceedings had been sparked
    when Agos, the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly that Dink edits,
    reprinted excerpts from the July interview.
    In the interview, Dink says of the World War I killings of Armenians:
    "Of course I say this is a genocide, because the result itself
    identifies what it is and gives it a name. You can see that a people
    who have been living on these lands for four thousand years have
    disappeared. This is self-explanatory."
    Ankara refuses to apply the term genocide to the events. Earlier this
    month it rejected a European Union report saying that it should do so
    as a condition for joining the bloc.
    Nevertheless, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted last week
    that Article 301 of the Turksh penal code -- which is the legal basis
    for Dink's indictment and for most proceedings against intellectuals
    who speak out about the Armenian question -- could be amended.
    The EU has repeatedly warned Ankara that the prosecution of
    intellectuals for exercising their right to free speech is damaging
    Turkey's membership bid.
    ********************************************* *****************************
    4 - Cong. Pallone Visits Armenia Fund Office
    LOS ANGELES - U.S. Congressman and Co-Chair of the
    Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ)
    visited the offices of Armenia Fund U.S. Western Region and met with
    leadership and staff of the organization on Sept. 23.
    Maria Mehranian, Chairperson of Armenia Fund, Sarkis Kotanjian,
    Executive Director, and Greg Boyrazian, Director of Development, held
    a breakfast meeting with the congressman. Among the various topics
    discussed during the meeting was the U.S. Millennium Challenge
    Corporation's grant of $235.65 million made to Armenia over a course
    of five years. The grant is designed to combat rural poverty through
    the construction of new rural roads and a modern irrigation network
    for the purpose of revitalizing Armenia's rural economy. The project
    is aimed at making Armenia the region's breadbasket through this
    critical socio-economic stimulus project.
    According to the MCC, the compact includes a $67 million project to
    rehabilitate up to 943 kilometers of rural roads, more than a third
    of Armenia's proposed Lifeline road network. The program will be
    joined by Armenia Fund's major Rural Poverty Eradication program
    later in fiscal year 2007. The ambitious infrastructure development
    program was unveiled by Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian during the
    3rd Armenia-Diaspora Conference in Yerevan.
    Mehranian thanked Congressman Pallone for his unyielding support of
    issues vital to the development of Armenia. She emphasized that U.S.
    foreign aid to Armenia, along with the growing support of the
    Diaspora through Armenia Fund, are contributing to the critical
    development of Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh. Pallone stressed that
    the Millennium Challenge Corporation's grant should not be used as an
    excuse for decreasing any type of aid to Armenia under the Foreign
    Aid Operation act. He pledged to continue to fight for more foreign
    aid to Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh.
    Kotanjian also thanked the Congressman for his support, especially to
    the fledgling Republic of Nagorno Karabagh. It is
    noteworthy that Congressman Pallone has been to the republic several
    times. He highly commended Armenia Fund's ongoing projects,
    especially in Nagorno Karabagh. Kotanjian later added details about
    the ongoing regional development program in Martakert.
    In 2007, Armenia Fund plans on implementing a parallel regional
    development program in the southernmost
    poverty-stricken Hadrut region as well. The 2006 Telethon will raise
    funds for that purpose.
    Pallone pledged to push for more assistance to Nagorno Karabagh in
    the context of regional development. Pallone wished the Armenia Fund
    a successful Telethon and a strong future as it embarks on the Rural
    Poverty Eradication Program.
    ********'******************************** *********************************
    5 - Dr. Chookaszian to Lecture Oct. 18 at CSUF
    FRESNO - Dr. Levon Chookaszian, Kazan Visiting Professor in Armenian
    Studies at Fresno State, will give an illustrated lecture on
    "Armenian Massacres and Genocide and the Liberation Movement as
    Reflected in Armenian Art," at 7:30 PM on October 18. This second
    lecture, in his series of three, will be held in the Alice Peters
    Auditorium, Room 191, in the University Business Center on the Fresno
    State campus.
    The Armenian massacres of 1895-96 and of 1905-1907 stimulated the
    appearence of topics related to those events in the works of Armenian
    painters. The first artist who represented the acts of violence and
    ethnic cleaning was Haroutyune Shamshinian(1856-1914). Later on
    numerous Armenian artworks were produced by different artists
    depicting those horrible pages of Armenian modern history.
    During the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1922, certain painters became
    the eyewitnesses of the deportation of the Armenian people from their
    native lands and portrayed those homeless people, sometimes even
    endangering their own life.
    The mass tragedies of those years created the generations of
    orphan-painters, who grew up in orphanages in foreign countries and
    until the end of their lives produced artworks full of sadness and
    nostalgy.
    The shortages of the Soviet system and the ideological pressure and
    censorship did not encourage that kind of activity and created
    obstacles and problems for painters and sculptors. The depiction of
    any topic related to massacres or Genocide was considered
    nationalistic propaganda and an attempt to destroy the international
    solidarity and brotherhood of different nations, including
    Armenian-Turkish, especially Armenian-Azeri connections.
    Dr. Chookaszian will utilize slides taken from his many trips to
    various countries to illustrate his lecture.
    The scholar will conclude his series of the presentations on Nov.
    15, with a talk on "Armenian Art Treasures Saved from the Genocide."
    The talk will start at 7:30 PM in the Peters Auditorium.
    Dr. Chookaszian is an expert on Armenian illuminated manuscripts of
    the Middle Ages and has recently finished a monograph on the 13th
    century Armenian painter, Toros Roslin, the most outstanding painter
    of medieval Armenia. For many years, he has been Director of the
    UNESCO Chair of Art History at Yerevan State University and a Senior
    Fellow and Professor of Armenian Art at the Center for Armenian
    Studies at Yerevan State University.
    He is the author of more than 200 articles and reviews for scholarly
    journals and newspapers as well as numerous entries for
    encyclopedias. He is also the recipient of several prestigious grants
    that have helped him pursue his research in Armenian art history.
    All lectures are fee and open to the public.
    For more on the lectures, contact the Armenian Studies Program at
    559-278-2669.
    ********************************* *****************************************
    6 - UAF's 140th Airlift Delivers $1 Million of Aid to
    Armenia GLENDALE, CA - The United Armenian Fund's 140th airlift
    arrived in Yerevan on September 30, delivering over $1 million of
    humanitarian assistance. The UAF itself collected $106,000 of
    medicines and medical supplies for this flight, most of which were
    donated by AmeriCares ($83,000); Catholic Medical Mission Board
    ($14,000) and Health Partners International of Canada ($9,000).
    Other organizations which contributed goods for this airlift were:
    Fund for Armenian Relief ($385,000); Nork Marash Medical Center
    ($166,000); Centre D'Assistance Mondial Armenien de Montreal
    ($90,000); Dr. Stephen M. Kashian ($84,000); Hershey Medical Center
    ($55,000); Focus Armenia/Dr. Mary Alani ($54,000); and Sacred Heart
    Medical Center ($41,000). Also contributing to this airlift were:
    Anahid Yeremian ($19,000); Howard Karagheusian Commemorative
    Foundation ($18,000); Armenian Relief Society ($16,000); Armenian
    Cultural Foundation ($15,000); Armenian General Benevolent Union
    ($13,000); Dr. Samuel Malayan ($10,000) and Armenian American Medical
    Society of CA ($10,000). Since its inception in 1989, the UAF has
    sent $447 million of humanitarian assistance to Armenia on board 140
    airlifts and 1,359 sea containers. The UAF is the collective effort
    of the Armenian Assembly of America, Armenian General Benevolent
    Union, Armenian Missionary Association of America, Armenian Relief
    Society, Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, Prelacy of the
    Armenian Apostolic Church of America and The Lincy Foundation. For
    more information, contact the UAF office at 1101 North Pacific
    Avenue, Suite 301, Glendale, CA 91202 or call (818) 241-8900.
    **************************************** **********************************
    *************** ************************************************** **********
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    ************************************** ************************************

    --Boundary_( ID_vVc8MENYuj2OeFVlx1yCFA)--
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