ANTI-ARMENIAN PROPAGANDA ON THE EVE OF GENOCIDE CENTENNIAL REVEALED

[Yervant1]

ANTI-ARMENIAN PROPAGANDA ON THE EVE OF GENOCIDE CENTENNIAL REVEALED

13:39, 27 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

"An obnoxious, even dangerous, tendency has been noticed in numerous
media outlets recently, regarding anti-Armenian propaganda on the eve
of the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire,"
William Weiner writes on Times of Israel blog.

The authors of ordered anti-Armenian articles, spread by the
Azerbaijani and Turkish propaganda machine in the Jewish circles, are
the same persons, which looks like, excuse my language, journalistic
prostitution. Publications, that come out following these articles,
disprove their dubious facts, and shed light on the powers behind
anti-Armenian propaganda as well as on the false essence of suggested
arguments. Nevertheless the hired authors continue to resort to
epistolary genre, which is already rather marasmic. I wonder, if they
really believe that today's reader is that much naïve and illiterate.

Nonetheless, on March 18 yet another anti-Armenian article was
published in the New Algemeiner, one of the most prestigious Jewish
editions in the USA, reprinted also in The Jerusalem Post and jns.org
by Alexander Murinson, who entirely devoted his pen to the salvation of
daily deteriorating reputation of the Azerbaijani-Turkish dictatorship
in the eyes of the Western public. An attempt is made in the article
to present the friendly relations between Armenia and Iran as "directed
against Israel"

A rather silly strategy is being pursued to push the audience, which
has overtly negative perception of Iran, against Armenia and the
Armenian people. However, the reality is that Armenia's friendly
relations with Iran are not directed against and even can not be
aimed against any third country, about which reasonable people have
been very well aware of long time ago.

Both the United States of America and the European countries, even
when sharp tensions prevailed in their relations with Iran, never
missed a chance to officially state that they fully understand the
policies of Armenia to deepen mutually beneficial relations with Iran.

And if good relations with Iran did not affect Armenia's ties with
the United States and Europe, then what is the point in contrasting
them to those with Israel!? Given the unilateral closure of the
Armenian-Turkish border by Turkey and Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
one can not underestimate the importance of interaction with Iran
both in economic and political aspects.

On the other hand, significance of the development of relations with
Israel is well understood in Yerevan, given Israel's important role in
the Middle East and the factor of Jewish Diaspora. No one in Yerevan
would contrast relations with Iran to Israel and vice versa, as well
as to build relations with the Russian Federation to the detriment
of other neighboring country, say, Georgia. This is an absurd! Given
the complex geopolitical region, Armenia is obliged to maintain good
relations both with Iran and the West, Russia and Georgia, regardless
the existing disagreements between themselves. The Israeli society
is quite aware of this hard situation, as Israel, being located in
a region, abundant with problems, can not miss any chance to build
friendly relations with neighbors. By the way, the successful policy of
Yerevan in this direction was not left unnoticed by the international
media (take, In Facing Its Adversaries, America's Got a Hidden Lever:
Armenia.)

Even though Mr. Murinson learned lessons of past mistakes, and in
this article he childishly tries to conceal his close ties with the
Azerbaijani propaganda machine, in his article the bottom-line is
attempting to contrast Azerbaijan with Armenia in the eyes of Israel.

Thus, Murinson has made "epoch-making breakthrough", mentioning that
unlike Azerbaijan, high-ranking delegations of Armenia do not deign
to make frequent visits to Israel. Undoubtedly, Murinson clearly
understands that political dialogue between states to a large extent
is determined by the principle of reciprocity. And the same Israel
does not maintain parity of visits to the countries of South Caucasus.

For instance, the Prime-Minister, President as well as Foreign Minister
of Israel have visited Azerbaijan, rather than Armenia. In case, when
visits from Armenia on the level of President and Foreign Minister
were paid to Israel over years.

On March 5 this year, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Edward
Nalbandian paid a visit to Israel and attended the concert performed
by Jerusalem Symphonic Orchestra, dedicated to the Centenary of the
Armenian Genocide, as well as met the President of Israel Reuven
Rivlin. According to official press-releases, during the meeting
confidence was expressed that the Minister's visit will contribute
to the strengthening of the Armenia-Israel relations. The President
of Israel and Foreign Minister of Armenia discussed issues relating
joint responsibility of Armenian and Jewish people in prevention of
crimes against humanity. It is worth mentioning that in his article,
Murinson characterizes Nalbandian's visit having an anti-Turkish and
anti-Azerbaijani context. It is hard to say, what made the author to
make such an evaluation. Most probably, the paranoid essence of the
Azerbaijani-Turkish propaganda and zeal to please, i.e. to perform
well, does a disservice to the author, when any expression of "crime
against humanity" is deliberately seen as a step directed against
Turkey or Azerbaijan.

At the same time, it is unacceptable and ridiculous to present
the Armenian quarter of Jerusalem having 1500 years-old history, an
integral part of this Holy City of the world, along with the Armenian
Apostolic Patriarchate of Jerusalem, that is of considerable political
and cultural significance for the mutual awareness of the Armenian and
Jewish peoples, as an element working against Israel. This fact is a
vivid example of naïve hope to spread hatred against Armenians and,
particularly, Armenian community of Israel, which is a reminder of
of publications well known before in the press of Nazi Germany in
1930s on "Jewish conspiracy" against Germany.

Concerning the Jerusalem Patriarchate of the Armenian Apostolic
Church, it is worth mentioning, that according to the Memorandum
signed between the sides in 1967, Israel recognizes its rights and
the rights of Patriarch, as well as the activity of the Patriarchate,
aimed at the preservation of the Armenian culture in the Middle East.

In this context, presentation of Patriarchate as Iran's zone of
influence is an endeavor tantamount to immorality, which has nothing
to do with truth. Fortunately, this is clear to any reasonable human
being. It is quite strange that Mr. Murinson, who considers himself
as an "expert", hopes for the reverse...

It is obvious that those questionable theses suggested by Murinson and
other journalists of his kind contain elements of extraneous hatred
towards Armenians and are expressions of hired journalism. I consider
the behavior of the so called representatives of epistolary genre,
who try to set the world Jewry against the Armenian people through
speculations on national sentiments and pursuit of some political
goals, absolutely dishonorable.

Corrupting media is a dangerous tendency! Stop this, Messrs! I
understand that today everything can be purchased, but no one has yet
erased professional ethics. That is why, as a Jew, I once again call
upon the journalists and experts to refrain from further attempts to
speak on the behalf of the Jews and impose yet another non-existent
conflict on the world Jewry, and I earnestly request the Jewish media
not to give a floor for spreading biased pseudo-analytical articles
of that kind.

William is President of the "Menora" Jewish Cultural Center in Armenia,
an Honored Worker of Art of the Republic of Armenia and a Member of
the Composers' League of Israel.

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/corrupting-media-is-a-dangerous-tendency/
http://www.armradio.am/en/2015/03/27/anti-armenian-propaganda-on-the-eve-of-genocide-centennial-revealed/

 

[onjig]

I read the article by Mr. Weiner and sent him a thank you note by way of the editor's office of the Times. It's always good to find a person of kindred spirit.