Villains, Heroes of 2015

[Yervant1]

Villains, Heroes of 2015


Welcome to the 2nd Annual Villains, Heroes of Keghart.com. While last
year's selection was made by the Keghart staff, this year's is by you,
Keghart readers. Although some of last year's villains (Reccep
Erdogan, Ilham Aliyev, and ISIS/Daesh) and heroes (Kim Kardashian, the
Syrian-Armenians and the people of Armenia and Artsakh) were once
again nominated, the majority of the 2015 nominees are new. Because
Erdogan and Aliyev are perennial villains and ISIS' sins are widely
known, we decided including the villainous trio would be redundant.
Two other repeat villains were neocon writer Tal Buenos of
Argentina/Utah and Azeri-mouthpiece Brenda Schaeffer of Israel. They
were also not included for the same reason. While last year there were
12 names on each list, this year's lists include 15 villains and 16
heroes. The nominee list is neither in descending nor ascending order.

`Thank you' to Keghart readers who submitted names and provided
rationale for their choices.--Editor

Villains

1. Representatives Charlie Rent (R-PA) and Linda Sanchez (D-CA) of the
U.S. House of Representatives Ethics Committee for their willful
blindness in finding `no evidence' that fellow lawmakers and their 30
aides `knowingly' violated congressional rules during a 2013 trip to
Baku paid for by the Azerbaijan government-controlled State Oil
Company of the Azerbaijan Republic--SOCAR.

2. The United States media for the blackout on Prof. Moogalian, the
hero who was first to confront and successfully remove an assault
rifle from an Islamic terrorist on board a train traveling from
Belgium to France. While the three other (unhurt) Americans were
receiving US media's adulation, a wounded Moogalian was being treated
in a Paris hospital. Long after the US media's spotlight had moved
from the dramatic event, Moogalian, an Armenian-American who teaches
at the Sorbonne, received the Legion d'Honneur from President Hollande
of France.

3. Turkish stooge and apologist James Stavridis who wrote in the Nov.
25 issue of `Foreign Policy' magazine an article titled `Now is the
Time for NATO to Rally Behind Turkey'. Stavridis, a Greek-American who
is the dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts
University, wrote the article immediately after the Turks shot down
the Russian plane in northern Syria.

4. Meline Toumani, writer-journalist, who in `There Was and There Was
Not' book denigrated and mocked Armenian communities in the United
States. One Keghart reader said she felt `dirty' after reading the
book and described Toumani as the quintessential self-hating Armenian.

5. The Fethullah Gulen-linked Turkish-American organizations. They
funded 2,000 `familiarization' trips to Turkey for congressmen and
their aides.

6. Actor-playwright Eric Bogosian. In `Operation Nemesis' he put down
and then dismissed the Armenian heroes who carried out death sentences
from the Turkish butchers responsible for the Genocide of Armenians.
Bogosian also avoided talking about restorative justice.

7. International law professor Richard A. Falk who acted as an
apologist for Turkey during the Swiss court case against Turkish
politician and self-promoting blowhard Dogu Perincek.

8. US State Department's foul-mouthed Victoria Nuland whose manicured
fingers were behind the failed attempt to start a color revolution in
Armenia.

9. Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert for selling his honour for
Turkish liras and for his many multifaceted crimes.

10. Vladimir Putin for continuing to sell sophisticated weapons to
Azerbaijan intended for use against Armenia, Russia's only ally in the
Caucasus.

11. Matthew Byrza for advising the setting up a `tribunal' to
determine whether Armenia or Azerbaijan are responsible for frequent
shootings across the lines of contact and for suggesting a ceasefire
should be safeguarded by Turkey. The man's stupidity and hypocrisy
have no bounds, neither his nerve.

12. Georgia'Armenia's treacherous neighbour--which sleeps with
Turkbeijan, oppresses the Armenians of Georgia (particularly those in
Javakhk), and refuses to recognize the Armenian Genocide which
occurred within sight of its borders.

13. Robert Walter of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly
(PACE), a notorious pro-Azeri politician who is blind to Azerbaijan's
many crimes, including its violation of human rights. The so-called
British politician, who is married to a Turk, became a Turkish citizen
this year.

14. Two despicable writers: Maxime Gauin of France and Justin A.
Schwartz of South Africa. The pair continued to falsify Armenian
history and the Armeno-Turkish conflict.

15. Retired Major Garig Marutian who passed classified information to
the Azeri secret service during his tenure as an intelligence officer
in Armenia's armed forces.

Heroes

1. The senate of Paraguay, the Aragon regional parliament and the
cities of Aldaia, Silla and Alzira in Spain for recognizing the
Genocide of Armenians.

2. Australia for providing the largest share of humanitarian aid to
Armenia. Canberra was responsible for 36.3% of the $30.8 million
humanitarian aid Armenia received from donor nations. The U.S. aid was
$5.8 million and China's $3.5 million.

3. Kanye West, Kim Kardashian and her sister Khloé who spread the good
word about Armenia and the Armenians. Also TV host Conan O'Brien and
his long-time assistant Sona Movsesian for their positive portrayal of
Armenia on O'Brien's late-night show.

4. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper for defending human rights and
for recognizing the Armenian Genocide. Gov. Hickenlooper received the
Armenian National Committee of America Freedom Award.

5. Film makers Fatih Akin, Garin Hovanissian, Alec Mouhibian, Robert
Guedigian, Ozcan Alper and others who produced and directed feature
movies about 1915.

6. The Armenian Self-Defence Forces which are defending Armenia and Artsakh.

7. The Camp Armen activists.

8. The Tumo Centre Team for its achievements in Yerevan and for
expanding to Gyumri, Dilijan, and to Stepanagerd.

9. Selahattin DemirtaÅ? for his heroic and wise leadership of the Kurds
in eastern Turkey/Western Armenia.

10. Armenian-Americans working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory who
were part of the Mars Rover Project and Prof. Yervant Terzian who was
awarded the NASA Lifetime Achievement Award. Also photographerLevon
Parian and architect Vahagn Thomasian who made the list of `FP
Magazine' 100 Global Thinkers of 2015.

11. Russian billionaire German Sterligov who moved his large family to
Artsakh, and started two businesses in Shushi.

12. The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA)
and Ranking Democrat Eliot Engel (D-NY) for urging Washington and the
OSCE to end their false parity policy vis-a-vis Armenia and
Azerbaijan.

13. Prof. Mark Moogalian. See Villains, No. 2.

14. President of Germany, Joachim Gauc, who described the Armenian
Genocide as a `planned and systematic mass murder...the fate of the
Armenians stands as exemplary in the history of mass extermination,
ethnic cleansing, deportations and yes genocide, which marked the 20th
Century in such a terrible way.'

15. Pope Francis who, through his widely-disseminated pronouncements,
asserted the veracity of the Genocide and raised awareness among world
Catholics and non-Catholics about the Turkish crime.

16. Russia's Putin, France's Hollande, Anastasiades of Cyprus, and
Nikolie of Serbia who attended the 100th Commemoration of the Armenian
Genocide on April 24 in Yerevan.


http://www.keghart.com/Editorial-Villains-Heroes-2015