{"id":10019,"date":"2016-10-03T13:24:48","date_gmt":"2016-10-03T13:24:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ancnews.info\/?p=10019"},"modified":"2016-10-03T13:24:48","modified_gmt":"2016-10-03T13:24:48","slug":"anca-david-vs-goliath","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ancnews.info\/?p=10019","title":{"rendered":"ANCA \u2013 David vs. Goliath"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Raffi Hamparian<\/p>\n

Have you ever been handed $45,000 a month to represent an oil rich and corrupt dictator?<\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s the monthly stipend currently being paid by the Government of Azerbaijan to the Podesta Group, a Washington, DC based lobbying firm led by Tony Podesta \u2013 whose brother John is the Chairman of the 2016 Hillary Clinton Presidential campaign.<\/p>\n

Perhaps more interesting than this $45,000 monthly payment \u2013 a fact on the public record thanks to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) \u2013 is that this contract was amended in early April \u2013 just days after Azerbaijan\u2019s attack against Nagorno-Karabakh. In a document filed with the U.S. Department of Justice on April 7, 2016 \u2013 just days after Baku\u2019s offensive \u2013 the Podesta Group received a fee of $70,000 for actions noted in a FARA filing document as \u201cadditional services.\u201d Another term for outright lies, cover ups, and arm-twisting.<\/p>\n

Then there is the poster child of lobbyists for the Republic of Turkey \u2013 former House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt. He has a generous $1.7 million contract with the Turkish Government to deny the Armenian Genocide on Capitol Hill and at the White House. The payments from Turkish President Erdogan to Gephardt, per a document filed with the U.S. Department of Justice, are issued in four equal payments (every three months) in the amount of $425,000 \u2013 a tidy sum to deny a crime against humanity.<\/p>\n

Perhaps, only in the ethically challenged and morally corrosive environment of Capitol Hill, would paying to deny a genocide be viewed \u2013 ho hum \u2013 as the cost of doing business for Turkey. Likewise for the Podesta Group, which considers it good business to try to force the free people of Artsakh under the Azerbaijani flag of the brutal Aliyev regime.<\/p>\n

Welcome to the real world of Washington, DC \u2013 where lobbying Goliaths like the Podesta Group and former congressional leaders like Dick Gephardt rake in cash representing foreign dictators like Aliyev and Erdogan.<\/p>\n

Now \u2013 let me introduce you to Sylvie \u2013 the Armenian National Committee of America\u2019s<\/a> version of a David in our David vs. Goliath battle against lobbyists working for Azerbaijan and Turkey. Sylvie Tertzakian \u2013 who calls Orange County, California home \u2013 has always lit up a room with her love, intellect and energy. For decades now, she has, as a volunteer, used the full range of her many skills to advance the ANCA\u2019s legislative agenda in support of Armenia, Artsakh and Javakhk in Washington, DC. Sylvie, with her husband Garo by her side and with the support of her whole family, is a shining example of grassroots leadership, rock-solid dedication, and real-world results. Like Podesta and Gephardt, she\u2019s effective, but unlike them she has truth on her side and has never taken a penny for her work on behalf of the ANCA.<\/p>\n

Then there is Bearj Barsoumian of Chattanooga, Tennessee \u2013 another David for the ANCA. Born in Syria and raised in the city of Aleppo, Bearj now dedicates untold hours as a volunteer ANCA activist \u2013 fighting the good fight with federal legislators in the Volunteer State to support the ANCA\u2019s work on issues ranging from securing a Double Tax Treaty between the United States and Armenia to bringing much needed scrutiny to the Madrid Principles, a deeply flawed proposal being advanced by the U.S. Department of State, which seeks to surrender Artsakh\u2019s hard won independence to Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n

And there are thousands more like Sylvie and Bearj \u2013 ANCA volunteers who work quietly \u2013 in ways big and small \u2013 to advance the Armenian Cause. Alone, each is an individual David. Together, they are an army: a second army of the Armenian nation, supporting the service and sacrifice of those young men and women serving today on the frontiers of Armenia\u2019s freedom.<\/p>\n

Sylvie and Bearj and all of our ANCA volunteers \u2013 from all 50 states \u2013 receive no compensation for supporting the ANCA \u2013 no $45,000 monthly retainer like Tony Podesta has with Azerbaijan \u2013 no $1.7 million contract like Dick Gephardt has with the Republic of Turkey. These unheralded volunteers \u2013 gamavors we call them in Armenian \u2013 are our Davids, battling the Goliath of the Azerbaijani and Turkish lobby in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n

These strong and selfless souls \u2013 and I count you among them if you have read this far \u2013 represent the best tribute we can pay to our proud past and, more importantly, our best hope for our common future. On behalf of a grateful community, I thank you for your volunteer service in support of the ANCA.<\/p>\n

Raffi Hamparian is Chairperson of the Armenian National Committee of America.<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo: A bas-relief of David vs. Goliath from the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on the island of Aghtamar. (Photo: padfield.com)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Raffi Hamparian Have you ever been handed $45,000 a month to represent an oil rich and corrupt dictator? 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