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Today's Zaman, Turkey
Feb 13 2015
Armenian diaspora in US rejects PM's claims on cooperation with Gülen movement
Leading figures from the Armenian diaspora in the US have rejected
recent allegations by Prime Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu that the Gülen
movement, also known as the Hizmet movement, is lobbying against
Turkey in the US in cooperation with the Armenian community there.
Speaking at his Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) Ä°stanbul
5th ordinary congress over the weekend, DavutoÄ?lu claimed that the
Armenian lobby, along with the Jewish and Greek lobbies, recently took
actions against Turkey ahead of April 24, the 100th anniversary of
what Armenians claim was a genocide of their people at the hands of
the Ottoman Empire. He added that the `parallel lobby' is also
currently acting together with these lobbies.
`I am declaring here that we did not and will not yield to either the
Armenian lobby or the Jewish lobby. I am also appealing to the
parallel lobby, which is sending messages to these lobbies. We will
stand against you wherever you are,' he said.
`Parallel structure' is the government's term to refer to the Gülen
movement, which is inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah
Gülen.
According to Turkey's bilingual Armenian weekly Agos, leading
representatives of the Armenian diaspora in the US have strongly
rejected DavutoÄ?lu's claims. On the contrary, they say, relations
between the movement and the diaspora in the US are not very good.
Edvin Minassian, who is among the executives of the US-based Armenian
Bar Association, told the weekly that the fact that many members of
the Armenian diaspora in the US are working for the closure of charter
schools run by Turks affiliated with the movement is a clear sign that
the two groups are at odds with each other.
The director of the US-based Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA), Aram Hamparian, was also quoted by Agos as saying that members
of the Gülen movement in the US openly and actively work against the
policies of the Armenian community in the US. He argued that members
of the movement support efforts by the Turkish government to `prevent
a just and truth-based solution to the Armenian genocide issue' and
side with Baku in the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.
Harut Sassounian, the publisher of The California Courier, an
English-Language Armenian weekly based in Glendale, California, also
termed DavutoÄ?lu's statements claiming that members of the Gülen
movement support the Armenian community in the US as `one of the lies
of DavutoÄ?lu and President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an.'
http://www.todayszaman.com/anasayfa_armenian-diaspora-in-us-rejects-pms-claims-on-cooperation-with-gulen-movement_372466.html
From: Baghdasarian
Feb 13 2015
Armenian diaspora in US rejects PM's claims on cooperation with Gülen movement
Leading figures from the Armenian diaspora in the US have rejected
recent allegations by Prime Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu that the Gülen
movement, also known as the Hizmet movement, is lobbying against
Turkey in the US in cooperation with the Armenian community there.
Speaking at his Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) Ä°stanbul
5th ordinary congress over the weekend, DavutoÄ?lu claimed that the
Armenian lobby, along with the Jewish and Greek lobbies, recently took
actions against Turkey ahead of April 24, the 100th anniversary of
what Armenians claim was a genocide of their people at the hands of
the Ottoman Empire. He added that the `parallel lobby' is also
currently acting together with these lobbies.
`I am declaring here that we did not and will not yield to either the
Armenian lobby or the Jewish lobby. I am also appealing to the
parallel lobby, which is sending messages to these lobbies. We will
stand against you wherever you are,' he said.
`Parallel structure' is the government's term to refer to the Gülen
movement, which is inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah
Gülen.
According to Turkey's bilingual Armenian weekly Agos, leading
representatives of the Armenian diaspora in the US have strongly
rejected DavutoÄ?lu's claims. On the contrary, they say, relations
between the movement and the diaspora in the US are not very good.
Edvin Minassian, who is among the executives of the US-based Armenian
Bar Association, told the weekly that the fact that many members of
the Armenian diaspora in the US are working for the closure of charter
schools run by Turks affiliated with the movement is a clear sign that
the two groups are at odds with each other.
The director of the US-based Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA), Aram Hamparian, was also quoted by Agos as saying that members
of the Gülen movement in the US openly and actively work against the
policies of the Armenian community in the US. He argued that members
of the movement support efforts by the Turkish government to `prevent
a just and truth-based solution to the Armenian genocide issue' and
side with Baku in the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.
Harut Sassounian, the publisher of The California Courier, an
English-Language Armenian weekly based in Glendale, California, also
termed DavutoÄ?lu's statements claiming that members of the Gülen
movement support the Armenian community in the US as `one of the lies
of DavutoÄ?lu and President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an.'
http://www.todayszaman.com/anasayfa_armenian-diaspora-in-us-rejects-pms-claims-on-cooperation-with-gulen-movement_372466.html
From: Baghdasarian