{"id":15727,"date":"2009-10-24T04:59:03","date_gmt":"2009-10-24T02:59:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=15727"},"modified":"2023-04-30T13:28:56","modified_gmt":"2023-04-30T10:28:56","slug":"yegparian-blood-money-this-oughta-get-you-moving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2009\/10\/24\/yegparian-blood-money-this-oughta-get-you-moving\/","title":{"rendered":"Yegparian: Blood Money: This Oughta Get You Moving!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>SCREAMS FROM American-Armenian Diaspora<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>By <span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.hairenik.com\/weekly\/author\/garenyegparian\/\">Garen Yegparian<\/span> \u2022 on October 23, 2009 \u2022<\/div>\n<p>This week, we\u2019re back to the local level with a Turkish twist.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #cc0000;\">A group parading under the moniker of Pax Turcica  has engaged in an effort to support, at least financially, Christine Essel, Paul  Krekorian\u2019s opponent in the Dec. 12 runoff election for<strong> LA\u2019s 2nd District  City Council seat<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Of course you notice the oxymoron, the utterly incompatible, internally  contradictory essence of the term \u201cpax turcica\u201d\u2014Turkish peace. It must be a  reference to the growing Al-Qaeda participation by Turks from various countries  reported by the LATimes on Oct. 17; to the Azeri massacre of Armenians as the  USSR broke up; the now almost century-long persecution, massacre, and forced  relocation of Kurds in Mustafa Kemal Ataturk\u2019s so-called republic; Turkey\u2019s  brutal invasion and ongoing occupation of Cyprus (with 30,000 \u201cdisappeared\u201d  still unaccounted for); Azeri policies of the Soviet era that denuded  Nakhichevan of its then-remaining Armenian population; the sacking of Shushi and  other massacres by Azeris (then called Tatars) during and immediately after  World War I; the massacres of Assyrians by the Turks in the dying days of the  Ottoman Empire; of course, the Armenian Genocide; the countless massacres and  all kinds of persecution of various minorities, of all religions, living under  the Turkish yoke of the Ottoman era; and heck, why don\u2019t we throw in the  original Turk, Tamerlane. Yup, it must be this kind of \u201cpeace\u201d that Pax Turcica  supports. Your belly should be aching from the laughter this absurdity  engenders.<\/p>\n<p>But now, get over your hysteria and get to work. Christine Essel should be  contacted by everyone and urged to return the blood money she\u2019s taken. The two  pieces found online at <span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.alaturkaonline.com\/yazi.asp?4485\/champagne-brunch-on-saturday\">www.alaturkaonline.com\/yazi.asp?4485\/champagne-brunch-on-saturday<\/span>&#8211;  and www.today.az\/news\/politics\/56701.html don\u2019t mention how much was raised at an Oct. 17 fundraiser for Essel. But, we do  learn that she attended.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #cc0000;\">So she can\u2019t deny knowing that she got the  blood money, the way Ohio Congressman Jean Schmidt can\u2019t \u201cremember\u201d the Turkish  dollars she\u2019s received.<\/span> I have to wonder what\u2019s going on: <span style=\"color: #cc0000;\">Is it the same kind of Turkish (and in this case  Azeri, too) governmental money laundering that is at the heart of the issue  leading Schmidt to slimily sue her opponent, David Krikorian (more on him in a  few weeks), for revealing these truths supported by whistleblower Sibel Edmonds\u2019  explosive revelations?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Maybe we should even give her the opportunity to come clean and return  whatever funds she\u2019s gotten. But meanwhile, contact all her supporters, tell  them what she\u2019s done, and ask them to withdraw their endorsements. Check out the  listing at <span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.essel09.com\/endorsements\">www.essel09.com\/endorsements<\/span> and  focus on the electeds (get contact info from their websites). But most of all,  write or call the LATimes, which has endorsed her (letters@latimes.com, 800\/548-4637 ext.  74511), and urge them to withdraw their endorsement. This should be couched in  the language of consistency with their own policies, which now properly refer to  the genocide as such.<\/p>\n<p>The Turkic groups involved are genocide deniers. Ask anyone you contact if  they\u2019re OK with candidates accepting blood money.<\/p>\n<p>Most importantly, get out and support Paul Krekorian. Those living close by  should make it a point to go in as often as possible to help with canvassing and  phone banking, i.e. contacting voters to get their support. Those who can\u2019t  should at least donate. You can contact the campaign through the website or by  calling (818) 849-5200. In particular, the campaign is targeting Nov. 7 for a  huge drive\u2014\u201c2009 in 2009\u201d\u2014with the goal of reaching 2009 voters that day. Go for  it, you\u2019ll be surprised how much you enjoy the work if you haven\u2019t tried it  yet.<\/p>\n<p>This will be a VERY low turnout election. People will be at holiday parties,  gift shopping, or at home\u2014understandably nursing their  globalization-and-Wall-Street-inflicted financial wounds. Every vote turned out  for Paul Krekorian matters, and that\u2019s where each and every person\u2019s efforts  matter. The last time this seat was seriously contested, <span style=\"color: #cc0000;\">the difference between winner and loser was only 225  votes<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>As I\u2019ve implied before, Paul\u2019s election is a crucial test of our community\u2019s  political growth. Let\u2019s do it!<\/p>\n<h1 id=\"post-4342\"><span style=\"font-size: x-small;\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">From: <span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.hairenik.com\/weekly\/2009\/10\/23\/yegparian-blood-money-this-oughta-get-you-moving\/\"><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SCREAMS FROM American-Armenian Diaspora By Garen Yegparian \u2022 on October 23, 2009 \u2022 This week, we\u2019re back to the local level with a Turkish twist. A group parading under the moniker of Pax Turcica has engaged in an effort to support, at least financially, Christine Essel, Paul Krekorian\u2019s opponent in the Dec. 12 runoff election [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":62354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[3765],"class_list":["post-15727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey","tag-al-qaeda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}