Interview with Javid Huseynov, Ph.D., general director of Azerbaijani-American Council, founding Board Director of Pax Turcica Institute.
Q: Despite relatively recent establishment, The Pax Turcica Institute (PTI) has already proven to be a very active grassroots organization. How did it come about?
A: Although the Pax Turcica Institute Corporation (PTIC) was formally registered in 2011, activities of the Pax Turcica initiative date back to 2008. In fact, my first comprehensive interview about this initiative was with 1news.az agency in 2009.
The idea and name of Pax Turcica initiative was put forward in 2008 by myself, Ergun Kirlikovali, the incumbent president of the Assembly of Turkish-American Associations (ATAA), and Professor Inanc Atilgan, member of the Turkish Historical Society. Pax Turcica (which means "Turkic Peace" in Latin) was established as a unified research and advocacy platform for all Turkic communities and organizations. This has been our important distinction for the past 3 years, that is, we do not seek to create some supra-organization but only to facilitate working relationships and networking of existing Turkic organizations and communities around common pursuits. This is why Pax Turcica initiative has flourished out of cooperation of various Turkic organizations, including ATAA, Turkish Coalition of America (TCA), Azerbaijan Society of America (ASA), Azerbaijani-American Council (AAC), Uzbek Initiative, and others. We also engage non-Turkic organizations interested in cooperation, for example, Pax Turcica's most recent action campaign in support of Turkey and Macedonia was held on behalf of the United Macedonian Diaspora (UMD), the leading grassroots organization of Macedonian-Americans.
The First Pax Turcica Conference held in May 2009 at Columbia University in New York was so far the only academic grassroots event that brought together scholars, community leaders, diplomats, and students from Turkish, Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Kazakh, Tatar, and Kyrgyz communities. It was the only all-Turkic conference co-hosted by the prestigious School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University. In November 2009, Pax Turcica in cooperation with TCA, ATAA, ASA and Uzbek Initiative, organized another successful event about the history of Jewish communities in the Turkic world in New York. In 2010, Pax Turcica, in cooperation with ATAA and AAC, organized a Khojaly conference at the George Washington University (GWU) and held the Pax Turcica US Census Workshop. The same year, AAC issued the first-ever Pax Turcica US Postal Service-approved stamp in support of recognizing the Turkic heritage in the 2010 US Census.
Q: And this year?
A: In 2011, the Pax Turcica initiative made a big step forward by institutionalizing and engaging in Turkic-American grassroots advocacy. For this reason, we obtained the market-leading CapWiz online advocacy system and launched our first letter campaign in February, dedicated to the 19th anniversary of Khojaly massacre. CapWiz software allowed PTI to build a nationwide grassroots membership, which now counts in thousands, and to more consistently represent Turkic communities and organizations to the U.S. Congress, government and local media.
PTI is now an organization registered in New Jersey, and besides Ergun Kirlikovali and myself, its board directors now include the past president of the Federation of Turkish-American Associations (FTAA), Erhan Atay, ASA President, Tomris Azeri, AAC Board Directors, Gulzar Babaeva and Ali Cinar, and the New York-based attorney and friend of Azerbaijan, Todd Gordon.
Since February 2011, the Pax Turcica Institute (PTI), in cooperation with its partners, ATAA, ASA and AAC, launched 15 different action campaigns, including "March 31 - Day of Soyqirim, the Azerbaijani Genocide", "April 23 - Turkish National Sovereignty and Children's Day", opposing each of the 5 anti-Turkish bills, House Resolutions 304, 306, 2587, 180, and the Senate Resolution 196, introduced in US Congress in the last few months. Within just 5 months, over 18,000 letters were sent to Members of Congress with dozens of responses received every week, more than 10 articles were published in US media. This is a huge achievement for just 150 days of activity, and we intend to build on this success of PTI.
Q: Last week, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on foreign aid did not include the U.S. assistance to occupied Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. What is your opinion about this change and the role of Pax Turcica Institute?
A: Built upon the prior Congressional testimonies by ASA and AAC, the PTI pioneered its 2011 action campaign regarding Fiscal Year 2012 foreign assistance by focusing primarily on the direct U.S. aid to the occupied Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. Our CapWiz letter argued that the US aid was initially intended by the US Congress for all victims of Karabakh conflict, but for the last several years, under influence of Armenian lobby, the US aid was directed only to Armenians in the occupied Karabakh, depriving displaced Azerbaijanis of any aid. Moreover, the amount of this aid allocation was elevated from $3 million to $8 million, while the actual consumption in occupied Nagorno-Karabakh did not exceed $2 million. Hence the aid allocation was simply a big waste of US taxpayer dollars to satisfy the whim of a single ethnic special interest group.
We are delighted that only in 2011, in the first year of our advocacy, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs decided to remove the wording and amount of direct aid to Nagorno-Karabakh in the Fiscal Year 2012. Of course, we can call this a final victory only after the August 3rd vote in the full House Appropriations Committee, and some would argue that the removal is due to the major US budget deficit. But, the fact that aid to Armenia was approved in the proposed amount while the aid to Nagorno-Karabakh was removed, may be partially indicative of our community voices heard, and certainly Pax Turcica is proud for its share in this achievement. Again, we very much hope that the August 3rd vote in the full Appropriation committee will put an end to the 6-year old "gag rule" against taxpayer dollars sent to the illegitimate and separatist entity established in the occupied Karabakh as a result of ethnic cleansing.
Q: This year Texas legislature adopted a resolution condemning the Khojaly genocide, do you think other states will follow suit?
A: First of all, I would like to commend the Azerbaijani-American community in Texas for this achievement. It is possible that other state legislatures will adopt similar resolutions ahead of the 20th anniversary of Khojaly tragedy. But this will require active engagement of local Azerbaijani and Turkic communities in those states, just as it was the case in Texas.
Of course, this may be challenging in other states, especially in those with influence of Armenian-American ethnic interest groups. But nothing is impossible in America, where representation is influenced by active community. For example, the organization I represent, Azerbaijani-American Council (AAC), was the first Azerbaijani-American grassroots organization to organize a community visit to California State Assembly & Senate in 2008. For the first time, in May 2008, Azerbaijani flag was raised to greet AAC delegation in the legislature of California which inhabits the largest ethnic Armenian population outside Armenia and where ethnic Armenian legislators are present.
In conclusion, the topic of Khojaly has also been of special focus for myself as part of AAC, ASA and PTI. Since 2008, AAC and ASA facilitated the Khojaly awareness weeks across US universities, and in 2011, AAC introduced a new title to formulate our objective: "Khojaly - Srebrenica of the Caucasus". We intend to continue our media, academic and legislative campaigns ahead of the 20th anniversary of Khojaly tragedy under this title. American audience is very well aware of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia, recognized by the International Court of Justice as an act of genocide. And our strong conviction is that the victims and the perpetrators of Khojaly massacre deserve the same justice served by the international community including the United States.
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