For many of the roughly 40,000 Armenian Americans living in Pennsylvania, the Senate race between Democratic candidate John Fetterman and Republican Mehmet Oz is personal and has become focused on a genocide that occurred during the First World War.
Oz, a retired heart surgeon and popular TV personality, is hoping to become the first Muslim senator in US history and keep a critical Senate seat under Republican control in the November 8 midterms.
But it is his ties to Turkey and his refusal to label the systematic killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as genocide that have infuriated many living in the Keystone State.
In Huntingdon Valley, a suburb to the north-west of Philadelphia, Armenian community members and allies gathered outside the registered headquarters of the Oz campaign to protest against his silence on the issue.
The crowd of young and old, Democrats and Republicans are campaigning for Oz's defeat on November 8 — even as he has surged from being 10 points to only two points behind his opponent.
Lorig Baronian, a descendant of genocide survivors, saw Oz’s Senate bid as an affront to her community.
“We refuse to allow a candidate to drag the US Senate back into the days of denial … [back to] the sad era before the US Senate voted 100 to zero to recognise this crime and reject its denial,” Ms Baronian told the crowd.
In 2019, the Senate voted unanimously to recognise the atrocities that killed about 1.5 million Armenians as genocide. And two years later, Joe Biden became the first sitting US president to describe the atrocities as genocide.
Mr Biden's declaration angered Turkey, whose foreign minister called it “the greatest betrayal to peace and justice”.
As many as 1.5 million Armenians are estimated to have been killed from 1915 to 1917 in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire, which suspected the Christian minority of conspiring with Russia during Oz, 62, is a former cardiothoracic surgeon but since retiring has courted controversy by promoting non-proven remedies.
He is a dual US and Turkish citizen who served in the Turkish military, and his campaign has referred to the events of 1915 as the “evils of World War One [that] should be commemorated”.
But neither the campaign nor the candidate has used the word genocide, something that Ms Baronian finds identical with the Turkish playbook.
“Oz's refusal to recognise this known case of genocide mirrors to the hateful campaign — led by Ankara — to cover up this crime, abandon its victims, and consolidate its fruits,” she said.
The Oz campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
More than 30 countries have recognised the atrocities as genocide, including France, Germany, Argentina and Canada.
Turkey has long rejected the designation and has accused the Armenian community of “infusing history with myth”.
Karine Shamlian, a Pennsylvania voter and a volunteer with the Armenian National Committee of America (Anca), told The National that her objection to Oz’s candidacy has nothing to do with his Turkish roots.
“There are many Turkish people who recognise the Armenian genocide … So it has nothing to do with him being Turkish,” said Ms Shamlian, whose grandparents were genocide survivors that moved to the US. “It is about standing up for justice and truth in history.
“As a public servant that would be representing Pennsylvania, we want to make sure that our voices and our concerns are represented fairly in the United States Senate.”
Ms Shamlian said members of the community and Anca had tried to reach out to the Oz campaign but their messages went unanswered.
On the campaign trail, Oz has mostly avoided discussing his Turkish heritage but has said that he would renounce his Turkish citizenship if he wins the race.
But Joseph Frounjian, an Armenian-American resident of Pennsylvania who normally votes Republican, said Oz renouncing his citizenship is not enough.
“He voted in the Turkish elections [in 2018]. He participated in the Turkish military. So for me, it's a question of where does his allegiance lie? Is it with the United States? Or is it with Turkey?,” Mr Frounjian told The National.
An advertisement by Anca and the Hellenic American Leadership Council took aim at those ties, accusing the candidate of receiving millions of dollars from Turkish businesses and cosying up to the country’s leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Oz, who was born in Ohio to Turkish parents, called the attacks “bigoted” and likened them to “slurs made in the past about Catholics and Jews”.
His rival, Mr Fetterman, has not made Oz's Turkish links a part of his attack line but has come out strongly in recognising the Armenian genocide.
“As a Pennsylvanian, I welcomed the long overdue US government recognition of the Armenian genocide — by the US House and Senate in 2019 and by President Biden in 2021 — and will, as a US senator, support promoting public education about this atrocity,” Mr Fetterman said in a statement.
With polls narrowing in the race, it is the suburbs of Pennsylvania, such as Huntingdon Valley, that could decide the outcome and possibly the control of the Senate.
Some members of the community have reservations about Mr Fetterman's economic and social policies, but for them, the race has been solely defined by keeping Oz away from Washington.
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Company profile
Date started: December 24, 2018
Founders: Omer Gurel, chief executive and co-founder and Edebali Sener, co-founder and chief technology officer
Based: Dubai Media City
Number of employees: 42 (34 in Dubai and a tech team of eight in Ankara, Turkey)
Sector: ConsumerTech and FinTech
Cashflow: Almost $1 million a year
Funding: Series A funding of $2.5m with Series B plans for May 2020
England XI for second Test
Rory Burns, Keaton Jennings, Ben Stokes, Joe Root (c), Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Ben Foakes (wk), Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Jack Leach, James Anderson
The biog
Favourite hobby: I love to sing but I don’t get to sing as much nowadays sadly.
Favourite book: Anything by Sidney Sheldon.
Favourite movie: The Exorcist 2. It is a big thing in our family to sit around together and watch horror movies, I love watching them.
Favourite holiday destination: The favourite place I have been to is Florence, it is a beautiful city. My dream though has always been to visit Cyprus, I really want to go there.
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MATCH INFO
Wales 1 (Bale 45 3')
Croatia 1 (Vlasic 09')
Scoreline:
Everton 4
Richarlison 13'), Sigurdsson 28', Digne 56', Walcott 64'
Manchester United 0
Man of the match: Gylfi Sigurdsson (Everton)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.
GROUPS AND FIXTURES
Group A
UAE, Italy, Japan, Spain
Group B
Egypt, Iran, Mexico, Russia
Tuesday
4.15pm: Italy v Japan
5.30pm: Spain v UAE
6.45pm: Egypt v Russia
8pm: Iran v Mexico
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
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Three trading apps to try
Sharad Nair recommends three investment apps for UAE residents:
- For beginners or people who want to start investing with limited capital, Mr Nair suggests eToro. “The low fees and low minimum balance requirements make the platform more accessible,” he says. “The user interface is straightforward to understand and operate, while its social element may help ease beginners into the idea of investing money by looking to a virtual community.”
- If you’re an experienced investor, and have $10,000 or more to invest, consider Saxo Bank. “Saxo Bank offers a more comprehensive trading platform with advanced features and insight for more experienced users. It offers a more personalised approach to opening and operating an account on their platform,” he says.
- Finally, StashAway could work for those who want a hands-off approach to their investing. “It removes one of the biggest challenges for novice traders: picking the securities in their portfolio,” Mr Nair says. “A goal-based approach or view towards investing can help motivate residents who may usually shy away from investment platforms.”
Is it worth it? We put cheesecake frap to the test.
The verdict from the nutritionists is damning. But does a cheesecake frappuccino taste good enough to merit the indulgence?
My advice is to only go there if you have unusually sweet tooth. I like my puddings, but this was a bit much even for me. The first hit is a winner, but it's downhill, slowly, from there. Each sip is a little less satisfying than the last, and maybe it was just all that sugar, but it isn't long before the rush is replaced by a creeping remorse. And half of the thing is still left.
The caramel version is far superior to the blueberry, too. If someone put a full caramel cheesecake through a liquidiser and scooped out the contents, it would probably taste something like this. Blueberry, on the other hand, has more of an artificial taste. It's like someone has tried to invent this drink in a lab, and while early results were promising, they're still in the testing phase. It isn't terrible, but something isn't quite right either.
So if you want an experience, go for a small, and opt for the caramel. But if you want a cheesecake, it's probably more satisfying, and not quite as unhealthy, to just order the real thing.
What vitamins do we know are beneficial for living in the UAE
Vitamin D: Highly relevant in the UAE due to limited sun exposure; supports bone health, immunity and mood.
Vitamin B12: Important for nerve health and energy production, especially for vegetarians, vegans and individuals with absorption issues.
Iron: Useful only when deficiency or anaemia is confirmed; helps reduce fatigue and support immunity.
Omega-3 (EPA/DHA): Supports heart health and reduces inflammation, especially for those who consume little fish.
