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Sen. Bob Dole, A Staunch Supporter of Armenians, Passes Away

by Asbarez Staff
December 6, 2021
in Armenia, Featured Story, Latest, National, News, Top Stories
3
Sen. Bob Dole, A Staunch Supporter of Armenians, Passes Away

Ambassador Varuzhan Nersesyan after presenting Bob Dole with Armenia's Order of Honor in 2019

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Bob Dole, a Republican Senator from Kansas who rose to become Majority Leader and later nominated as the Republican Party presidential candidate in 1996, passed away on Sunday. He was 98.

His affinity for Armenians and the Armenian cause came from Dr. Hampar Kelikian, who helped Dole recover from serious injuries during World War II. Kelikian shared the story of his family who experienced unfathomable horrors during the Armenian Genocide.

Dole became a staunch advocate for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and in February 1990 fought for the passage of a resolution, which would ultimately not pass, due to a filibuster by Virginia Democrat Robert Byrd.

“For the one million Armenians in this country, the wounds have been open for almost 75 years, and the hurt is not going to be able to heal because the world has not faced up to the truth of the suffering of the Armenian people in this period of 1915-1923…because the world stood by and did nothing,” Dole said on the Senate floor during the debate on the resolution in 1990.

“Dole had planted a seed and finally lived to see the House of Representatives, Senate, and the Executive Branch end the longest-lasting foreign gag rule in American history and dealing a major setback to Turkey’s century-long obstruction of justice for this crime against humanity,” said the Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region in a tribute posted on the organization’s social media platforms on Sunday.

Dole hailed President Joe Biden’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide this year, calling it a pound moment for the United States.

“I’m very pleased that he [President Biden] has officially recognized the Armenian genocide. This is a proud and historically significant moment for the United States, for Armenia, and for Armenians around the globe. It’s been a long time coming,” Dole said.

He and his wife, Elizabeth, who would later become the president of the American Red Cross, traveled to Armenia in 1989 and assessed the damage of the devastating earthquake.

Mere weeks before last year’s 44-Day War, Armenia’s then Ambassador to the United States Varuzhan Nersesyan signed an agreement with the law firm Alston & Bird, where Dole would assist Armenia in building a strategic partnership with the United States.

In December 2019, Nersesyan presented Dole with Armenia’s Order of Honor medal for his unwavering commitment to Armenia and the Armenian people.

“America lost a worthy son and soldier, and the Armenian people lost their great and loyal friend, who was closely connected with us, Armenians, and was always by our side, especially during trying times,” President Armen Sarkissian said in a tribute to Dole on Monday.

“After the devastating earthquake of 1988, Robert Dole visited Armenia and played an indisputable role in the organization of US humanitarian aid to our country. His efforts to recognize the Armenian Genocide are also invaluable,” said Sarkissian said, adding that “Mr. Dole’s the memory will always be bright in our hearts.”

Asbarez Staff

Asbarez Staff

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Comments 3

  1. Dr. Sylva Portoian says:
    8 months ago

    Senator Bob Dole and the Armenian Orthopedic Surgeon,
    Dr. Hampar Kelikian, an orphan from the Armenian Genocide
    Kelikian operated on Senator Bob Dole, who was a soldier
    wounded in Italy, He restored the use of Mr. Dole’s arm by
    transplanting leg bone and muscle to the limb.

    ‘Brave Soldier Dole & Gifted Surgeon Hampar
    United to Save Humanity from War Miseries’

    Dole, with deformed Right Hand
    Yet his glial cells full of sparks,
    His rich smile, tells each of us
    How his powerful cardiocytes act toward life
    for minorities who need care.

    Bob recognized Armenian Genocide
    Without any fear from Turkish scimitars.
    But … did that help for Congress to act faithfully
    Scraping some scars from Armenians’ heart valves?

    Sylva Portoian, MD
    From My Historical Poetry Book
    “BRING OUT our GENOCIDED SKULLS & ARTFUL HANDS” 2019
    Inaugurated in Komitas Museum, erevan, Armenia
    June 21, 2013

    Richard Dole (b.1923) in 1942 joined the United States Army’s Enlisted Reserve Corps to fight in World War II, while engaged in combat near Castel d’Aiano, Dole was badly wounded by German machine gun fire, being hit in his upper back and right arm. Dole was transported to the United States, where his recovery was slow, interrupted by blood clots and a life-threatening infection. After large doses of penicillin had not succeeded, Dole was encouraged to see a Chicago orthopedist Dr. Hampar Kelikian, who had been working with veterans returning from war. Although during their first meeting Kelikian told Dole that he would never be able to recover fully, the encounter changed Dole’s outlook on life, who years later wrote that Kelikian, a survivor of the Armenian Genocide, “Inspired me to focus on what I had left and what I could do with it, rather than complaining what had been lost.” Dr. Kelikian operated on him seven times, free of charge, and had, in Dole’s words, “an impact on my life second only to my family.” (Wikipedia 2014)

    A photo …Dr. Hampar Kelikian with Senator Bob Dole (1969)
    A brave man like Surgeon Kelikian can do anything
    Because He saw in front of his eyes . . .
    What He lost . . . He lost three sisters, relatives, friends, kin, . . .
    He lost their beautiful faces and their kindness during the Genocide.
    They are no longer there to embrace and praise his heroness.

    We should not forget that Hampar belonged to Khachkar’s race,
    Those who carved and carved by their small chisels and nails,
    For artist–surgeon Hampar hereby managed to fix the honest soldier’s
    Right hand, was much easier than carving the hard rocks
    To make historical Khachkars.

    Surgery is a Heroic Job ~ Yes consciously heroic . . .
    You should have no fear to face tragedies to save lives,
    And save the most precious limbs . . . broken arms.
    Right more than the left, without them how can you write or carve?
    Surgeons in themselves they feel . . . they are Heros
    Every morning they step and face a new sun with its moon
    If others can’t grasp their aims
    They can’t understand their sincere unlimited braveness.

    Unless they had some tragedy like poor, Senator Dole
    Who is still sailing with smiles with his genius surgeon, Hampar
    Covering his right hand by his left from the view.
    He tried by his polite-political power to recognize Armenian genocide,
    After hearing from Dr. Hampar the stories of his unlucky race!

    Dole as a Senator (R) he already recognized Armenian genocide
    But he was blocked strongly by childish Junior Bush
    Who felt he should stay allies with the criminal Turkish gangs.
    To ignore Armenians and many other honest nation’s rights.

    June 21, 2014

    Dr. Hampar Kelikian M.D. (1899-1983), A Genius, Master-Surgeon, and Poet.
    He was born in Hadjin, historic Armenia, in 1915. He fled his land where violence stormed, annihilating 1.5 million Armenians including his three sisters.
    Dr. Kelikian’s good friend famous writer William Saroyan (1908-1981) said of him: “He is enormity both as a brilliantly creative surgeon and a human being. His kindness, understanding intelligence, and humour are instant, constant and inexhaustible, whether he is with children in a hospital or with a poet at a dinner table . . .”
    Kelikian services were recognized by President Harry Truman, who gave him a citation and a medal. He also received a citation from the Queen of England while working as a consultant Orthopaedic surgeon at the Ronkswood General Hospital in Worcester.
    In 1969, he was appointed to President Nixon’s Task Force for the Disabled. In 1966 he was awarded the Order of the National Cedars of Lebanon by President Charles Helou (1913-2001). Kelikian later became an emeritus associate professor of orthopedic surgery, performing ten operations a week when he was 80. Kelikian wrote three monographs on hand, ankle, and foot surgery, as well as a book of Armenian poetry.
    On July 27, 1983, Senator Robert Dole paid a moving tribute to his dear friend and healer and said, “Dr. Kelikian earned fame for his historic accomplishments in the operating room. He earned the gratitude of thousands of people, who like me, live a much fuller existence because of his operative skills. He was “pure gold” – added Senator Dole.

    I say, “I was lucky to meet his famous son Dr. Armen Kelikian in the North Western hospital, Chicago because I had sciatica. When I was sitting in the waiting room, I saw so many patients in wheelchairs. After examining me, he said, “You have nothing.” He was correct and he encouraged me to exercise, saying all the pain will disappear. He made me happy with his Armenian hearty smile. His male nurse diagnosed us, saying, “Are you from his fans?”

    Recently announced (February 7, 2018), The Robert and Elizabeth Dole Archive and Special Collections at the Dole Institute of Politics has announced the recipients of two grants related to the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1917.

    Reply
  2. Dr. Sylva Portoian says:
    8 months ago

    Please don’t remove what I documented it is already in a book …
    Are you my enemy and why???

    Reply
  3. Raffi says:
    8 months ago

    Rest In Peace, Armenians will not forget you.

    Reply

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