The Armenian diaspora has started a campaign to urge foreign investors to withdraw their investments from Turkey as the 100th anniversary of the so-called Armenian Genocide on April 24 draws near. The diaspora community, which continues political pressure for what it calls genocide to be recognized across the world, is now trying to economically sabotage investments in Turkey. The campaign, DivestTurkey – withdraw your investments in Turkey – has commenced, which has resulted in the University of California, Berkeley, in the U.S. withdrawing $74 million from Turkey.
The campaign was initiated by the Armenian Youth Federation and is mainly active in California, where many American universities are located. The University of California, Berkley called the undergraduate senate to a meeting on Feb. 18 to discuss the withdrawal of its investments in Turkey. After the vote, the senate decided to withdraw its investments in Turkey. The Chairman of the Armenian Student Association, Sareen Habeshian, said that the decision was not only a success for California but also a success for Armenian society.
The University of California has funds and investments totalling $74 million in Turkey. While $55.4 million of this amount belongs to the University of California Retirement Plan, $9.6 million is invested in government bonds under the General Endowment Pool program. Furthermore, the retirement plan has $7.27 million stored at Turkish Exim Bank and the general endowment pool's investments at Exim Bank are around $1.6 million.
Last week, the Armenian diaspora had pressured the coffee chain Starbucks, which puts up posters and flags of countries it operates in showing local themes, to take down the flags of Turkey from its various stores in California. As a result, Starbucks has decided to stop its promotion of Turkey.
