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Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

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  • Originally posted by Joseph View Post
    SAHIN ALPAY
    [email protected]

    Halaço?lu is practicing racism




    Turkish Historical Society President Yusuf Halaço?lu was reported by the media to have stated in a conference that Kurds living in Turkey are of Turkmen origin and that Alevi Kurds are “unfortunately of Armenian origin.”
    Halaço?lu claimed his statements were distorted by the media and provided corrections in a press conference. Let’s take a look at his true statements.
    It was, of course, impossible to say there were no Kurds in Turkey. Only 30 percent of those who called themselves Kurds were of Turkmen origin. Not all but only a part of Alevi Kurds were Armenians who had pretended to be Kurdish and Alevi in order to escape deportation in 1915-16. This was indicated by the fact that some Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists were discovered to be “uncircumcised.” This was the reason why he had said that some Alevi Kurds are “unfortunately of Armenian origin.” Many of these “converts” were not even sincere, since they were known to try to establish churches. The state had in the years 1936-37 used a “house by house” method to identify these converts. He too had “a list of Armenian converts” he was never to disclose. He was involved in nothing other than “scientific research,” and his aim was simply to show to what an extent the Turks and Kurds had merged in a country where there were efforts to provoke clashes between the two groups. He believed that “everyone has the right to find out about his or her origins” and that “everyone’s identity is whatever he or she feels it to be.”

    The pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party and Alevi associations are absolutely right to declare that Halaço?lu’s statements are “racist and divisive,” and to demand that he is removed from office and prosecuted. If Halaço?lu sincerely believed in the scientific and democratic principle that “everyone’s identity is whatever he or she feels it to be,” he would never have engaged in the kind of research he has, and never made the kind of statements he has made. In a democratic society, citizens’ ethnic and/or religious identities are determined only by “whatever they feel to it be.” They are, of course, individually entitled to investigate their origins, but the state has no right whatsoever to investigate citizens’ ethnic and religious identities; it is absolutely obliged to respect all ethnic and religious identities and to treat them equally. It is only Nazi or fascist regimes with their racist ideologies that investigate the ethnic and religious origins of their citizens.

    Halaço?lu’s claim that some Alevi Kurds are of Armenian origin as indicated by the fact that some PKK members are found to be “uncircumcised” is related to the notorious claim that the separatist, terrorist PKK is in fact an Armenian and not a Kurdish organization. Halaço?lu’s logic is clearly that “the PKK is evil because it is Armenian and all Armenians are evil.” There is no doubt that his claims are of a racist character and denigrate all Armenians, among them all Turkish citizens of Armenian origin.

    ?smet Berkan, in a column titled “What did the Minorities Auxiliary Commission do?” commented on the most serious and dangerous aspect of Halaço?lu’s claims. I quote: “Minorities Auxiliary Commission was the name until recently of a commission composed of representatives from the National Intelligence Organization, the Ministry of Interior, the General Directorate of Foundations and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Its main function was to make life difficult for minorities and encourage them to leave the country. This commission did a good job, and the numbers of non-Muslim minorities have shrunk significantly. … It is perhaps the case that our state has continued to pursue Armenian families who adopted Islam in order to escape deportation and death. … Halaço?lu claims that the state conducted a survey of these ‘converts’ in 1936 and that he has himself updated that study. … Can it be the case that the list he claims to possess is used as a ‘guide’ in the recruitment and promotion of state and armed forces personnel? ... The discourse of ‘reliable’ and ‘unreliable’ ethnic origins in state offices is one of well known secrets of Ankara. … We will only be able to discover the truth behind all this when this country becomes a true democracy, and when the state becomes accountable.” (Radikal, Aug. 23, 2007)

    It is high time that someone who is committed to democratic principles and is a qualified and respected historian is appointed to the presidency of the Turkish Historical Society. This will be a test case for the new government soon to assume office.

    27.08.2007
    Comments | Send to Print | Send to My Friend



    DOGU ERGIL

    Racism or transformation

    I did not know what racism was until I went to the United States for graduate studies. One of the first classes I had to attend was “Relations and Politics of Race.”
    This was a novelty to me, and I came to realize that there were racial problems in another world. My second experience came to me as a distasteful soul searching. For a while I was spending time with a female African American student. When we strolled through the streets of downtown Philadelphia in the early 1970s or sat down in coffeehouses, people shot us disapproving glances and the like. All of this irritated me to the point of refraining from going out with her though it caused me pain to succumb to such pressure. I had met with no such collective sentiment in my own country and thus decided that we Turks were free of racism.
    The first incident that shook my firm belief was a statement by a fellow graduate student in the Ph.D. program at New York State University-Binghamton a few years later. The director of the sociology department had invited new doctoral candidates to his home for a welcome party so we could meet each other and our instructors. I introduced myself as a Turk. To me this meant being a citizen of Turkey and was also an ethnic identity. I had no idea that these two could be two separate entities until another student introduced himself as an Armenian from ?stanbul, Turkey. I was dumbstruck. Not that I did not know we had citizens of Armenian, Greek and other origins, but the way an individual identity was expressed by distinguishing between ethnic (or cultural) and official/legal components had amazed me. The reality that someone could be an Armenian or anything other but an ethnic Turk and a citizen of Turkey came to me as a surprise. From then on I began to question every official definition, trying to differentiate between individual and collective identities and definitions. The world was simple and comfortable no longer. However, this way I could better understand why non-ethnic Turks felt as though they were under pressure and subjected to unfair treatment being forced legally to be a “Turk” despite being quite ready to be loyal citizens of the Republic of Turkey.

    The authoritarian, exclusive and unequal official definition of citizenship has once again surfaced with the racist statements of the director of the Turkish Historical Society (TTK) Professor Yusuf Halaço?lu. The “Armenian question” is one of official Turkey’s main concerns. First of all there is a definitional problem. For Armenians and many foreigners it means genocidal treatment of Armenian citizens by the Ottoman government in 1915. For Turks who have adopted the official line, it is matter of Armenian betrayal to the government and country struggling with Russian occupation and ensuing deportation.

    The Turkish side has all along defended the line that the incidents had neither the intention nor the quality of genocide, which implies a deliberate and official policy of wiping out a racial, ethnic or religious group completely. This rationale has also been adopted by the republican governments though Armenians and others argue that a deliberate crime was planned and executed to get rid of the Armenians on Ottoman soil.

    Now there is a fresh entry to the official record that surprised many of us. Professor Halaço?lu claimed that “unfortunately, those Armenians who feared for their lives converted to Islam and took on Alevi Kurdish or Sunni Muslim Turkish identities.” He also asserted that there are no Alevi Kurds and those who say so are originally of Turkish ethnic origin. The most frightening of his statements was that since 1936, the state has conducted an in-depth survey of Armenians who converted to Islam and the list is in his (the state’s) possession.

    This is an utterly racist outburst, but not one paid attention to the timing of it. Halaço?lu revealed these official racist practices of tracking down former Armenians right before the Jewish Anti-Defamation League declared its acknowledgement of the Armenian genocide during the Ottoman era. This means the certain adoption of a similar resolution in the US Congress that has been delayed for some time. What the Turkish state reflex means is that Armenians did not disappear in whole, they just changed shape. Overnight they transformed into Turks and Muslims. Which is more respectful for a state -- to get rid of a people for the wrongdoings of some, or to make them invisible by forcing them into conversion and proselytizing?

    12.09.2007
    General Antranik (1865-1927): “I am not a nationalist. I recognize only one nation, the nation of the oppressed.”

    Comment






    • Song praising Dink murderers sparks outrage
      A new song by folksinger ?smail Türüt, which covertly praises the men involved in the assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, has caused anger, resentment and grief throughout much of Turkish society.


      ?smail Türüt
      Three ministries have also taken action following news stories on the ultra-nationalist song that an anonymous fan used to make a video showing Hrant Dink and Father Andrea Santoro, an Italian priest who was killed in the Black Sea region. The Justice Ministry and the Interior Ministry have started an investigation; meanwhile Minister of Culture and Tourism Ertu?rul Günay issued a stern statement, saying he had read the news reports “in horror.” Günay said the government would do everything within its power to make access to the online video clip impossible.
      “The song includes intentional cues to fan feelings of hatred and enmity within society,” Günay observed. The Human Rights Association (?HD) called for a boycott of Türüt and announced that it would be filing a criminal complaint against the singer.

      “Is it possible for society to function well as long as people who are bold about praising a cowardly and abject murder are respected in various sections of society and have their own television shows?” questioned journalist Ergun Babahan.

      Many who were close friends of Dink were grieved by the song. “Even child pornography is innocent compared to this,” commented Gökhan Özgün, a columnist for Radikal daily. Lawyers representing the Dink family called on prosecutors to act. “The song incites murder,” said Kaz?m Bayraktar, who heads the Contemporary Legal Professionals Association.

      Although the video was produced by a fan, the lyrics of Türüt’s song, written by Ozan Arif, a much-loved poet of the ultra-nationalists, are clearly praising the teenager who shot Hrant Dink on Jan. 17. Türüt denies his song has any racist implications, but references to the names of the teenager and Yasin Hayal, accused of soliciting the hit man, are present in the song -- concealed in rather basic wordplay.

      The song also makes a clear reference to the Santoro murder. “Stop ringing bells/stop being pro-Armenian/the people won’t swallow that/not in the Black Sea region.” A picture of Father Santoro is shown in the video when Türüt sings the line “Stop ringing bells,” and footage from Dink’s funeral is displayed, in which hundreds of thousands of mourners holding banners reading “We are all Armenian” formed a long procession on the streets of ?stanbul. A photo of Dink’s dead body in front of his newspaper Agos is shown as the words of the song “If somebody sells out the motherland/they will immediately die” are being sung.

      Türüt denies allegations

      Meanwhile, Star daily reported that the fan who made the video clip to the song was a Turkish worker living in Vienna. An earlier version of the video featured a picture of Evren ?lhan, the man allegedly behind the disturbing string of images.

      Türüt meanwhile defended himself, saying, “I have nothing to do with the video. I only wanted to draw attention to the games being played in the Black Sea region. I enjoyed singing the lyrics.”

      Arif, the songwriter said, “I haven’t heard about the video. It must have been one of the Internet ‘birds’. The lyrics to this piece were written by me. I stand behind every line -- every single word.” Saying he was sorry about the Dink assassination, the songwriter continued, “However, the slogan ‘We are all Armenian’ should also be questioned. It is illogical to draw a parallel between the murder and the song.”
      General Antranik (1865-1927): “I am not a nationalist. I recognize only one nation, the nation of the oppressed.”

      Comment


      • !?!?!?!?! Are Turks animals????

        Shameful support in the name of law

        Referring to the song praising the murder of Hrant Dink, the chairman of the Izmir Bar Association, Nevzat Erdemir, said: "it is patriotism to congratulate."

        The chairman of the Izmir Bar Association, Nevzat Erdemir, supported the song by ?smail Türüt which idolizes the suspects in the Hrant Dink murder and which praises the assassination. Erdemir embraced the song by saying: "It is an act to congratulate to express patriotic feelings with a song or poem."

        Scandalous video and double investigation into song

        The public prosecutor has started a two-way investigation regarding the video and song which praises the murder of Hrant Dink. ?smail Türüt and the lyricist will give statements.

        The public prosecutor has started an investigation about the video and the song which praises the murder of Hrant Dink. The song named "Do not make any plans" by ?smail Türüt and the video of the song has led the Istanbul Police Department and the Public Prosecutor take action. The police department made a file about the song and the video and then the Istanbul Public Prosecutor took action. Nurten Alt?nok, Istanbul Press Prosecutor, has started a two-way investigation into the song. It is being investigated whether those individuals who made a video broadcast and those who prepared the song and its lyrics have convicted crimes. Within the scope of the investigation, the singer ?smail Türüt and the lyric writer Ozan Arif will also give statements.

        Publish Date: 18.09.2007
        Link: http://english.sabah.com.tr/D5ADD26A...37F37CC92.html
        General Antranik (1865-1927): “I am not a nationalist. I recognize only one nation, the nation of the oppressed.”

        Comment


        • Originally posted by Joseph View Post
          Shameful support in the name of law

          Referring to the song praising the murder of Hrant Dink, the chairman of the Izmir Bar Association, Nevzat Erdemir, said: "it is patriotism to congratulate."

          The chairman of the Izmir Bar Association, Nevzat Erdemir, supported the song by ?smail Türüt which idolizes the suspects in the Hrant Dink murder and which praises the assassination. Erdemir embraced the song by saying: "It is an act to congratulate to express patriotic feelings with a song or poem."

          Scandalous video and double investigation into song

          The public prosecutor has started a two-way investigation regarding the video and song which praises the murder of Hrant Dink. ?smail Türüt and the lyricist will give statements.

          The public prosecutor has started an investigation about the video and the song which praises the murder of Hrant Dink. The song named "Do not make any plans" by ?smail Türüt and the video of the song has led the Istanbul Police Department and the Public Prosecutor take action. The police department made a file about the song and the video and then the Istanbul Public Prosecutor took action. Nurten Alt?nok, Istanbul Press Prosecutor, has started a two-way investigation into the song. It is being investigated whether those individuals who made a video broadcast and those who prepared the song and its lyrics have convicted crimes. Within the scope of the investigation, the singer ?smail Türüt and the lyric writer Ozan Arif will also give statements.

          Publish Date: 18.09.2007
          Link: http://english.sabah.com.tr/D5ADD26A...37F37CC92.html


          Prosecutor opens probe into Türüt’s racist song
          The ?stanbul Chief Prosecutor's Office has begun an investigation into a song and video broadcast on YouTube eulogizing the suspects in the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.


          ?smail Türüt
          Full of ultra-nationalistic, religious, anti-American and anti-Israel, images, the video set to folk singer ?smail Türüt's song, "Don't Make Any Plans," is threatening, showing the body of the slain editor of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos to the lyrics, "If a person betrays the country, he is finished off." The video also contains symbols of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), including its flag and photographs of its buildings.

          The ?stanbul Police Department prepared a file consisting of the video and related news before sending it to the Chief Prosecutor's Office for investigation, the Anatolia news agency reported. Meanwhile ?stanbul Press Prosecutor Nurten Alt?nok said the investigation will involve both an inquiry into those who posted the video on YouTube and the lyrics, regarding whether or not they relate to a crime.

          Türüt and lyricist Ozan Arif will also be investigated. Meanwhile the ?stanbul First Criminal Court decided to block access to the video on the Internet. However several more videos have already made their way onto the site, uploaded by dozens of users.

          Asked by Today’s Zaman whether or not Dink’s family plans to file a lawsuit, Dink’s lawyer Fethiye Çetin said the song involves upsetting lyrics for the whole of Turkish society, not only the bereaved family. “It is not up to Dink’s family to file a lawsuit. It’s a public case because the lyrics violate several articles of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). I call on prosecutors to open an investigation,” Çetin said.

          A prominent member of Turkey’s Armenian community, Dink campaigned for Turkish-Armenian reconciliation but was hated by nationalists for describing the killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as genocide -- a charge that Turkey rejects. Dink’s murder shocked the nation and more than 100,000 people marched at his funeral, chanting, “We are all Hrant, we are all Armenian.”

          Footage leaked to the media at the time showed officers posing with the hit man as he held a Turkish flag, unleashing accusations that some officials may secretly approve of the murder. The video set to Türüt’s song also shows a re-enactment of the pictures of Dink’s alleged murderer posing in front of the Turkish flag after he was captured.

          Türüt, a Black Sea regional folksinger, was quoted by the NTV news channel as saying, “I don’t care about the charges. … We try to attract attention to the games being played with the Black Sea region. I have similar songs in my other recordings. I received a lot of congratulatory messages after my recording was released a week ago. However, when I mentioned Armenians in the song, you started screaming and you became Armenians. I think 99 percent of the public shares my views. I don’t have any problems with Armenians but with the ones who have a problem with being a Turk. I don’t like Dink but I am against his murder.”

          The Human Rights Association (?HD) and Association of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed Peoples (MAZLUM-DER) have announced that they will collectively file a lawsuit against Türüt and Arif. A small party known for its democratic stance, the Strong Turkey Party (GTP), has already filed a criminal complaint with the ?i?li Prosecutor’s Office relating to Türüt, Arif and the makers of the video on the basis of inciting hatred in society.

          Containing images of well-known figures such as Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, US President George W. Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) captured leader Abdullah Öcalan, former Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, writer and artist Zülfü Livaneli, singers Selda Ba?can and Ahmet Kaya, and former Parliament Speaker Bülent Ar?nç, the video makes ultra-nationalist targets of the people it features. According to news reports, the nature scenes shown in the clip are from the Black Sea city of Samsun.

          Asked by Today’s Zaman about the perceived association between the video and the MHP, General Secretary Cihan Paçac? said he had not seen the video: “I don’t understand why you ask me such a question. Anybody can take a picture of our buildings and broadcast it. It’s wrong to associate the MHP with the video.”

          18.09.2007

          YONCA POYRAZ DO?AN ?STANBUL
          General Antranik (1865-1927): “I am not a nationalist. I recognize only one nation, the nation of the oppressed.”

          Comment


          • Lyrics of the song

            The song's lyrics are as follows:

            Plan, do not make a plan, that does not suit the Black Sea,
            Stabs in the back, lies and untruths do not succeed at the Black Sea,
            Let neither Johnny (i.e. the Americans) nor the Russians lay traps,
            The horn of separatism does not blow at the Black Sea,
            Stop ringing (church) bells, stop being pro-Armenian,
            The people do not swallow such food at the Black Sea,
            Let them say this on that day ("Ogün") and this today,
            The Black Sea does not run out of Fatihas (Muslim prayer) and Yasins
            Put forth your honour, glory and life,
            At the Black Sea no one sells their homeland,
            If a person sells the homeland, business ends immediately,
            The sun of the Turk and Islam does not set at the Black Sea,
            As long as we stand like that, even if Bush is your uncle,
            Your jeer is not worth five cent.
            We know you're offended and hold a grudge,
            (But) you're not strong enough to cause a disturbance at the Black Sea.

            It is assumed that the line "Let them say this on that day",where "that day" can be read as a name, "Ogün", refers to murder suspect O.S., and the line "The Black Sea does not run out of [...] Yasins" to Yasin Hayal, who stands accused of planning the murder.

            "Souvenir" pictures with murder suspect

            The clip on Youtube also includes images of O.S. as he was photographed standing under a Turkish flag on the night of his arrest, on 20 January. It had emerged later that police and gendarmerie officers took "souvenir" pictures of and with O.S..
            General Antranik (1865-1927): “I am not a nationalist. I recognize only one nation, the nation of the oppressed.”

            Comment


            • Armenian National Committee of America
              1711 N Street NW
              Washington, DC 20036
              Tel. (202) 775-1918
              Fax. (202) 775-5648
              Email [email protected]
              Internet www.anca.org

              PRESS RELEASE
              September 18, 2007
              Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
              Tel: (202) 775-1918

              ANCA ALERTS CONGRESS TO GROWING ANTI-ARMENIAN SENTIMENT IN TURKEY

              -- Armenian Genocide Resolution Author, Rep. Adam Schiff Decries
              Mounting Turkish Repression of Armenian Minority

              WASHINGTON, DC - The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA),
              this week, alerted Members of Congress to the growing wave of anti-
              Armenian sentiment orchestrated by the Turkish government as part
              of its drive to block legislation before the U.S. House and Senate
              recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

              The dramatic increase in pressure against the Armenian community
              coincides with Turkey's growing frustration over its inability -
              either directly or through its highly paid lobbyists - to arrest
              the growing bipartisan momentum toward the adoption of the Armenian
              Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106 / S.Res.106).

              Patriarch of Constantinople to Visit Washington, DC:

              With the number of House cosponsors clearing the 50% mark and the
              recent reversal of the Anti-Defamation Leagues longstanding refusal
              to recognize the Armenian Genocide, the Turkish government has
              resorted to a series of increasingly strident - even desperate -
              measures. Amid these efforts by Ankara comes a visit to
              Washington, DC, this week, by His Beatitude Patriarch Mesrob II,
              Patriarch of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople, who - as
              a matter of Turkish law and under the intense pressure applied
              against Turkey's remaining Armenian Christians - has been
              constrained from speaking openly about the Armenian Genocide. The
              Patriarch has recently been subjected to a number of high profile
              death threats, including, this July, a plot to assassinate both him
              and Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I by a criminal
              organization of retired officers, known as the Union of National
              Forces.

              The Patriarch, who - in a sharp departure from traditional Armenian
              religious practice - will apparently not be visiting with local
              Armenian Churches or the city's faithful, is scheduled to speak at
              a series of public policy engagements on Capitol Hill, Georgetown
              University, and elsewhere in the nation's capital. Among these are
              an Iftar dinner on Capitol Hill hosted by the Rumi Forum, a Turkish
              American organization with a stated mission to "foster interfaith
              and intercultural dialogue." A second, titled, "The Impasse
              Between Armenians and Turks Must Be Broken," will be at Georgetown
              University, again sponsored by the Rumi Forum, along with
              Georgetown's Woodstock Theological Center.

              Rep. Adam Schiff, the lead author of the Armenian Genocide
              Resolution, commented on the growing pressure on Turkey's remaining
              Armenians, noting that, "In order to perpetuate its campaign of
              denial, Turkey seeks to intimidate all Armenians worldwide, but
              especially the Armenians in Turkey who must live with daily
              threats. It is a criminal offense to merely speak about the
              Armenian Genocide, let alone advocate for the passage of the
              Armenian Genocide Resolution before the Congress. The editor of
              the last Armenian-language newspaper in Turkey, Hrant Dink, was
              assassinated for writing about the genocide this year, and a
              popular video now being circulated in Turkey celebrates his killers
              and threatens Armenians."

              "It should come as no surprise then that the Bishop of the Armenian
              community in Turkey, who states that he is under daily threat,
              cannot speak about the genocide or support any efforts to recognize
              the genocide including those efforts in our country. To do so would
              be to place a target on his head and threaten his community even
              further. What is a disturbing surprise, however, is the
              exploitation of the vulnerable Armenian community in Turkey by
              opponents of the resolution."

              The ANCA, in a letter circulated yesterday to Congressional
              offices, explained that, "Patriarch Mutafyan - like the leaders of
              all religious minorities in Turkey - lives in constant fear of acts
              of discrimination and retribution by a Turkish government that
              actively persecutes those who speak freely on human rights and
              other 'sensitive' issues. As a virtual hostage, the Patriarch -
              whose life has been threatened on many occasions - will, as has in
              the past, be forced to follow the Turkish government's line. It is
              truly shameful that Turkey has resorted to using naked coercion -
              cynically taking advantage of the concern of Patriarch Mesrob for
              the safety of his flock - in a last ditch bid to block the adoption
              of the Armenian Genocide Resolution."

              YouTube Video Glorifying Dink Assassination:

              A highly popular online Turkish video, posted on the video sharing
              service YouTube last week, praising the assassination of Turkish
              Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, illustrates the type of dangerous
              and hate-filled environment that Patriarch Mutafyan will return to
              after his orchestrated visit to the United States.

              The video, which was originally taken down from YouTube but which
              has resurfaced in a number of different forms and has been viewed
              by hundreds of thousands in Turkey, depicts images of the Dink's
              killing with a lyric refrain, "If a person betrays the country, he
              is finished off." It goes on to show "patriotic" photos of
              confessed assassin Ogan Samast glorified in front of the Turkish
              flag. Video lyrics also include the chilling warning: "The only
              good Armenian or Kurd is a dead Armenian or Kurd." Similar video
              of Turkish police proudly posing with Samast shortly following his
              January incarceration for the murder was leaked to Turkish press
              and made headlines worldwide.

              Turkish Armenian newspaper editor Hrant Dink was gunned down in
              broad daylight on January 19th in front of his Istanbul "Agos"
              newspaper office. Dink had been prosecuted multiple times under
              Turkey's repressive "Article 301" laws, which criminalize reference
              to the Armenian Genocide for "insulting Turkishness." Since his
              murder, Turkey's writers and historians, including Nobel Laureate
              Orhan Pamuk, Taner Akcam and Elif Shafak who have spoken honestly
              about this crime against humanity, have been the target of death
              threats.
              General Antranik (1865-1927): “I am not a nationalist. I recognize only one nation, the nation of the oppressed.”

              Comment


              • Corrected version:

                We plan, we plan racist murders and crimes at the Black Sea,
                we cowardly stab and murder at the Black Sea, lies and untruths suit us,
                We show our true racist colors, my how stupid we are...and proud of it, at the Black Sea
                Grey Wolves all, product of Turkey's fine education.
                We would love to stop the ringing of (church) bells, and kill (all) Armenians,
                We are stupid and ignorant at the Black Sea,
                Let them say this on that day we are proud of cowardly murders,
                The Black Sea does not run out of Fatihas (Muslim prayer) and Yasins
                Blood and death is what we crave,
                At the Black Sea our blind patriotism knows no bounds,
                If a person is open minded and modern well he is not one of us,
                The sun of the Turk and Islam is at its finest at the Black Sea,
                we stand like that, and kill the innocent and defensless, as is our tradition
                We are not worth five cent.
                We know you're offended and hold a grudge, but we are too ignorant to understand why,
                We are narrowminded, ignorant and content at the Black Sea, doing the dirty deeds we do best.

                Comment


                • Originally posted by Joseph
                  Armenian National Committee of America
                  1711 N Street NW
                  Washington, DC 20036
                  Tel. (202) 775-1918
                  Fax. (202) 775-5648
                  Email [email protected]
                  Internet www.anca.org

                  PRESS RELEASE
                  September 18, 2007
                  Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
                  Tel: (202) 775-1918

                  It is a criminal offense to merely speak about the
                  Armenian Genocide, let alone advocate for the passage of the
                  Armenian Genocide Resolution before the Congress. The editor of
                  the last Armenian-language newspaper in Turkey, Hrant Dink, was
                  assassinated for writing about the genocide this year, and a
                  popular video now being circulated in Turkey celebrates his killers
                  and threatens Armenians."
                  Dink probably would be opposing the resolution if he were alive. So the ANCA was another of Dink's bestest friends. Like I wrote somewhere else, he had so many friends! However, it is strange most of those "friends" never said or did anything particularly friendly to him when he was alive.
                  Plenipotentiary meow!

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by bell-the-cat
                    Dink probably would be opposing the resolution if he were alive. So the ANCA was another of Dink's bestest friends. Like I wrote somewhere else, he had so many friends! However, it is strange most of those "friends" never said or did anything particularly friendly to him when he was alive.
                    They loved him where ever he spoke ,even his enemys!
                    "All truth passes through three stages:
                    First, it is ridiculed;
                    Second, it is violently opposed; and
                    Third, it is accepted as self-evident."

                    Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

                    Comment


                    • Originally posted by bell-the-cat
                      Dink probably would be opposing the resolution if he were alive. So the ANCA was another of Dink's bestest friends. Like I wrote somewhere else, he had so many friends! However, it is strange most of those "friends" never said or did anything particularly friendly to him when he was alive.
                      I imagine that Dink would have opposed his own murder as well. Do you blame Armenians for that as well? I don't think you understand either Dink or Armenians very well. We might not always agree with one another...but we are still Armenian. Dink would (did) understand that.

                      Comment

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