Assyrian Genocide

[Joseph]

Finally!!!!!!!!!


ASSYRIAN GENOCIDE MONUMENT PLANNED FOR ARMENIAN CAPITAL

Assyrian International News Agency, CA
Jan 18 2007

The Atour Assyria Association in Armenia has been engaged in talks with
the Armenian government to request permission to raise a monument for
the victims of the Turkish genocide of Assyrians in World War One --
called Seyfo by Assyrians. Seventy five percent of Assyrians (750,000)
were killed between 1915 and 1919 by Turks and Kurds.

The planned monument will be placed in the Armenian capital Yerevan,
beside the monument for the victims of the Armenian genocide from
the same time. The monument will be about 12 square meters long,
3 meters high and 1.5 meters wide. The Atour Assyria Association is
now soliciting artists and architects for a design for the monument.

Contributions should be sent to [email protected].

https://www.hujada.com

[Hovik]

Assyrian Genocide In Iraq Inspired The Word 'genocide'????

The monument is great, this is what I have a problem with:

1933 ASSYRIAN GENOCIDE IN IRAQ INSPIRED THE WORD 'GENOCIDE'

Internationally acclaimed as the man who coined the term 'genocide',
Raphael Lemkin was born to Jewish parents in Eastern Poland in 1901.

It is ironic that it was not the persecution of his own people which
led Lemkin to not only invent the phrase but to dedicate his life
to fighting its reality. This struggle did not start, as might be
expected, after the atrocities of the Second World War but some years
before they had even begun.

Raphael Lemkin was educated at home together with his two brothers.

He studied philology at the University of Lwow before deciding
on a career in law. He gained a doctorate from the University of
Heidelburg in Germany and in 1929 began teaching at Tachkimoni College
in Warsaw. He became a public prosecutor and for the next five years
represented Poland at conferences all over the world. A prominent
international figure Dr Lemkin also served on the on the Polish Law
Codification Committee and helped draft the criminal code of a newly
independent Poland.

In 1933 Dr Lemkin was deeply disturbed by the massacre of Christian
Assyrians by Iraqis. His distress was compounded by earlier memories
of the slaughter of Armenians by Turks during the First World War and
the international jurist began to examine these acts as crimes in an
effort to deter and prevent them. He presented his first proposal to
outlaw such 'acts of barbarism' to the Legal Council of the League
of Nations in Madrid the same year. However, the proposal failed and
his work incurred the disapproval of the Polish government, which was
at the time pursuing a policy of conciliation with Nazi Germany. He
was forced to retire from his public position in 1934. Undeterred Dr
Lemkin continued his work in private law practice until the German
invasion of Poland in 1939 led him to experience at first hand the
very acts that he was working to prevent.

Dr Lemkin was wounded whist fighting the Nazis outside Warsaw. He hid
in the Polish forests for six months before finally escaping to Sweden
by way of Lithuania and the Baltic Sea. The exile was to save him. He
and his brother Elias were the only members of the forty-strong Lemkin
family that were to survive the Nazi occupation.

Now a refugee in Sweden Dr Lemkin worked as a lecturer at the
University of Stockholm, using his time in exile to study Nazism from
the standpoint of jurisprudence. He analysed the legal decrees that
had allowed the Nazi occupation and identified the instruments that
had worked to systematically eliminate a people. He labelled this
premeditated crime 'genocide' from the Greek prefix genos meaning
race and the Latin suffix cide meaning killing. His work was later
published in 1944 in the landmark book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe.

His analysis was used as one of the bases for determining the Nuremberg
trials programme in 1945, where he served as. legal adviser to the
US Chief Prosecutor.

The recognition of genocide in the Nuremberg trials was a considerable
achievement. However since the trials handled cases of war guilt only
and genocide in times of peace was not punishable under those terms,
Dr Lemkin resolved to carry on his campaign for the establishment
of genocide as a crime under international law. He presented a draft
convention on the prevention and punishment of genocide to the Paris
peace conference in 1945. As in 1933, his proposal failed. He had no
funding, no office, nor did he represent any government or accredited
organisation. Yet with the dogged determination that had become
characteristic of Dr Lemkin's life, he continued his struggle.

His persistent and persuasive lobbying paid off the following year
when a further resolution in favour of an international convention
was put before the United Nations. The resolution was approved and Dr
Lemkin became an adviser in the writing of an international treaty to
that effect. On December 9th 1948, the Convention on the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted unanimously by
the United Nations General Assembly. It represented a triumph in the
struggle that Dr Lemkin had begun some 15 years earlier.

Once the convention was in place Dr Lemkin continued to lobby
relentlessly for its ratification. He did so until his death in 1959.

Dr Raphael Lemkin was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his
work and was honoured with a number of other awards. These included the
Grand Cross of Cespedes from Cuba in 1950 and the Stephen Wise Award
of the American Jewish Congress in 1951. On the 50th anniversary of
the Convention entering into force Dr Rapael Lemkin was also recently
honoured by UN Secretary-General as an inspiring example of moral
engagement.

https://www.europaworld.org

Assyrian International News Agency, CA
Jan 16 2007

[Joseph]

The monument is great, this is what I have a problem with:

1933 ASSYRIAN GENOCIDE IN IRAQ INSPIRED THE WORD 'GENOCIDE'

Internationally acclaimed as the man who coined the term 'genocide',
Raphael Lemkin was born to Jewish parents in Eastern Poland in 1901.

It is ironic that it was not the persecution of his own people which
led Lemkin to not only invent the phrase but to dedicate his life
to fighting its reality. This struggle did not start, as might be
expected, after the atrocities of the Second World War but some years
before they had even begun.

Raphael Lemkin was educated at home together with his two brothers.

He studied philology at the University of Lwow before deciding
on a career in law. He gained a doctorate from the University of
Heidelburg in Germany and in 1929 began teaching at Tachkimoni College
in Warsaw. He became a public prosecutor and for the next five years
represented Poland at conferences all over the world. A prominent
international figure Dr Lemkin also served on the on the Polish Law
Codification Committee and helped draft the criminal code of a newly
independent Poland.

In 1933 Dr Lemkin was deeply disturbed by the massacre of Christian
Assyrians by Iraqis. His distress was compounded by earlier memories
of the slaughter of Armenians by Turks during the First World War and
the international jurist began to examine these acts as crimes in an
effort to deter and prevent them. He presented his first proposal to
outlaw such 'acts of barbarism' to the Legal Council of the League
of Nations in Madrid the same year. However, the proposal failed and
his work incurred the disapproval of the Polish government, which was
at the time pursuing a policy of conciliation with Nazi Germany. He
was forced to retire from his public position in 1934. Undeterred Dr
Lemkin continued his work in private law practice until the German
invasion of Poland in 1939 led him to experience at first hand the
very acts that he was working to prevent.

Dr Lemkin was wounded whist fighting the Nazis outside Warsaw. He hid
in the Polish forests for six months before finally escaping to Sweden
by way of Lithuania and the Baltic Sea. The exile was to save him. He
and his brother Elias were the only members of the forty-strong Lemkin
family that were to survive the Nazi occupation.

Now a refugee in Sweden Dr Lemkin worked as a lecturer at the
University of Stockholm, using his time in exile to study Nazism from
the standpoint of jurisprudence. He analysed the legal decrees that
had allowed the Nazi occupation and identified the instruments that
had worked to systematically eliminate a people. He labelled this
premeditated crime 'genocide' from the Greek prefix genos meaning
race and the Latin suffix cide meaning killing. His work was later
published in 1944 in the landmark book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe.

His analysis was used as one of the bases for determining the Nuremberg
trials programme in 1945, where he served as. legal adviser to the
US Chief Prosecutor.

The recognition of genocide in the Nuremberg trials was a considerable
achievement. However since the trials handled cases of war guilt only
and genocide in times of peace was not punishable under those terms,
Dr Lemkin resolved to carry on his campaign for the establishment
of genocide as a crime under international law. He presented a draft
convention on the prevention and punishment of genocide to the Paris
peace conference in 1945. As in 1933, his proposal failed. He had no
funding, no office, nor did he represent any government or accredited
organisation. Yet with the dogged determination that had become
characteristic of Dr Lemkin's life, he continued his struggle.

His persistent and persuasive lobbying paid off the following year
when a further resolution in favour of an international convention
was put before the United Nations. The resolution was approved and Dr
Lemkin became an adviser in the writing of an international treaty to
that effect. On December 9th 1948, the Convention on the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted unanimously by
the United Nations General Assembly. It represented a triumph in the
struggle that Dr Lemkin had begun some 15 years earlier.

Once the convention was in place Dr Lemkin continued to lobby
relentlessly for its ratification. He did so until his death in 1959.

Dr Raphael Lemkin was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his
work and was honoured with a number of other awards. These included the
Grand Cross of Cespedes from Cuba in 1950 and the Stephen Wise Award
of the American Jewish Congress in 1951. On the 50th anniversary of
the Convention entering into force Dr Rapael Lemkin was also recently
honoured by UN Secretary-General as an inspiring example of moral
engagement.

https://www.europaworld.org

Assyrian International News Agency, CA
Jan 16 2007

The Assyrian massacres in Iraq in the 1930's were also used by Lemkin when giving examples of the his term "genocide". My problem with the article is that neither Lemkin nor the article does not mention the slaughter of Assyrians in WWI as a genocide.

[Joseph]

Assyrian International News Agency
EU Conference Calls on Turkey to Recognize Assyrian Genocide

http://www.aina.org/releases/20070403104508.htm

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted GMT 4-3-2007 15:45:8

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brussels (AINA) -- Days before the restart of Turkish EU membership talks, the European Parliament hosted a conference where Parliament members, scholars and international experts agreed that Turkey must come to terms with the 1915 genocide before EU membership.

The heavily attended March 26th event was hosted by the European parliamentary groups, European United Left, Nordic Green Left, and the Seyfo Center, an Assyrian institution working on increasing awareness of the 1915 genocide of the Assyrians, as well as Armenians, and Greeks by Turkey. The panel speakers included:


Eva-Britt Svensson, GUE/NGL Politician and Member of the European Parliament
Sabri Atman, Director of the Seyfo Center
Prof. David Gaunt, Södertörns University College, Sweden
Markus Ferber, EVP-ED, Member of the European Parliament, member of leading German party
Willy Fautré, Director Human Rights Without Frontiers

The first speaker, Ms. Svensson, called for Turkey's membership in the EU but not without first complying with the Copenhagen criteria regarding the 1915 genocide as well as the "unrestricted opening of Ottoman archives for the world to see". She further stated that "In a democratic environment, such issues should be discussed openly and not suppressed. Turkey should not be an exception."

Sabri Atman, founder of the Seyfo Center, further agreed that the current Turkish position regarding the genocide and the silence by the EU countries is unacceptable.

"33% of the [Turkish] population was Christian. Today in Turkey, the total number of Christian people only amounts to 0.1% of the population. What happened to these people? What happened to the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks? Where are they? Where did they disappear to?"

He also addressed some of the counter arguments offered by some Turkish politicians that "Armenian organizations were fighting against the Turkish authority for independence and for that reason hundreds of thousands of Armenians lost their lives. This is just complete fabrication. How about the Assyrians, which Assyrian organization was fighting for independence? "

Prof. Gaunt, of Södertörns University, Sweden and recent author of a book on the genocide of 1915 provided an answer to Mr. Atman's questions by stating that "Evidence shows that Assyrians did not have any armed offensive measures". Gaunt provided a historical overview of the genocide and how it expanded past the ottoman areas and well into Persia.

The director of internationally renowned organization, Human Rights without Frontiers, Dr. Willy Fautré, focused on two issues: the specific Assyrian experience during the genocide and the current activities of Turkish groups in Brussels, the capital of Belgium and the European Union. On the Assyrian Experience, Fautré stressed that "Based on the formal definition of Genocide, the widespread persecution of the Assyrian civilians indeed constituted a form of Genocide. Up to now the international community has been hesitant in recognizing the Assyrian experience as a form of genocide. However, the Assyrian Genocide is indistinguishable, in form, from its Armenian counterpart."

Fautre also provided numerous accounts of blatant interference and activities by Turkish groups in Belgium to suppress any talks and actions that shed light on the Genocide perpetrated by Turkey. He called on the Belgian government to take action by:


Recognizing the genocide unambiguously as well as have their government members do so.
Screen their candidates regarding the genocide and to swear the allegiance to the Belgian state

Markus Ferber, a 13 year member of the EU parliament and the leading German party went further than the other speakers in being against full membership but instead offering the status of "privileged partner" for Turkey. The evidence he has seen shows that over 3 million people were victims of the Genocide by Turkey and that his party will only support membership if Turkey faces its past and addresses it.

The conference hall was filled over capacity by mostly Assyrian family members of the genocide victims and survivors who traveled from such countries as Sweden, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, US, and the UK. The panel Chairperson, Ms. Nicme Seven, explained that the conference was held at this specific week when Turkey's chief European Union negotiator Ali Babacan is to travel to Brussels to attend the intergovernmental conference for the kick-start of membership talks with Turkey.

The EU restarted membership talks with Turkey, which have been at a standstill for almost a year. The conference was concluded by the signing of a joint press statement by the panel speakers.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Press Release

Assyrian Genocide (Seyfo)
Genocide, Denial, and the Right of Recognition
Monday, March, 26th of 2007
European Parliament
Rue Wiertz in Brussels
Conference room P7C050

During the years surrounding World War I more than half of the Assyrian population in the Ottoman Empire was systematically murdered. The majority of those that remained were either slaughtered, deported and forced to leave their homeland. That genocide of over half a million Assyrians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1915 is a fact, but has largely been forgotten by the world. The pain of Seyfo -- the Assyrian Genocide - is still a dark shadow over the Assyrian people. This pain and suffering continues in the collective memory of the Assyrians as Turkey continues to deny and publicly denounce responsibility for this largely forgotten crime during the First World War. Obviously, the Turkish Republic as the lawful successor of the Ottoman Empire keeps on advocating a denial policy and refuses the genocide that was committed against the Christians despite the overwhelming facts.

Nowadays, Turkey is a country pursuing to access the European Union, which is a political construction as such based on democratic principles and cultural diversity. Due to that, Turkey has to commence with tackling the fundamental issues such as the genocide in order to move towards building a democratic basis according the European standards. The Turkish state has to comprehend that minorities and thus the existing ethnic and cultural diversity within its country is one of the key elements to progress the process of its access to the European Union.

Therefore the European Union should act in accordance with its own values and bylaws, and oblige Turkey to come to terms with this dark page of her history. The discussion on the genocide should not be a stumbling block for Turkey, but a constructive symbol for a legitimate equality for those minorities still remaining in the country and their statutory acceptance. Although the recognition of the genocide is not an official admission criteria for the accession negotiations, the European Union should apply political pressure on Turkey to ensure a potential candidacy in order to boost the democratization process and have equal rights for all its members and future citizens.

Eventually, Turkey has its fate in its own hands. Either the given chance will be taken or the pace of negotiations will stonewalled and maybe even brought to a stop.


Eva-Britt Svensson, GUE/NGL , Swedish Politician and Member of the European Parliament
Sabri Atman, Director of the Seyfo Center
Mechtild Rothe, Vice President of the European Parliament
Prof. David Gaunt, Södertörns University College, Sweden
Markus Ferber, EVP-ED, Member of the European Parliament
Willy Fautré, Human Rights Without Frontiers

[Joseph]

Assyrian International News Agency
EU Conference Calls on Turkey to Recognize Assyrian Genocide

http://www.aina.org/releases/20070403104508.htm

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted GMT 4-3-2007 15:45:8

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brussels (AINA) -- Days before the restart of Turkish EU membership talks, the European Parliament hosted a conference where Parliament members, scholars and international experts agreed that Turkey must come to terms with the 1915 genocide before EU membership.

The heavily attended March 26th event was hosted by the European parliamentary groups, European United Left, Nordic Green Left, and the Seyfo Center, an Assyrian institution working on increasing awareness of the 1915 genocide of the Assyrians, as well as Armenians, and Greeks by Turkey. The panel speakers included:


Eva-Britt Svensson, GUE/NGL Politician and Member of the European Parliament
Sabri Atman, Director of the Seyfo Center
Prof. David Gaunt, Södertörns University College, Sweden
Markus Ferber, EVP-ED, Member of the European Parliament, member of leading German party
Willy Fautré, Director Human Rights Without Frontiers

The first speaker, Ms. Svensson, called for Turkey's membership in the EU but not without first complying with the Copenhagen criteria regarding the 1915 genocide as well as the "unrestricted opening of Ottoman archives for the world to see". She further stated that "In a democratic environment, such issues should be discussed openly and not suppressed. Turkey should not be an exception."

Sabri Atman, founder of the Seyfo Center, further agreed that the current Turkish position regarding the genocide and the silence by the EU countries is unacceptable.

"33% of the [Turkish] population was Christian. Today in Turkey, the total number of Christian people only amounts to 0.1% of the population. What happened to these people? What happened to the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks? Where are they? Where did they disappear to?"

He also addressed some of the counter arguments offered by some Turkish politicians that "Armenian organizations were fighting against the Turkish authority for independence and for that reason hundreds of thousands of Armenians lost their lives. This is just complete fabrication. How about the Assyrians, which Assyrian organization was fighting for independence? "

Prof. Gaunt, of Södertörns University, Sweden and recent author of a book on the genocide of 1915 provided an answer to Mr. Atman's questions by stating that "Evidence shows that Assyrians did not have any armed offensive measures". Gaunt provided a historical overview of the genocide and how it expanded past the ottoman areas and well into Persia.

The director of internationally renowned organization, Human Rights without Frontiers, Dr. Willy Fautré, focused on two issues: the specific Assyrian experience during the genocide and the current activities of Turkish groups in Brussels, the capital of Belgium and the European Union. On the Assyrian Experience, Fautré stressed that "Based on the formal definition of Genocide, the widespread persecution of the Assyrian civilians indeed constituted a form of Genocide. Up to now the international community has been hesitant in recognizing the Assyrian experience as a form of genocide. However, the Assyrian Genocide is indistinguishable, in form, from its Armenian counterpart."

Fautre also provided numerous accounts of blatant interference and activities by Turkish groups in Belgium to suppress any talks and actions that shed light on the Genocide perpetrated by Turkey. He called on the Belgian government to take action by:


Recognizing the genocide unambiguously as well as have their government members do so.
Screen their candidates regarding the genocide and to swear the allegiance to the Belgian state

Markus Ferber, a 13 year member of the EU parliament and the leading German party went further than the other speakers in being against full membership but instead offering the status of "privileged partner" for Turkey. The evidence he has seen shows that over 3 million people were victims of the Genocide by Turkey and that his party will only support membership if Turkey faces its past and addresses it.

The conference hall was filled over capacity by mostly Assyrian family members of the genocide victims and survivors who traveled from such countries as Sweden, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, US, and the UK. The panel Chairperson, Ms. Nicme Seven, explained that the conference was held at this specific week when Turkey's chief European Union negotiator Ali Babacan is to travel to Brussels to attend the intergovernmental conference for the kick-start of membership talks with Turkey.

The EU restarted membership talks with Turkey, which have been at a standstill for almost a year. The conference was concluded by the signing of a joint press statement by the panel speakers.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Press Release

Assyrian Genocide (Seyfo)
Genocide, Denial, and the Right of Recognition
Monday, March, 26th of 2007
European Parliament
Rue Wiertz in Brussels
Conference room P7C050

During the years surrounding World War I more than half of the Assyrian population in the Ottoman Empire was systematically murdered. The majority of those that remained were either slaughtered, deported and forced to leave their homeland. That genocide of over half a million Assyrians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1915 is a fact, but has largely been forgotten by the world. The pain of Seyfo -- the Assyrian Genocide - is still a dark shadow over the Assyrian people. This pain and suffering continues in the collective memory of the Assyrians as Turkey continues to deny and publicly denounce responsibility for this largely forgotten crime during the First World War. Obviously, the Turkish Republic as the lawful successor of the Ottoman Empire keeps on advocating a denial policy and refuses the genocide that was committed against the Christians despite the overwhelming facts.

Nowadays, Turkey is a country pursuing to access the European Union, which is a political construction as such based on democratic principles and cultural diversity. Due to that, Turkey has to commence with tackling the fundamental issues such as the genocide in order to move towards building a democratic basis according the European standards. The Turkish state has to comprehend that minorities and thus the existing ethnic and cultural diversity within its country is one of the key elements to progress the process of its access to the European Union.

Therefore the European Union should act in accordance with its own values and bylaws, and oblige Turkey to come to terms with this dark page of her history. The discussion on the genocide should not be a stumbling block for Turkey, but a constructive symbol for a legitimate equality for those minorities still remaining in the country and their statutory acceptance. Although the recognition of the genocide is not an official admission criteria for the accession negotiations, the European Union should apply political pressure on Turkey to ensure a potential candidacy in order to boost the democratization process and have equal rights for all its members and future citizens.

Eventually, Turkey has its fate in its own hands. Either the given chance will be taken or the pace of negotiations will stonewalled and maybe even brought to a stop.


Eva-Britt Svensson, GUE/NGL , Swedish Politician and Member of the European Parliament
Sabri Atman, Director of the Seyfo Center
Mechtild Rothe, Vice President of the European Parliament
Prof. David Gaunt, Södertörns University College, Sweden
Markus Ferber, EVP-ED, Member of the European Parliament
Willy Fautré, Human Rights Without Frontiers

[Joseph]

Part I

Lies in Turkish: a Response to Turkish Genocide Denial
Dr. Racho Donef
This paper constitutes a response to a series of articles published in the Turkish daily Hürriyet, by Ozdemir Ince in 2003, under the titles of "Genocide and Sweden" and "Lies in Assyrian [Syriac]".

In this extraordinary series of 20 articles, Ince accuses perished Assyrians and Armenians of treason. According to this viewpoint it is the murdered party that is at fault, not the murderers themselves. In this series of articles the only community, which has no fault about the events that took place in 1915, is the Turkish nation and the Ittihat ve Terakki [Society for the Union and Progress of the Ottoman Empire] government -- also known as the Young Turks. Everyone else is guilty of something or other, the missionaries, the Armenians, the Assyrians, the Greeks, the Protestant Church, the Hamidiye Corps (ie Kurds), the French, the English and the Russians.

The first article in the series was written after a genocide conference in Stockholm in early 2003.[1] Ince labels the Swedish academics who participated in the conference as "mercenaries", ie paid soldiers. Under the title "Genocide and Sweden", in his article Ince quotes E Feigl in A Myth of Terror, Armenian Extremism: Its Causes and its Historical Context to support his position: "… around the lake of Van in February 1915 there was an Armenian insurgence". Heigl further states that the Armenians massacred 30 thousand Turks and adds: "on 22 July 1915 the Turkish army which re-conquered the city, killed 20-25 thousand Armenians for revenge".[2]

Ince charging against imaginary adversaries arrives at the following mock conclusion: "The Armenians who committed treason and rebelled against their country and who killed 30 thousand Ottoman citizens are just and innocent. On the contrary the Ottoman army which punished the treasonous action of the Armenians against their country are 'guilty of committing genocide'". His sarcasm is directed at foreign scholars who implicate Turkey with the crime of genocide. In the quoted passage Heigl states "the Turkish army"; Ince changes this to "the Ottoman Army". Furthermore, it is not clear what Ince means by 30 thousand Ottoman citizens (Turkish, Kurdish or Circassians who inhabited Van at the time?) This matter of 'treason' is worthy of note; Hürriyet exploits it profusely in articles about Assyrians and Armenians. As has been documented elsewhere, when the Assyrian priest Yusuf Akbulut stated that "genocide occurred", Hürriyet immediately declared him a "traitor".[3]

It is also interesting to note the use of Heigl in this article. Ince who talks about academics, who are not impartial, obviously regards Heigl as an objective academic. The second points of interest is the strategy of reducing the genocide to a single event in Van and then holding the Armenians responsible for massacring Turks and deny the genocide in this manner.

Morgenthau who was the USA consul in Constantinople between 1913 and 1916, reports that in Van, within three days, 24 thousand Armenians were killed. In effect Ince also concedes this. According to Morgenthau when the war started members of the Society for Union and Progress (the Young Turks) asked the Armenians leaders to cross to Russia and start an insurgence against the Russians. Armenians did not accept this. This concept of 'treason' originated from that instance. Morgenthau found it very strange that the Ottoman government which repressed the Armenians for 30 years expected loyalty from them.[4] This illogical expectation unfortunately still endures in Turkey; communities which for years have been repressed are required to show allegiance to "the country" (in effect to the state).

In the second article of the series entitled "Genocide and Sweden" Ince, brands the three Swedish academics who participated in the conference as "mercenaries".[5] It is not specified who pays these so-called "mercenaries". It is clearly implied that the Assyrians pay the academics of the Swedish Universities, which of course is a fabrication of Ince's; the Assyrians lack the resources which the Turkish Republic enjoys.

With great fanfare, Ince points out that two priest participated in the conference, and as though this fact has any significance, adds sarcastically, "of course you cannot have a genocide [conference] without priests"[6] I would respond to this assertion thus, "priest and religious leaders have the right to participate in genocide conferences for priests were also subjected to massacres". Furthermore, what could be so objectionable about priests participating in a conference? Ince who derides the involvement of priests in the conference seems to find quite normal the partaking of the Turkish Consulate staff in the same event. In fact, he hides this detail from his readers. With this type of half-truths and concealments, Ince is appealing to the prejudices of the Turkish readers and in fact he is reinforcing this narrow-mindedness. It is clearly implied that the participation of priest in conferences amount to a church conspiracy. According to Ince, members of the Protestant Church have contributed to the rendering of events as "genocide", rather than as "civil war".

Ince, who is clearly not very objective, surprisingly, I must say, published a letter from an Assyrian, by the name Michael, who took an exception to the first three articles in the series. Ince could not resist, however, making this comment concerning the letter-writer: "a typical example of 'genocidist' mind"; 'genocidist', to coin a term, being a person who pursues the issue of genocide. Michael, who notes that the Turkish academic who participated in the Swedish conference "Omer Turan, is clearly not very knowledgeable" also makes an interesting observation to Ince "[e]very day you seek rights for the Turks who live in Europe from the Europeans who you still cal gavurs [infidels]. Furthermore, you are seeking rights you are not prepared to grant to your own minorities".[7]

The journalist, who does not respond to this observation, mockingly calls Michael 'Baron Michael'. Why is Ince derisive of his Assyrian reader? If someone contemptuously him 'Ozdemir Pasha', would he not take exception to that? Ince's response to his reader's comment was: "How can I not trust Omer Turan and instead trust Swedish professors who are deprived of knowledge of the Ottoman language and the old script who accordingly cannot research the Ottoman Archives?"

If professor Turan has found a document in the Ottoman archives, which proves that "the genocide did not occur", he should provide it to academics and publish it promptly. There is no such document because there could be no such document and Omer who is doing research in the Ottoman Archives cannot prove that genocide did not occur. The documents in the Ottoman Archives have been carefully selected and any documents, which may be drawn upon to discuss the genocide, would not be available for the public. Documents indicating or proving genocide would not be given to researchers so as not to contradict the Official Thesis and version of events of the State. It is, however, also possible that archival staff can make errors and underestimate the value of some documents to third parties.

Moreover, the genocide is not an event that could be proven only through the documents in the Ottoman Archives. The archives of Germany, France and Britain, as well as others, have already been researched, documents published and the genocide of 1915 is beyond doubt except in Turkey itself.[8] I would respond to Ince in this way: "would I not trust the Swedish academics who have been educated in a liberal country, and trust instead Omer Turan who does research in Turkish Universities, unable to evade the framework of the Official Thesis?"

Ince's hatred of Assyrians is evident in the second series he entitles 'Yalanin Süryanicesi' [Lies in Syriac]. In this series, which started as a response to an Assyrian reader, Ince says, "we should trust non partisan historians". He never identifies those so-called non partisan historians; perhaps Omer Turan and some American academics paid by the Turkish Republic qualify as non partisan.

Ince accepts deportations took place in the Ottoman Empire but attributes this to the civil war and the need to defend the indivisibility of the Ottoman Empire. In his third article in this series, he advises his readers to read "the non partisan historians", though still these books or their authors are not identified -- most probably Ince has Omer Turan's books in mind. Finally, he asks his reader to be patient and announces that he is just about to embark upon discussing "the Assyrians events of 1915".[9]

In the fifth article Ince states that the Suryani [Assyrians] were forced to live with the Muslim Arabs who from the VII. Century dominated Mesopotamia: "In those days as there was no national consciousness, many Suryanis converted to Islam in order to avoid paying the cizye tax [for non-Muslim] and live in peace". He also adds that the Suryanis continued to convert to Islam even after the Turks dominated Anatolia [Asia Minor]. These assertions could be true. The Assyrians and other Christian peoples were forced to convert to Islam in different periods. What is objectionable, however, is Ince's assertion: "Among the Suryani who happily converted to Islam, do not doubt that there could be many ancestors of current Turkish nationalists."[10] Many Turkish nationalists could have Assyrian ancestors but the notion that the Assyrians happily converted to Islam is peculiar hypothesis, to say the least. More than likely those who wanted to avoid heavy taxes or be subjected to the Ottoman scythe and other discrimination have concerted to Islam. I personally I have not read of mass instances when the Christians converted to Islam happily (that is voluntarily and without a threat) after the Arab arrival in Mesopotamia and the Turkish arrival in Asia Minor. Ince would not have read those either. It is yet another false hypothesis.

In the seventh article on the topic, it is the turn of the Greeks to be attacked: "in the Greek insurgence of Moria that began in 1821, 25 thousand Muslims were killed in a few days" [note that he says Muslims not Turks]. I wonder how many Hellenes were killed in the four centuries of Ottoman domination? Are they not important? To call the Greek Independence War an 'insurgence' is a phenomenon that could be encountered only in the official Turkish history books. According to this notion, whoever rebelled against the Ottomans was a traitor. Only the Turkish nation is entitled to independence and other nations could only be slaves of Turks, and at the same time grateful for their situation. This is the thinking one discerns by reading these articles. Ince continues with inanities in the same article. "In the nineteenth century the reforms resulted in more freedom for the Christian peoples and that encouraged their wishes for independence. Moral of the story: do not grant the minorities any freedom because they could rebel and demand independence.

I am not sure how Ince measured the freedom of the subjugated (reaya) peoples in the Ottoman Empire but it seems their share of this difficult to measure concept (freedom) had increased. What were these freedoms though? Aytekin Yilmaz, in his Turkish book "Anatolia": from multiculturalism to monoculturalism defines these "freedoms" as follows: In the Ottoman Empire the non-Muslim peoples were treated as second-class citizens. They were subjected to many denigrating practices. For example, it was prohibited to ride a horse, carry a weapon, to walk on the footpath. The color of their shoes and the quality of the fabric of their clothes had to be different. It was forbidden for them to wear collared caftan, clothing made of silk, fine muslin, fur coat, and turban. For example, the Armenians wore red hut and shoes, the Greeks black and the Jews blue of the same. They also had to paint their houses with different colours. They could not even wear clogs in the bath house (hamam). They had to hang a small bell in waist clothes [or bath towels]."[11]

When Ince says 'more freedoms' he may mean that after the Tanzimat (Reform) period the Christians could finally wear clogs and remove their bells.

"If Abdülhamit II inaugurated a Panislamist policy, the reason is the successive rebellions of Christians for Independence and the Russian, French and English politics against the Ottoman Empire." In short, the Ottoman Panislamism is also the fault of the Christians. Perhaps, Pan Turkism is also a foreign conspiracy.

In his eight article Ince alleges that the "Assyrian genocide was invented".[12] How did the Assyrians invent genocide? That is to say, how did this conspiracy took place? Had "the Assyrians" (which Assyrians?) gathered in a place and said "let us invent genocide"? These types of arguments are childish and devoid of any semblance of seriousness. They can go no further than fooling an unsuspecting Turkish public, if at all.

In his tenth article, Ince - I would agree with some of his remarks here - states: "You English who's land you are distributing to whom? … You English you try to distribute Ottoman lands but why are you giving away the same lands to the Assyrians as well as the Kurds?"[13] I also find unacceptable that the English and the French attempted to have distributed Middle Eastern and Ottoman lands according to their national interests at the time, but the problematic notion is that "those lands" belonged to the Turks only. The ancestors of the Ottomans did not bring these lands they occupied from Central Asia, whence the Turks originated. Ince says these lands belonged to the Muslims for the last 1200 years. First of all, why go as far back as 1200 years only? Secondly, why is it that the heirs to the Muslim loot are only the Turks? Thirdly, it is not clear when he says Muslims which nations or communities does he mean: Arabs, Kurds, Turks, Turcomans, Persians, Alevis or Sunnis? Because he cannot say that Turks lived in Asia Minor for 1200 years he uses the appellation Muslim as surrogate for Turk. The Arabs who are also Muslim were not bound by religious ties and preferred to become independent form the Empire.

Ancient nations such as the Hellenes and the Assyrians lived much longer in Asia Minor and Mesopotamia respectively - much more than 1200 years - yet in Ince's doctrine only the Muslims who lived there for 1200 years and later Turks are entitled to them. These suppositions are ahistorical and illogical.

In the article series "Lies in Syriac" Ozdemir Ince liberally quotes and Assyrian researcher, Yakup Bilge. Ince uses passages from Bilge's book to criticize the Assyrians. Bilge in his book states that "… for Assyrians the most important period was the First World War. The Ottoman forces participated in the Assyrian-Kurdish war. The eastern Assyrians (the Assyrians who lived in Hakkari and Van) had declared war on the Ottomans". Following this quotation Ince repeats that "the Assyrians declared war on the Ottomans!" However, Bilge specifies as "Eastern Assyrians". It was the Nestorian (Assyrian) Patriarch who declared war. The Syriac Orthodox Assyrians (Western Syrians) who lived in Turabdin made no such formal declaration although they were still attacked by the Ottomans and were also subjected to genocide. Either Ince does not know these historical facts or he is trying to confuse the reader. Even though Ince makes liberal use of Bilge's book, he seemed to have overlooked the following sentence from the book: "… in Middle East during the upheaval that began in the beginning of the century and continued up to 1935, the Assyrians were continually subjected to massacres and were forced to live their homeland."[14] Although Bilge blames the West for the upheaval, Ince who perhaps was reluctant to also blame the West for the massacres, ignores this part of the book.

In the eleventh article Ince wonders: "after all these events if the Turkish Republic does not trust the Assyrians is it the fault of the Turkish Republic?" [15] Well, yes, it is! Note that it is not the right of the nation that was subjected to genocide to be distrustful. This right is reserved, according to Ince, to the inheritors of the state that perpetrated the genocide. Again, the 1915 events against the Assyrians are placed in a context of a civil war and then Assyrians are labeled as traitors and this is why Ince says the Turkish Republic does not trust Assyrians. It seems superfluous to make such argument at all, given that there are very few Assyrians left in Turkey to constitute a threat to the Turkish Republic.

[Joseph]

Part II

Ince in the same article also raises the question of impartiality of sources of information for genocide research: "the reports by Christian missionaries, staff of consulates and secret service staff should be carefully examined (because they are not impartial)". Omer Turan's sources no doubt are impartial and objective (!). The objectivity of the staff of the Ottoman Bureaucracy and the secret agency Special Organization (Teskilat-i Mahsusa) is well known. Bilal Simsir who has carried out research in this field, in his books published by the Turkish Historical Society - no less - have included many reports by staff of the foreign consulates. Consequently, reports that suits the Official Thesis are published as neutral, independent and objective observations, while all other sources are regarded as subjective and partisan.[16]

"Finally we need to defer this matter to non-partisan historical science and real non-partisan honorable historians". By "honorable and non-partisan historians" no doubt Ince is referring to Turkish Republic supporters such as Justin McCarthy. It is a another well known fact that the foreigners working for the Turkish Republic are "non-partisan" but the foreigners who conduct research on the genocide are paid mercenaries. It is time for this disingenuous and dishonest proposition that "the question of genocide should be left to the historians" to come to an end. While the Turkish consulate official are expected to abandon their normal duties and, where possible prevent, and/or attend genocide conferences to sabotage them, it is quite hypocritical to say that the study of the genocide should be left to the historians. Ince who does not seem to be a historian, yet believes himself to be entitled to comment. A right he is unwilling to grant to the Assyrians.

It is also important to add that Taner Akçam who regards the 1915 incidents as "an event of mass murder" is not mentioned in the articles. Naturally, he is not objective either.[17] According to Akçam, a coded telegraph sent from the Interior Ministry to Diyarbakir on 12 July 1915 states that in Mardin: "700 Armenians and other Christians were slaughtered like sheep", refers to "estimates that in total 2000 people were killed" and it adds that there is fear that all Christians will be massacred. The telegraph concludes with the following sentence: "the general measures and policies which were constituted for the Armenians under no circumstances would apply to other Christians" and the telegraph asks that this practice end.".[18]

This document was read out to Ömer Turan in the Stockholm Conference and the good professor said that he did not believe this document, despite the fact that it was written by staff of the Ottoman Bureaucracy and published by the Turkish Historical Society.[19]

It is difficult to analyse this manner of thinking, which is approved by Ince. Documents which do not support the Official Thesis of the Republic are wrong, falsified, partisan, product of a conspiracy, or other, yet documents published by the official channels in Turkey which talk about Greek, Armenian atrocities against the Muslim population, and documents declaring Assyrians to be treasonous, are correct and non-partisan. This is completely unreasonable.

As a result matters that should have been resolved long time ago are still current and very much on the public agenda. In 2004 the Turkish Republic representatives are still hoping this matter will go away if they deny it long enough. In effect, the efforts of some academic and journalist have the opposite effect. They guarantee a public discourse on the genocide by the continual denial and machinations. There is nothing to gain by attaching a small community such as the Assyrians in Turkey. They pose no threat to Turkey.

Dr. Racho Donef
Sydney 2004

ENDNOTES

[1] For more information about the conference see 'Türk tarihçi Omer Turan, Soykirim'i (seyfo) yalan ve çamur atmalarla inkar etmeye çalisti', ACSA Betnahrin Information, 4/6/2003 [http://www.acsa.nu/artikel.asp?lankid=22&artid=338]
[2] O Ince, 'Soykirim ve Isveç (1)', Hürriyet, 9 April 2003.
[3] R.Yavuz, 'Içimizdeki hain', Hürriyet, 4 November 2003.
[4] H. Morgenthau, Ambassador Morgenthau's Story, 1918, XXI.
[5] O Ince, 'Soykirim ve Isveç (2)', Hürriyet, 11 April 2003.
[6] O Ince, 'Soykirim ve Isveç (3)', Hürriyet, 14 April 2003.
[7] O Ince, 'Aldatildiniz', Hürriyet, 25 April 2003.
[8] G Yonan, Asur Soykirimi: Unutulan bir Holokaust, Istanbul, 1996.
[9] O Ince, 'Yalanin Süryanicesi (2)', Hürriyet, 2 May 2003.
[10] O Ince, 'Yalanin Süryanicesi (5)', Hürriyet, 9 May 2003.
[11] A. Yilmaz, Çokkültürlülükten Tekkültürlüge "Anadolu", Tohum Basin Yayin, Istanbul, 2002
[12] O Ince, 'Yalanin Süryanicesi (8)', Hürriyet, 16 May 2003.
[13] O Ince, 'Yalanin Süryanicesi (10)', Hürriyet, 21 May 2003.
[14] Y Bilge, Süryanilerin Kökeni ve Türkiyeli Süryaniler, Istanbul, 1991.
[15] O Ince, 'Yalanin Süryanicesi (11)', Hürriyet, 23 May 2003.
[16] B Simsir, British Documents on Ottoman Armenians, Vols 1 and 2, Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1983.
[17] T Akçam, '1915 Efsaneler ve Gerçekler', Radikal2, 26 May 2003.
[18] T.Akçam, Insan haklari ve Ermeni sorunu, Istanbul, 1999, p.25.
[19] 'Türk tarihçi Omer Turan, Soykirim'i (seyfo) yalan ve çamur atmalarla inkar etmeye çalisti', ACSA, 4/6/2003 [http://www.acsa.nu/artikel.asp?lankid=22&artid=338]

© 2007, Assyrian International News Agency. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use.

[Joseph]

Assyrian Genocides throughout the centuries:

http://www.aina.org/martyr.html

[Joseph]

http://www.assyrianlevies.com/gpage10.html

[Joseph]

THE ASSYRIAN AND ARMENIAN GENOCIDES OF 1915

Assyrian International News Agency
Oct 16 2007

The genocide of Assyrians in Ottoman Turkey remains one of the darker
pages in contemporary accounts of the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

Despite the fact that Assyrian Christians were exterminated alongside
Armenians, the world hears much less of the Assyrian factor. Some
commentators even state that Ottoman Greeks and Kurds were also
massacred in large numbers in 1915-16, though their massacres were
more area-specific and were to be continued after the extermination
of Armenian and Assyrians.

Ara Sarafian was the guest speaker to the Assyrian Academic Community
of Chicago (29 October 2005) where he examined the 1916 British
Parliamentary Blue Book, The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire 1915-16. This book has come into prominence in recent years
because of the ongoing denial of the Armenian Genocide by Turkish
authorities, and the allegation that the 1916 report was a forgery.

The Gomidas Institute has published two editions of the Blue Book,
and publicly opposes the Turkish position.

"Despite the name of that work" Sarafian explained, "the 1916 blue
book also reflected the experience of Assyrian Christians who were
massacred in 1915." There is a whole chapter about the treatment of
Assyrians by Turkish and Kurdish forces in Persia, and Assyrians are
mentioned in passing elsewhere. Sarafian went on to discuss, based
on his research, why Assyrians were not mentioned in the title of
the Blue Book, and why Assyrians tended to be "understated" though
not entirely ignored. The main reasons were the following:

1. Most of the key informants the British had when compiling the
parliamentary blue book were United States Consuls (who were in
communication to the outside world) and United States missionaries in
the interior of Ottoman Turkey. Since there were no US consulates! in
area s with high concentrations of Assyrians (Diyarbekir, Mosul and
Hakiari), and since American missionaries in these areas were expelled
in the early stages of the genocidal process ( e.g. from Mardin and
Diyarbekir), there was a distinct lack of critical information about
Assyrians from these 'core' areas.

2. Outside the main Assyrian inhabited areas, Assyrian Christians were
vastly outnumbered by Armenian Christians and were as a consequence
lumped alongside Armenians in descriptions of the genocidal process.

The fact that many Armenian academic and political activists have
avoided to engage the Assyrian issue over the years, the fate of
Assyrians (and Greeks) have not been redressed in our understanding of
the genocides of 1915. However, not all Armenian academics deny the
genocide of Assyrians. One recent excellent publication reflecting
the Assyrian experience was published in a special edition of
Revue d'histoire Armenienne contemporaine, "Mardin 1915: Anatomie
pathologique d'une destruction" (Paris, 2002). According to Sarafian,
the way to engage the Assyrian issue in a constructive way today is
through scholarship. "That has to be the bedrock of our understanding"
he added.

The ensuing discussion focused on various academic strategies
for modern Assyrians to record and integrate their experience into
mainstream academic debates. Sarafian stated that the Gomidas Institute
could start an Assyrian publications series in the English language
if there was serious interest. Others discussed the possibilities of
cultivating new specialists and soliciting scholarly articles. "At
the end of the day," Sarafian concluded, "the Assyrian experience is
part of a broader common history, in the same mosaic of peoples in
the region."

The Armenian Community (UK) Garod House 42 Blythe Rd.

London W14 0HA

EasternStar News Agency