Turkish Propaganda strategy

[Joseph]

Ah yes, another Turkish delaying tactic for international consumption. The Genocide scholars played right into their hands on this one. Nothing positive will come from this. As what happened with the ill-fated TARC, the Armenians will be harangued by the Turks for having the audacity to plea to the world for justice and recognition and be forced to listne to the syphlitic riddled lies of the "Turkish scholars", the border will not be opened anytime soon, and Turkey will be able to say that they have done their part...but to what ends?

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=75713

Turkish scholars welcome rapprochement appeal with Armenia
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
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DIPLOMACY

ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

A group of Turkish scholars welcomed an appeal by 53 Nobel laureates calling for tolerance, contact and cooperation between Turks and Armenians, in a written statement released yesterday by the Institute for Armenian Research at the Ankara-based Center for Eurasian Strategic Studies (ASAM).
“We view this call as a doorway to opening a process of dialogue between Turks and Armenians and as a stepping stone which will work to keep that door open, facilitating the culture of peace to bear fruit,” a group of 86 Turkish scholars, writers and retired ambassadors said in response to the appeal by New-York based The Elie Wiesel Foundation.

The appeal issued in April called on Turks and Armenians to encourage their governments to open the Turkish-Armenian border, generate confidence through civil society cooperation, improve official contacts, to allow basic freedoms and to address the gap in perceptions over the alleged genocide of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.

“We would like to state that we are willing to do our part to make positive contributions to this end,” said the Turkish scholars.

[Gavur]

Armenian scientists not invited to Turkish-Armenian Relations conference due in Erzerum
13.06.2007 18:54 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian historians and specialists in Turkish studies were not invited to Turkish-Armenian Relations conference due in Erzerum June 21-22. Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies at the RA Academy of Sciences Ruben Safrastyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter that he did not receive an invitation.

Director of the Armenian Genocide Institute Hayk Demoyan and Turkish studies specialist Ashot Hovhannisian were not invited either.

Meanwhile APA reported that “scientists from Armenia as well as Armenian historians from different states were invited to the conference. However they did not confirm their participation in the event.”

http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=22655

[Joseph]

Armenian scientists not invited to Turkish-Armenian Relations conference due in Erzerum
13.06.2007 18:54 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian historians and specialists in Turkish studies were not invited to Turkish-Armenian Relations conference due in Erzerum June 21-22. Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies at the RA Academy of Sciences Ruben Safrastyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter that he did not receive an invitation.

Director of the Armenian Genocide Institute Hayk Demoyan and Turkish studies specialist Ashot Hovhannisian were not invited either.

Meanwhile APA reported that “scientists from Armenia as well as Armenian historians from different states were invited to the conference. However they did not confirm their participation in the event.”
http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=22655

See, it only makes sense not to invite Armenians to a Turkish-Armenian relations conference
I'm sure international scholars will give this conference great creedence

[Gavur]

Turkish/Azeri lier's and deniers conference Erzurum

See, it only makes sense not to invite Armenians to a Turkish-Armenia relations conference
I'm sure international scholars will give this conference great credance

Erzurum hosts int conference on Turkish-Armenian relations

[ 13 Jun 2007 12:57 ]

http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=28536

The second international conference on Turkish-Armenian relations will be held in the city Erzurum, Turkey on June 21-22, APA reports.
Azerbaijani Parliamentarian Ganira Pashayeva and deputy director of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences History Institute Jabi Bahramov will represent Azerbaijan at the conference.
Ganira Pashayeva told the APA that experts from European Union member states and the US, historians, scientists will participate in the conference.
The aim of the conference is to reveal false Armenian genocide claims and debate basing on historical documents.
“Holding the event in Erzurum is not accidental. Armenians committed massacres against Turks in 1915 here, a lot of mass graves were found and the process is still continuing,” she said.
The parliamentarian said that Armenian scientists and experts from Armenia and al over the world have been invited to the conference, but they have not stated whether they will attend the conference.
“They always avoid debating this issue on the level of experts. They know that their lies will be revealed,” she said.
Ganira Pashayeva said that one section of the conference will cover Armenia’s occupation Azerbaijani territories, genocide committed by Armenians against Azerbaijanis, Nagorno Karabakh conflict and realities of the world.
“We will address the conference on both issues, distribute necessary materials to inform the foreign visitors,” she said. /APA/

[Steph]

See, it only makes sense not to invite Armenians to a Turkish-Armenia relations conference
I'm sure international scholars will give this conference great credance

Precisely, we'll probably see the "One-legged man's ass-kicking contest" as an Olympic sport in Beijing.

[Joseph]

Ah yes, another Turkish delaying tactic for international consumption. The Genocide scholars played right into their hands on this one. Nothing positive will come from this. As what happened with the ill-fated TARC, the Armenians will be harangued by the Turks for having the audacity to plea to the world for justice and recognition and be forced to listne to the syphlitic riddled lies of the "Turkish scholars", the border will not be opened anytime soon, and Turkey will be able to say that they have done their part...but to what ends?

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=75713

Turkish scholars welcome rapprochement appeal with Armenia
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
print this page mail to a friend
DIPLOMACY

ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

A group of Turkish scholars welcomed an appeal by 53 Nobel laureates calling for tolerance, contact and cooperation between Turks and Armenians, in a written statement released yesterday by the Institute for Armenian Research at the Ankara-based Center for Eurasian Strategic Studies (ASAM).
“We view this call as a doorway to opening a process of dialogue between Turks and Armenians and as a stepping stone which will work to keep that door open, facilitating the culture of peace to bear fruit,” a group of 86 Turkish scholars, writers and retired ambassadors said in response to the appeal by New-York based The Elie Wiesel Foundation.

The appeal issued in April called on Turks and Armenians to encourage their governments to open the Turkish-Armenian border, generate confidence through civil society cooperation, improve official contacts, to allow basic freedoms and to address the gap in perceptions over the alleged genocide of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.

“We would like to state that we are willing to do our part to make positive contributions to this end,” said the Turkish scholars.

Below is another article about how the Turks will use the genocide scholar declaration to buy themselves some time and further alienate Armenians worldwide. And none other than Lutem, Aktan, Laciner, Logoglu would like to be involved... because they are not part of the official state apparatus or anything, right? These "men" are above all facist and have a deep ingrained hatred of Armenians; actually they hate anything that challenges or soils anything they believe. TARC II, eh? Anyway, for all the short comings of TARC, it did make the Turkish nationalists who were involved look like total jackasses.

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=75789

Scholars launch new initiative in genocide row
Thursday, June 14, 2007
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The civilian move is unlikely to give impetus to efforts for a resolution of a series of bilateral disagreements between Ankara and Yerevan including genocide allegations, retired Amb. Gündüz Aktan says

FULYA ÖZERKAN
ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

A group of scholars have taken a civilian initiative to establish dialogue between Turks and Armenians and create an atmosphere of free debate with regard to hotly contested issues in bilateral ties, including the alleged genocide of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.
“Not only Turks and Armenians but third parties as well who are specialists on the Armenian issue can come together in the future to put existing problems under the spotlight,” retired Ambassador Ömer Engin Lütem, director of the Institute for Armenian Research at the Ankara-based Eurasian Strategic Studies Center (ASAM), told the Turkish Daily News yesterday.

In April, the New York-based Elie Wiesel Foundation issued an appeal signed by 53 Nobel laureates in various fields, calling for tolerance, contact and cooperation between Turks and Armenians, a move that came three months after the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul.

To foster reconciliation between Turks and Armenians, an issue that Dink dedicated years, the foundation called on the two peoples to encourage their governments to open the border, generate confidence through civil society cooperation, improve official contacts and allow basic freedoms.

On Tuesday, the Turkish Institute for Armenian Research publicly welcomed the appeal in a written declaration signed by 86 Turkish scholars, describing it as a doorway to opening a process of dialogue between the two communities.

“We can say this initiative aims at opening a door of dialogue between Turks and Armenians and is completely civilian, which is nothing to do with governments. We are ready for dialogue at the civilian level,” said Lütem.

Former Turkish Ambassador to Washington Faruk Loğoğlu, who now chairs ASAM, retired Ambassador Gündüz Aktan and political scientist Sedat Laçiner were among the experts who signed the declaration – a copy of which was sent to the Elie Wiesel Foundation yesterday.

Aktan told the TDN that the civilian initiative was unlikely to give impetus to efforts for a resolution of a series of disputes between Turkey and Armenia, apparently referring to the Turkish government's proposal to set up a joint committee of historians to study genocide allegations, which was turned down by the Armenian government.

“Normalization of bilateral ties is out of the question without progress on the genocide claims and the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute,” said Aktan, former member of a commission that advises the government on countering genocide allegations.

Laçiner, speaking with the TDN considered the appeal by the Nobel laureates to be “well-intentioned” but said the move should approach the two parties equally, without putting all the blame for the existing problems between Ankara and Yerevan on a single party.

[Gavur]

Fear Represses Discussion of Armenian Genocide

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118212618693538571.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

In his article about the restoration of the Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Church in Van, Turkey, Richard Miniter states that the opening of the church as a museum reflects a spirit of compromise that differentiates Turkey from its Middle East neighbors ("Religious Compromise," Houses of Worship, Taste page, Weekend Journal, June 1). Unfortunately, Turkey does not treat its Armenian population as well as its Middle Eastern neighbors do. Indeed, the refugees of the Armenian genocide and their descendants have lived in relative peace and stability throughout the Middle East for more than 90 years. From Iran to Egypt, they maintain churches, schools, community centers and the historical truth without the restrictions imposed upon the Armenians of Turkey.

Let us not confuse the silence left in the wake of the genocide with peace. Nor should we ignore the fear of modern Turkey's Armenians to speak about the genocide at the risk of being killed like the journalist Hrant Dink. A spirit of compromise is made manifest by the reopening as a museum of a small church in Van. Sadly for Turkey, it is a compromise with the truth of its past.

Antovk Pidedjian
Yonkers, N.Y.

[Joseph]

Interesting Turkish analysis

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/yazarDetay.do?haberno=120251

ALI H. ASLAN [email protected] Politics


Time for a plan B over ‘genocide’

Here we go. The Anti Defamation League (ADL) has issued a statement acknowledging the Armenian "genocide." This is the first public endorsement of the Armenian cause by a prominent American Jewish organization. Am I surprised? Not necessarily -- I sort of knew it was coming. From my conversations with representatives of American Jewish lobby groups, I had the impression that there was no consensus on this controversial matter. Make no mistake, there has always been some agreement in American Jewish community that those events were "tantamount to genocide." That's the same case with most other "friends" of Turkey. But believing something is one thing, and revealing it publicly is one another. Recently, there has obviously been a tendency to speak more openly on this matter.
The ADL's position is this: Yes, this was genocide, but the US Congress should not say so. Frankly, in some ways, I find the ADL intellectually more honest than many other Jewish organizations. The Jewish organizations investing in better Turkish-Israeli-American relations have been trying to be politically correct toward Turkey. The ADL is more honest because this is what most Jewish organizations have always believed but had yet to say it publicly. The ADL stops short of supporting the Armenian genocide resolution in Congress because they think it would be "counterproductive." If one believes the Jewish genocide (that is, the Holocaust) should have consequences but an "Armenian genocide" should not, that is not completely honest. That's the main problem with the ADL's position. On the other hand, to be fair, when it comes to talking about politically charged issues like the Armenian genocide allegations, to expect full honesty from any party involved would be luxury. There are serious gaps between public and private positions.

Take the US government for instance. Publicly, they fall slightly short of naming it "genocide." But I'm sure privately most of the officials believe it is. "Ethnic cleansing" and "forced exile" are not things any nation can be proud of. When the US government uses such terms instead of genocide, we Turks are relieved! In sum, although the executive branch deep inside agrees there was a genocide against Armenians, they refuse to call it such because that is "counterproductive." What's at stake here for them is further intimidating Turks and hurting US interests within Turkey and its neighborhood. The three foremost important foreign policy matters for the US in our region nowadays -- Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan -- require Ankara's uninterrupted cooperation.

The US Congress is another story. Again, even among the so-called "friends" of Turkey, including the Turkish caucus, there is less doubt the events of 1915 were tantamount to a "genocide." Two hundred and twenty-five of the 435 representatives have publicly endorsed the Armenian resolution. Again, most of those who have yet to publicly support the bill believe it is "counterproductive" to say what they think. It is easy to test my analysis. Tell me how many US representatives have publicly said so far there is no such thing as an Armenian genocide. You'll hardly remember any. The senators have generally a more statesmanlike attitude than the representatives; therefore the Senate position would fall somewhat between the executive branch and the House.

Now that the ADL has opened Pandora's box on the part of powerful Jewish lobby groups, Turkey faces a bigger challenge. Whoever I talk to in Washington has said sooner or later an Armenian genocide resolution would pass. It's just a matter of timing and convenience. Fortunately, the serious problems the US faces in our region have made it less convenient for American politicians to finalize the bill. Although current congressional leaders with the Democratic Party seem to be more inclined to go ahead, it is not completely unlikely that "national interest" and "national security" arguments would once again prevail.

The Armenian lobby groups and their collaborators in the US are trying hard to punish Turkey with this resolution. Frankly, I believe the process so far has been an even harsher punishment than the final outcome. The issue consumes a considerable deal of Turkish diplomatic energy and resources, which could have been otherwise spent in pursuing more tangible national interests. We can spend our and our supporters' political capital on other issues. I don't want to sound like a defeatist but as a realist in foreign policy matters I think Ankara needs to give a second thought to whether the issue deserves that level of commitment. The more Turkey seems to be intimidated, the more mistakes we might make, the more advertisement the Armenian genocide thesis gets and the happier our international adversaries become. We have obviously lost debates among US intellectuals, are increasingly losing them among NGOs like the ADL -- and it looks like sooner or later we will lose the battle in the US Congress. Perhaps now it's time for preparing the Turkish public for more negative outcomes and to reflect on better strategies rather than sticking with the same old tactics.

24.08.2007

[Joseph]

Intereting though I don't agree 100% with the author

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=81784

TDN editorial by Yusuf KANLI
Facing history

Saturday, August 25, 2007


We have to understand that history is not just a record of victories; there are as well defeats, retreats, treason, bravery, intrigues, sorrows and joy

Yusuf KANLI
It is rather difficult for us Turks to accept that history is not just a book recording the victories of our glorious nation: It is not. There are, of course, defeats, retreats as well as treason, bravery, intrigues, sorrows, joy and all other aspects of the human dimension which together with the victories form the history of our nation.

It is still some sort of a taboo for many people in our society to talk about the Sept. 6-7, 1955, incidents when the Greek minority of Istanbul were compelled to leave their homes, their country, and settle in Greece. Was it a voluntary emigration movement? It was not. Years later it became evident that some elements in the Turkish state instigated all the trouble by spreading false rumors to the effect that the house where the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, was born had been torched in Thessalonica. Do we think the Turkish state owes an apology to the Turkish citizens who were forced to leave their country and settle in Greece? Indeed, it is long overdue. It has since been verified that the Turkish state was actually responsible for what happened on Sept. 6 and 7 to our Greek Orthodox minority because of the state-sponsored -or some state element sponsored- attack on them by an ultra-nationalist mob.

Are not the Sept. 6-7 incidents part of Turkish history? It is sad, but they are. If we want to draw lessons from history we have to concede this reality, teach it at our schools and make sure that no such thing could ever be allowed to happen in our country again.

Turkey is not of course the sole country with such a shallow historical understanding. Even today, it is rather dangerous for Greek scholars to write about how ?zmir (the Smyrna of the time) was torched and burned down by the retreating Greek occupation force and some local Greeks collaborating with them.

Or, just recently, two Greek Cypriots disclosed that they were eyewitnesses to a mass murder of Turkish Cypriots executed by some senior officials of the Greek Cypriot state. After their remarks published in the Greek daily Politis they became the most hated people in their community.

Yusuf Halaço?lu, the chairman of a state-sponsored organization, the Turkish History Society, has been in the headlines these days with some “awkward” statements regarding the “real identity” of some Kurdish Alevis and Turkish Alevis.

According to comments made by Halaço?lu during a seminar that while Kurdish Alevis racially belonged to a Turkmen tribe, the Turkish Alevis were Armenians who converted to Islam to escape a forced resettlement program in the first quarter of the last century. Some people are attacking Halaço?lu and accusing him of being an “ultra nationalist,” some are even implying that he is a racist. Some members of the Alevite community are preparing to take him to court. In the ultra-nationalist segments, Halaço?lu most probably has become a hero once again.

Well, we are neither historians nor ethnologist to judge the accuracy of the claims made by Halaço?lu. He says he has a list of names of the Armenian families who converted to Islam, became Alevite and took Turkish Muslim names. If he has such a list, does that mean there is such information in the state archives? If there is such information in the state archives, has it ever been used in a discriminative manner, let's say in recruitments, promotions or the such?

These questions must be answered by the relevant state bodies. Discrimination is a crime.

But, I would like to recall a famous saying before continuing further on the Halaço?lu case. It is said that the bravest of the gypsies start to list his crimes when he attempts to explain how courageous a man he is.

The ethnic “Turkiskness” of the Kurdish population of this country has long been the subject of an intense campaign. Once upon a time they were just “mountain Turks” and the noise they created while walking on snow “kart kurt” in time became Kurd, thus the official rhetoric once was that they were no different than other Turks. Perhaps Halaço?lu is just providing some further depth to that myth with his Turkmen Kurds thesis. Is not that a pure act of racism?

Did not Halaço?lu, as the chairman of the state-sponsored Turkish History Society, implicitly accept that there was such an immense human trauma in the first quarter of the last century that thousands or hundreds of thousands of “Christian Armenians” “voluntarily” converted to Islam?

Of course neither I nor any one else of Turkey's 70 million people can be held accountable for what might have happened in the first quarter of the last century to Turkey's Armenians. But, is it not the responsibility of the state to engage in serious research into so-called genocide claims without committing itself to a policy of absolute denial? Why should we wait for Armenians to join such an effort in Turkey? Or, why should we spend efforts to convince – today the Anti-Defamation League tomorrow who knows which country or what organization – others that there was no such shame in our history while we can indeed invite historians from all over the world, provide them all the liberties and access to archives and come up with a credible record of what might have indeed happened?

[Joseph]

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=81793

Change or acceptance

Saturday, August 25, 2007



The US Congress is almost certainly going to approve the Armenian Resolutions. The deathblow was dealt when a most important Jewish Group changed attitude. We, however, manage to do nothing beyond simplistic lobbying. We seem to be bowing to our ‘fate.’

Mehmet Ali B?RAND
You are probably aware of the latest developments.

The American Jewish Committee (AJC), a leading Jewish Group, and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) have announced their decision to recognize the 1915 Armenian events as genocide.

This is an extremely significant development.

Until now, these two groups supported the Turkish arguments on the “genocide” issue, recognizing the Jewish holocaust as the only genocide in history. They had no wish to admit the Armenians into international genocide-related campaigns.

It is thanks to this attitude of the American Jews--also supported by Israel--that Turkey has been able to successfully block Armenian resolutions in the US Congress until now. The strong Jewish lobby is no longer going to support the Turkish argument.

This change in attitude happened at such a critical moment that it almost guaranteed the approval of the final Armenian resolution waiting to pass through Congress. Currently 225 US representatives have signed on to this resolution, which will probably pass during the coming months or in the first two quarters of 2008 (right before the US Presidential elections).

What is Ankara doing against all this?

Nothing, outside of some lobbying. Perhaps Ankara doesn't yet know this, but the prevention of this resolution through lobbying is no longer a possibility. Blackmailing Washington or Israel, France or other EU countries cannot block genocide resolutions. Turkey has two options now.

The first is to effect a radical policy change and to summon all its diplomatic means to first establish diplomatic relations with Armenia and then to open the borders between the two countries and go on from there.

The second is to accept what it cannot change and suffer the consequences:

To be internationally isolated and to live with the genocide label.