Turkish Propaganda strategy

[phantom]

Does retardation account for your inability to see the considerable value in that article?

Good point. But the reason why I called him retarded was because he (1) strongly denies that what happened was Genocide, (2) is giving advice on better ways of denying it was a Genocide, and (3) is so retarded that he somehow managed to attribute the Ashkale incident, which is Turkish, to Armenians.

[Joseph]

Good point. But the reason why I called him retarded was because he (1) strongly denies that what happened was Genocide, (2) is giving advice on better ways of denying it was a Genocide, and (3) is so retarded that he somehow managed to attribute the Ashkale incident, which is Turkish, to Armenians.

Exactly. The Turks would certainly benefit from a calmer approach but the bottom line is that the calmer approach that he advocates is to be used to bolster the Turks reputation and stock against its current reactionary image and not for a deeper historical understanding of the genocide/historical honesty. The bottom line is that he seems to adhere to and defend genocide denial. He wants to refocus the official Turkish thesis to try to make it some how palatable, that is all. While I agree with Bell that any person who is of sound mind can see through the Turkish thesis, this does not appear to be his purpose.

I also believe that his erroneous re-cap of the Ashkale incident was done on purpose. While he has obviously done his research regarding the Turkish official thesis, for him to have made make a mistake like that is far-fetched and indeed quite sinister. While trying to encourage Turks that some of their asinine arguments are useless and wrong, he is at the same time making an assertion that Armenians are anti-Muslim.

[Joseph]

Most times I think you are an intelligent sensible guy, sometimes I think otherwise. This is one of those otherwise times.

Why don't you tell me how you really feel?

[Joseph]

Now in Van

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=100712

Anniversary celebrated with theatrical ‘massacre’

Thursday, April 3, 2008



VAN – Doğan News Agency

The 90th anniversary of the end of the Armenian occupation was celebrated in the town of Gürpınar, in the eastern province of Van, with a “theatrical” re-enactment of a massacre blamed on Armenians.

Around a dozen people, dressed as Armenian militia members, re-enacted the massacre of civilians and were then chased away by Turkish soldiers, played by primary school students.

While the shocked children watched the proceedings, Gürpınar's mayor, Fuat Yaşar Atan, made a speech, saying the town had celebrated the end of the Armenian occupation with the same vigor for the past 90 years.

A similar mock re-enactment in the village of Aşkale, in the province of Erzurum, in which a village imam was hung and the Armenian militia, played by municipality workers, massacred a family, was criticized in newspapers for encouraging hate. Some sociologists claimed children learned to hate people of different ethnicities through such events and that some grew up to commit serious crimes, citing the murders of a priest in Trabzon and journalist Hrant Dink as examples.

“Burning and stabbing people in front of children is very harmful for young and impressionable kids,” said psychologist Alanur Özalp, speaking to Hürriyet at the time. “We all saw teenagers being exploited in the murder of Hrant Dink and priest [Andrea] Santoro. When asked, these teenage murderers said, he was Turkey's enemy. They told me to go and kill him. Such scenes should not be repeated when we are trying to rid ourselves of the image of barbarian Turks,” she said.

[Zane]

This is actually a respose for "Learned this guy good...so was banned of course," except that that thread was locked. I can understand the desire to debate people like MVDG, but is it really wise? I mean, people like him have all the cards in their favor; they can can delete comments at will, they can direct the conversation as they wish, and they have the additional credibility of being site hosts. I don't think you can actually have a intellectual conversation, I've tried with Murad Gumen, but ultimately failed. Conversations with denialists are always reduced to... "Armenians betrayed the magnamonious Ottoman Empire and got their comeuppance." I have come to the conclusion that merely debating the issue with denialists like Gumen and MVDG gives them undue credibility, and that we should ignore them like we do other quacks.

[Joseph]

This is actually a respose for "Learned this guy good...so was banned of course," except that that thread was locked. I can understand the desire to debate people like MVDG, but is it really wise? I mean, people like him have all the cards in their favor; they can can delete comments at will, they can direct the conversation as they wish, and they have the additional credibility of being site hosts. I don't think you can actually have a intellectual conversation, I've tried with Murad Gumen, but ultimately failed. Conversations with denialists are always reduced to... "Armenians betrayed the magnamonious Ottoman Empire and got their comeuppance." I have come to the conclusion that merely debating the issue with denialists like Gumen and MVDG gives them undue credibility, and that we should ignore them like we do other quacks.

Zane, I just reopened that thread so you can cut and paste this post and insert it there. Thanks