Turkish Propaganda strategy

[Joseph]

Aztag Daily, Lebanon
March 28, 2007

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg183686.html

EDITORIAL:
THE NEW PROPAGANDA WAR

Shahan Kandaharian
Editor in chief

(Translated from Armenian)

Without underestimating and overestimating the productivity of the
Turkish government's policy concerning the opening ceremony of the
restored Holy Cross church in Aghtamar, it is necessary to think
about what aspects have been registered so far and what their hidden
motives are.

The priority purpose of this issue, which has been a subject of
discussion for a long time, is to invite the world's attention to the
Turkish "reconstructive" policy. As for the aspects, the decision of
the government to restore the church is in the first place, of
course; then comes the scheduling the opening ceremony which is later
postponed; next is the tug of war to determine whether the
construction should be considered a church or a museum; and finally
there appears the problem if a cross will be placed on the dome of
the church.


These artificial debates, which are being brought forth through the
efforts of the Turkish government, seem to be productive in their
immediate purpose. Not only Turkish and Armenian circles, but also
European and international centers have been following and responding
to these debates.

However, our silence in order not to create a fundamental
contradictions between the Armenian leaders in Istanbul who have
established positions and the political circles located overseas, and
at the same time our position in not following the rules of a game
being initiated by the Turkish government have become a problem, the
discussion of which needs a discreet approach, as well as the
adoption of political prisms by the maintenance of the national
pivot.

In reality of course, the problem is political, which is disguised
under a religious-cultural veil. We have to admit that this is a new
manner of a propaganda war which is carried out by the Turkish
government. The Turkish government itself has given the proof of such
an affirmation, which has shaken the formality of protecting cultural
values, when the Turkish Ministry of Culture was not able to give an
answer to the proposal of the Armenian patriarchate of Istanbul
concerning the placing of the cross on the dome of the Holy Cross
Church, thus acknowledging that making such decisions are not within
his jurisdiction. So the problem has been transferred to the profound
government.

By just mentioning this proposal, the Armenian patriarchate of
Istanbul turned upside down the rule of the Turkish-initiated game.
The Turkish side cannot give a "cultural" answer; such questions must
be asked to the people acting from behind the screen, who are the
coordinators of the governmental policy and propaganda. The
above-mentioned confession must be emphasized in order to show to the
world the extent of the ease with which the problem is continuously
being pushed forward.

It is obvious that the problem has its complexities. Our disregard of
European and international standards, as well as our being in an
opposing position do not necessarily assist our mode of understanding
the problem. In spite of knowing exactly what the real motive and the
pursued aim are, here we must show a distinct political elasticity
and continue to withstand the weapons which are being used during the
new kind of propaganda war.

The demand that the Holy Cross church be under the supervision of the
Armenian patriarchate is obviously the second step in order to turn
the rules of the game upside down. Turkey, in its efforts to secure
sums of money in the context of tourism, has to give an explanation
for its rejection.

If Turkey wants to represent itself to Europe as a government which
respects the rights of national-religious minorities, then its
tendency to secure credits for its diplomacy are questionable due to
its rejections. Anyone who respects the rights of national-religious
minorities should deliver the church to its owner.

These are daring questions and proposals which are sounding from
Armenian centers in Istanbul, especially when we take into
consideration the conditions under which they act.

It seems that the Armenian government is also moving with expected
caution. Sending a delegation lead by the vice minister of culture
has its implications, and at the same time reverses the position of
being placed in the challenger's corner; it also confronts the
challenge which has appeared with the new propaganda war.

All these are not limited to Aghtamar only. We have to be ready for a
new series of `restorations.'

[Joseph]

CHP asks for anti-so called genocide committee

http://www.thenewanatolian.com/tna-25025.html

The New Anatolian / Ankara
02 April 2007

Font Size: default medium large

The main opposition party over the weekend called for establishment of a parliamentary investigation committee to broaden the scope of strategies in order to forestall so-called Armenian genocide claims and especially the Armenian lobby in the U.S.
The Republican People's Party's call came soon after the U.S. House of Representatives slightly changed remarks over "genocide" in a resolution in favor of Turkey.
The resolution which has no binding for Turkey but is important in terms of international politics, excluded the term "Armenian genocide," but condemned the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in January.
The paper, passed on Friday, also replaced the part "Dink was prosecuted under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) for mentioning about Armenian genocide," with a new version worded more cautiously, which reads, "Dink was prosecuted under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) for calling the '1915 massacre of Armenians genocide'."
A group of CHP deputies led by Istanbul Deputy Sukru Elekdag submitted a motion to the Parliament Speaker's Office on Saturday accusing Turkish authorities of remaining relatively passive regarding the so-called claims.
The petition, which cited that Armenia has made a long way to introduce Turkey a genocidal country, thus a great many Western states has come to use the opportunity laid by mostly Armenian diaspora to steer Turkish foreign policy and reap concessions or avoid Turkey to become a full member of the European Union, said that the so-called claims have come to affect the current international affairs of Turkey as a global threat.
It also said that the claim is engineered as a tool for the racist and imperial policies of Armenia and Armenian diaspora which concentrated on efforts to put forward territorial claims or compensations. "The Armenian side has been carrying out a paramount international public drive through academic publishing, political symposiums, lobbying, and even movies portraying a genocidal Turkey," said the paper.
The petition also admitted that Turkey cannot be called better off compared to Armenia since although it has gave pace to its efforts recently, it is too late and weak to fight Armenian ardor regarding the issue.

[Joseph]

Fact of Armenian Genocide unanimously acknowledged by historians
30.04.2007 14:48 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian communities of the Greater Metropolitan New York area gathered at the Surrogate’s Court House in New York City, just north of City Hall, on April 20th for the 92nd commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. Organized by the Armenian National Committee of New York, community leaders arranged a program, which dwelt on the religious, cultural and political dimensions of the Holocaust committed by the Young Turk government against the Ottoman Empire’s Armenian inhabitants.

The Holy Martyr’s Armenian Day School choir began the program inside the central hall of the august, 19th century legal chamber, singing the national anthems of the United States and the Republic of Armenia. Later in the evening, the choir returned to pay tribute to the 32 victims murdered by a gunman at Virginia Polytechnic Institute earlier in the week on April 16.

Bishop Anoushavan Tanielian gave the invocation, in which he also paid tribute to those who lost their lives on Virginia Tech’s campus. The Bishop spoke of the courageousness and righteousness of the Istanbul based Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who earlier in the year was murdered by the Turkish ultra-nationalist, Ogun Samast. Experts account for Dink’s assassination to an increasingly tolerated, if not encouraged, environment of vigilantism against citizens who dare to speak of the Armenian Genocide and other taboo topics of Turkish society.

Speaking on behalf of Councilwoman Melinda Katz, a stalwart supporter of the local Armenian community, Michael Cohen read a proclamation from the New York City Council. Karine Birazian, Master of Ceremonies for the program, read similar proclamations from the New York City mayor’s office as well as from the governor’s office. Armenian Ambassador to the United Nations Armen Martirossian addressed the audience about international developments regarding the Armenian Genocide, which remains a vital issue for many foreign policy and national security matters. "Last year, the Turkish government proposed to convene a joint commission of historians to determine what happened to the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire. Not only is this totally unnecessary, since the fact of the Armenian Genocide is unanimously acknowledged by historians, but completely absurd since the topic in question is so taboo in Turkey, merely discussing it can lead to prosecution on the grounds of engaging in ‘anti-Tukrishness.’"

Martirossyan also discussed the recent controversy at the United Nations (UN), where the Turkish delegation has placed enormous pressure on the International Secretariat to block an exhibit marking the thirteenth anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. Turkey’s sole concern is one sentence in the exhibit, which refers to the Armenian Genocide. The Ambassador discussed the struggle, which ensued to keep the exhibit with the important historical reference, resulting in a New York Times editorial condemning Turkey for its egregious behavior.

Following the Ambassador’s talk was a tribute to Hrant Dink, facilitated by Dr. Hrand Markarian. Dr. Markarian’s slide presentation gave a biographical sketch of Dink as well as a review of his accomplishments as an Armenian community leader and human rights activist in Turkey. Included was a film, shot months before Dink was assassinated, in which the late-journalist spoke of the increasingly dangerous circumstances he was finding himself as someone who spoke openly about the Armenian Genocide. The interview was Carla Garabedian conducted the interview while she was making the movie Screemers. ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian gave the keynote address, in which he emphasized the significance of the Armenian American community’s growing political voice in Washington, D.C. "There are over 190 members in the House of Representatives and over 30 U.S. Senators, who have co-sponsored Armenian Genocide legislation. This is the result of Armenian Americans exercising their democratic rights for the sake of gaining justice, not just an apology, over the crime committed against our ancestors," said Hachikian. Hachikian also hailed the blocking of Richard Hoagland’s nomination as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia as an enormous victory. Hoagland was slated to replace U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, John Evans, who was forced into retirement over his pubic affirmation of the Armenian Genocide. Hoagland subsequently during the confirmation process expressed doubt about whether the events of 1915 qualified as genocide, causing a political maelstrom, resulting in U.S. Senator Robert Mendendez placing a hold on Hoagland’s nomination.

[bell-the-cat]

Aztag Daily, Lebanon
March 28, 2007

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg183686.html

EDITORIAL:
THE NEW PROPAGANDA WAR

the tug of war to determine whether the
construction should be considered a church or a museum

Armenians seem completely unprepared to address the new issues and problems that have arisen out of Turkey pursuing this new policy of "restorations". There is an embarrassing backwardness in the thinking of much of the Armenian diaspora (a backwardness that is in a way a bit similar to Turkey – their society cannot comprehend a building as having cultural importance unless it is officially labelled a "museum").

It should be quite obvious that the Aghtamar church can be both a church and an historic monument. And the fact that it is not an operating church anymore does not change its status as being a church and a monument worth preserving. Does a castle cease to become a castle when it is empty of its defenders? Is the Parthenon no longer a pagan temple because nobody there is sacrificing goats to Athena anymore?

The inability of huge sections of Armenian society, and in particular the Armenian Church, to comprehend that a church can still have value even if it is not used as a church is quite baffling to me, and, I would suspect, be equally baffling to most people.

There is absolutely no case for the church to be transferred into the hands of the Istanbul Patriarchate. They have enough half-empty churches already, and there is no congregation to use the church. It is also quite inappropriate that such an important monument be placed under the control of stupid priests (you only have to recognise the awful destruction that has been inflicted on many dozens of historic churches in Armenia in recent years to know what I am talking about here).

I have already come across assorted cretins on xxxxxxxx who have expressed views like they would rather see a church in Turkey destroyed than have it preserved as anything other than an active church. If only those views were limited to the Hyforum ghetto.

And, of course, not a single word seems to have been said by anyone about the abysmal quality of the "restoration". Or, for that matter, the fact that the whole concept of "restoring" an historic building has been considered obsolete for decades, and those still advocating such backward processes are rightly considered by building conservation experts to be little more than cultural vandals. It is worth mentioning that not a single conservation expert or archaeologist was invited to the Aghtamar re-opening (and those that asked for an invite were not given one).

[Joseph]

Turkish Government Attacks Los Angeles Mayor for Stand on Armenian Genocide


LOS ANGELES--The Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region received a letter from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa regarding a package the Mayor had received from the Turkish Consul General of Los Angeles.

In the Mayor’s letter, he states that “[T]he Turkish Consul General of Los Angeles recently sent me, as gifts, two books denying the Armenian Genocide. [The Turkish Consul General] also sent a letter protesting my support of House Resolution 106 and my request to Speaker Nancy Pelosi to bring the Resolution to a vote as soon as possible.

“I would like to donate the books to the [ANCA] so that your organization can study them and ensure that any attempts to diminish the gravity of the Armenian Genocide are met with factual retorts. As the ANCA continues to seek recognition of this horrible act of inhumanity, I hope that I can be of service in ensuring the memory of over one million men, women, and children are never forgotten,” added the Mayor.

Mayor Villaraigosa has long provided strong moral leadership on the issue of the Armenian Genocide. Earlier this year, Mayor Villaraigosa hosted a press conference announcing the city’s new divestment program in Darfur. At this press conference, the Mayor unveiled a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging her to call H. Res. 106, the Armenian Genocide Resolution, to a vote. Additionally, the Mayor presided over an event with the Los Angeles City Council where the City of Los Angeles presented the Armenian American community with a resolution commemorating the Armenian Genocide. Furthermore, just days after the city commemoration ceremony, Mayor Villaraigosa issued a proclamation in remembrance of the Armenian Genocide, urging all Angelenos “simply to never forget.”

“Mayor Villaraigosa has yet again demonstrated the impenetrable and deeply committed nature of his moral leadership regarding recognition of the Armenian Genocide,” stated ANCA-WR Executive Director Andrew Kzirian. “We applaud the Mayor for this donation of books and will surely examine these denialist texts thoroughly,” he added.



ASBAREZ, 5/11/2007

[Gavur]

Hohohoho!

[Joseph]

Where do I even begin??? The following story below is so very disgusting that I probably should not have posted it because I know it will upset all of you. The Turkish Ambassador could not be more pleased after reading this.

http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB118067017540021221.html

June 1, 2007

HOUSES OF WORSHIP
Religious Compromise
By RICHARD MINITER
Van, Turkey

Our story starts with a small sandstone 10th-century Armenian church, on an uninhabited rock less than 500 yards wide, in a remote Turkish lake that changes colors like moods and sometimes bubbles like soda. If you had seen the ruins of it, as I did in 2000, you might cry. Its roof was gone. Its bas-reliefs, chiseled by master carvers a millennium ago, of Adam and Eve, of saints and kings, were wearing away in the wind. It was an empty husk that had not heard a Mass in more than 90 years.

In March, after years of painstaking restoration, Turkey reopened the church as a museum. Among the ambassadors and visitors at the opening ceremonies, I roamed the grounds. The building is now magnificent. Its roof is restored and its reliefs cleaned.


Church of the Holy Cross in Van, Turkey
The Church of the Holy Cross is one of the holiest sites for Armenian Christians, who once made up one-third of the population around Van. They were driven out by the Ottomans in 1915, when some were suspected of supporting Russia-backed terrorist attacks. During World War I, the Ottomans were allied with Germany and Austria, fighting Russia, Britain and France. While most Turkish historians concede there was a massacre of Armenians (while pointing out that Armenians slaughtered Turks from 1890 to 1915 and that most Armenians were relocated, not slain), they hesitate to call it genocide. The Armenians do not hesitate -- and sometimes compare it to the Holocaust. The Armenian Diaspora has emerged as a real political force in Western Europe, complicating Turkey's plans to join the European Union.

The re-opening of the church was a peace offering by the AKP, Turkey's Islam-oriented ruling party, but all did not run smoothly at first. After spending millions on the structure, the Turkish government refused to restore the stone cross on the steeple. Turkish journalists were quick to criticize. Ultimately, common sense prevailed.

"I cannot say we will have the stone-cross back there tomorrow, but I do not see any problem in that," Culture Minister Attilla Koc said. He wanted time for an "academic council" to consider the issue. Mr. Koc's answer might not sound "revolutionary" to our ears, but Turkish News columnist Yusuf Kanli declared it so. Many Christian churches have been waiting for decades for permission to restore their churches at their own expense.

At the opening of the Church of the Holy Cross, I met George Kumar, bishop of Turkey's some 20,000 remaining Roman Catholics. He said that five churches in Istanbul alone are still awaiting approval to be repaired. "I wish they would let us restore all of the churches," he said softly, but he doesn't want to push. "We will wait and pray."

Nor did Armenian Christians who attended the opening ceremonies complain. They told me that they were there for history and for peace. Of course, the Turks would buy a lot of goodwill by lifting restrictions on repairing churches. Many Turkish politicians (even members of the AKP) see it this way. But Egemen Bagis, the prime minister's foreign policy adviser and a member of Parliament, says that "Turkey is a democracy, not a sultanate." Rebuilding churches here is like building mosques in America and Europe, controversial among ordinary citizens. Still, the blind machinery of the law lets mosques go up in Boston, Chicago and the rural plains of Virginia. Italy and Spain have seen some of the world's largest mosques change their skylines.

Mr. Bagis stresses religious tolerance. "In my neighborhood in Istanbul, there are Christians, Muslims and Jews living side-by-side. My children have Christian and Jewish friends." He is right. That is the way forward.

So far, everyone has acted with admirable restraint. The Armenian Patriarch, who spoke at the opening ceremonies, asked only if a Mass could be celebrated in the church once a year. The culture minister may let a cross grace the roof. Some 3,000 people have visited the church since its re-opening earlier this spring. Turkey's critics focus on its Ottoman past and, more recently, its Islam-oriented ruling party. They miss the spirit of compromise that prevails in the republic. It is this spirit that unites Turkey with the West and separates it from its Middle East neighbors. A difference made manifest by a small church in Van.

Mr. Miniter is the Washington editor of PajamasMedia.com1 and a fellow at the Hudson Institute.

[bell-the-cat]

Our story starts with a small sandstone 10th-century Armenian church, on an uninhabited rock less than 500 yards wide, in a remote Turkish lake that changes colors like moods and sometimes bubbles like soda. If you had seen the ruins of it, as I did in 2000, you might cry. Its roof was gone. Its bas-reliefs, chiseled by master carvers a millennium ago, of Adam and Eve, of saints and kings, were wearing away in the wind. It was an empty husk that had not heard a Mass in more than 90 years.

In March, after years of painstaking restoration, Turkey reopened the church as a museum. Among the ambassadors and visitors at the opening ceremonies, I roamed the grounds. The building is now magnificent. Its roof is restored and its reliefs cleaned.

If, in his "roaming the grounds", he had run up against me, and had expressed his pathetic views, I would have smashed his empty head against some rocks to silence any chance of his vile propaganda getting further than the water's edge. The rocks are limestone, not sandstone, so are hard.

[bell-the-cat]

If, in his "roaming the grounds", Miniter had happened to run up against me (I was also there), and had expressed his pathetic views, I may well have been so outraged that I might have smashed his empty head against some rocks to silence any chance of his vile propaganda getting further than the water's edge. The island's rocks are limestone, not sandstone, so they are suitably hard. As for the church, it is made of basalt, not sandstone. However, it has been ruined enough by the destructive "restoration" that Miniter seeks to praise, so I would not have further abused it by bashing the author's head against it.

Submitted the above to Miniter's blog - but I doubt if he will let it appear.

http://richardminiter.pajamasmedia.com/2007/06/01/a_turkish_treasure.php

[Joseph]

If, in his "roaming the grounds", Miniter had happened to run up against me (I was also there), and had expressed his pathetic views, I may well have been so outraged that I might have smashed his empty head against some rocks to silence any chance of his vile propaganda getting further than the water's edge. The island's rocks are limestone, not sandstone, so they are suitably hard. As for the church, it is made of basalt, not sandstone. However, it has been ruined enough by the destructive "restoration" that Miniter seeks to praise, so I would not have further abused it by bashing the author's head against it.

Submitted the above to Miniter's blog - but I doubt if he will let it appear.

http://richardminiter.pajamasmedia.c...h_treasure.php

Hey Bell,

Any response for Miniter?