Turkish Propaganda strategy

[Joseph]

Excellent!!!

http://www.hellenicnews.com/readnews.html?newsid=7392&lang=US

SPAT UPON, THREATENED, WE FACED TURKISH FASCISM


SPAT UPON, THREATENED, WE FACED TURKISH FASCISM

By Nikolaos Taneris

October 3, 2007

NEW YORK—“Turkey will smack you down” and “Next time we will finish all of you” were some of the more polite slogans shouted at me and STOP coalition ( STOP spells “Stop Terrorizing Orthodox Peoples!” ) activist Fotios Cheung, as we peacefully protested Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan?s visit to New York for three days, last week. The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) hosted a “Conversation with Recep Tayyip Erdogan” last Thursday, September 27, 2007, CFR proudly claims that it is "dedicated to increasing America's understanding of the world and contributing ideas to U.S. foreign policy." Despite this, a portly Turkish agent thrust his hips at us in simulated fornication, and more than a few Turkish agents gave us the finger shouting “F**CKIN? GREEK” and “F**CKIN? CHINAMAN”, when we first arrived, just the two of us, across the street from CFR?s glass door, surrounded by half a dozen Secret Service agents, on a pleasant sunny New York afternoon on this corner of Park Avenue.

After a good twenty minutes of obscenities hurled at us , and our mothers, by Erdogan?s entourage, while we silently stood there, directly across the street from CFR?s E. 68th street main entrance, due to some coaxing from American secret service agents, the Turks moved their gang of gunmen to another entrance down the street, where Erdogan?s appearance, it seems, would later be relocated to, not without at least a dozen Turks left jeering us. I carried a sign saying "Turkish troops out of Cyprus," and Fotios's said "Turkey Guilty of Genocide", the flip sides wrote “Turkey = Brutality.”

At times, Fotios proudly held the Greek flag, and the racist Turkish Government officials yelled at him “hey China, how much they pay you?” and “Greek, you no respect your flag, you let China hold your flag”, apparently not being to grasp the concept that many Orthodox Christians and philhellenes the world over, identify with, and love Greece and Cyprus.

As we stood there, we got many thumbs ups and beeps of approval from New York drivers, one truck driver shouted “the only thing Turkey is good for is Thanksgiving”, another yelled “Turkey mass murderer”, another actually stopped his car and asked for our leaflets and talked to us about how shameful it is that New York would host the Turkish government, almost all those walking by on the street behind us read our signs.

Later, our friend, the Greek journalist and poet, Sevasti Boutos, joined us, and she too was treated to a volley of anti-women invectives by the representatives of Turkish government. Shortly thereafter, Erdogan made his exit , not more than fifty feet from us, to hear our chants of “Turkish troops out of Cyprus” and “Turkey runs, Turkey hides, TURKEY GUILTY OF GENOCIDE”.

The scene outside the CFR turned into chaos, as literally close to a hundred men shouted obscenities and Turkish journalist , after Turkish journalist, ran up to us to make repeated obscene hand gestures. Erdogan was quickly packed into his official vehicle, his security detachment sped by us, with open van door, giving us the finger, and grabbing their crotches.

That very Thursday evening , we convened at Dag Hammerskjold Plaza, outside the UN, to light candles in vigil for our dead, quite a few of Erdogan?s entourage happened to drive by, giving us the finger. One short Turkish agent, with a green star on his jacket lapel, who we saw in front of CFR, said to us “how much are they paying you for this?” The Plaza was quiet, except for some Bengali journalists, demonstrating beside us for a free press, who were nice enough to grant us an interview.

On Friday, September 28, 2007 Erdogan was scheduled to take the floor of the UN General Assembly, so we spent the whole afternoon at Dag Hammerskjold Plaza, holding the Greek flag and our signs. A Turkish diplomatic car drove by us, every thirty minutes or so, to give us the finger. We got to meet a lot of nice people, despite the harassment. Various nationalities-- Burmese, Armenians, Italian, French, Bulgarians, Greeks, and Canadians approached us, and we got to be interviewed by a few random correspondents, including by UN international television.

When five-thirty came, and after Erdogan?s UN speech ended, we headed over to the Waldorf Astoria, where the “Turkish Cultural Center” a lobby headed by a Turk who runs Coca-Cola worldwide, was holding a now annual “friendship dinner” that featured Erdogan and Hillary Clinton . So we set up across the street, prepared to wait it out through the long night, the dinner was slated to end at 11 PM, we were immediately greeted by Greek and Armenian supporters, dozens of them who greeted us and even cheered us during a Manhattan rush hour.

As the evening drew out, and the pedestrian traffic dwindled, we still had drivers honking for justice, a cab driver yelled “Justice For Armenian Genocide!” and a kind French woman visiting New York joined us for a full hour. The Turks still could not leave us alone at this late hour, intermittingly they would pass by us, shouting “lies” and “F**CK YOU!” Fotios endured more and more anti-Chinese, racist remarks from the dinner attendees. One man approached us from the direction of the Waldorf Astoria, and in a Turkish accent , tried to engage us in conversation, claiming to be “Romanian”, he spat out anti-Armenian ,racist remarks such as “why you fight for Armenians, they all doctors and lawyers, you stupid…”

Erdogan?s last stop in New York, was a lunch, on Saturday, September 29, 2007 in the NY Marriott Marquis, Times Square. The lunch was advertised in Turkish, at the hotel?s bulletin board of events, and was slated to last from 11:30 AM to 2PM, we promptly showed at the main entrance for vehicles at 46 th Street, swamped by cabs, ticket scalpers, and tourists. Soon after hoisting up our Greek flag and signs, four agents showed up, with red US State Department buttons on their lapels, trying to stare us down, along with at least half a dozen of Erdogan?s entourage never far away, snapping pictures.

Once again, the support on the New York street was overwhelming, drivers honked for us, a cab driver took our flyer and pasted it up on his partition window, tourists took pictures with us, and talked to us, many thanking us for being out there, one woman staying at that hotel even let us in on how early Erdogan arrived, beating us there by a good fifteen minutes.

We soon realized that Erdogan would not be exiting on the 46th street side, and at 2PM we relocated to the 45th Street hotel entrance, at which point we encountered a massive security presence, and sneers and more insults from Erdogan?s agents, parked all over the stretch of 45th Street from Broadway to Eighth Avenue.

Strategically positioning ourselves across the street from the driveway, next to the garage serving the historic Shubert Theatre, we waited, alongside a German cameraman, in expectation of Erdogan?s exit.

Soon thereafter, a NYPD New York Police Department car parked directly in front of us, the polite and courteous officers asked questions about our flag, and we explained that the Greek flag symbolizes freedom, and expressed that Greece has always been on the side of democracy and has always been on America?s side, as well as that we are New Yorkers.

Again, passerbys asked questions , and one African American held up our sign , took pictures with us, and hugged us, much to the chagrin of the Turkish government, especially when we loudly explained that its our duty to tell Americans the truth about the Turkish government.

The Turks were starting to get downright hostile, especially since they could not stand the possibility that Erdogan would again hear chants and see signs on a New York street, reminding all and sundry of Turkey?s Fascist criminality. That Turkish agent with the green star on his jacket came over to me and said “You wake up with Turkey and sleep with Turkey, we have your name and number…”

Some more, now familiar, Turkish agents across the street, shouted “Go Back To Your Country” A corpulent Turkish agent, came by me and attempted to speak to me, in perfect Greek. We soon encountered a few Turks on the street next to us, shouting “We Turks Are Your Fathers, We F***KED Your Mothers” and “we will finish you all next time”

We started chanting “Turkish troops out of Cyprus” and randomly a car passing by , apparently of some Cypriots who just happened to be driving by, joined our chants , in Greek responding “Exo I Turki Apo Ti Kypros” (trans: “Turks Out of Cyprus”) .

That Turkish agent that threatened me, we saw had begun directing groups of people, into the Junior?s coffee shop down 45th Street. Minutes later, several of those people came out of Junior?s and lined up on the wall behind us, two faced us, and a third teenage Turk in a white shirt started screaming “I am Turk” flashing the Grey Wolf (the Turkish version of the Ku Klux Klan) hand-signal, he approached us and spat into the left side of my face.

Luckily, two New York City police officers immediately, intervened and told them to back off. At which point, a man, said “I am president of the Federation Of Turkish American Associations” and “I am leader of the Turkish community in New York”, he said to them “look, I have ID to prove it “and started to take out his wallet, he told the police to “arrest those two, or make them leave,” and the police said they can?t they (we) are peacefully protesting, its their freedom. And still this person claiming to be “leader of Turkish community in New York” insisted and said he would file a complaint and was asking for their badge numbers.

Meanwhile, Erdogan did finally exit; we hope he got to see our signs again. We promptly darted off, into a Broadway cab, finishing our protest of Erdogan.

Who would have thought that two people armed with nothing but cardboard signs and Greek flags could cause such distress and discomfort to hundreds of Turkish government agents and Turkey supporters? Perhaps it is a sign of panic that despite all their military bullying, and their displays of self-confidence, they know that whether carried by two people in New York or twenty thousand in Nicosia, the message of justice and freedom for all people overwhelms the death rattle of fascism and repression.


As we walked off, the Grey Wolf enthusiast shouted defiantly at us "See you next year, we'll be here." Yes, and so will we.




========================
Cyprus Action Network of America (CANA)
2578 Broadway #132
New York, NY 10025
New York: Tel. 917-699-9935
Email: [email protected]

https://www.cyprusactionnetwork.org

=====================

[Joseph]

DENIAL POLICY GIVES RISE TO NEW CRIMES
Vardan Grigoryan

Hayots Ashkharh Daily
Oct 9 2007
Armenia

After Stany Hoyer, the leader of the Democratic majority of the US
Congress announced on October 5 that Resolution # 106 on the Armenian
Genocide would be passed by the November 25, a date when the Americans
celebrate the Thanksgiving Day, the Turkish senior officials lost
self-control and began to publicize threats in the address of the
United States and Israel.

Let's remind you that Turkey once adopted a similar mode of action
against France which had already recognized the Armenian Genocide. By
the way, the French Foreign Minister is currently in Ankara. And it
was not accidental that having replaced the British Prime Minister,
the representative of the French President Sarkosi recently visited
Ankara in the role of his American Counterpart.

The menacing statements that were made at the moment of such a
serious dialogue initiated by the American signal and the French
mediation demonstrate that Turkey is unwilling to follow the rules
of the Western game, and this in turn increases the likelihood of
the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

On October 6 Prime Minister R. T. Erdoghan had a telephone conversation
with the US President George W. Bush and the Israeli President Shimon
Peres, and obviously threatened both of them with the prospect of
deteriorating the bilateral relations. The specific targets of the
visits are obvious too: the closing of Injirik airport situated
in Turkey and used by the American air forces and the "reaction of
Turkey's public opinion". i.e. the strengthening of anti-American
and anti-Jewish moods and finally - derailing the Turkish-Armenian
dialogue which, actually, doesn't exist.

We have already pointed out that these threats pose no danger to
anyone, but when the Turkish Prime Minister Ali Babajan, who was
on a visit in Cyprus on October 6 "laid down the cards", it became
clear that the matter was more serious. The Turkish Prime Minister
obviously threatened the Jewish lobby with a new Jewish Holocaust,
a fact that is an extremely serious signal and cannot remain unnoticed.

Mentioning that the Armenian and Jewish lobbyists of the United States
have joint their efforts against Turkey, the "Europeanized Turk"
representing Turkey in the EU-Turkey negotiations made the following
statement, "We cannot explain to the people why it turned out so. We
have said that we won't be able to keep the Jewish community away
from all this."

Let's remind you that Sultan Hamid used to "justify" the massacres of
the Greeks, Bulgarians and Armenians by exactly the same arguments:
"not interfering in Turkeys domestic affairs" and passing relevant
resolutions. It turns out that at the beginning of the 21st century,
the "Europeanized" Foreign Minister of Turkey reiterates the words
of the bloodthirsty Sultan Hamid and warns that in case the Armenian
Genocide is recognized by Congress, he will be unable to restrain
the anger of the "Muslim crowd", and Jewish massacres will occur.

Clearly, it is not accidental that the "Europeanized Turk" uncovers
his mask and demonstrates his real Sultan-originated nature.

All the promise the US President and State Secretary have given to
Turkey with regard to restraining the to Congress Chambers, were
accompanied by the reservation that they do not have the required
majority among the US legislators to reject the issue of recognizing
the Armenian Genocide.

And the argument of endangering America's national interests, something
that may prevent the nearest voting, has already been dissipated by
the Democrats, due to the humanitarian arguments brought by Stany
Hoyen on October 5, as well as by the denial of the issue of holding
the present-day Turkish authorities accountable for the failure to
recognize the Armenian Genocide. Therefore, in order to prevent the
resolution from being adopted, Ankara is making despaerate, however,
adventurous steps: it is blackmailing the Jewish lobby, with a threat
of orchestrating a new Holocaust in Turkey.

The reason is obvious. The Jewish lobby has a tremendous impact among
the Democrats and inside the Administration, and it is the only real
force that can influence the attitudes of Nancy Pelosy, the Speaker of
the House of Representatives and her party members. It can influence
if, after hearing Ali Babajan's desperate threats, it forgets about
Adol Hitlers 1939 command that marked the beginning of the Jewish
Holocaust. According to that command, it is possible to undertake
the extermination of the Jews, as nobody currently remembers what
happened to the Armenians.

History turns out to be repeating itself in the opposite succession of
events, and overlooking the tragedies of one nation poses a threat to
the existence of the other. And this situation will continue unless
the things are called by their real name, and the perpetrators stand
the trial of history.

And Ali Babajan's misanthropic statements threatening the Jews with
a new Holocaust must not be overlooked by us, and must not be viewed
purely as a sign of the agony of the Turkish denial policy. It is first
of all the Foreign Ministry of Armenia that has to raise a protest and
demand that the international community make a political assessment
on the present-day Sultan Hamid's statement as well as prohibit his
entrance to the United States.

[Joseph]

WHAT GENOCIDE?
By Michael Weiss

Slate

http://www.slate.com/id/2175700/

Oct 11 2007

Bloggers are aghast that President Bush came out against a House
resolution that would recognize the Armenian genocide. Also,
Palestinians return to a Lebanese refugee camp formerly besieged by
Islamists. And bloggers assess the discoveries made by this year's
Nobel laureates in science.

What genocide? Beginning in 1915, up to 1.5 million Armenians were
slaughtered or displaced by the dying Ottoman Empire, an event that
modern Turkey refuses to acknowledge, to the point of criminalizing
the discussion of it. The House foreign affairs committee voted
Wednesday 27-21 in favor of a symbolic resolution that would recognize
the Armenian genocide, much to the chagrin of Turkey's Islamist
government, one of the United States' strongest allies in the Middle
East. President Bush said "this resolution is not the right response
to these historic mass killings." Bloggers think otherwise.

El Matador, an Irish nationalist who writes at ElBlogador, thinks
realpolitik is back with a vengeance: "For Bush and many of his
predecessors, it has nothing to do with what is right or wrong,
but rather a question of what suits the American Presidency best.

Morality and justice don't come into it. We saw the same sort of
buffoonery during US interventions in Latin America in the 1970s. It
seems that some people never learn."

"Guy Fawkes" at lefty Daily Kos is appalled: "No less a monster than
Adolf Hitler, when asked by one of his subordinates about whether
the world would sit back and watch while they massacred thousands of
untermenschen, responded that nobody remembered now what happened to
the Armenians. Now it is happening again."

Even some stalwart defenders of the administration can't stomach this
latest maneuver. Conservative Pam at Atlas Shrugs writes: "If the
President won't call genocide genocide and he won't utter the name
of the mortal enemy we face, Islamism, we are in for a world of pain."

In a lengthy, informational post, Baron Bodissey at the Gates of Vienna
looks at the issues that led acknowledgement of the atrocities to be
repressed after World War I and then moves to present day, asking:
"And why is our relationship with Turkey strained? What have we done
to offend them? Is it strained because of that nasty little business
in the run-up to the Iraq War in 2003, when the Turks denied the
United States permission to enter northern Iraq via Turkey?"

which caused "numerous additional American casualties, and allowed
thousands of Baathists, criminals, and terrorists - who otherwise
would have been interdicted by a northern front - to escape."

"The irony of someone named Bush jilting the Armenians," according to
Countenance Blog, "is that, in 1988, the first George Bush had the
Armenian-American Governor of California, George Deukmejian ... on
his short list for a running mate. I wonder how he feels today, as he
sees the son of the man who might well have made him Vice-President
diss his own people like this."

Finally, Joey Kurtzman, my colleague at Jewcy, has called for the
firing of Anti-Defamation League Director Abe Foxman for the ADL's
refusal to recognize the Armenian genocide. At the Daily Shvitz blog,
Kurtzman reminds readers that George W. Bush once spoke differently
about historical fact when he was trying to drum up support for his
tax policy: "The Armenians were subjected to a genocidal campaign
that defies comprehension and commands all decent people to remember
and acknowledge the facts and lessons of an awful crime in a century
of bloody crimes against humanity."

[bell-the-cat]

activist Fotios Cheung

Well, well. That's a surprise. The surprise being that he still wants anything to do with matters connected to Greeks, and especially Armenians.
All those internet wars, fought at the time as if life itself depended on it, and in the end as real and as lasting as the works of Ozymandias. 5 years on, nothing remains - and no poet or Encyclopedia Dramatica recorded the drama. The lone and level sands stretch far away.

[Joseph]

Armenian debacle

Washingtom Times
October 16, 2007

By Tulin Daloglu - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she believes that
"the biggest ethical challenge facing our country is the war in Iraq."
Therefore, she must believe that passing a resolution declaring the
mass killings of Armenians at the end of World War I a genocide will
restore America's moral authority. Rep. Tom Lantos, California
Democrat, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said, "I
feel that I have a tremendous opportunity as a survivor of the
Holocaust to bring a moral dimension to our foreign policy." The
resolution passed last week by a 27"21 vote.

However, while Mr. Lantos speaks so forcefully about the resolution
now, he has opposed similar measures in the past, arguing that what
happened to Armenians is not technically a genocide. In fact, he
argued this right up until Turkey refused to give the United States a
northern front to invade Iraq in 2003. According to congressional
sources, Mrs. Pelosi urged Mr. Lantos to support the resolution, or
else risk his chairmanship. In addition, Mr. Lantos was seriously
troubled when the Turkish government invited the newly elected Hamas
leadership of the Palestinian Authority to Ankara, and by what appears
to be Turkey's strengthening relationship with Iran.

A delegation of Turkish Parliament members visiting Washington was
disappointed by the vote. "What bothered me was that those [U.S.
representatives] who supported the Turkish side, 21 of them said loud
and clear that the events of 1915 amounted to genocide," said Gunduz
Aktan, a former ambassador and member of the Turkish Parliament from
the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). "Despite this, because of
Turkey's strategic importance, because of the national interest of the
U.S., they are voting no. This was unbearable." Turks share Mr.
Aktan's opinion. But they should also know who lobbies on Turkey's
behalf. Former House Minority leader Richard Gephardt, hired by the
Justice and Development Party (AKP) government to lobby for Turkey,
actively worked in support of such resolutions in the past. When a
last-minute intervention by President Bill Clinton stopped a similar
resolution before a vote in 2000, Mr. Gephardt wrote to the then-House
Speaker Dennis Hastert, Illinois Republican, to tell him that he was
"committed to obtaining official U.S. government recognition of the
Armenian genocide."

Although Egemen Bagis, one of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's
chief foreign policy advisers, said that Turkey has done everything in
its power to avert the resolution's passage, it also made many
mistakes. Not only did the Turkish government hire Mr. Gephardt, but
it also placed too much stock in the perception that Turkey's
geographically strategic position would ensure such a measure's
defeat.

Evidently, President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and
Defense Secretary Robert Gates did all they could to try to defeat the
bill in committee. Now Turkey must face this failure - it lost the
propaganda war on this issue long ago. In fact, not only did the
Turkish government fail, but Turkish Americans who did not take this
issue as seriously as the Armenian Americans failed as well.

Mrs. Pelosi may think that a House resolution will finally close the
issue. But Turks are convinced that it will begin a new chapter and
spur reparations claims. U.S. officials advise Turkey to deal with the
issue as plain historical fact. That's easily said. But Turks wonder
what the connection is - and why the United States has done nothing to
prevent the Kurdish separatist PKK from gaining strength in northern
Iraq and increasing its attacks on Turkey. They are convinced that
America wants to enforce the Treaty of Sevres which would allow Kurds
and Armenians to lay claim to Turkish land.

Many in the United States believe the Kurds have a legitimate right to
their own state. Recently the Senate passed a resolution calling the
partition of Iraq into three self-governing regions for Shiites,
Sunnis and Kurds. Turks are worried that such a plan will lead some of
its Kurdish citizens to seek independence as well. However, Sevres did
not promise Kurds an independent state; it promised "the formation of
an autonomous region which would have the right to elect for complete
independence one year after the formation of the autonomous area."

David McDowell, in "A Modern History of the Kurds, " explains that
"[t]he terms were flawed"by the failure to demarcate Kurdistan's
boundary with Armenia. This was foreseeably bound to outrage either
the Kurds or the Armenians, as President Wilson's pro-Armenian
proposed boundary accompanying the treaty clearly showed." Wilson set
the Armenian borders to include Kurdish areas of Turkey, but he was
unable to finalize them.

Turks look at their history and wonder why the president refuses to
act against a Kurdish terrorist organization attacking them from
northern Iraq, and why a Democratic Congress is considering an act
that happened nearly 100 years ago. Ultimately, what everyone needs to
do is move on - but the war in Iraq and the possibility of its breakup
seem to haunt the present.

Tulin Daloglu is a freelance writer.

Source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/artic...RIAL/110160008

[Joseph]

Sounds like a 5 year-old who just had his toy fire engine taken from him!

MORE HARSH WORDS FROM TURKISH PRIME MINISTER: "IF TURKEY IS HARMED, THOSE AGAINST IT WILL BE HARMED TENFOLD"

MEMRI, DC
Source: Milliyet, Turkey, October 16, 2007
Oct 16 2007

Speaking at a parliamentary group meeting of his party yesterday,
PM Erdogan lashed at those who supported the Armenian allegations in
the U.S. and elsewhere. He said, "Turkey will not forget their action.

Let them all know that if Turkey is harmed, those against her will
be harmed tenfold. Those who become our enemies cannot recover".

Erdogan said that Turkey is fed up of this Armenian issue. He said,
"Let it be known that the developments in the U.S. have now been
engraved in our people's memory. Some countries, totally ignoring
Turkey's objections, have taken the decision to recognize genocide
allegations just to appease handful Armenian citizens. Let no one
expect us to give in to lies and libels that would implicate Turkey
in any way. The fact that countries like the U.S. and France with
which we have close relations beyond being allies took such decisions
brought us to a point where we have to find new ways and methods."

Erdogan added that recent developments on this issue are forcing
the limits of Turkish people's tolerance. He said that comments
such as 'Turkey will complain for a couple of days and will forget
on the third day' and 'We are talking about Ottomans, why is Turkey
offended?' are especially offensive and they cross all the lines. He
said that nobody has the right to judge Turkey, without any evidence,
documents or proof.

Erdogan said, "Common sense is leaving its place to petty political
calculations. We too can assume the same attitude towards them. Let
every one be certain of this: If Turkey is harmed, those against her
will be harmed tenfold. It's up to them to do the right thing or the
wrong thing. If they take one step towards us, we take three towards
them. However those who choose to be our enemies cannot recover.

Countries that expect gestures from us may be left alone with their
problems; and pay the price of being against an important country
like Turkey."

[Joseph]

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/yazarDetay.do?haberno=125163

OMER TASPINAR [email protected]
A pyrrhic victory

The frustration of Gunduz Aktan, former ambassador and current Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) member of Parliament said it all. Speaking at a Washington think tank, the day after the “yes” vote on the Armenian resolution at the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Aktan was upset for more than one reason. No doubt his disappointment was largely due to the vote itself; but he was perhaps even more irritated by Turkey’s so-called friends -- the 21 members of Congress who opposed the Armenian resolution. Almost none of them believed Turkey’s version of history about “the events of 1915.” They just believed Turkey was geo-strategically too important an ally to offend in the middle of a war where it was helping save the lives of American soldiers. Some friendship…
Aktan got the overall picture exactly right. Though the tide is turning in Turkey’s favor on the Armenian resolution, it is too early to celebrate. Yes, even some of the hard-core sponsors of the Armenian resolution are backing off, however this has nothing to do with their sudden discovery of new historical facts proving Turkey is right. The real reason things are going Turkey’s way is much simpler; last week the American media picked up the “genocide” story and humiliated the House of Representatives. Yet it was not a sight Aktan would have enjoyed.

The story picked up by the national media was not what happened to Armenians 90 years ago. The discussion was once again about the geo-strategic importance of Turkey and bad timing. But there was also something quite disturbing as the story gained national traction on TV screens -- millions of Americans were exposed to horrific pictures that they would have never seen under normal circumstances. For the average Joe, these black-and-white pictures of lifeless Armenians probably carried a vague sense of familiarity with pictures mentally associated with the Jewish Holocaust. This was a tragedy for Turkey. This Armenian genocide/Jewish holocaust parallel is exactly what the Armenian lobby wants Americans to believe and of course what Ankara rightly tries to discredit. In a matter of seconds the damage was done in the subconscious of millions of average Americans.

Of course most of the news stories did not even dwell on such “insignificant” historical details. This job was left to the horrific pictures on the background of the story. Instead, the news tirelessly bashed Congress for alienating a strategically important “Islamic” country (let the conspiracy roll!) in a difficult part of the world. And yes, the Turks were now very angry -- they were getting ready to invade northern Iraq in retaliation for the Armenian resolution. A nice image of the Turk, isn’t it?

Charles Krauthammer’s Friday column in The Washington Post says it all. Here is how Krauthammer opens his column: “There are three relevant questions concerning the Armenian genocide. (a) Did it happen? (b) Should the House of Representatives be expressing itself on this now? (c) Was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s determination to bring this to a vote, knowing that it risked provoking Turkey into withdrawing crucial assistance to American soldiers in Iraq, a conscious or unconscious attempt to sabotage the US War effort?”

And here is how Krauthammer answers these questions: “(a) Yes, unequivocally. (b) No, unequivocally. (c) God only knows.” And here comes his dagger: “That between 1 million and 1.5 million Armenians were brutally and systematically massacred starting in 1915 in a deliberate genocidal campaign is a matter of simple historical record. If you really want to deepen and broaden awareness of that historical record, you should support the establishment of the Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial in Washington. But to pass a declarative resolution in the House of Representatives in the middle of a war in which we are inordinately dependent on Turkey would be the height of irresponsibility.”

Did Nancy Pelosi really want to cause more problems for Bush in Iraq? “I leave the answer to psychiatry,” answers Krauthammer. This is the state of affairs in Washington regarding Turkey and the Armenian question. Yes, the tide has turned against the “genocide” resolution. We won an important battle, but make no mistake -- we are losing the war. For now let’s celebrate our pyrrhic victory.

22.10.2007

[Gavur]

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/ya...haberno=125163


OMER TASPINAR [email protected]
A pyrrhic victory

The frustration of Gunduz Aktan, former ambassador and current Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) member of Parliament said it all. Speaking at a Washington think tank, the day after the “yes” vote on the Armenian resolution at the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Aktan was upset for more than one reason. No doubt his disappointment was largely due to the vote itself; but he was perhaps even more irritated by Turkey’s so-called friends -- the 21 members of Congress who opposed the Armenian resolution. Almost none of them believed Turkey’s version of history about “the events of 1915.” They just believed Turkey was geo-strategically too important an ally to offend in the middle of a war where it was helping save the lives of American soldiers. Some friendship…
Aktan got the overall picture exactly right. Though the tide is turning in Turkey’s favor on the Armenian resolution, it is too early to celebrate. Yes, even some of the hard-core sponsors of the Armenian resolution are backing off, however this has nothing to do with their sudden discovery of new historical facts proving Turkey is right. The real reason things are going Turkey’s way is much simpler; last week the American media picked up the “genocide” story and humiliated the House of Representatives. Yet it was not a sight Aktan would have enjoyed.

The story picked up by the national media was not what happened to Armenians 90 years ago. The discussion was once again about the geo-strategic importance of Turkey and bad timing. But there was also something quite disturbing as the story gained national traction on TV screens -- millions of Americans were exposed to horrific pictures that they would have never seen under normal circumstances. For the average Joe, these black-and-white pictures of lifeless Armenians probably carried a vague sense of familiarity with pictures mentally associated with the Jewish Holocaust. This was a tragedy for Turkey. This Armenian genocide/Jewish holocaust parallel is exactly what the Armenian lobby wants Americans to believe and of course what Ankara rightly tries to discredit. In a matter of seconds the damage was done in the subconscious of millions of average Americans.

Of course most of the news stories did not even dwell on such “insignificant” historical details. This job was left to the horrific pictures on the background of the story. Instead, the news tirelessly bashed Congress for alienating a strategically important “Islamic” country (let the conspiracy roll!) in a difficult part of the world. And yes, the Turks were now very angry -- they were getting ready to invade northern Iraq in retaliation for the Armenian resolution. A nice image of the Turk, isn’t it?

Charles Krauthammer’s Friday column in The Washington Post says it all. Here is how Krauthammer opens his column: “There are three relevant questions concerning the Armenian genocide. (a) Did it happen? (b) Should the House of Representatives be expressing itself on this now? (c) Was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s determination to bring this to a vote, knowing that it risked provoking Turkey into withdrawing crucial assistance to American soldiers in Iraq, a conscious or unconscious attempt to sabotage the US War effort?”

And here is how Krauthammer answers these questions: “(a) Yes, unequivocally. (b) No, unequivocally. (c) God only knows.” And here comes his dagger: “That between 1 million and 1.5 million Armenians were brutally and systematically massacred starting in 1915 in a deliberate genocidal campaign is a matter of simple historical record. If you really want to deepen and broaden awareness of that historical record, you should support the establishment of the Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial in Washington. But to pass a declarative resolution in the House of Representatives in the middle of a war in which we are inordinately dependent on Turkey would be the height of irresponsibility.”

Did Nancy Pelosi really want to cause more problems for Bush in Iraq? “I leave the answer to psychiatry,” answers Krauthammer. This is the state of affairs in Washington regarding Turkey and the Armenian question. Yes, the tide has turned against the “genocide” resolution. We won an important battle, but make no mistake -- we are losing the war. For now let’s celebrate our pyrrhic victory.

22.10.2007

I've had it up to here with moral victorys ,the time is now to win this battle once and for all.

[Joseph]

Commentary: Mutafyan must tell the Turks "No" -- or be ignored by world

by Avedis Kevorkian

http://www.reporter.am

November 3, 2007


The first time I heard the name Mesrob Mutafyan was when I was living
in London, and he was still a bishop.

I learned of Mutafyan from a Greek priest who had been in
Constantinople (as the Greek church still calls it -- are you
listening, Patriarch?) and was assigned to the Greek Patriarchate for
seven years. The priest and I had become friends -- for reasons not
worth going into here -- and he was surprised that I had not heard of
the bishop. He praised Mutafyan highly for his intelligence and piety
and predicted great things for him.

During one conversation (which he brought up, I suspect, to tell me
the following story) he indicated that the Turks were afraid of
Mutafyan because he came across as being independent and not
controllable. He then told me about the time that Bishop Mutafyan had
been kidnapped by the Turks -- as the priest said -- to try to get him
to refrain from complaining to the authorities on behalf of Armenian
Church interests and, probably, to prevent Mutafyan from ever
considering a higher role in Constantinople.

According to the priest, one morning about 2:00, there was a heavy
pounding on the door of Mutafyan's home. He answered the door, in his
pyjamas and wearing slippers. When he opened the door, he was grabbed
by two thugs and quickly forced into an automobile with two other
thugs. They rode around Constantinople for a while, with the thugs
making threats on Mutafyan's life. Then they drove out of the city
and, two hours later, in the Turkish countryside, Mutafyan was thrown
out of the car and left to fend for himself. They had not physically
abused him.

From there, about 4:00 in the morning, with only his pyjamas and
slippers to protect him from the night air, and no money, Mutafyan
made his way home. He reported the incident to the Turkish police. "To
this day," the priest added (if such addition were necessary), "the
thugs have not been found."

Most people are aware of the beating given the now-Archbishop
Mutafyan sometime later, by a couple of Turks, on the sidewalk near
his home. These thugs were never found, either.

This story I bring up to possibly explain why the now-Patriarch is
playing the dummy to the Turkish ventriloquist. He knows from these
events what the Turks can do. Also, he knows that his nomination to
become Patriarch was opposed by the Turkish authorities (in violation
of the Treaty of Lausanne) and, when he was elevated to Patriarch of
the See of Constantinople, his "confirmation" was held up by the Turks
(again, in violation of the Treaty of Lausanne).

And finally, when the Turks had to accept the decision of the
Armenians, the title of the centuries-old Patriarchate became "... of
Istanbul and all Turkey." The Greeks, to their credit (and they
deserve very little other credit), still maintain the title "... of
Constantinople," and are still resisting Turkey's denial of Patriarch
Bartholomew's right to be called and treated as the "Ecumenical
Patriarch," and not merely as the archbishop of the Greeks in
Istanbul.

It is easy for people to say, "Let's you do ...."

And it is possible that Mutafyan knows that the West won't care
about his negative views on the Armenian Genocide, and will realize
that he is under pressure. But, as recent events have shown, and as
Turkey's apologists have quoted him, no one knows (or, at least,
accepts) that Mutafyan is acting under duress.

I, alas, was one of those -- which explains why I have sat on this
story for years.

But, no longer. I have no wish to make him a martyr by hoping that
he will refuse to become an apologist for the Turks and become a
mouthpiece for Turkish denials and, then, like Hrant Dink, be
murdered. But Mutafyan must say "No." He must call on the West (at
least the Western clergy) and inform them that Turkey is in violation
of the Treaty of Lausanne (as regards the Greeks, too, of course) by
interfering in church matters, by demanding that the Armenian
patriarchs (and the Greek ones, too) be Turkish citizens, and through
scores of other violations by Turkey, to which the world turns its
blind eye.

It is not enough for the world to suspect that whenever he (and the
Chief Rabbi -- but, note, not the Greek Patriarch) utters the Turkish
line, it is under pressure. It is possible, too, that Mutafyan
realizes that the future of the Armenian Church in Turkey is at stake,
and a little compromise here and there won't hurt the church.

But, he errs -- and badly -- because at the current rate of the
Turkish violations of the Treaty of Lausanne regarding religious
matters of its recognized minorities (Armenian, Greek, Jewish), there
will be no Armenian Church tomorrow, or next week, anyhow. That is
Turkey's long-term aim.

Someone must have said: "People who make short-term compromises
suffer in the long term." If not, I am saying it.

It may be too late for Mutafyan to now say to the Turks, "No more."
But he should try.

Somehow, I had lived in the (now forlorn) hope that Catholicos
Karekin II would announce to the world -- through personal letters to
heads of state, to the United Nations, to the Council of Europe, to
the European Union, to the World Council of Churches, and through the
various news agencies -- that whenever Mutafyan utters anything other
than church-related issues (on dogma and faith) his words are to be
ignored. But, that, apparently, is not to be.

In trying to be fair to the man (in keeping with the American Indian
maxim, "Before you judge someone, walk in his moccasins for one day")
I find that with each utterance from him, being "fair" becomes more
difficult.

There are enough hypocrites out there (most of them in Washington)
who know that they should ignore Mutafyan; but they find it convenient
to cite him as proof that it is only the nasty American-Armenian
diaspora that wants to say nasty things about the dear, sweet Turks.

But, what bothers Turkey (and its apologists) is that Turkey, having
created the active and vocal American-Armenian diaspora, is now
suffering the wrath of that diaspora. But I digress.

So, with this essay, I have stopped giving the benefit of the doubt
to the Patriarch of Istanbul and All Turkey.

* * *

Journalist Avedis Kevorkian, a frequent contributor to the Reporter,
lives in Philadelphia, Pa.

[Joseph]

Review

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg215546.html

?Documents Diplomatiques Ottoman: Affaires Armeniennes? Volume III
1895-1896 Edited by Bilal N. Shimshir. Ankara; 1999.

Reviewed by Sarkis Y.Karayan, M.D.

The Turkish Historical Society has published three volumes of
Diplomatic Ottoman Documents on Armenian Affairs, The first volume
comprises documents from 1888-1893; the second volume from 1894-1895;
the third volume is from 1895 to 1896.
The editor of all these volumes is Bilal N. Shimshir. This last volume
was printed in 1999 in Ankara, and is 435 pages. The third volume
available to me is in French , titled ? DOCUMENTS DIPLOMATIQUES
OTTOMANS: Affaires Armeniennes, Volume III, (1895-1996). Edited by
Bilal N. Shimshir. (Býlal N Þimþir).
First about the author. Bilal Shimshir. He has been employed in the
diplomatic service of the Turkish government as ambassador. He has
written several books in Turkish, and his whole effort in these books
has been to prove that the Ottoman Turks did not commit the genocide
of the Armenians during the First World War. On the contrary, he has
repeated the same story that all Turkish writers have been stating ,
namely , it is the Armenians who rebelled against Turkey during the
war, so of course when people fight , there are always casualties, In
this case both Turks and Armenians died.
So what is the fuss about, that Armenians have been making since 1918
about massacres committed by Ottoman Turks. The Ottoman government
published a 416 pages book in French in 1917 titled ?Aspirations et
Agissements Revolutionnaires Des Comites Armeniens avants et après la
proclamation de la Constitutions Ottomane?.
[The aspirations and the revolutionary agitations of the Armenian
committees before and after the proclamation of the Ottoman
Constitution]. The preparation of the book was finished on August 15,
1916 and there is evidence that it was prepared to justify the
genocide that started in early 1915.
The book does not say why the Armenians were not content with the
Ottoman regime, and puts the responsibility of the massacres on the
revolutionary activities of the Armenians. This book violates every
principle of honest historiography, and has served as an example for
all Turkish historians and some western turkophile academics, when
writing about Turkish-Armenian relations during the last quarter of
19th and first two decades of 20th centuries. Shimshir?s writings
follow the pattern set by the above mentioned book in French, namely,
Armenians were trouble makers, and they were punished for it.
Shimshir?s latest book is ?Ermeni Meselesi, 1774-2005. Printed in
Istanbul, 2005.
In his introduction to the book under consideration, ?Documents
Diplomatique Ottoman? volune III, page VIII, Shimshir states that, ?
during the month of November 1895, Armenian revolutionaries and
terrorists caused bloody incidents in the regions of Diarbekir,
Siverek, Malatya, Karput (Kharpert S.K.) Arapkir, Sivas, Merzifon,
Antep, Marash and Mush. In present volume contains documents about
these incidents and revolts by Armenians. These incidents were not of
serious nature, and lasted from one to two days?.
It is not my intention to review all this volume and point out the
errors of Shimshir. I will take only what he has written about Aintab,
and show that Shimshir has invented incidents, and has made the
victimizers , that is the Turks, as victims; and the victims, the
Armenians as victimizers.
The incident of the city of Aintab is mentioned for the first time in
this book on page 127, in a telegraphic massage from Tevfik Pasha,
Ottoman Minister of Foreign Affairs to Morel Bey, Ottoman Charge
d?Affaire in London, dated Nov.22, 1895, and reads in part as follows;
?The investigation in connection with disorders in Aintab revealed
that it was due to the killing of three Moslem Turks by the Armenians.
At present a perfect tranquility reigns in this city?.
On Page 129, a second telegram, dated Nov.23, from Tevfik Pasha to
representatives of Ottoman government in foreign countries informs
that ?A Moslem in Aintab has been wounded by a gun shot by an Armenian?.
On page 135, a third telegram, dated 26 Nov. 1895, from Tevfic Pasha
to the Ottoman Mission in London states; ?Armenian rioters of Aintab
have wounded one soldier and 4 Turks. As a result, some disturbances
occurred in this place?.
The above described incidents ascribed to Armenians of Aintab show
that what Shimshir said in his preface, mentioned above, that bloody
incidents by Armenian revolutionaries took place in Diarbekir, ?
Aintab? in November of 1895 does not correspond to truth. Armenians of
Aintab did not revolt and killed Aintab Turks in 1895. What happened
in Turkey in 1894-96 is known as Hamidian Massacres.
It started in Sassoun region in 1894, and continued in Turkey,
resulting in more than 100,000 killed savagely. On Sept. 30,1895,
massacres started in the capital of Constantinople, and continued,
like a prescribed order, in Trebizond Oct.8; in Ak-Hisar Oct.9;
Gumushhane, Oct. 11; Baiburt Oct. 13; Erzincan, Oct, 21; In Bitlis,
Palu, Diarbekir and Kara Hisar, Oct 25; In Erzerum vilayet Oct. 30; In
Urfa, Oct.27; In Malatya and Arapkir Nov.6; In Kharpert Nov.11; in
Sivas Oct. 12; in Gurun Nov. 10; in Mush and Marzovan and Aintab Nov,
15; Marash Nov. 18; Zile Nov. 18; Gesaria Nov. 30; Birejik Jan 1, of
1896.
I will give only what happened in Aintab as a result of the massacres.
The same can be said about massacres in all the places mentioned
above. In 1895, Aintab had a total population of around 50,000
persons; Turks being 30,000 and Armenians 20,000.
For the Turks, conscription in the Ottoman army was obligatory;
Armenians being Christians were not drafted, as Moslem law did not
allow Christians to bear arms. Thus, in 1895, all the Turks and Kurds
knew how to use military arms. The Armenians in Aintab did not have
bombs or guns. All they had were primitive rifles and a few hand guns.
The massacre of the Armenians and looting of their homes was carried
out by the local Turks from Aintab and surrounding villages, in spite
of the presence of about 200 armed Turkish soldiers.
The human losses of Armenians have been estimated to be about 400 dead
(one of whom was my grandfather, and another was the grandfather of my
cousin). Many more, about a thousand were wounded , during 3-4 days .
The Turkish losses were about 10 dead. Many Armenian houses were
looted. Shimshir does not mention that the majority of the dead were
Armenians. He mentions only a few Turks killed by Armenians. These
were killed most probably in self defense by Armenians.
On page 164, Shimshir gives the following telegraphic communication,
dated December six,1895 from Tevfic Pasha, to Ottoman Mission in
London: I quote; ?The Armenians of Aintab have poured poison into the
drinkable water of the city?. This is absolutely untrue and physically
impossible. There was no water depot or piped water in Aintab that
could be poisoned or contaminated.
Moreover, the Armenians and Turks, as mentioned above, lived side by
side and used the same water source, which was a small river running
into the city. ( See ?Gaziantep Cevre Incelemesi? pp.6,7, and 46, by
Mehmet Solmaz and Hulusi Yetkin, Gaziantep, 1969). If the water source
was poisoned by Armenians, they would be poisoned as much as the Turks
! ( As far as I know, there is no poison that can be used to
contaminate a water source) To conclude: The Ottoman Archives that
have interested historians, seem to be not reliable, and thus useless.
It is not worth the paper that is used to print these so-called
Archives.