Education or Ethnic Pandering?

What is the Purpose: Education or Ethnic Pandering

On November 16, The State Assembly of the State of Wisconsin considered a
bill that requires that the Great Hunger in Ireland, the Holocaust, and
the Armenian Genocide be included by school boards as part of national and
world history curriculum and that those days also be commemorated.  I am
writing to express the Wisconsin Turkish community’s deep objection to any
mandating by the Wisconsin legislature of the alleged “Armenian
genocide” as required study material in State schools. I am not a
historian but as a lawyer it is my obligation to respond to this threat to
defend justice and the truth. But most importantly, I believe it is a duty
on us to be objective and to defend the rights of all of the people,
Armenian and Turks alike who suffered tremendously in a civil war during
the World War I in eastern Turkey.

At the outset, one needs to understand there were massacres that took
place on both sides. Historical facts show that there was repression but
no genocide of any sort and it was never one-sided tragedy. However,
taking advantage of their well-established lobbying organization in the
U.S., the Armenians are presenting their version of the distorted
history.  It is absolutely crucial to be able to make a distinction
between truth and fiction before declaring April 24th as the so-called
“genocide Remembrance Day” for the Armenians. We, Turks, do not agree with
this fabricated history. It is obvious that many of the State
representatives have little or no knowledge of these complex historical
events. When the political ambitions take precedence over historical
truths it can only cause harm to the objectivity of history and create new
problems. Although it is not my intention to give a mini-lesson in the
history of Turkish-Armenian relations which is highly debated in scholarly
circles it would be beneficial to provide brief information about what
happened 80 years ago.  

Historical research indicates that the Armenians were attempting to break
away from their long term ruler the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) during the
World War I. Revolutionary Armenians revolted and assisted Russian
invasion of eastern Turkey and partaken in killing of innumerable Turks
and Kurds, who were their long time neighbors. However, when the Russians
were forced to retreat, the Armenian people were left behind
unprotected. Hence, Turkish and Kurdish citizens of the empire struck back
in revenge.  In the resulting civil war, the Turks as well as the
Armenians suffered. Consequently, the Ottoman government decided to expel
Armenians to Syria.  Many of them died along the way. While the Armenians
have consistently sought to portray themselves to the world as innocent
and helpless victims, no mention is made of the tens of thousands of
Ottoman Armenians who fought in the ranks of the invading Russian Army,
nor of their betrayal of their own state. Ignoring the fact that more than
two million Turks were killed during the World War I, Armenians insist on
viewing their suffering as a unique phenomenon of the period, rather than
as part of the tragedy. Certainly, it cannot be even compared to the
horrors experienced by the Jewish nation in the first half of this
century.

Because their genocide claim lacks the support of independent scholarly
research Armenian groups have developed a strategy to legislate their
version of history by lobbying the U.S. Congress to pass resolutions
recognizing their allegation. However, the U.S. government does not
recognize the genocide but refers to it as massacre. Accordingly, these
attempts so far have been rejected several times in the House and in the
Senate. After failing in their attempts at the national level, they have
turned to State legislators where their lobbies could function more
effectively. Unfortunately, they have been successful in some States such
as California and Massachusetts where Armenians are highly
represented. This shows the fact that there is a political preference
depending on the local political clout of favored minorities. This brings
to mind that all minorities are equal, but some minorities like Armenians
are more equal than others. Armenian lobby is pushing once again for
“genocide recognition”, and this time they are doing it in Wisconsin. This
bill, if passed, will not only grievously hurt and humiliate families of
Turkish-Americans and their children, but also turn an alleged and highly
disputed Armenian myth into legislation at the expense of ruining the
United State’s relations with a loyal and important ally, Turkey.

Moreover, Armenians’ insistence on fomenting hatred with their one-sided
claim has resulted in a terror campaign since the 1970s.  Armenian
terrorists have assassinated many Turkish diplomats, four in the U.S., and
their immediate family members in order to compel the international
community to accept their distorted version of history.  The purpose of
these lines is not to condemn all Armenian nation as terrorist but to call
attention to contradiction that those who wish to generate sympathy for an
alleged genocide have chosen murder and other acts of terrorism. Only
couple of weeks ago FBI has arrested Mr. Mourad Topalian, recent president
of the major Armenian American lobby, namely ANCA, for his alleged
terrorist activities against the Turkish nation.

Many nations (minorities) have long been subject to inhuman and racist
treatments by their suppressive governments. I believe we should teach our
children about dark sides of the history as well as good. However, we
should be very cautious when undertake such a delicate mission not to
poison fresh minds of our children by creating negative image of certain
nations. Let’s think about it for a second, your six years old child goes
to school and his/her teacher tells that the day is commemoration of the
Holocaust, Armenian or Irish genocide. The first impressions of this child
will, most probably, be that the Germans are bad, the Turks are bad, and
the English are bad because they killed people. We cannot expect a six
years old to properly analyze that the issue here is the genocide not the
condemnation of nations involved. Because children at that age just accept
what they have been told without discussing it. These kids will grow up
with this in mind and when they come across to a Turkish or a German, most
likely first thing they will remember is what they learned in the
school. It is obvious that such a situation will promote ethnic and racial
intolerance.

What’s more, to enact such a bill by singling out Armenians for
remembrance will only encourage hate crimes and other forms of
intimidation against people with Turkish origin.  Furthermore, it will
serve to the purposes of those people whose purported motivation was
revenge for the alleged genocide such as last month’s indicted Armenian
terrorist leader Mourad Topalian. While it is absurd to even blame Turkey
for the alleged events (1915) that took place before its birth (1923) it
is equally absurd to claim genocide when Turks even have suffered heavier
losses than Armenians did.

The statistics show that there is an inescapable link between violence and
vandalism and ethnic and racial intolerance. At the very extreme, we may
witness Turkish houses are burned and Turkish children are beaten in
schools resembling what happens in Germany.  Americans have already
suffered much from racial discrimination and violence. Instead of
provoking very young children against certain nations, teaching of
tolerance should be priority in state schools. In order to educate pupils
about the historical record of inhumanity and racism, a wide range of
curricula can be added to the program including war crimes, crimes against
humanity, genocide, the Native American, Cambodian, Vietnamese and Black
Slavery issues. Otherwise, we the Turks will unquestionably think that
this legislation, mandating classroom instruction on the alleged Armenian
genocide, is unjust and is to promote the politics of ethnic identity,
that is intending to chastise the Turkish nation and the government of
today. Therefore, it is not about education but ethnic pandering. Once
more, the allegation has been extremely disputed among reputable American
and other scholars, and never proven in a court of law or other impartial
tribunal. In conclusion, the State of Wisconsin should not lend its
credibility to an unproved charge against an entire nation. Furthermore,
passing of such bill will not serve for a worthy cause rather than
increasing ethnic hatred against certain nations.

Mehmet Komurcu
Madison, WI
mkomurcu@students.wisc.edu