Presentation of the Turkish Version of the book ‘’Genocide of Truth’’
Soykırım Tacirleri ve Gercekleri – Turk Aleytari ve Tarafsiz Yabanci Belgelerle Diaspora Yalanlarinin Icyuzu. By Turkish Businesman and Turkish Forum Advisory Board Member Sukru Server Aya
Istanbul Ticaret Universitesi, 19 Ocak 2009, Monday
The program was on the presentation of a book in Turkish and the language of the program and the speakers were also in Turkish. This commentary on the book and the presentation is in English for the benefit of readers in America and other countries.
The primary purpose of Sukru Aya in publishing his book in English was to inform the foreigners (students, media members, businessmen, legislators, the public, etc.) on a subject which has been told to the world through fabrications, distortions and out right lies. An example of this was a poster displayed at the university’s reception area was a manipulated photograph of Mustafa Kemal.
Tomorrow Senator Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States and judging from his campaign speeches, he will state that the Ottoman Turks committed genocide against Armenians, which is a lie as shown in Sukru Aya’s book.
The program started around 11:00 AM in the Conference Room of the Istanbul Commerce University where there were over 80 participants, including the Honorary Chairman of Koc Holding Rahmi Koc, Miss Europe of 1952, Gunseli Basar, Sami Kohen from Milliyet, Tufan Gunes from Huriyet, Ruhat mengi from Vatan and other media members and many dignitaries. There were also three Tarsus American High School graduates, Nabi Eren and Yucel. There were very few students and most of the participants were over the age of 50, an observation also noted by Commerce University Rector Ates Vuran during his opening remarks.
Opening Speeches
The first speaker was Lawyer Elif Derbeder representing the brave publisher of the book, Derin Yayinlari. She said that her company strives to publish books in different subjects.
The second speaker was Lawyer Kegam Karabetyan who also wrote the Preface to the book. He made a passionate speech, first stating that he is an Armenian Turk originally from Kastamonu and now lives in Istanbul, practicing law and getting involved in community projects. Referring to the sad events in the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, Karabetyan stated that some Armenians were used by the Western powers for their own purposes, specifically the Russians, the French and the British, and that he was here to tell the truth. He said that he met Sukru Aya at a conference where the former head of the Turkish Historical Society Yusuf Halacoglu was a speaker. He ended his remarks with Ataturk’s famous saying, ‘’Ne Mutlu Turkum Diyene.’’
The Rector of Commerce Universty, Ates Vuran, began his remarks with a reminiscence of an experience at the VIP Lounge at the JFK Airport, in fact in the WC, where he noticed Rahmi Koc. After saying hello to Rahmi Koc, Vuran told him how much he appreciated the service at his newly opened stored in the US and wanted to share this with him. After he arrived to Istanbul, he received a letter from Rahmi Koc with a copy of the note that he sent to the store owner, thanking for his remarks. Than the Rector told about his experince and the difficulties that he encountered in publish ‘’Genocide of Truth’’ which he sent to University libaries in Turkey, Europe and the US.
Rector Vuran stated that he read the book himself and also had it reviewed by the Turkish Historical Society. Finding the book to be very useful, he had the university sponsor the first printing of 3,000 and distributed to University libraries, media members and sent 500 copies to various universities and media gropus in the US.
The next speaker listed on the program was Bulent Akarcali who has been instrumental in convincing Sukru Aya to publish the book. Unfortunatley he was not in attendance, probably working on his staregy to win the race for the Mayor of Cankaya as a canditate from AKP.. In his place, Prof. Dr. Orhan Cekic made an excellent presentation, including a summary of the decision of the European Council of Justice (Avrupa Adalet Divani) on the lawsuit brought against the EU by an Armenian organisation in France on the Armenian issue, denying their requst that Turkey admit genocide as a condition for EU membership, asking them to bring forth a Court decision on the Genocide, which of course does not exist. Prof. Cekic also mentioed that bad things are taking place such as the murder of Hrant Dink on Jan 19, 2007 and the mourder of Turkish diplmat Bahadir demir in California on Jan 27, 1973.
Sukru Aya’s Presentation
Sukru Aya also made a very passionate speech, first stating that participants from Cyprus, Bursa, Adapazari and othet cities had come for the program. He presented backround information on the publication of the english version of his book, which he said had not received the proper attention from the media or the public, stating that since April 14, 2008, only 4 review of his book has been published. Sukru Aya made reference to the Armenian revolts starting with the Zeytoon uprising in 1859, followed by many others including the revolt in Maras in 1895.
Question and Answer Session
Before the question and answer session, a short documentary was shown on the atrocities committed by Armenian rebels and the events that led to the re-location in 915. Afterwards, Ruhat Mengi from Vatan took to the podium and objected to Sukru Aya’s statement that the media has not shown enough involvement in the Armenian issue, giving her own struggle as an example, even having to defend her writings in court, especially in a case started by Halil Berktay. She referred to the efforts of Yusuf Halacoglu, wondering why he was dismissed as the head of the Turkish Historical Society who has invited Armenian historians for meetings but were ignored. Than Ruhat Mengi made reference to the ‘’Apology campaign’’, stating that those who started it had close connections with the Armenian diaspora.
After Ruhat Mengi finished her comments, I looked around to see if anyone from AGOS newspaper was in the room, the largest circulating Armenian weekly in Istanbul. Quite by coincidence, today was the 2nd anniversary of the murder of Hrant Dink, the founder and the publisher of the Armenian newspaper. There were commemoration services at his grave and other places and almost all newspapers covered the story, including Birgun with a full front page photograph of Hrant Dink and the funeral procession in the full back page, which I had also participated in. In an open letter to Turkish readers published in AGOS (9 Jan 2009), Jean Kehayan wrote that those who were signing the apology statement were ‘’Turkey’s Pride.’’
It will be interesting to see if Birgun and other newspapers will cover this very meaningful and important book presentation. I am sure Ruhat Mengi and others who came to the presentationwill. I wonder if the Turkish Daily News (now known as the Hurriyet Daily News) will write about this as they had covered a conference at Bilgi University last year where Sarafian was the star attraction and was given a copy of ‘’Genocide of Truth’’ by Sukru Aya but never mentioned it in any of his endless papers.
The first question was by Rahmi Koc.. ‘’What do you think Barack Obama will do on the Armenian issue.’’ I missed the answer but yesterday, ANCA sent a letter to Senator Obama which should answer Rahmi Koc’s question. (copy of the letter si given below which shows how the Armenian diaspora works closely. I am afraid Senator Obama will support the Armenian Genocide Resolution when he is the 44th President of the USA.
Unfortunatly I could not stay until the end of the programdue to other committments but took the box of borek and baklava with me which I enjoyed while driving to Esenyurt. Thank you Sukru Bey and his assistant Serpil Hanim for her contributions.
Yuksel Oktay