By Appo Jabarian
Executive Publisher / Managing Editor
USA Armenian Life Magazine
Friday, April 3, 2009
Can you believe that right here in Southern California the denialist Turkish government is organizing the so-called “Anatolian Cultures and Food Festival?”
Are you shocked that besides the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey, the sponsors also include the Organization of Istanbul Armenians?
During the recent years Turkey has been leading a multi-pronged campaign against Armenians for the sole purpose of obstructing justice.
While some of these Turkish campaigns are being carried out by denialist Turks alone, some others are being executed with the naïve or involuntary participation of some of the victims, the Armenians.
Turkey has long been attempting to fool the international community that it is well on its way to forging lasting peace with its neighbor, Armenia, by creating the false impression that it is “seriously” engaged in “dialogue with Armenians.” But in reality these so-called “dialogues” serve as a pretext to derail other nations’ legislative activities relating to their official recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
Turkey also is desperately seeking to lure the Armenians of the Diaspora into these false “dialogues” by way of panel “discussions,” joint “lectures,” “friendly” internet discussion groups such the armworkshop at the University of Michigan, among others.
Outdoing itself, Turkey has initiated through its Ministry of Culture and Tourism the Orange County, CA festival which has already cost over $2.5 million.
An initial look at the name of the organizing entity creates the impression that a major American organization called “Pacifica Institute” is the one that is presenting this festival. But a careful research reveals that Pacifica Institute is none other than the former Global Cultural Connections, which was founded in 2003 by S. California’s Turkish-American apologists of Ankara.
Despite masquerading as an innocent third party, Pacifica Institute confesses that its objective in organizing the “Anatolian Cultures and Food Festival” is “to introduce Turkey and Turkish culture in a unique way, from past to present.”
What Anatolian cuisine when that “cuisine” is a set of misappropriated recipes from the martyred Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Arabs, and others during the Genocide?
The current Anatolian cuisine is nothing more that Turkish soup made with Armenian, Greek and Assyrian bones. (To see a live art presentation on Turkish Soup, please click on the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urWCGtI7XXc. The live art is designed by well-known Artist Zareh of Los Angeles, the descendant of a genocide survivor. The presentation has been widely featured by the mainstream American media since 2003).
What Anatolia with its turkified name “Anadolu,” when in fact that vast region east of Byzantine includes none other than Western Armenia with its Armenian Highlands; Armenian Cilicia; Greek Constantinople, Pontus and Smyrna; Kurdish Media and Assyrian Merdin?
What Turkish culture, when in fact the Seljuk (later called Turkish) hordes of the Steppes of Central Asia invaded Armenia, in 1071AD and forcibly subjected the indigenous people to turkification and stole their traditions only to turn around and market them as their own?
They literally stole the indigenous people’s babies to create the Ottoman Janissary Army; stole their cuisine to form the Turkish cuisine; and finally stole their lands through genocide to “build” today’s Turkey — the last vestige of the dismantled Turkish Ottoman Empire.
And now, shamelessly, they are distorting the identity of Armenian towns such as Van, as “a Turkish city.” They are distorting the holy name of Akhtamar Armenian Apostolic Church as “Akdamar” (meaning “white vein” in Turkish, the turkified name of the church and the island located in Lake Van. But the original “Akhtamar” pronunciation in Armenian expresses “Akh” meaning “Oh!” and “Tamar,” the name of an Armenian girl).
They have the guts to come to California and show-off their “Traditional Ottoman Janissary” band, reigniting the troubling memories of the infamous hordes of henchmen that were made up by kidnapped Armenian, Greek, Assyrian, Kurdish, and Arab boys. The Janissaries were used against their original ethnic groups in order to force them into slavery.
They have a lot of “courage” to come here to “sell” their loots, confiscated from Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians and others during their genocidal campaigns of 1915-1923, as Turkish cultural novelties. And guess who – among others – is voluntarily or involuntarily cooperating with them? The Organization of Istanbul Armenians!
And when are they throwing this orgy of Turkish Soup with Armenian bones? During the month of April, the month of worldwide commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.
Understandably, several members of the Los Angeles Armenian community have strongly criticized OIA’s central board members. One may ask, where is OIA’s central board based? In Istanbul! It is obvious that they have “agreed” to participate under duress and fear of being subjected to all kinds of blackmail in Turkey — another gross human rights violation!
Ankara must be reminded loud and clear that no matter how hard it tries to shove under the rug the memory of Turkey’s guilt in the Armenian Genocide, today’s and coming Armenian generations around the world will remember and continue their quest for justice.
In the absence of genuine Turkish will to make amends to Armenians, Ankara’s ploys will be unmasked and many more millions of dollars will go down the drain of denialism.
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