Setting the record straight

Written by Patriot Staff

August 19, 2011

As the grandson of Russell Boardman, I enjoyed reading Ms. Roscoe’s review of the premiere showing of Cape Cod over Istanbul [Aug. 5, 2011: “When Cape Cod Flew to Istanbul”]. Overall, I found the article to be informative and well-written, but I must take exception to the rather careless and erroneous parenthetical remark regarding Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s role in what happened in Armenia in 1915 (and not in 1918 as stated in the article) and the implication that Boardman and Polando were probably aware of Ataturk’s alleged role in this unfortunate episode of modern Turkish-Armenian history.

I highly recommend reading Andrew Mango’s magnificent biography of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Ataturk was intensely engaged during 1915 as the commander of the Anafartalar Group in the gruesome defense of the Gallipoli peninsula (on the other size of Asia Minor from Armenia) while the decision to deport the Armenians from eastern Anatolia was taken by the CUP leadership in Istanbul in April 1915. If blame is to be assigned to the Turkish leadership of the day for the consequences of this decision, then the CUP leadership, in particular, Talat Pasha and Enver Pasha, bear far more responsibility for what happened than Ataturk.

It is unfortunate that too many Americans today are unfamiliar with the character and accomplishments of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. No man did more for the right of women to participate as equals in a modern secular republic in whose creation, out of the ashes of a despotic and crumbling Ottoman empire, he played an enormous role. Nor did anyone embrace with more passion and conviction such western notions as the separation of religion and state, the rule of law, and the reliance upon modern science rather than myth and superstition in making decisions regarding the public good.

Why would a bitter rival from Greece during the 1921-1923 Turkish war of independence (Eleftherios Venizelos) later, as Prime Minister of Greece, nominate Ataturk for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1934? Why would Boardman and Polando choose to fly to Istanbul and be received by Ataturk if they thought that he might have been responsible for what happened in Armenia in 1915? I would be interested to hear Ms. Roscoe’s answers to these questions and her thoughts on these matters.

Russell Teglas

Arlington

via The Barnstable Patriot – LETTERS: Setting the record straight.