Turkish Forum

Category: Authors

  • Why Would Armenians Go to Akhtamar

    Why Would Armenians Go to Akhtamar

    Why Would Armenians Go to Akhtamar, And Become Tools of Turkish Propaganda?

    Ever since the Genocide, after nearly a century of banning Armenian church services, the Turkish government has finally decided to allow a one-time celebration of Mass to be held at the 10th Century Holy Cross Church on Akhtamar Island.

    sassounian32Questions have been raised about the prudence of attending the Sept. 19 church services to which the Turkish government has invited Armenians from around the world, members of the international media and foreign Ambassadors and dignitaries. Those calling for a boycott indicate that the true aim of the Turkish authorities is to score propaganda points with the European Union and the United States, by feigning tolerance towards Christians and other minorities. In reality, successive Turkish governments have carried out a systematic policy of eliminating all visible signs of Armenian presence throughout Western Armenia (Eastern Turkey) for over nine decades, during which more than 2,000 Armenian churches and monasteries have been destroyed or converted into non-religious use. The Holy Cross Church itself was targeted for demolition some years ago, but was saved by the intervention of a local Turkish official.

    Critics of those traveling to Akhtamar also object to the Turkish government’s classification of the historic church as a “museum,” and holding services only once a year. After many requests and complaints, Turkish officials have finally promised to place a cross on the church’s dome.

    There is no reason for Armenians to be grateful to a country that, after confiscating and destroying thousands of churches, is now allowing a religious ceremony in a single church, which it classifies as a museum. This church and thousands of others should belong to the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul, and services should be held as needed, without governmental permission or interference.

    Last week, tempers flared in Armenia when the Holy See of Etchmiadzin announced its intention to send two clergymen to the Sept. 19 ceremonies. His Holiness Catholicos Karekin II usually consults with Armenian officials before taking decisions on matters involving foreign countries. Since he was absent from Armenia while this announcement was made and possibly unaware of the objections raised, His Holiness now has the opportunity to make a final determination regarding the sending of representatives of the Holy See to Akhtamar. As Armenians in Turkey are not permitted to freely express their views, Church officials and lay leaders outside Turkey should take the initiative to condemn the Turkish exploitation of Armenian religious ceremonies.

    The Foreign Ministry of Armenia announced that it has not received an official invitation from Ankara to send a delegation to the Holy Cross Church. It is hoped that if and when such an invitation is extended, the Armenian government would reject it. Yerevan handed the Turks a propaganda victory last year by signing the Armenia-Turkey Protocols. Participating in the Akhtamar church services would be tantamount to presenting the Turks an undeserved additional reward.

    There are indications, however, that this time around the Armenian government may not be as accommodating. Eduard Sharmazanov, spokesman of Pres. Sargsyan’s ruling Republican Party and Member of Parliament, harshly criticized the planned church services, calling it a “publicity stunt” and a “provocation” to mislead the international community.

    In addition, a subcommittee of the Public Council, an advisory body formed by Pres. Sargsyan, issued a statement, urging Armenians to boycott the Holy Cross church services. It called on all self-respecting Armenians to refrain from participating in “this cheap Turkish show.” Giro Manoyan, spokesman of the opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation in Yerevan, also advocated boycotting the church services and criticized the Holy See of Etchmiadzin for planning to send two clerics to Akhtamar.

    A clear indication of Turkish disinterest in preserving Armenian churches is the interrogation by the secret police of several thousand families who have offered to host Armenian visitors in nearby city of Van on September 19, due to shortage of hotel rooms. Turkish officials are suspicious that host families may be forcefully Turkified or Kurdified remnants of Armenian Genocide victims. By this appalling action, reminiscent of Nazi Germany’s Gestapo tactics, the Turkish regime is showing its obsession to keep track of its citizens’ ethnic origin. In fact, after this racist investigation, a number of families have been officially banned from hosting Diaspora Armenians in Van.

    Armenians who naively plan to attend religious ceremonies in “a museum” would inadvertently legitimize the confiscation of a historic Armenian Church and promote a political show staged by Turkish authorities.

    It is perfectly understandable that Turkish leaders would want to create a positive image in order to facilitate their country’s entry into the European Union, and counter Armenian efforts for the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide. It is far less understandable, however, why Armenians would help advance the Turks’ anti-Armenian objectives.

  • MONKEYS IN WONDERLAND

    MONKEYS IN WONDERLAND

    Silivri is sunflower country, vast undulating sun-filled land that rolls down to the Marmara Sea about 72 kilometers west of Istanbul. Silivri Prison squats therein on spoiled high ground 72 million light-years beyond the rule of law. Here, in the best of fascist traditions, the so-called Ergenekon coup case is being tried in a converted gymnasium. Think Stalin. Think Hitler. Think Pinochet. Think Turkey. Think Auschwitz.

    silivri prison

    The charges are vague. The proof is a hodge-podge of illegal wiretaps, secret witnesses (think Spanish Inquisition), prosecutorial leaks to pro-government newspapers, planted and otherwise tainted evidence illegally obtained. Concern about the provenance of such evidence is ignored by the court. The dossiers against the accused—journalists, labor leaders, lawyers, writers, retired military officers, all defenders of the republic established by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk—number in the hundreds, the pages therein in the hundreds of thousands. Think Charles Dickens’ Bleak House. The defendants on trial still do not know the specific charges against them. Some have been incarcerated for more than two years. There is no notion of habeas corpus. The case reads as if assembled by an infinite number of monkeys banging away on computers while juggling scissors and paste pots. The chief prosecutor, allegedly a lawyer, has the appropriate last name of Öz.

    When I attended the session on 13 August the chief prosecutor was somewhere on the yellow brick road and thus absent, as were all his assistants. So the three judges interrogated the accused. This in itself is incredible. These are the same judges that are supposed to render a verdict of guilt or innocence. How can they be impartial if they are also helping the prosecutor make the case? How can they remain open-minded and just if they are emotionally involved in the prosecution? This is wildly prejudicial and trashes any notion regarding the presumption of innocence. More importantly, by directly interrogating the defendants, the judges have already accepted the validity of the evidence. Defense counsels were challenging the legality of the evidence but to no avail. The judges had already de facto accepted it. To whom should evidentiary appeals be made? Zeus? Telephone numbers and snippets of alleged conversation were read into the record. Do you know this man? No? Do you remember this telephone number? No. Amazingly, a listing of the prescription medications taken by an army general not even charged appeared in the dossier. What a fiasco! No corroborating evidence or witnesses were called. The session was just one long boring rendition of irrelevancies, immaterialities, and hearsay. On droned the three judges, See-No-Legal, Hear-No-Legal, Speak-No-Legal. An embarrassing travesty. Think Emile Zola’s J’Accuse.

    In Chile, Pinochet executed all opposed to his regime in the football stadium in Santiago. In Turkey, a slower political genocide is unfolding, this one in a prison exercise hall. The victims? The heirs of the Turkish secular republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The Turkish army, the supposed defender of Atatürk’s masterpiece has been neutered. It quietly licks its wounds and feathers its nest in incompetent solitude.

    Yes, a political genocide of epic dimension is raging throughout the land. It reeks of injustice. But who cares? It is aided and abetted by the west. But who cares? We know where the traitors are. But where are the patriots? It’s the most disgusting of monkey business. Anyone care for a banana?

    Cem Ryan
    Istanbul

  • Turkish Civilian-Military Relations Overhauled

    Turkish Civilian-Military Relations Overhauled

    Turkish Civilian-Military Relations Overhauled

    Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 7 Issue: 156

    August 12, 2010

    By Saban Kardas

    The recent Supreme Military Council (YAS) meeting served as an additional showdown between the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the country’s military leadership. When the four-day long YAS meeting ended on August 4, it failed to fill key posts, raising questions about the future command structure of the Turkish military, as well as the overall direction of the civil-military relationship.

    A prime function of the YAS was to discuss the status of military personnel expecting appointments or retirements in the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). The established traditions regarding the promotions and appointments in the Turkish military’s upper echelons, which are based on tenure and seniority, have been implemented strictly. Although the government and the president have the final say in appointment and promotion decisions, traditionally, the civilian authorities endorse the list suggested by the top military brass.

    The AKP government’s active interference in appointments this year has been an important exception to the rule. In the words of one Turkish security analyst and close observer of military affairs, Nihat Ali Ozcan, it was “the biggest crisis ever encountered by the Turkish armed forces in its history” (Hurriyet Daily News, August 4).

    The ongoing investigations into different coup plots in which several active and retired military officers are charged over their involvement in plans to overthrow the government eventually affected the promotions. On the eve of the YAS meeting, a court summoned 19 officers, and various retired officers, to testify in a probe, including the current First Army Corps Commander, General Hasan Igsiz. None of the suspects surrendered to the police, and appealed against their arrest.

    The government refused to consider the promotion of military officers, implicated in the coup plots. Particularly, the government objected to Igsiz’s appointment as the commander of the Land Forces, who was implicated in two investigations. His alleged involvement in a campaign to defame the government through setting up various web sites, known as “Internet Memorandum,” angered Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Moreover, the government delayed the promotion of 11 high ranking officials for whom arrest warrants were issued in the ongoing coup investigation, known as “Sledgehammer.” These various cases are connected to a probe into an alleged gang, Ergenekon, seeking to dismantle the incumbent government.

    Reportedly, the current Chief of the General Staff (CGS), General Ilker Basbug, insisted on Igsiz’s promotion, raising tension between the government and military. There was a consensus that the current Land Forces Commander, Isik Kosaner, would replace Basbug as the new CGS. However, in the absence of an agreement on who would replace Kosaner due to President, Abdullah Gul, and the government’s refusal to sign Igsiz’s appointment, the decision was postponed.

    Thus, when the results of the YAS were announced on the fourth day, it left the two key posts, CGS and Land Forces commander, unfilled. Naval Forces Commander, Admiral Esref Ugur Yigit, and Air Forces Commander, General Hasan Aksay, remained in their posts for another year, while Necdet Ozel was appointed as the new head of the Gendarmerie General Command (Anadolu Ajansi, August 4). Several efforts were made to address this crisis, through various meetings between the president, top government officials and military headquarters.

    To complicate matters further, General Atilla Isik, who was expected to assume the Land Forces command instead of Igsiz, announced his request for retirement on August 5. The Turkish press speculated that Isik was protesting the government’s interference with the military’s inner workings over the appointment. Arguably, Basbug sought to mobilize force commanders to submit their resignations to protest against the government. Through such moves, it was further argued that Basbug was seeking to shape the future line of command, by opening the way to promote officers close to him. In particular, Basbug was allegedly seeking to block the new Gendarmerie commander Ozel’s succession of Kosaner as the CGS in 2013 (Bugun, August 6). Isik dismissed such speculation, and denied the allegations that he offered to resign due to pressures from within the military (www.ntvmsnbc.com, August 6). Nonetheless, this development delayed the resolution of the appointment crisis.

    On Sunday, Erdogan announced a breakthrough, saying that the government and military had reached an agreement. Following president Gul’s approval, the standoff over the new command structure ended. Kosaner was appointed as the chief of staff, while the current EDOK commander General Erdal Ceylanoglu, who was appointed as the Commander of the First Army in the YAS meeting, was appointed as the new commander of the armed forces. Aegean Army Corps Commander, Hayri Kivrikoglu, became the Commander of the First Army. Ceylanoglu assumed the command of the armed forces, instead of the more senior General Ozel. Although this practice contravened the established rules, it secured Ozel’s path to become the CGS in 2013, replacing Kosaner (www.ntvmsnbc.com, August 9).

    For supporters of the Erdogan government, this development marks a step towards greater civilian control over the military. In their view, even the fact that the current military leadership insisted on the promotion of officers under investigation highlighted its disregard for the ongoing judicial process and civil supremacy. They see the government’s insistence on shaping the top command chain, despite the military’s opposition, as a strong vindication that civil-military relations will be normalized, and the military will have to learn how to obey the rule of civil law. For critics and opposition parties, however, the government is interested in curbing the power of the military in order to consolidate its power in Turkish politics. By pointing to the timing of the court orders, they argue that the government is using the ongoing legal process to sweep the anti-government officers from office.

    However, underlying this crisis is a power struggle between the military and the Erdogan government, and it appears the government has won in the latest showdown. Nevertheless, it may be too early to suggest that it signals an outright victory. Depending upon the outcome of controversial legal cases, civil-military relations may evolve in a different direction than desired by the government and its supporters.

    https://jamestown.org/program/turkish-civilian-military-relations-overhauled/

  • ARMENIAN PROPAGANDA WINS, FOR NOW

    ARMENIAN PROPAGANDA WINS, FOR NOW

    Boston Globe reports that a federal appeals court yesterday ruled that statewide public school guidelines on teaching human rights history can exclude materials disputing that the mass slaying of Armenians in the First World War era constituted genocide. Below, please read the article first and then my reaction to it.
    ***
    SCHOOLS CAN EXCLUDE MATERIALS DISPUTING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

    Court ruled on 1999 case
    By Peter Schworm , Boston Globe Staff / August 12, 2010
    In a closely watched case, a federal appeals court yesterday ruled that statewide public school guidelines on teaching human rights history can exclude materials disputing that the mass slaying of Armenians in the First World War era constituted genocide.
    The decision, written by retired Supreme Court justice David Souter, who occasionally hears cases with the First Circuit Court of Appeals, found that state education officials did not violate public school students’ free speech rights in 1999, when they excluded all “contra-genocide’’ sources calling the Armenian genocide into question.
    Van Z. Krikorian, a professor at Pace University Law School who filed a brief defending the state’s move, said he was thrilled by the ruling, equating those who dispute the genocide designation to Holocaust deniers.
    “It would have put human rights education in reverse,’’ he said. “It’s a major defeat for genocide denial.’’
    Upholding a lower-court decision, the court ruled that although state guidelines were advisory, and “not meant to declare other positions out of bounds in study and discussion,’’ they were part of the official curriculum and therefore under the discretion of state authorities.
    Requiring that officials include references to dissenting viewpoints, Souter wrote, “might actually have the effect of foreclosing future opportunities for open enquiry in the classroom.’’
    Harvey Silverglate, a Boston civil rights lawyer representing the Assembly of Turkish American Associations, had argued that removing the references amounted to government censorship and prevented students from hearing both sides.
    “It always is a sad day when a court constricts First Amendment rights rather than expand them,’’ he said. “I think they made a mistake.’’ Silverglate said his clients will consider whether to appeal.
    The Turkish-American group disputes that the Muslim Turkish Ottoman Empire committed genocide against its Christian Armenian minority population. Over 1.5 million Armenians died at the hands of Turkish forces, but Turkish activists maintain it was not the result of a policy.
    In 1998, the Legislature ordered the state Board of Education to prepare an advisory curriculum guide for teaching about genocide and human rights, and a draft of the guide initially included a section on the “Armenian Genocide.’’ Under pressure from Turkish advocacy groups, the commissioner of education, David P. Driscoll, revised the draft to include references to opposing views, said the ruling.

    When officials filed the guide with legislators in March 1999, the state’s Armenian community protested the inclusion of “contra-genocide’’ viewpoints, and the education commissioner removed the references.
    Peter Schworm can be reached at schworm@globe.com.
    ***

    ARMENIAN PROPAGANDA WINS, FOR NOW
    Jewish Holocaust is supported by due process and a court verdict by a competent tribunal (Nuremberg, 1945.) What due process and court verdict support Armenian claims of genocide? The answer might surprise you: none! That’s right, Armenian claims are based on a racist and dishonest version of history, not law or the truth. They are racist because they ignore the Turkish victims at the hands of Armenian revolutionaries (120,000 in the year 1914 alone, according to the dictionary of World War One, by Stephen Pope and Elizabeth-Anne Wheal, 2003, page 34.) And they are dishonest because they simply dismiss the six T’s of the Turkish-Armenian conflict. Too bad, our children in Boston will never know that the Armenians took up arms against their own government. Too bad the “poor, starving Armenians myth” will be ingrained in their brains like zombies, never seeing the photos of the Armenian ultra-nationalists armed to the teeth (www.ethocide.com ) They’ll never hear about the Armenians revolts, terrorism, treason, territorial demands and more. Just because a “sundown town” ruling by a misinformed judge said so. The decision must be appealed in the spirit of independence in 1776, anti-slavery in 1862, and civil rights of 1960s.

    BIAS & BIGOTRY IN THE TERM “ARMENIAN GENOCIDE”
    If one cherishes values like fairness, objectivity, truth, and honesty, then one should really use the term “Turkish-Armenian conflict”. Asking one “Do you accept or deny Armenian Genocide” shows anti-Turkish bias. The question should be re-phrased “What is your stand on the Turkish-Armenian conflict?”
    Turks believe it was an inter communal warfare mostly fought by Turkish and Armenian irregulars, a civil war which is engineered, provoked, and waged by the Armenian revolutionaries, with active support from Russia, England, France, and others, all eyeing the vast territories of the collapsing Ottoman Empire, against a backdrop of a raging world war.
    Armenians, on the other hand, totally ignoring Armenian agitation, raids, rebellions, treason, territorial demands, and Turkish victims killed by Armenians, unfairly claim that it was a one way genocide.

    GENOCIDE ALLEGATIONS IGNORE “THE SIX T’S OF THE TURKISH-ARMENIAN CONFLICT”
    While some in unsuspecting public may be forgiven for taking the blatant and ceaseless Armenian propaganda at face value and believing Armenian falsifications merely because they are repeated so often, it is difficult and painful for the children of Turkish survivors of hate crimes committed by Armenian nationalists and other Christians. Those seemingly endless “War years” of 1912-1922 brought wide-spread death and destruction on to all Ottoman citizens. No Turkish family was left touched, mine included. Those nameless, faceless Turkish victims are killed for a second time today with politically motivated and baseless charges of Armenian genocide. Those six T’s which are censored by an ill-informed judge are:
    1) TUMULT (as in numerous Armenian armed uprisings between 1894 and 1920)
    2) TERRORISM (by well-armed Armenian nationalists and militias victimizing Ottoman-Muslims between 1882-1920)
    3) TREASON (Armenians joining the invading enemy armies as early as 1914 and lasting until 1921)
    4) TERRITORIAL DEMANDS (where Armenians were a minority, not a majority, attempting to establish Greater Armenia, the would-be first apartheid of the 20th Century with a Christian minority ruling over a Muslim majority )
    5) TURKISH SUFFERING AND LOSSES (i.e. those caused by the Armenian nationalists: 524,000 Muslims, mostly Turks, met their tragic end at the hands of Armenian revolutionaries during WWI, per Turkish Historical Society. This figure is not to be confused with about 2.5 million Muslim dead who lost their lives due to non-Armenian causes during WWI. Grand total: more than 3 million, according to Prof. Justin McCarthy.)
    6) TERESET (temporary resettlement) triggered by the first five T’s above and amply documented as such; not to be equated to the Armenian misrepresentations as genocide.)

    VERDICT WITHOUT DUE PROCESS AMOUNTS TO LYNCHING
    Those who take the Armenian “allegations” of genocide at face value seem to also ignore the following:
    1- Genocide is a legal, technical term precisely defined by the U.N. 1948 convention (Like all proper laws, it is not retroactive to 1915.)
    2- Genocide verdict can only be given by a “competent court” after “due process” where both sides are properly represented and evidence mutually cross examined.
    3- For a genocide verdict, the accusers must prove “intent” at a competent court and after due process. This could never be done by the Armenians whose evidence mostly fall into five major categories: hearsay, mis-representations, exaggerations, forgeries, and “other”.
    4- Such a “competent court” was never convened in the case of Turkish-Armenian conflict and a genocide verdict does not exist (save a Kangaroo court in occupied Istanbul in 1920 where partisanship, vendettas, and revenge motives left no room for due process.)
    5- Genocide claim is political, not historical or factual. It reflects bias against Turks. Therefore, the term genocide must be used with the qualifier “alleged”, for scholarly objectivity and truth.

    HISTORY IS A MATTER OF SCHOLARSHIP, NOT CONSENSUS
    History is not a matter of “conviction, consensus, political resolutions, political correctness, or propaganda.” History is a matter of research, peer review, thoughtful debate, and honest scholarship. Even historians, by definition, cannot decide on a genocide verdict, which is reserved for a “competent court” with its legal expertise and due process.

    POLITICAL LYNCHING OF THE TURKS BY ARMENIANS TODAY
    What we witness today amounts to lynching of the Turks by Armenians to satisfy the age old Armenian hate, bias, and bigotry. Values like fairness, presumption of innocence until proven guilty, objectivity, balance, honesty, and freedom of speech are stumped under the fanatic Armenian feet. Unprovoked , unjustified, and unfair defamation of Turkey, one of America’s closest allies in the troubled Middle East, in order to appease some nagging Armenian activists runs counter to American interests.
    Those who claim genocide verdict today, based on the much discredited Armenian evidence, are actually engaging in “conviction and execution without due process”. Last time I looked in the dictionary, that was the definition of “lynching”.
    FREEDOM OF SPEECH? WHAT FREEDOM?

    This unfortunate and racist decision promoting Armenian propaganda over honest scholarship and civil dialogue, turns Boston into a SUNDOWN TOWN. Remember those towns, thousands of them coast to coast that sprang up during the NADIR PERIOD OF RACE RELATIONS in America, i.e. roughly 1890-1940, where signs told so-called COLORED PEOPLE TO LEAVE TOWN BY SUNDOWN or else live with the consequences, which meant death by lynching?
    Freedom of speech is dealt such a terrible blow by this SUNDOWN TOWN DECISION by an ill-informed judge today: 11 August 2010. What a sad day for America, , indeed….

  • A Heart of Darkness Envelopes Turkey: A Letter to President Obama (20 July 2010) English/Turkish

    A Heart of Darkness Envelopes Turkey: A Letter to President Obama (20 July 2010) English/Turkish

    JAMES C. RYAN, Ph.D.

    [Letterhead Redacted]

    20 July 2010

    The Honorable Barack H. Obama 
    President of the United States
    The White House 
    1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW 
    Washington, DC 20500 
    USA

    Dear Mr. President:

    Truth is still on the march in Turkey; the lies and treachery of the present government are in plain sight. But justice is dead. You westerners have killed it by your support of the AKP regime of  Recep Tayyip Erdoĝan. Mr. President, you recently referred to so-called democracy in Turkey as a “Muslim Democracy.” Religion and democracy don’t go together, Mr. President. And you, above all people, should know it. You spoke so glowingly about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in the Turkish Grand National Assembly in May 2009. When you speak of Atatürk and democracy in the same breath, as you did, you must always emphasize three words—SECULAR, SECULAR, SECULAR.   

    This is my fourth letter to you since your inauguration, one every six months. I have yet to receive the courtesy of the slightest acknowledgement of their receipt by the White House. I know if the letters had contained threats to you, your secret service agents would have knocked my door down in the middle of the night. I also know that when I sent you campaign contributions in 2008 I received not only e-mail thank-yous, but an international telephone call from your headquarters to verify that I was a valid international contributor. Is this what defines your administration’s standards of courtesy and openness, Mr. President, money? I hope not, but I think so. But perhaps you have read my letters but acknowledging them brings you embarassment because you have so thoroughly embraced the AKP regime. So be it, Mr. President. But what about common courtesy?

    So-called “democracy” remains in critical condition in Turkey. Forget Erdoĝan’s pathetic antics about Gaza. Forget about his cozy relations with Iran, Sudan and other gangster “Islamic” regimes. They are of utmost embarrassment to the Turkish people but mean nothing compared to the civilian coup that he has engineered. Like Hitler in the thirties, all was done under the veil of “democracy.” And under that same veil, the jails are bursting with leftists opposed to the brutality of the Erdoĝan regime. Where Hitler used the SA brownshirts to do his dirty work, Erdoĝan hides behind the veils and headscarves of his AKP women. Turkey’s highest court ruled that Erdoĝan and his party are the center of anti-secular activities against the Turkish nation. In America that would be called treason. Like Hitler, Erdoĝan has destroyed the legal system by packing the courts with his own judges and prosecutors.

    You should be particularly worried to know that the Turkish army has been completely compromised by a hoax called Ergenekon. Not only does Erdoĝan now have the police force and the gendarmes, he has the army too. And you are now well aware of the trigger-happy, loud-mouthed incompetence of the Turkish prime minister in the foreign affairs arena. Turkey is on the march, BACKWARDS, to the gloriously incompetent days of the Ottomans. This is what your gloriously incompetent CIA along with numerous gloriously treasonous Turks have accomplished. Erdoĝan and his ilk champion this as some Islamic rennaissance. This is utter nonsense.

    If you read the books I sent to you with my first letter you know this. The only “enlightenment period” was due entirely to one man, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Described and defamed as just “another ruthless general” in a recent article in the lamentable Economist, Atatürk used the energy generated by the Turkish War of Independence (1919-1923) to lift Turkey from the Middle Ages mentality of the Ottomans to modern times, and in many ways beyond. For example, he gave women the right to vote in 1930 and to stand for election in 1934, decades before many European countries (France, Italy, Greece, Switzerland). It is this grand achievement, by history’s most remarkable soldier-statesmen-educator, that has been destroyed by Erdoĝan and his fellow Islamo-fascist thugs. And these same thugs, who publicly proclaim women’s inferiority to men, bring their bizarrely dressed wives to receive warm welcomes in the White House.

    Oh the horror wrought by American support! A heart of darkness envelopes Turkey, Mr. President: extrajudicial wiretapping and surveilance, unconstitutional imprisonments, the trashing of human rights protections, wanton abuse of press freedom protections, corruption and theft by the ruling AKP of epic proportion, and the destruction of the Turkish army. No wonder the Economist magazine feels free to debase Atatürk. Good job, all you westerners. Bad job, Mr. President.

    But there is a force rising, Mr. President. And there are many, many Turks who refuse to take the garbage dealt to them by the AKP over the past seven years. And the force is energized by the words of Kemal Atatürk. You may not know or remember them Mr. President, but you should mark them well. As I told you in my earlier letters, I remind you again. The day of reckoning is coming. The day is near. Read his words, they describe Turkey today:

    You, the Turkish youth! Your primary duty is to forever protect and defend Turkish independence and the Turkish Republic. This is the mainstay of your existence and of your future.

     This foundation is your most precious treasure in the future, as well, there may be malevolence, within and abroad, which will seek to deny your birthright. If one day you are compelled to defend your independence and the republic, you shall not reflect on the conditions and possibilities of the situation in which you find yourself, in order to accomplish your mission. These conditions and possibilities may appear unfavorable. The adversaries who scheme against your independence and your Republic may be the representatives of a victory without precedent in the world. By force or by ruse, all citadels and all arsenals of our dear fatherland may have been taken; all of its armies may have been dispersed and all corners of the country may have been physically occupied. More distressing and more grievous than all these, those who hold and exercise the power within the country may have fallen into gross error, blunder, and even treason. These holders of power may have even united their personal interests with political ambitions of the invaders. The nation itself may have fallen into privation, and may have become exhausted and desolate.

     You, the future sons and daughters of Turkey! Even under such circumstances and conditions, your duty is to redeem Turkish independence and the Republic! The strength you shall need exists in the noble blood flowing through your veins.

    Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
    From The Great Speech
    20 October 1927

    Mr. President, in the above speech, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk gave his heirs, the Turkish people, the right, indeed the duty, to defend the principles of Atatürkian democracy. Not Moderate Islamic democracy! Not Muslim democracy! Just democracy, Mr. President, the same kind of democracy as yours.

    Yes, there is a force rising, Mr. President. There is a new Kemal rising, Mr. President. You should know this, Mr. President. And you should know him. On election day he will throw the treasonous AKP into the Mediterranean as the older Kemal did to the western occupiers. You and America would be wise to abandon your support for the current Islamo-fascist government and, for once, leave Turkey alone. Or you better know how to swim in deep, turbulent waters.

    With my deep respect,

    James C. Ryan, Ph.D.
    Istanbul, Turkey

    PS  My previous three letters and a brief bio are attached.

    CEM RYAN

    [Turkish Translation Follows]

    TÜRKÇE ÇEVİRİSİ

    20 Temmuz 2010
    Saygıdeğer Barack H. Obama
    Amerika Birleşik Devletleri Başkanı
    Beyaz Saray
    1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
    Washington, DC 20500
    ABD

    Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı:

    Gerçek hala marş halindedir Türkiye’de; şimdiki hükümetin yalan ve ihanetleri açıkça görülmektedir. Fakat adalet öldü. Siz batılılar öldürdünüz onu, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’ın AKP rejimini destekleyerek. Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı, geçenlerde Türkiye’deki sözde demokrasiyi “Müslüman Demokrasi” diye adlandırdınız. Din ve demokrasi beraber olmaz sayın Cumhurbaşkanı. Ve siz, herkesten önce, bunu bilmelisiniz. Mayıs 2009’da Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi’nde Mustafa Kemal Atatürk hakkında övgüyle konuştunuz. Yaptığınız gibi, Atatürk ve demokrasiden aynı anda bahsederken, her zaman üç sözcüğü vurgulamanız gerekir: LAİKLİK, LAİKLİK,LAİKLİK

    Cumhurbaşkanlığı görevinize başladığınızdan bu yana, her altı ayda bir olmak üzere, bu size yazdığım dördüncü mektubum. Beyaz Saray’dan mektuplarımın alındıklarına dair, nezaketen de olsa, henüz en ufak bir bilgi almış değilim. Biliyorum, eğer mektuplar size yönelik tehdit içerselerdi, sizin gizli ajanlarınız gece yarısı kapımı çalarlardı. Ve gene biliyorum ki, 2008’de size seçim kampanyası için bağış gönderdiğimde, sadece elektronik postayla teşekkürler değil, aynı zamanda sizin merkezlerden uluslararası geçerli bir destekleyici olduğumu kanıtlamak amacıyla uluslar arası telefonlar aldım. Sizin yönetiminizin nezaket ve açıklık standartlarını tanımlayan bu mudur, Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı? Umarım değil, ama ben öyle düşünüyorum. Belki de mektuplarımı okudunuz ama onları aldığınızı kabul etmek size mahcubiyet verecektir çünkü AKP rejimini öyle sıkıca kucaklamışsınız ki! Öyle olsun, Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı! Fakat sıradan nezakete ne oldu?

    Sözde “demokrasi” Türkiye’de kritik bir durumdadır. Bırakın Erdoğan’ın Gazze hakkındaki hazin davranışlarını. Bırakın İran, Sudan ve diğer gangster ister “İslamî” rejimlerle samimi ilişkilerini. Bunlar Türkler için son derece utanç verici fakat yapılmakta olan sivil darbeyle mukayese edildiğinde bunların hiç bir anlamı yok. Otuzlardaki Hitler gibi, yapılan her şey “demokrasi” kılıfı altındadır. Ve aynı kılıf altında hapishaneler Erdoğan’ın gaddar rejimine muhalefet eden solcularla dolup taşmaktadır. Hitler kirli işlerini yaptırmak için kahverengi gömlekli SA’larını kullanırken, Erdoğan da kendi AKP’li kadınlarının örtü ve türbanlarının arkasına saklanmaktadır.Türkiye’nin en yüksek [Anayasa] mahkemesi Erdoğan ve partisinin Türk milletine karşı laiklik karşıtı eylemlerin odağı olduğuna hükmetti. Buna Amerika’da vatan hainliği denir. Hitler gibi, Erdoğan da kendi hakim ve savcılarını mahkemelere doldurarak hukuk sistemini çökertti.

    Özellikle bilmeniz gerekir ki Türk ordusu Ergenekon denilen bir komplo ile ciddi olarak zayıflatılmıştır. Şimdi Erdoğan sadece polis gücü ve jandarmaya değil, orduya da hakim olmuştur. Ve şimdi Türk başbakanının dışişlerinde her yere şiddetle saldırmak için eli tetikte olan ve ağzı kalabalık beceriksizliğinin de iyice farkındasınızdır. Türkiye marş halindedir, GERİYE DOĞRU, Osmanlı’nın şanlı-şöhretli yetersiz günlerine doğru. Bu sizin şanlı-şöhretli yetersiz CIA’nızın sayısız şanlı-şöhretli hain Türklerle birlikte başardıklarıdır.Erdoğan ve taifesi bunu İslamî Rönesans olarak savunuyorlar. Bu tamamiyle saçmalıktır.

    Eğer size ilk mektubumla birlikte gönderdiğim kitapları okuduysanız bunu bilirsiniz. Tek “aydınlanma dönemi” tamamiyle bir Tek Adam, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’ten sayesindedir. Acınası Ekonomist dergisindeki yeni bir makalede “bir diger insafsız general” diye tanımlanmış ve karalanmış olan Atatürk, Türk Ulusal Bağımsızlık Savaşı’ndan (1919-1923) ortaya çıkmış olan enerjiyi Türkiye’yi Osmanlı’nın Ortaçağ zihniyetinden modern çağlara ve birçok bakımdan daha da ötesine taşımak için kullanmıştır. Mesela, 1930’da kadınlara seçme hakkını ve 1934’te de seçilme hakkını vermiştir, birçok Avrupa ülkesinden (Fransa, İtalya, Yunanistan, İsviçre) on yıllarca önce. İşte, tarihin en olağanüstü asker-devlet adamı-eğitimcisi tarafından gerçekleştirilmiş bu muhteşem  başarı, Erdoğan ve onun İslamo-faşist çete arkadaşları tarafından ortadan kaldırılmaktadır. Ve kadının erkekten aşağıda olduğunu açıkça ilan eden bu aynı çete, garip şekilde giyinmiş eşlerini nezaket ve içtenlikle karşılanmak üzere Beyaz Saray’a getirirler.

    Ah, Amerikan desteğiyle gelen dehşet! Karanlığın yüreği Türkiye’yi sarıyor, Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı: mahkeme kararı olmadan yapılan dinlemeler ve takipler, anayasaya aykırı tutuklamalar, insan haklarının tahribi, basın özgürlüğünün ahlaksızca ihlali, iktidardaki AKP’nin büyük miktarlardaki yolsuzluk ve  hırsızlıkları, ve Türk ordusunun yıpratılması. Ekonomist dergisinin Atatürk’ü aşağılamak hakkını kendinde görmesi sürpriz değil. Aferin, siz tüm batılılara. Kötü iş, Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı.

    Fakat yükselen bir güç var Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı. Geçen yedi yılda AKP’nin onlara vermeye çalıştığı çöpü almayı reddedecek daha çok, bir çok Türk var. Ve bu güç Kemal Atatürk’ün sözlerinden  enerji alıyor. Onları bilmiyor ya da hatırlamıyor olabilirsiniz, Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı, fakat onlara iyice dikkat etmelisiniz. Daha önceki mektuplarımda  size söylemiş olduğum gibi, size tekrar hatırlatıyorum. Hesap günü geliyor. Gün yakındır. Atatürk’ün sözlerini okuyun, bugünkü Türkiye’yi tanımlıyorlar:

    Ey Türk Gençliği!

    Birinci vazifen, Türk istikllini, Türk Cumhuriyetini, ilelebet, muhafaza ve müdafaa etmektir. Mevcudiyetinin ve istikbalinin yegane temeli budur.

     Bu temel, senin, en kıymetli hazinendir. İstikbalde dahi, seni, bu hazineden mahrum etmek isteyecek, dahili ve harici, bedhahların olacaktır. Bir gün, istiklal ve Cumhuriyeti müdafaa mecburiyetine düşersen, vazifeye atılmak için, içinde bulunacağın vaziyetin imkan ve şeraitini düşünmeyeceksin! Bu imkan ve şerait, çok namüsait bir mahiyette tezahür edebilir. İstiklal ve Cumhuriyetine kastedecek düşmanlar, bütün dünyada emsali görülmemiş bir galibiyetin mümessili olabilirler. Cebren ve hile ile aziz vatanın kaleleri zaptedilmiş, bütün tersanelerine girilmiş, bütün orduları dağıtılmış ve memleketin her köşesi bilfiil işgal edilmiş olabilir. Bütün bu şeraitten daha elim ve daha vahim olmak üzere, memleketin dahilinde iktidara sahip olanlar gaflet, dalalet ve hatta hıyanet içinde bulunabilirler. Hatta bu iktidar sahipleri şahsi menfaatlerini, müstevlilerin siyasi emelleriyle tevhit edebilirler. Millet, fakr ü zaruret içinde harap ve bitap düşmüş olabilir.

     Ey Türk istikbalinin evladı! İşte, bu ahval ve şerait içinde dahi vazifen, Türk İstiklal ve Cumhuriyetini kurtarmaktır. Muhtaç olduğun kudret, damarlarındaki asil kanda mevcuttur. 

    Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
    Nutuk’tan
    20 Ekim 1927

    Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı, yukarıdaki söylevde Mustafa Kemal Atatürk varislerine, Türk Milletine, Atatürk demokrasisinin ilkelerini savunma hakkını, doğrusu görevini vermiştir. Ilımlı İslam demokrasisinin değil! Müslüman demokrasi değil! Sadece demokrasi, Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı, sizin demokrasinizle aynı olan.

     Evet, bir güç yükseliyor, Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı. Yeni bir Kemal yükseliyor, Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı. Bunu bilmelisiniz, sayın Cumhurbaşkanı. Ve  O’nu tanımalısınız. Seçim günü hain AKP’yi Akdenize dökecektir, aynı Gazi Mustafa Kemal’in batılı işgalcilere yaptığı gibi. Sizin ve Amerika’nın şimdiki İslamo-faşist hükümeti desteklemeyi bırakmanız akıllıca olur, bir kez olsun, Türkiye’yi rahat bırakın. Ya da derin sularda, çalkantılı sularda yüzmesini bilseniz iyi olur!

    Derin saygılarımla,

    James C. Ryan, Ph.D.
    İstanbul, Türkiye

    Not: önceki üç mektubum ve kısa bir öz geçmişim ilişiktedir.

    Published in Turkish by Aydınlık Dergisi
    1 Ağustos 2010                                                                
    AMERİKALI BARIŞ GÖNÜLLÜSÜ OBAMA’YI UYARDI
    Hesap günü geliyor, AKP’yi destekleme artık!

    CEM RYAN

  • ARMENIAN TERRORIST SASSOUNIAN IS DENIED PAROLE

    ARMENIAN TERRORIST SASSOUNIAN IS DENIED PAROLE

    ATAA ASSURES CALIFORNIA PRISON PAROLE BOARD DENIES PAROLE TO ARMENIAN TERRORIST SASSOUNIAN

    On August 4, 2010, the California Prison Parole Board denied Armenian terrorist, Hampig Sassounian, parole. The Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA), representing over 500,000 Turkish and Turkic Americans nationwide, participated in the hearing, submitting a Statement in Opposition to the Parole of Sassounian. Click here to read the ATAA’s statement and supporting documents.

    The ATAA actively participates in judicial processes to support the conviction and sentencing of terrorists with a view toward achieving complete justice for the victims. ATAA is pleased that Sassounian was denied parole, as he and his followers continue to be a threat to the public. ATAA will appear at Sassounian’s next parole hearing in 2013 to make sure that he remains behind bars for life.

    ARMENIAN TERRORIST HAD TRIED TO SNEAK TO LEBANON

    Sassounian is serving a life sentence for the racist and political assassination of Turkish Consul General Kemal Arikan on January 28, 1982 in Los Angeles. The first attempt on Mr. Arikan’s life occurred on October 6, 1980, when Hampig Sassounian’s older brother, Harout Sassounian, fire-bombed the Consul General’s home. Harout Sassounian was convicted of the attempted killing.

    Two years later, Hampig Sassounian and his accomplice Krikor Saliba massacred Mr. Arikan just outside of his residence as he waited in his vehicle at a traffic light. Their reason was that they hate Turks. LAPD captured Sassounian shortly after the killing. Sassounian’s father stated on national television that he was glad that a Turk was killed. LAPD searched Sassounian’s automobile, seizing a .357 caliber bullet and a one-way airline ticket from Los Angeles to Beirut. LAPD also searched Sassounian’s home, where they seized a gun receipt, pistol targets, and a manifesto of “The Armenian Youth Federation.”

    TERORIST CAMPS ROUTED OUT

    Federal authorities connected Sassounian and Saliba to the Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide (JCAG) terrorist group, which recruited members from the Armenian Youth Federation. JCAG serves as the militant wing of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) political party in Armenia, whose foreign agent in the United States is the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). ANCA is represented in California by ANC Western Region in Glendale. Hampig Sassounian bears an ARF tattoo on his chest. It should be noted that Sassounian’s partner, Saliba, fled to Beirut shortly after the assassination, in response to which Turkish and Israeli intelligence joined efforts to uproot Armenian terrorist camps in Lebanon.

    ATAA’S VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT: A FIRST

    The ATAA’s statement was the first appearance of a Turkish American organization at a parole hearing of an Armenian terrorist. In 2000, the ATAA also appeared at the criminal sentencing of Mourad Topalian, the former chairman of ANCA who was convicted of weapons and explosives charges which federal authorities connected to at least four terror attacks on American soil.

    NAMELESS, FACELESS WARRIORS BEHIND THE SUCCESS STORY

    On behalf of the ATAA Board of Directors, I thank ATAA Western Region VP Maria Cakırağa for submitting the ATAA’s statement on behalf of the citizens of California. I thank ATAA legal intern, Lale Eskicioğlu, and research assistant, Duygu Ozcan, for their tireless research and technical support.

    The LAPD required the provision of bullet-proof vehicles, followed and lead by several secret service vehicles during the trip to San Luis Obispo Prison, indicating the threat level of modern Armenian political violence.

    Though Sassounian’s lawyer, Michael Geragos degraded ATAA at the hearing, Parole Commissioner Peppler expressed that the ATAA’s Statement provided a much necessary history of Armenian terrorism and political violence.

    I take special note here that based on ATAA’s information and belief, the Armenian Republic submitted to the Parole Board a statement in support of Hampig Sassounian, including providing him Armenian citizenship and a residence in Armenia. By doing so, the Armenian Republic supported terrorism and undermined rapprochement.

    DINK MARTYRIZED, ARIKAN FORGOTTEN

    On behalf of Turkish Americans nationwide, ATAA expresses its deepest condolences and respects to Mrs. Arikan and her family for their loss and for their sacrifices. We have not forgotten you. You will always be in our hearts.

    Respectfully submitted,

    Gunay Evinch
    President
    Assembly of Turkish American Associations

    ———————–

    PS: For exhibits provided to the parole board, please log on to www.ataa.org.

    PPS: The paragraphs heading above added for emphasis by the columnist; they do not appear on the original letter.