Turkish Forum

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  • MEET TURKISH-AMERICANS

    MEET TURKISH-AMERICANS

    President Clinton received a standing ovation from the Turkish Parliament after his address there to the Turkish nation on November 15, 1999, where he praised Turkey for more than half a century of friendship with the United States.

    More than half a century?

    I knew that. Remember the Korean War and the fearless Turkish Brigade there? In fact, did not President Harry Truman sign Distinguished Unit Citation on July 11, 1951 for the Turkish Brigade’s acts of heroism which read: “The Turkish Brigade, a member of the United Nations Forces in Korea is cited for exceptionally outstanding performance of duty in combat in the area of Kumyangjang-ni, Korea, from 25 to 27 January 1951.” ?

    “…whatever the relationship between (Turkey and the United States) is at any one time, the most important thing about the relationship is the relationship between the two peoples…” were the starting remarks by the U.S. Ambassador Edelman at the opening ceremony of “100 Years Of Turkish-American Friendship” photo exhibition at The National Library, Ankara, Turkey, on April 04, 2005.

    100 years?

    And yet, how many in America today could point to the location of Turkey on a world map?

    “… Thirty-two years ago when President Eisenhower visited Turkey, he was greeted by a roaring crowd and thousands hailed him in the streets, cheering not merely America but also our shared values and ideals. One sign in particular touched him. It read: ‘Welcome to your second home.’ And today I already feel as President Eisenhower did, that Turkey is a second home. And I say that not merely because of your famed hospitality but because of these common ideals and interests. Turkish-American friendship reaches back as far as the late 18th century…” articulated the 41st President, George H. W. Bush, at the arrival ceremony in Ankara, Turkey, on July 20th, 1991.

    The late 18th century?

    Who knew?

    Of course, Turkey was called the Ottoman Empire in those days. Whatever the polity, Turks and Americans did forge remarkably close ties through trade and commerce, military cooperation, immigration, education, science, medicine, music, and more.

    Both the U.S. and Turkey were blessed with great leaders, Washington and Ataturk, who fought against impossible odds, long, protracted wars of liberation.

    Both military victories were followed by sweeping reforms based on a shared vision of nation building, democracy, rule of law, liberty, modernization, free enterprise, and pursuit of happiness.

    Both founders succeeded in their tasks and both leaders are still revered very much today.

    Both countries are engaged in the same global war against terrorism and are close strategic partners.

    The US boasts the leading economy in the world today while Turkey is, remarkably, the 16th largest economy and growing at a dizzying pace.

    Of course the U.S. is the sole super power today and Turkey is increasingly a global player with its power base located in the epi-center of that tri-continental segment of the world map encompassing the Balkans, the Caucasus, and the Middle East where the “Neo-Silk-Route” to Turkic Central Asia and China as well as all important energy transportation lines (oil and gas) supplying Europe from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran, and Iraq crisscross.

    “… America is honored to call Turkey an ally and a friend… Many Americans trace their heritage to Turkey, and Turks have contributed greatly to our national life — including, most recently, a lot of baskets for the Detroit Pistons from Mehmet Okur. I know you’re proud that this son of your country helped to win an NBA championship, and America is proud of him as well…” pronounced the son Bush, our 43rd president, during his speech in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 29, 2004.

    I am one of those Americans who traces his heritage directly to Turkey. There are close to 50,000 of us in Southern California and about half a million, coast to coast.

    If you are an NBA fan, for example, then you already know Mehmet Okur (Utah Jazz) and Hido Turkoglu (Orlando Magic). If music is your cup of tea, then you probably have heard of Ahmet Ertegun (deceased,) of the Atlantic Records company who gave us the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Ray Charles, and other such music icons. If you are into medicine, you probably remember Doctor Mehmet Oz, the world renown heart surgeon, weight loss and healthy living guru.

    But if you are like the most of us, leading normal lives, working hard, raising kids, paying taxes and mortgages, then you probably don’t know much about us, Turkish Americans. We may be around you, in fact, working with you, but you may not know us, as we are mostly integrated, if you like, if not perhaps assimilated.

    We will speak English (most in the first generation with accent) and most of us will have shortened, Americanized names imposed on us by our loving American friends (Thus, Coskun becomes Josh; Selahattin turns into Sel; Ercument morphs into Eric; Can reads John; Gul translates into Rose; and so on.)

    We mostly subscribe to Muslim faith but few of us, if any, can keep up with the tenets or rituals of Islam (praying five times a day, for example) due to lack of time, facilities, or other reasons. Religion does not play a commanding role in our lives as most may innocently expect or some may prejudicially believe, but we respect all the faiths all the same. Some humorously put Soccer as being the most important driving force in our lives, not without justification. (A few fans are already planning, for example, to charter one or more jets from LAX to Johannesburg, South Africa, in June 2010, to take hundreds of Turkish-Americans from Southern California to cheer the Turkish National Soccer Team, if of course, Turkey makes it through the qualification rounds to the FIFA World Cup Finals. If not, well, turn on the ESPN and pass the beer and chips, thank you.)

    Turkish-Americans do have annual balls, spring/summer picnics, secular weekend schools for K-6 kids, and most of us travel to Turkey every other year, if not annually. We miss the people and food in Turkey (Have you ever eaten a “karniyarik”, seasoned minced meat and vegetable stuffed eggplants baked in an oven? “Fingerlicking” is an understatement to describe this most unique taste!..)

    We came here during the 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s and most of us are professionals, with at least one degree, some with more. We are mostly busy raising our second generation, American-born generation of Turkish-Americans, if you like. There were immigration in late 19th and early 20th Centuries, but most of those returned home to Turkey after they retired; couldn’t bear the homesickness any longer, I guess. We are, however, here to stay. This is our home. We are going nowhere.

    By the way, it does bother us a great deal when people judge us, our culture or history, our motherland, without bothering to check their “assumptions” and “facts” with us.

    It frustrates us a great deal to be stereotype-cast in the media into roles totally alien to us.

    It even angers us when outrageous lies about our history and our heritage are circulated and/or taken at face value. We are Americans. We would not do to others what we would not like done to us.

    So, please, next time you hear a terrible story or an outrageous claim defaming our history or culture, be fair and inquire about the other side of the story. Talk to us.

    We are not hard to find. A simple internet search will pour out hundreds of Turkish-American websites, associations, names, and leads into your living room or office. Fairness is all I ask.

    We love you all!

  • Archive – In Celebration Of Our Turkishness At The Threshold Of A New Millennium

    Archive – In Celebration Of Our Turkishness At The Threshold Of A New Millennium

    by Mahmut Esat OZAN
    [email protected]

    WHO WAS A ROMAN? WHO WAS AN OTTOMAN? WHO IS A TURK?

    Before answering these questions above, let us pose another one, “What are the similarities existing among the old citizens of the Roman and Ottoman Empires and the contemporary inhabitants of modern Turkey?” Well, here’s the answer: We must acknowledge and accept the fact that all three of them have the same social make-up. In the framework pertaining to the societal composition of the Roman and Ottoman Empires, one does not notice any racial, ethnic, or even religious alienations caused by prejudices injurious to the running of a society.

    In the Roman populace, as well as in the Ottoman one, every citizen was known as either a Roman, or an Ottoman. The same has been true for those living within the confines of the new Turkish nation created by its founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. In Turkey, every citizen, regardless of his or her ethnic, religious, and political background, is known and referred to as a Turk, no hyphens are necessary.

    Not so long ago, in Miami, Florida, a political asylum case involving a young Turkish citizen, reached the Immigration and Naturalization Department’s desk. What I am relating now is the true account of events which took place.

    In the past I was offered work in which I could be of help in interpreting in various court cases involving Turkish nationals. The young man in our story was a Turkish citizen of Kurdish extraction. He reluctantly fled his homeland, his birthplace, leaving his family, his girl friend and others behind. His adventures, spanning half of the globe were in search of a safe haven. His words are revealed here with the condition that his real identity is kept secret. Hasan Volkan is not his real name, of course.

    Hasan had been fighting for his life in order to escape those who were pursuing him relentlessly to punish him because he had repeatedly refused to kill for the dreaded PKK. While being interviewed by the US agents of the I N S(Immigration and Naturalization Service), he kept on saying he left Turkey because he was not interested in jeopardizing his life for a cause that was alien to his beliefs. He thought that staying in Turkey would bring about his early demise.

    In order not to burden the reader with the whole account of Hasan’s plight, which I related in an earlier essay, I would like to reveal here that, after three years of hiding in the USA, he is now back in Turkey and has rejoined his family and his girl friend. The last I heard from him is that he was about to get married.

    While I was helping him with the INS, he had made some interesting statements. One in particular was very meaningful. Here’s what Hasan told the INS attorney in Turkish:

    “In Turkey today we have a mosaic of all kinds of ethnic people representing many different backgrounds. We have Kurds, like myself, we have Laz people, we have Pomaks, Bosnaks(Bosnians), Albanians, we have Cerkez, we have Tatars, Cecens(Chechnians), we have Ajems(Iranians), Assirians, Arabs, Armenians, and Greeks. We even have Gypsies During the years before the PKK, these people all called themselves Turks and used to live in harmony in each other’s company, complementing one another in their own way, living in peace in a country my dear mother referred to as Gulistan(land ofroses). Hasan was referring to Turkey and he was saying, “no one was considered a step child there. He further told the INS interviewer that the only thing separating one person from another was his financial status in life. He said his family was in the home furnishings business, and it was known as a “well-to-do” family.

    On The Threshold Of A New Millennium

    The 20th Century is almost over. The year 1999 will be the very last span of time before humanity will embark into a new millennium. It is anybody’s guess how posterity will record these turbulent past hundred years.

    I wonder how historians will judge this century in the next millennium. It began with the dream of universal peace, but saw two tragic world wars, the birth of the atomic bomb, a ‘Police Action’ in Korea, and a costly ‘Vietnam experience’, plus a hundred smaller wars, and now it is coming to an end despite the ravages of dreaded terrorism, with a renewed hope for international harmony.

    Over-Population? It’s Everybody’s Baby

    The above heading actually comes from a bumper sticker I remember seeing some twenty years ago. But the words it contains are much more persuasive today than they were in the Seventies. Nevertheless, all levity aside, the world’s population in 1900 was a mere l.5 billion, a figure almost matching the number of inhabitants living in Communist China today. In that year, 1900, one of the greatest military minds and one of the greatest emancipators who ever lived, Mustafa Kemal, was a 19 year old young man. The world at large was yet to discover his genius. All Turks know this as a factual certainty, that if it weren’t for Kemal, who later on became ATATURK, the father of his nation, there would be no one today who would be addressed as a Turk, and no one would be left to elucidate the pride exhibited in the significance of the world “TURK.”

    We Emerged with Our Heads High

    I remember clearly the 10th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey. The whole country was singing, including us, the students in the Ortakoy preparatory section of Galatasaray, on the shores of the Bosphorus, the memorable words of a catchy tune “CIKTIK ACIK ALINLA,” the stirring musical composition of the day. This patriotic song was saying proudly that in a short 10 years Turks had created 15 million young people of “all ages.”

    During one of those days, on a warm spring afternoon, we were able to view our dear President, Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha, (three years before he was given the name of ATATURK) riding in a convertible limousine, sitting next to the Duke of Windsor, the future Edward VIII, the King of England.

    It seems that after all those years, and despite what seems to be an unsurmountable prejudice piled up against them coming from all corners of the globe and overlooking the drawbacks, real and contrived, Turks are still able to celebrate what is proudly known as ‘TURKISHNESS.’ Once again, going back to what we were discussing earlier, we see that there was no need for nobility in the Ottoman Empire. Any Muslim, even one who converted from Christianity, had the chance to rise all the way to become a VEZIR. The world would witness this type of opportunity in the USA centuries later.

    Ever since Alparslan, the Seljuk Turk military leader’s victory over the Eastern Roman Emperor Romanus VI in 107l, the way up the ladder of success began in the military. If an ordinary citizen wanted to get somewhere in the power system, he had to attend a military school.

    Many great men in Turkish history began their illustrious lives in this fashion. A May, 1996 article of mine in this newspaper, “TURKS’ LOVE AFFAIR WITH THEIR MILITARY’” is a good indication of this complex relationship between the public and their military institutions.

    Unlike other societies, in the Turkish one it was the Military that sided with the common people. It still is the Military that extricates the country straying from the course designated for Turks by their great leader, Kemal Ataturk.

    Someone in the soldierly stature of NAPOLEON BONAPARTE had once made a statement which illustrates what the concept of “military” meant to the Turks. They were invincible then, they may still be counted on the premise today. In 1799, after he returned to France from his inconclusive Egyptian campaign in the Ottoman lands, he related anecdotes about an encounter he had in the city of Acra, where after a long siege of the area, he chose to retreat before the Turkish forces. Napoleon’s words were, “Gentlemen, my conclusion is that Turks can be killed, but never vanquished.”

    Testimonials Which Keep Us Turks Going

    Recently, a letter writer said the following in an English language publication, “…I’ve been in Turkey 8 months, and I intend to spend the rest of my life somewhere in your country”…You have made me feel most welcome…I am proud to be living here, and I am so pleased that I chose Turkey rather than Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, or France.” I’m not able to decipher why the letter writer mentioned two of the most backward lands in the same sentence with France, but I appreciate his admiration for Turkey. There was another person with similar laudatory words for Turkey and the Turks. This one was not just a regular letter-writer, his name was Charles VII, the King of Sweden, who wrote the following letter to his sister Ulrique-Eleanore in 1772:
    “I was going to be a prisoner in Poltava(Russian territory at that time); that would have been my death. I was saved on the shores of the Bugh River. Then the danger became more imminent…again I was saved. But today I am a prisoner of the Turks. What fire, steel, and floods were not able to do, the Turks did. I don’t have chains on my feet. I am not in jail, either. I am free, free to do whatever I like. But still I am a prisoner – a prisoner of affection, of generosity, of nobility, of courtesy. The Turks have tied me with this diamond chain. Oh! If you knew how sweet it is to live as a free slave with people so affectionate, so noble, and so gentle!”

    Who Is A Turk, Anyway? Ask Any Turkish Citizen!

    If you listen to the rancorous, vindictive and vengeful words of Lloyd George, the fallen one-time Prime Minister of a dying British Empire, you will be amazd to hear how uncivilized a so-called ‘gentleman’ could be. He and his First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, by his side, suffered collectively one of the worst military defeats at the hands of Mustafa Kemal and his legendary defenders of Gallipoli in 1914. Here are the ugly words the British Prime Minister Lloyd George uttered when he was about to launch the invasion of that disastrous Dardanelles campaign:

    “The Turks are a human cancer, a creeping agony in the flesh of the lands they misgovern, rotting every fiber of life…I am glad that the Turk is to be called to a final account for his long record of infamy against humanity.”

    Well, George, listen to the words of another observer, only this time, a more objective and much more civilized one than yourself. His name is David Hotham. He is a 1975 TIMES correspondent, who writes the following about Turks in his book simply called TURKEY. He might as well be referring indirectly to our TURKISHNESS when he says:

    “The Turk is unusually full of contradictions. Not only has he East and West in him, European and Asian, but an intense pride combined with an acute inferiority complex; a deep xenophobia with an overwhelming friendliness and hospitality to strangers; a profound need for flattery with an absolute disregard for what anybody thinks of him.”

    These last few lines of an honest observer such as Mr. Hotham indicate that TURKS are, indeed, cut fom a different cloth. In the case of the British Empire, the colonial masters were all “stiff upper-lipped” British, the epitomy of class consciousness, condescendence and conceit. They were, conversely, the opposite of Turks, the descendents of tolerant, democratically imbued, down-to-earth people, who never interfered with the social, religious freedoms of the subjects they conquered. For them magnanimity was not an outlandish dictionary word. They lived it in the past and they are still living it today. They loved their conquering heroes then, they still revere them today. Turkey is a place where the word ‘military’ has been an inspiring solace for them, whereas the same word has been branding fear in the hearts of others.

  • Archive – TURKISH FORUM LETTER TO ROBERT FISK FROM USA

    Archive – TURKISH FORUM LETTER TO ROBERT FISK FROM USA

    To: [email protected]
    Cc: [email protected]
    Subject: Article by Robert Fisk “You’re talking nonsense, Mr Ambassador”

    TISK-TISK, ROBERT FISK (Or shame on you Mr. know-it-all.)

    (An Editorial)

    Mahmut Esat Ozan
    Chairman -Editorial Board
    The Turkish Forum

    Mr. Fisk, there is nothing worse in this world than being labeled a “know-it-all”. A person by that title is one who pretends to know something about everything but really knows nothing about anything . Since the knowledge of things you try to write about does not seem so great, you shouldn’t mind my asking you if you were familiar with the colloquialism we use in this country’s jargon, ( Tisk-Tisk) , an expression composed of two words which when it is placed in front of the name of an unfortunate person such as yours, it connotes that the person in question had done a shameful deed. And speaking of shameful deeds, Mr. Fisk, you seem to be ahead of many we know. You appear to be a genuine expert in that field. I, for one, have been noticing your irrational, biased, and prejudiccial behavior through the years, vis-à-vis the venerable nation of Turks. Every article you write concerning the Turks is replete with offensive passages, undeserved accusations, at times innuendoes, at others out and out lies hurled against them, the Turks about whom you claim they initiated the very first alleged genocide of the Twentieth century and decimated the Ottoman Armenians. The very latest of one of those irresponsible recriminations appeared in your latest drivels involving the Pope’s visit to Syria. You’ve been complaining that in the past 15 years 15 million Christians have abandoned their homes in the largely Muslim world.

    What baffles me is the way you manipulate this piece of ordinary news and very cunningly relate it to your favorite subject “the alleged Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Turks.” You seem to be stuck on this one subject and sound like a broken record every time you bring it up. 

    The newest form of your idiosyncrasy, showing your obsession in defending the Armenian causes, is apparent in your following sentence: “Turkey’s genocide of its Armenian community in 1915 left the bones of one and a half million Christians across Anatolia and what is now northern Syria.” Really, Mr. Fisk what possible connection could you find between the visit of the head of world Catholicism and the alleged ‘genocidal events which may have taken place over eight decades ago. Allow me to read your twisted mind, Mr. Fisk. You are an incorrigible Turcophobe. You cannot help yourself. Chances are either you were born with that affliction or someone inculcated that prejudice into your feeble brain when you were most vulnerable to discrimination involving the Turks. In your last article you are quoting an obscure “Dr.Jarjour, whoever he may be, and whatever weight his words may carry. You tell us that this so-called Dr. instructs us, ‘-somewhat defensively- that the present-day Christian exodus is primarily economic.’

    Nevertheless, you quote from him, or you extract from this poor fellow’s words the following quotation:: “I wouldn’t say at all that there is a religious factor , except in some cases like Turkey where Christians have been a little pressured recently.” Honestly Dr. Jarjour, or whatever your name is, and you Mr. Fisk, what was that ‘little pressure’ Turks inflicted on the Christians in Turkey? Are you referring to the Turkish government’s recent expenditures in renovating the Greek Orthodox Patriarchy building in Fener, in Istanbul?, or are you referring to the acquittal of a Syrian Armenian Priest who was accused to have made statements that his ancestors were the victims of a Turkish genocide in 1919? You were not fair , nor were you specific when Dr.Jarjour was talking to you against Turks.

    You see, Mr. Fisk, I am proud to belong to that honorable nation of ‘Turks’, whose early ancestors brought civilization to the European continent, when its inhabitants were still wallowing in muddy huts and tribes decimated each other in fratricidal animalistic wars. Ottoman Turks, even then, knew how to vaccinate people against diseases caused by bacteriological factors. They were reaping the benefits of time-telling devices such as clocks etc. when the Europeans were about to discover the uses of ‘sundials’. A newly produced documentary film called, Empire of Faith narrated by the British actor, Ben Kingsley, of the ‘Ghandi’ fame was Extolling the superiority of the Muslim world. More than half of the presentation was consecrated to the achievements of the Turks in various fields, other than military, let alone their legendary tolerance and magnanimity in treating differing religions when Europe imposed on the Jews the cursed inquisitions and forced conversions.

    When no Christian country wanted to admit into their domain any Jew expelled from Spain and Portugal, it was the Turkish Sultan ‘Beyazit’ who welcomed them into his vast empire to come and settle there and flourish in freedom of religion, and the pursuit of their own language, culture and trade..

    Turks even sent sea-faring galleons to Spain to transport these unfortunate people, free of charge, to any and all points of their realm. Turks, for centuries, helped to enlighten your ancestors. Sometime it was a losing battle. Europeans learned from my ancestors, but they, in turn derided them at every chance they had.

    There were, however, intellects such as the renown British anthropologist and historian Edson L. Clark (1827-1913) who said in his “Nations of the World Series,1900,N.Y. (pp. 84-87.) that the Turks whose honor and the dignity you have been pummeling and mauling these many years, were, and I quote: “…far better men and far abler rulers than the wretched tyrants whom they suppressed….the Turks were in advance, not of their Christian subjects alone, but of the greater part of Christian Europe.”

    Mr. Fisk, I know that you British do not consider yourselves European.

    However, you must admit that you live on the European continent and are a British Commonwealth member state of the European Union. What I am driving at, Mr. Fisk, is the fact that your ancestors were then as you are now, an inferior exemplification in comparison to the Turks. Let me elucidate a bit more by adding that you belong to the illustrious school of ‘Political Science’ of the turn of the century British Prime Minister, one Lloyd George who, when he was getting ready to “annihilate” the last remnants of the dying Ottoman Empire, was gloating by saying to the whole world the following:

    “The Turks are a human cancer, a creeping agony in the flesh of the lands they misgovern, rotting every fiber of life. I am glad that the Turk is to be called to a final account (referring to the impending Greek invasion of Asia Minor ) for his long record of infamy against humanity.”

    The British PM, not being an adequately -educated British subject, reminded me of you, Mr. Fisk. He was unaware of the above-mentioned quotation from Edson L. Clark. Thus, a rancorous, vindictive and vengeful Lloyd George, not Unlike yourself , launched a campaign, ‘doomed from the beginning’ in the Ottoman Turkish lands in Gallipoli, against those he called “human cancers” the Turks.

    Even though aided by the French and the Anzak military forces and the world’s most formidable naval armada, the Allied forces were repulsed. Lloyd George not only lost his post as the Prime Minister of his disgruntled country, but he lost his honor and his shirt, too, in the process. In addition he carried down with him, to the abyss, his favorite, but incompetent advisor Winston Churchill, who was the First Lord of the Admiralty. The glorious victor of the Dardanelles, the military genius of the Gallipoli campaign, the great Mustafa Kemal had taught them a lesson they never forgot. Lloyd George died as a broken, destitute soul after having sheepishly underestimated and unjustly denigrated the noble Turk.

    Let us hope that you, dear Mr. Fisk, may be spared such a predicament of fate.

    Recently a Letter writer said the following to an English language publication. “I have been living in Turkey 8 months, and I intend to spend the rest of my life somewhere in your country. You have made me most welcome.

    I’ m glad I chose your Turkey rather than England or France or any other European country. This gentleman’s words were familiar to me. I had read a passage from a Swedish king once. Hurriedly I checked my files and found what I was looking for. Mr. Fisk, I’d like to share Swedish King Charles VII’s words with you. And again, knowing the stuff you are made of, I suspect you may not enjoy it as much as the Friends of the Turks. Here’s that full quotation he wrote to his sister Ulrique-Eleanor in 1772:

    “I was going to be a prisoner in Poltova, (Russian territory at that time) that would have been my death. I was saved on the shores of Bugh River. Then the danger became more imminent…I was saved. But today I am a prisoner of the Turks. What fire, steel, and floods were not able to do the Turks did. I don’t have chains on my feet. I am not in jail, either. I am free, free to do whatever I like . But I still am a prisoner- a prisoner of affection, of generosity, of nobility, of courtesy. The Turks have tied me with this diamond chain. Oh! if you knew how sweet it is to live as a free slave with people so affectionate, so noble, so gentle.” I hope you are listening Lloyd George, wherever you may be.

    I’ve been asking myself the following question over and over again concerning you and people like you: “What is their problem.?” I try to answer my very own questions. I find no answers. I am unable to decipher the origin of your arrogance and your disrespectful behavior when it comes to Turks.

    Your defense of the Armenian “riff-raffs who have made a profitable industry of accusing the Ottoman Turks of having perpetrated the most heinous of all crimes, the crime of genocide, and in the same breath denying that they have not even bloodied a single Turkish nose. When neutral, non-Turkish historians accept that for every Armenian who was killed in that civil war, within a World War in 1914-1918, four (4) Muslim Turks, Kurds, Sircassians, and Azerbaijanis lost their precious lives. But I guess you don’t pay too much attention to that because they were not Christian. Most observers can not tell us where this hatred for Turks is emerging. You are a part of that equation. The only source of frustration from which you are suffering may be the result of your government’s disability to prove that Turks were guilty of a premeditated so-called genocide. There was not an iota of evidence found in the infamous trials held on the island of Malta conducted by the British occupiers of the Ottoman capital, Istanbul, when they arrested and took with them a goodly portion of Ottoman government functionaries to the Island of Malta and imprisoned them for over a year, trying to extract from them juicy confessions, but at the end they totally failed. The final communiqué sent to Lord Curzon was very disappointing to the Armenians and their ‘bootlicker’ friend, such as you Mr. Fisk. The royal report had said at the time: 

    I REGRET TO INFORM YOUR LORDSHIP HERE WAS NOTHING THEREIN WHICH COULD

    BE USED AS EVIDENCE AGAINST THE TURKS WHO ARE PRESENTLY BEING DETAINED AT MALTA…NO CONRETE FACTS BEING GIVEN WHICH COULD CONSTITUTE SATISFACTORY INCRIMINATING EVIDENCE…THE REPORTS IN QUESTION DO NOT APPEAR, IN ANY CASE,TO CONTAIN EVIDENCE AGAINST THE TURKS.”

    Nevertheless, Mr. Fisk , if you still are unconvinced, then please listen to what the U.S. government had to say. The American General James G. Harbord, of the U.S. government’s investigative commission, sent to Anatolia in the fall of 1919 by none other than President Woodrow Wilson, declared unequivocally the following in his official report. General James G. Harbord concluded : The Turks and the Armenians lived in peace, side by side for centuries; that the Turks suffered as much as the Armenians at the time of relocations, that at the start of World War I and before, Armenians never had anything approaching a majority of the population in the territories they call : Western Armenia”; they would not have a majority even if all the deported Armenians returned; and the claims that returning Armenians would be in danger were not justified.”

    Mr. Fisk, have you read the forged Adonian papers?, have you watched the often exhibited painting of the Armenian skulls piled up in a grotesque heap claiming that it was the Turks who had caused it to happen? Well, the photograph Armenians claim was taken in 1915, actually a stolen copy of a painting done in oil by a late Russian painter, named Vasily Vereschagin. The canvas is dated 1905 and it is still hanging in the Tretyakov Art Gallery in Moscow today. Now Mr. Fisk, I got a hunch you’ll deny this too, as you always do, instead you will invoke the infamous Hitler quotation as a last resort. Here is a rebuttal for it, also. Hitler may have been a monster as most claim, but nobody yet accused him for being a stupid individual.

    According to Prof. Dr. Turkkaya Ataov,Chairman, International Relations Division, Ankara,Turkey, and the Nuremberg, Germany NAZI War Crimes Trials, that invented quotation does not hold any water. Adolf Hitler never made such an idiotic statement in his life. Prof. Ataov says, however, that Hitler said a few choice words about the Armenians, and that is true. He made one reference to the Armenians in a talk delivered on December 12, 1942, in which he described them as unreliable, (Unzuferlassig) and dangerous,(Gefahrlich). It is rumored also that Hitler was furious about the Armenians when he used those adjectives. I’m afraid those two adjectives were also appropriate to describe you and your unfortunate task against Turks. So, let us say once more: Tisk-Tisk, Robert Fisk. (Shame on you.)

    meeozan@turkishforum,com

  • EDWARD TASHJI–A MAN WHO ALWAYS MARCHED TO HIS OWN DRUMMER

    EDWARD TASHJI–A MAN WHO ALWAYS MARCHED TO HIS OWN DRUMMER

    Mahmut Esat Ozan
    Chairman-Editorial Board
    The Turkish Forum-USA

    We already began to miss our brother Edward.He was more close to us than many a Turk who unwittingly and with great ingratitude turned against their own country and brothers and sisters. The Akcams, the Berktays, the Goceks and so on are probably happy that one less critic of them is
    eliminated. Edward was and still is one of us who lament the ugly doings of the above-mentioned traitors. He was and I repeat still is among one of our great supporters. There was a Christian Judge from Hazen, Arkansas who admired Edward and had lengthy conversations with him after I had gotten
    them together. I even sent Edward Sam Weem’s specially signed copy of his excellent book, entitled: SECRETS OF A “CHRISTIAN” TERRORIST STATE, ARMENIA. Edward was almost lost for words when he called me a few days after he had received and devoured Sam’s book. He said he started to read
    it in the afternoon and had to finish it by next morning .He said he had to call me to tell me how valuable a book it was and thanked me over and over again for not having forgotten him .

    Edward was not someone a Turk could easily forget. His courage and believability on the subjet of a pseudo genocide invented by his fellow Armenians, was as impressive if not more of another honest and lion-hearted Christian such as Judge Sam.The two together should have been with us today writing about the truth about the mythological Genocide..They were both the personification of extreme courage. Sam’s book, which is still available through the Turkish Forum, had said all
    that Sam wanted to say about the ungrateful Armenians. The following on the other hand, are a few rare words I had obtained from the “The Tall Armenian Tales”.

    He is called “Turk Dostu” “A Friend of Turks.” Edward Tashji is a man of principle who refuses to follow the safe, familiar pro-Armenian drumbeat; he makes up his own mind, and is a Truth-Seeker of the first order. It is mind-boggling that those like him can practically be counted on only one
    hand.

    A Friend of Turks

    An introduction to Edward Tashji’s philosophy, “who has spoken and written the words which NO OTHER Armenian has in his heart to do so.” (“The inseparability of our peoples had been instilled in my heart and soul by parents who displayed compassion rather than vengeance, truth rather than
    misrepresentation, love instead of hate.”)

    Why the Euphemism, Armenian “Hate Merchants”?

    A phrase Mr. Tashji coined a quarter-century ago, after coming face-to-face with “a monster, truly a Frankenstein of hate!” … “To cognitively comprehend the attitude of Armenians toward the Turkish
    people, it is necessary to be knowledgeable of the Armenian psyche.”

    We Must Respond Vociferously to Stereotypes and Hurtful Negligence!

    This is a favorite Tashji commentary of Holdwater’s, where Mr. Tashji provides just a few examples of his battles against the unfair depiction of Turks in the Western media, over the years. Thank you, Mr. Tashji!

    A Subject Which Must Not Be Avoided

    The writer examines roots of anti-Turkish prejudice, looks at a poem a six-year-old Armenian girl from California is taught, and provides the favorite following line: “…at the same time, (President Clinton’s) schedule does permit a meeting with twenty representatives of numerous Armenian groups! What would it take to arrange even a few minutes with the President of ‘all’ the people? I will give you one gue$!”

    An Armenian Sponsored Lecture

    Edward Tashji attended a lecture featuring “genocide scholar” Hilmar Kaiser in 1999, and offered Herr Kaiser a few lessons of his own.

    Religious Freedom and Harmony as Revealed by Seven Candles

    A moving piece. An occasion to honor the memory of the president of the American Association of Jewish Friends of Turkey brings to mind the harmony and freedoms that marked the essence of the Ottoman Empire, in contrast to the falsification of Turkish culture we are normally subjected
    to.

    What Does April 24th Mean To This Ethnic Armenian?

    The author passionately reminds us that this beloved occasion for the Armenian hate merchants, presenting them with the regular opportunity to distort history while defaming the honor of a great nation, much more serves as a sad perpetuation of animosity… allowing for the “venom of hate” to continue crippling young minds.

    In The Midst Of War “A Letter And A True Love Story”

    A beautiful telling of how Mr. Tashji’s parents met during the madness of WWI… two amazing people who decided to raise their children with the lesson of loving thy neighbor as opposed to what some people who profess to be Christians advocate.

    The Enigmatic Armenian Continues To Fumble

    This is a wonderful essay detailing the misrepresentations of an article that appeared in an Armenian newspaper, regarding the early days of bands offering music from the Turkish and Armenian part of the world, to New York City audiences. Edward Tashji was one such musician.

    Why Did I Testify Against My Own People?

    One Armenian’s Soul-Searching Self-Interrogation! The reasons certainly have nothing to do with being anti-Armenian…. but with the Armenian preoccupation with hatred, and the sad condition the author terms as “eternal animosity.”

    Did the Turks and the Armenians Share a Common Culture?

    A look at some Armenians who made a difference in Ottoman society, and a reminder of the commonalities that bind the two peoples

    Program for a Turkish Course of Action

    When ASALA and other Armenian terrorist organizations were spewing forth death and destruction in the 1970s and 80s, Edward Tashji came up with a plan to combat the Western world’s indifference and prejudice toward Turks. The plan has Turkish-Americans in mind, but is a must read for Turkish people who have settled anywhere else in the world.

    Edward said once the following:

    To the Armenians I am a traitor, one who has committed the greatest sin; to the Turks I have come to be known as a, “Turk dostu” aka a friend of Turks: ours is the embrace of brotherhood.”

    After Edwards own words whatever I would say would be superfluous Therefore I will suffice with what I have for my readers and thank his wonderful wife Mary for her participation of her husband’s everlasting friendship endless belief that Turks were not the monsters the Armenians picture them to be. May he rest in peace knowing that he has 70 million hearts which are broken without him but we have his book and all his previous writings and above all we have his fond memory to last us several
    life times.

  • Atatürk’s Prophesies: Why Douglas MacArthur Believed in them too?

    Atatürk’s Prophesies: Why Douglas MacArthur Believed in them too?

    Stories compiled By Prof. Mahmut Esat Ozan

    It was on November 24, 1935 that Mustafa Kemal, the first president of the young Turkish Republic, was given the name of ATATÜRK by the Grand National Assembly. He had led his people through war into self-government and finally into an entirely new way of life. He had been their teacher, adviser, as well as the father of the entire nation, since the word “Ata” in Turkish means just that.

    That same year a young American General, called Douglas MacArthur, came from thousands of miles away to pay homage to his idol, the great Mustafa Kemal Pasha, who had started to use his official name of Atatürk a short time earlier.

    General MacArthur visited Atatürk and had long conversations with him concerning the gathering clouds of war in Europe. In one of these conversations, Atatürk said: “The Versailles peace settlement will not end the reasons that started the World War. It has deepened the gap between nations, for there were centuries that imposed peace and forced the stipulations upon those who were defeated. Versailles was settled under the influence of hatred and was an expression of revenge. It went beyond the meaning of an armistice. If you Americans had decided not to be involved in European events and had followed up President Wilson’s suggestions, this period would have been longer, but the result of the settlement would have been peace. Just as the period of settlement would have been longer, the hatred and revenge would have been lessened and lasting peace would have been possible.” [Editor’s note: The Americans were indeed involved with the War after 1916, but after the War the public opinion in the U.S. changed. The Senate did not ratify the Versailles Treaty. America minded its own business. The Wilson principles were distorted by the British and the French to suit their own purposes, which of course sawed the seeds of World War II] Atatürk continued to prophesy: “To my understanding, just as it happened yesterday, the future of Europe will be dependent upon Germany. That nation is dynamic and disciplined. If Germany unites, it will seek to shake off the yoke of the Versailles Treaty. Germany, Russia, and England will have a strong army to conquer Europe. The next war will come from 1940 to 1945. France has lost the spirit of creating a powerful army, and therefore, England will not depend upon France to protect herself. France will no longer be a buffer state. “Italy will improve, somewhat, under Mussolini. He will first try to avoid war, if he can. But I fear that he will try to play the role of Caesar and it will prove to the World that Italy cannot produce a powerful army yet.”

    “America will not be able to avoid war and Germany will be defeated only through her interference. If authorities in Europe do not get together on the basis of controversies of political contacts and try to placate their own hatreds and interests, it will be tragic.”

    “The Troubles of England, France, and Germany will not come first or be of primary importance. Something new from the East of Europe has come up that will take primary place of importance. This new threat will spend whatever is available in its resources for international revolution. This power will utilize new political methods to achieve these goals. These methods are not known by Americans and Europeans and this power will try to make use of our small mistakes and the mistakes of Western nations.”

    “The victorious power after the war between 1940 and 1945 will not be England, France, or Germany, but Bolshevism. Being closest to Russia and having had many wars with her in the past, Turkey is watching Russia closely and sees the whole danger developing. Russia knows how to influence and awaken the minds of Eastern countries, and how to give them ideas of nationalism. Russia has encouraged hatred towards the West. Bolshevism is getting to be a power and a great threat to Europe and Asia.”

    After listening with great awe, General MacArthur replied to Atatürk, “I agree with you all the way. The political authorities of Western countries do not see the danger coming up. That bothers me too. By this we are pulled toward a war which would be fruitful to an entirely strange enemy. While Europe is busy in Europe, I am sure that enemy will spread to Asia too, the reason being Japan will try to fulfill her ambition to be the only great Asiatic power, while we are preoccupied in Europe. America cannot stay out of it. Whether we like it or not, Russia will try to enlarge her influence in Asia. If our political leaders will have understanding, they will not let Russia become our ally. That will cost considerable loss of land. Russia will get a big slice of Asia. Instead we should have her land, O.K.,… otherwise we will be helping a new danger. Any war we go into therefore, with Russia on our side, will not put an end to the European situation nor the Asiatic troubles (Perhaps MacArthur thought that Russia would receive war reparations in Asia rather than in the European continent.)

    General MacArthur also touched on other matters relating to a possible gain of communism in China and Manchuria. He also reiterated that the future of the World would be decided in Asia and not in Europe.

    When the conversation ended, Atatürk smiled and said, “Our points of view are almost the same, but let us hope we see it all incorrectly and that the leaders of the other nations will come up with a better result for the whole World.”

    As we all know by now, Atatürk’s hope has not been realized. The savior of Turkey, the great Atatürk died, just before his predictions came true one after the other.

    M. Study Slater, the author of the book THE GOLDEN LINK [M. Study Slater, The Exposition Press, Inc. NY (1962)] from whose pages these prophesies were gleaned, says, “If we look at General MacArthur, the experience, and the last twenty or thirty years and the influence of Atatürk upon him will afford us a better opinion of why he insisted upon certain points and his decisive attitude during the Korean War.” We might add to that statement another reason why General MacArthur was so very laudatory about the courage of the Turkish Brigade fighting side by side, with the American GI’s there.”

    In a relatively short period of time, the dreaded predictions of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and of General Douglas MacArthur, began to take form. The author continues: Benito Mussolini threatened the Mediterranean, and the poor imitation of Caesar started to strut in Ethiopia and Albania. In Germany, Adolf Hitler, a former Austrian wallpaper hanger, was successfully organizing juvenile and adult delinquents into a Third Reich, while Japan swept into Pacific Islands and Southern Asia. Joseph Stalin gathered hungry peasants into a large army and sent an octopus-like network of espionage agents into every country of the world to convert the self-martyred into communism. Mustafa Kemal assigned his friend Ismet Inonu and Fevzi Cakmak to help in building Turkey’s defenses along the Asian border and the Caucasus steppes.

    Within Turkey Atatürk did not tolerate the Mullahs’ constant threats to revolt against the newly established secular republic. Most were imp-risoned, some executed, such as the fanatical religious reactionaries who butchered Lieutenant Kubilay in the city of Menemen near Izmir.

    Atatürk also chased back to the Soviet Union, the Kurds and the Armenians, who were undeniably Communism’s riot-inciting agents in Turkey. The European and American media of the time, quite reminiscent of our contemporary bleeding-heats, such as the Amnesty International and the Helsinki Watch Human Rights ‘brokers’ as I call them, thundered accusations at the terrible Turks for ‘persecuting’ these poor defenseless people. “Defenseless!” screamed Atatürk, “Their persecuted defenseless hypocrisy is just what makes them dangerous. Have the Americans forgotten their own revolution?”

    Mustafa Kemal Atatürk realized that his immortality was assured through the love of his people and his historic role in new democratic Turkey. However, consciousness of this fact did not at all change the conduct of his life. His first asset was his belief in society, and though he fought directly for the nation, he always indirectly fought for human kind, of which he was an excellent example.

  • About Prof. Ozan

    About Prof. Ozan

    Mahmut Esat Ozan
    Turkish Forum Advisory Board member
    Chairmen Editorial Board Turkish Forum

    Country: United States of America

    Anyone, who attended Galatasaray during the years of 1933 to l943 would remember Mahmut Abi as a little boy who loved movies, especially American movies, and who would very often sneak out of his dormitory at night and go to the 3rd floor balcony of the school conference room where the older boys would be watching films, hoping they would let him in to watch, too, and they usually did.

    As time went on, he acquired as much information about America as he could. When he was in the 6th grade he prepared an American-style weekly magazine by hand, with even a cartoon and a crossword puzzle, and loaned it to be read among his classmates. He became an expert on American popular culture, especially on movies and songs. He became fluent in French and excelled in English. Owing to his association with the Jewish students in school he started to learn also another language,(Ladino) Spanish, and later on Portuguese. With a good mustache and correct hair cut, he earned the nickname of Donamec for the Hollywood actor Don Ameche, whom, everyone said, he resembled a lot at that time.

    After graduation, he spent three years as Muallim Muavini, a sort of a Teacher’s Aide at the school, then started writing articles for “PERDE ve SAHNE” published by Bedia Muvahhit, the favorite actress of the Turkish theatre in those days. He also worked 5 days a week for the Motion Picture Censor Board as a simultaneous translator/interpreter for English and French movies. Turkey was neutral during those Second World War days, but there had to be censorship, not to offend any of the countries involved. And while it was wartime, there was also martial law. After completing his military school training in Ankara, Mahmut Abi was assigned to work at the office of the General in charge of the State government under martial law, as an interpreter/translator. He continued his services at the Censor Board, but wearing his 2n Lieutenant’s uniform to work. His abilities in the area of foreign languages would be a great help for him throughout his life. While attending the University of Istanbul in preparation for the banking career his mother wished for him, his heart and head were much more interested in Cinema magazines than banking. He began writing regular articles for several dailies and movie magazines. Yildiz was one of them. Several years later while in Hollywood he conducted and sent close to 50 interviews with big time stars and celebrities. But long before that, in 1943 he even published his own publication called SINEMAGAZIN, an enterprise which gave him, if not monetary success, a great deal of experience in journalism. He had one burning desire, and that was to get to the United States to study. He researched every bit of information available on American colleges and universities entrance requirements, tuitions, and cost of living, and wrote his book, AMERIKAYA DOGRU, a guide for students wishing to study in America.

    Finally, in 1946, he received acceptance to the School of Journalism of the University of Indiana in Bloomington. This should have afforded him a happy student life, but, unfortunately, the money he had entrusted with a businessman relative placed his money in a stocks venture and lost it. Mahmut Abi in Indiana was being forced to return home. What saved him was the fact that he was the only Turkish student his professors and the members of women’s clubs had ever met, and by appearing before these groups, lecturing his audiences with color slide shows and explaining to them life in Turkey, he won several friends and a full scholarship to finish his degree in Journalism.

    For a brief moment, during the summer before his senior year, the Hollywood bug bit him again, and he drove to California, landed a job as assistant manager of the Grauman’s Chinese theater, where he helped with the movie premieres and stars with their shoes and hands imprints cast in wet cement. He applied to Ben Bard’s school of acting not to become a movie actor, but to learn the art of making movies. His biggest fantasy was to make an epic saga on the Conquest of “Constantinople” and the Turkish Sultan Mehmet II. This moment in paradise, however, came to an end when the Immigration Dept. caught up with him. He was told he was illegally working on a student visa, and had to return to his university in Indiana to finish his studies. It was Kismet that by going back to Indiana that Fall he was going to meet and marry his Ruhan. That was 48 years ago this past February.

    Mahmut Abi and Ruhan returned to Turkey in 1953. Being the very first Turk having received a degree in Journalism, he was offered the position to help establish the university’s Institute of Journalism. He was to set up operation, prepare curricula for the school and teach a couple of classes too, all for a grand total of T.L. 150 a month. The highest salary for a governmental minister in the capital was T.L.450, and the President of the University of Istanbul was paid T.L. 350 at the time. However, at the end he was told he could not get the job because the position he was offered was a government job and his wife was not a Turkish citizen. Knowing that today even the military officers have non-Turkish spouses, Mahmut Abi just smiles and does not even complain. any more. The next stop was Ankara. That job refusal previously in Istanbul landed him a much better and lucrative position at the U.S. Mutual Security Administration in the capital city of Turkey. He was hired on the spot as a Special Administrative Coordinator and Senior Interpreter. The MSA organization then was the precursor of the present A.I.D. He, as a specialist, was entrusted in preparing a wide variety of instructional pamphlets, the dubbing instructional films and guiding the American dignitaries on inspection tours of agricultural and energy producing projects of the programs. It was during one of those sessions when a Labor Law expert from the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, DC sought his help in trying to find a name for the Turkish labor unions. The meeting was in its 6th hour. Nobody knew what to name a hitherto non-existent labor organization. Howard Schindler, the American labor relations expert, was getting a bit edgy. His Turkish counterparts wanted to use the term Lonca ,which he scorned upon, because its translation meant Guild and/or Corporation but not Labor. Finally, Mahmut Abi suggested the French name for it “Syndicat.” Within a few minutes the word Sendika was accepted and everyone went home satisfied with a new name in the Turkish alphabet.

    After the birth of their first child, Mahmut Abi changed course. Once more in the USA, and in Indiana, he returned to the University and completed his course work to teach Foreign Languages and Journalism, and began his career, teaching French, Spanish, Portuguese, Journalism, film making. He also trained scores of future Foreign Language teachers. He also initiated the very first Study Tours abroad in Florida Universities in the early 60’s. He Was among the few Floridians who founded FTAA, Florida Turkish-American Association for Cultural Exchange. He served as its second President for 5 years. Mahmut Abi is the author of a several pages long epic poem in French entitled: “Une page d’Histoire a Galatasaray” which will be published soon in France. His second epic poem called; “Si Pierre Loti Retournait Chez Sa Bien-Aimee,La Turquie was already put in a book form two years ago, in Nancy, France by the OLUSUM/GENESE literary magazine. The book also contains other interesting reading materials. Mahmut Esat Ozan retired as Professor Emeritus after 38 years of teaching. Although his dreams of producing a film on Ataturk, and the Conquest of Constantinople did not materialize, he made a good number of documentaries on a more personal scale. As for his journalistic drive, he found another theme that needed his attention and devotion. That theme is teaching the truth about his “Turkiye,” past and present to as many readers of the Turkish Times, English language newspaper, where he has been a columnist in the last 10 years, also local newspapers, and the Internet he can reach.

    You can contact him at the following e-mail address:
    [email protected]

    Sema Karaoglu, Founder
    [email protected]