Turkish Forum

Category: Armenian Question

“The great Turk is governing in peace twenty nations from different religions. Turks have taught to Christians how to be moderate in peace and gentle in victory.”Voltaire’s Philosophical Dictionary

  • JOINT LETTER TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

    JOINT LETTER TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

    President Barack Obama
    The White House
    1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
    Washington, D.C., 205000

    August 4, 2009

    Dear President Obama,

    Last year’s war between Georgia and Russia punctuated the continued threat to peace and security in the South Caucasus arising from unresolved territorial conflicts that have spanned more than two decades since the fall of the Soviet Union. Recently, several Iranian officials openly threatened Azerbaijan for hosting Israeli President Shimon Peres in Baku. Similarly, four UN Security Council resolutions demanding that Armenian forces withdraw and cease the occupation of Azerbaijani lands since 1993 have achieved little for the displaced one million refugees and IDPs. All of this adds to the urgency of reaching a sustainable peace based on the fundamentals of international law and human rights, or, as you have stated earlier, “a lasting and durable settlement of the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict.”

    With stronger support from the United States and increasing involvement of the Russian Federation, the peace process has produced some momentum at the latest meetings of the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia. U.S. Mediator Matt Bryza emphasized the productive position and leadership demonstrated by Azerbaijan during the negotiations, particularly Azerbaijan’s many concessions to Armenia and the Armenian people despite Armenia’s aggression in and military occupation of western Azerbaijan. A peaceful settlement, which involves respect for territorial integrity of the states in the region, repatriation of the displaced communities, opening of all borders and communications, security guarantees for both Azerbaijani and Armenian communities in occupied regions of Azerbaijan, and withdrawal of Armenian forces from Azerbaijan, and nothing less, is necessary to achieve a lasting and durable settlement.

    The South Caucasus, a strategic global juncture, holds great promise for regional and global peace and prosperity. Yet the region’s potential has been disrupted and disable by two decades of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Armenia’s own development has been paralyzed as a result of its self-imposed isolation from major regional projects. More than one million Armenians have left Armenia due to poor government, poor economics, and poor services. While the Azerbaijani residents of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and other Armenian-occupied regions of Azerbaijan have suffered ethnic cleansing, displacement, and destruction of personal and cultural property, the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh continue to live in economic and political uncertainty. Armenia’s occupation of Azerbaijan has been costly in many ways.

    A lasting and durable peace settlement would bring about a major positive change to the South Caucasus. The Azerbaijani-Georgian partnership has already shown what can be reached when the parties work towards regional cooperation. Should the Armenian leadership demonstrate productive pragmatism, it can help integrate the nation with the economic and democratic future of the region securing a peace and prosperity for its people. Such a future would include open communications and borders, including the Turkish-Armenian border, which was closed in response to Armenia’s invasion and occupation of the Azerbaijani region of Kelbajar, outside of NK region, in 1993. A lasting and durable peace would advance U.S. interests as it provides for lasting stability in a strategically important region where the United States requires solid friends. Significantly, as the value of the Caspian hydrocarbon resources increase for Europe’s energy security and the South Caucasus transport corridor serves as the key conduit for access to Afghanistan, a lasting and durable peace in this region becomes an even higher priority. In addition, helping Armenia and Azerbaijan to reach a settlement would demonstrate the new Administration’s commitment to the new foreign policy of global engagement and provide a positive tangible result for U.S.-Russian cooperation.

    Therefore, on behalf of the Azerbaijani-American and Turkish-American communities, we support and encourage your Good Office to intensify U.S. efforts towards reaching a just peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan based on United Nations Security Council resolutions and the Helsinki Final Act of 1975, and to seize this historic opportunity. While we recognize the significant pressures that bear from special interests opposed to peace for a variety of reasons, including nationalist and religious ones, who have previously succeeded to undermine peace efforts, we hope that America’s vision for the South Caucasus is informed by its national interests and its relationship with strategic partners in the region. Thank you.

    Sincerely,

    U.S. Azeris Network (USAN)
    Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA)
    Azerbaijani-American Council (AAC)
    Federation of Turkish American Associations (FTAA)
    U.S.-Azerbaijan Council (USAC)
    U.S. Turkic Network (USTN)
    Cultural Center of Caucasus Jews (CCCJ)
    Azerbaijan Turkey America Foundation (ATAF)
    Houston Baku Sister City Association (HBSCA)

    Cc: The Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Vice-President of the United States of America
    The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton, United States Secretary of State

    www.USAzeris.org
    www.FTAA.org
    www.Azeris.org
    www.ATAA.org
    www.USTurkic.org
    www.HoustonBaku.com
    www.ATAF-Foundation.org

  • Are Armenia’s Policies Making Turkey Stronger?

    Are Armenia’s Policies Making Turkey Stronger?

    sassun-2

    By Harut Sassounian

    Publisher, The California Courier

    The Armenian Foreign Ministry, in all likelihood, has a comprehensive strategic plan regarding Armenia’s relations with its immediate neighbors (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Turkey), with major powers near and far (China, France, Great Britain, Russia, United States), and with other key states around the world.

    At the most basic level, Armenia’s leaders are expected to maximize their country’s national interests and counter all anti-Armenian efforts. Based on this simple criterion, I would like to make an assessment of several critical issues related to Turkey, Armenia’s most problematic neighbor.

    Turkey has not only committed genocide against the Armenian nation and continues to enjoy the fruits of that crime, it also spends millions of dollars every year to deny the facts of history and defame the Armenian people.

    Ever since its inception, the Turkish Republic has consistently pursued the anti-Armenian policies of its Ottoman predecessors. Turkey has blockaded Armenia since 1993 — an act of war — in order to force it to make territorial concessions on Artsakh (Karabagh). Shortly after Armenia’s independence, Turkish, on at least one occasion, amassed troops on the border, threatening to attack Armenia. Moreover, Turkey has trained and armed Azerbaijan’s military to enable it to invade Artsakh and exterminate its ethnic Armenian population.

    Turkey also carries out anti-Armenian activities through various diplomatic channels. Turkish delegates regularly join their Azeri colleagues in casting votes against Armenia and Artsakh in the Council of Europe, the United Nations, and the Conference of Islamic States.

    Finally, Turkey continues to hold hostage its Armenian population, depriving it of the most basic cultural, educational and religious rights.

    Under these circumstances, it is incumbent upon Armenian officials to carefully weigh whether the decisions they take regarding Turkey inadvertently contribute to their hostile neighbor’s political and economic strength.

    Here are a few examples of such decisions:

    Armenia should not accept any preconditions for negotiations with Turkey on the opening of the border and should not have agreed to make a joint announcement on the eve of April 24 which helped boost Turkey’s prestige and undermined efforts to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide by the United States and others.

    Armenia should not recognize Turkey’s present boundaries and should reject treaties signed by Soviet Armenia, in order not to preclude future Armenian territorial claims.

    Armenia should not agree to the Turkish demand of forming a joint historical commission to review the facts of the Armenian Genocide, in order to avoid the questioning of the veracity of the genocide and not to harm the chances of its acknowledgment by third parties.

    Armenia should not allow Turkey to stick its nose in the Armenia-Azerbaijan negotiations over Artsakh, in order not to help boost Turkey’s image as a credible mediator in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Syria.

    Armenia’s President should not attend the October 14 soccer match in Turkey, unless Turkish leaders first abide by their written agreement to open the border. Armenian officials should not help give credence to false Turkish claims that it is engaged in serious negotiations with Armenia.

    Armenia’s leaders should not support Turkey’s efforts to join the European Union in order not to increase the Turks’ political and economic strength. Given its huge population in comparison with most other EU countries, Turkey would be entitled to a large number of votes in the European Parliament, enabling it to pass anti-Armenian resolutions.

    Last Fall, when Turkey was desperately seeking votes to join the U.N. Security Council, Armenia and Armenians worldwide made almost no attempts to prevent its gaining such a critical seat for the first time in almost half a century. Turkey can now use that prestigious position to pass resolutions in the U.N. against Armenia and Artsakh.

    In 2006, in the aftermath of Israel’s attack on Lebanon, Armenia and Armenians did not prevent Turkey from contributing peacekeeping troops to UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon). This made possible the stationing of the Turkish military for the first time since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in an Arab country that hosts the largest Armenian community in the Middle East.

    Finally, Armenians should boycott Turkish products and should not go on vacation to Turkey in order not to contribute to the economy of a hostile state. Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan should be commended for ordering Armenian government officials not to spend their vacation in Turkey and for encouraging local travel agencies to prepare tour packages at competitive rates for Armenians to vacation in Artsakh.

    There already exists an overwhelming imbalance between the political, economic, and military strengths of Armenia and Turkey. By carefully considering the impact of their every decision, Armenia’s leaders should narrow, rather than increase, that imbalance!
  • Letter from Congressional Armenian Contingent to Obama Complaining About Turkey

    Letter from Congressional Armenian Contingent to Obama Complaining About Turkey

    July 30, 2009

    President Barack Obama

    The White House

    1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

    Washington, DC 20500

    Dear Mr. President:

    We write to you with our concerns about Turkish backpedaling on the
    agreed upon roadmap to normalize relations between Turkey and Armenia.

    On April 22, 2009, just two days before the 94th commemoration of the
    Armenian Genocide, the Department of State released the following
    statement:

    The United States welcomes the statement made by Armenia and Turkey on
    normalization of their bilateral relations. It has long been and remains
    the position of the United States that normalization should take place
    without preconditions and within a reasonable timeframe. We urge Armenia
    and Turkey to proceed according to the agreed framework and roadmap. We
    look forward to working with both governments in support of
    normalization, and thus promote peace, security and stability in the
    whole region.

    Two days later, instead of recognizing the Armenian Genocide, the
    Administration opted to focus on this new roadmap to Armenian-Turkish
    normalization. “I also strongly support the efforts by Turkey
    and Armenia to normalize their bilateral relations,” you wrote.
    “Under Swiss auspices, the two governments have agreed on a
    framework and roadmap for normalization. I commend this progress, and
    urge them to fulfill its promise.”

    While the Government of Armenia remains committed to this roadmap and
    has long offered to establish ties with Turkey without preconditions,
    Turkeyâ€TMs public statements and actions since April 24th stand in
    sharp contrast to this agreement and undermine U.S. policy that
    normalization take place without preconditions.

    On May 13, 2009, Prime Minister Erdogan publically conditioned
    normalization of relations with Yerevan on Azerbaijanâ€TMs approval
    of a future settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict that fully meets
    Bakuâ€TMs satisfaction. “I want to repeat once more that
    until the occupation ends, the border gates [with Armenia] will remain
    closed,” Erdogan told the Azeri Parliament.

    On June 17, 2009, EU South Caucasus Envoy Peter Semneby said Turkey had
    taken “tactical steps backwards” in the normalization
    process with Armenia.

    It would appear that Turkey, in an effort to block U.S. recognition of
    the Armenian Genocide, agreed to a roadmap it did not intend to uphold.
    Therefore, we urge your Administration to separate the issues of
    normalization and genocide recognition. We hope that renewed efforts
    and focused resources from the Administration can be utilized to nurture
    the Armenia-Turkey normalization process without preconditions and
    within a reasonable timeframe, and continue to remain strongly
    supportive of your stated campaign policy to officially recognize the
    Armenian Genocide.

    Sincerely,

    Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Joe Baca (D-CA), Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Shelley
    Berkley (D-NV), Howard Berman (D-CA), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Bruce
    Braley, (D-IA), John Campbell, (R-CA), Lois Capps (D-CA), Michael
    Capuano (D-MA), Dennis Cardoza (D-CA), Jim Costa (D-CA), Jerry Costello
    (D-IL), Joe Courtney (D-CT), Joseph Crowley (D-NY), Peter DeFazio
    (D-OR), Steve Driehaus (D-OH), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Chaka Fattah (D-PA),
    Bob Filner (D-CA), Barney Frank (D-MA), Elton Gallegly (R-CA), Scott
    Garrett (R-NJ), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Rush Holt
    (D-NJ), Michael Honda (D-CA), Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), Patrick Kennedy
    (D-RI), Dale Kildee (D-MI), Leonard Lance (R-NJ), James Langevin (D-RI),
    Barbara Lee (D-CA), Sander Levin (D-MI), Daniel Lipinski (D-IL), Frank
    LoBiondo (R-NJ), Daniel Lungren (R-CA). Stephen Lynch (D-CA), Carolyn
    Maloney (D-NY), Edward Markey (D-MA), Betty McCollum (D-MN), Thaddeus
    McCotter (R-MI), James McGovern (D-MA), Jerry McNerney (D-CA), Candice
    Miller (R-MI), Walt Minnick (D-ID), Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Richard
    Neal (D-CA), Devin Nunes (R-CA), John Olver (D-MA) Payne, Donald (D-NJ),
    Gary Peters (D-MI), Collin Peterson (D-MN), Mike Quigley (D-IL), Peter
    Roskam (R-IL), Steven Rothman (D-NJ), Edward Royce (R-CA), Bobby Rush
    (D-IL) Paul Ryan (R-WI), Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), John Sarbanes (D-MD)
    James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Chris Smith (R-NJ),
    Mark Souder (R-IN), Zack Space (D-OH), Jackie Speier (D-CA), John
    Tierney (D-MA), Dina Titus (D-NV), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Niki Tsongas
    (D-MA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Tim Walz (D-MN) Henry Waxman (D-CA),
    Anthony Weiner (D-NY), Frank Wolf (R-VA), and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA).

  • Ex-Armenian consul among five arrested

    Ex-Armenian consul among five arrested

    in alleged deportation-blocking scheme

    Norair Ghalumian and four others are accused of obtaining and selling letters from the consulate that allowed immigrants convicted of murder, robbery and other crimes to avoid deportation. By Anna Gorman and Alexandra Zavis
    July 29, 2009 Five people, including a former Armenian consul, have been arrested in alleged schemes to block the deportation of illegal immigrants convicted of murder and other serious crimes, federal immigration officials announced Tuesday.

    The defendants allegedly obtained letters from the Armenian Consulate in Los Angeles and then sold them — for as much as $35,000 each — to at least two dozen convicted criminals facing deportation, officials said. The letters, which were sent to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the Armenian government could not verify that the immigrants were citizens and therefore could not let them back into the country.

    • Counter-terrorism investigators find alleged identity theft ring

    Unable to deport the immigrants, U.S. officials were forced to release them. By law, the immigration agency cannot keep criminals in detention for more than six months beyond their prison sentences if deportation is unlikely.

    The immigrants who received the “letters of refusal” had been convicted of murder, attempted murder, robbery and other crimes, officials said.

    “It’s a great scheme,” said Jennifer Silliman, deputy special agent in charge of the immigration agency’s Los Angeles office. “You have got these career criminals, many of whom are violent, circumventing the system and essentially buying themselves a place in the United States.”

    Grigor Hovhannissian, Armenia’s consul general in Los Angeles, said he and others within the Armenian government were committed to cooperating with U.S. authorities in the ongoing investigation.

    “It is in our vital interest to sort this out,” he said. “It does tremendous harm to the prestige of our country.”

    Hovhannissian said his predecessor, Norair Ghalumian, had not been part of the government for several years but allegedly was handling consular duties on his own.

    “Outside of his professional duties, he may have been offering services that were totally illegal,” he said.

    Ghalumian, 52, was consul from 1999 to 2003, according to U.S. officials. The other defendants included Hakop Hovanesyan, 54, a former employee of the consulate; Margarita Mkrtchyan, 41, a Beverly Hills attorney; Oganes Nardos, 36, a substance abuse counselor; and Elvis Madatyan, 47, who owns an auto body business and a bakery.

    All five appeared in court Tuesday afternoon to face federal charges of obstructing immigration proceedings. Four were ordered released on bonds ranging from $50,000 to $200,000 and told to return to court Aug. 17 for a preliminary hearing. Nardos’ detention hearing was continued until Aug. 7 because of questions about whether he entered the country fraudulently. If convicted, each could be sentenced to five years in federal prison.

    “These defendants endangered the safety and security of United States residents,” U.S. Atty. Thomas P. O’Brien said in a statement.

    The defendants’ family members, gathered at the courthouse in Los Angeles, expressed disbelief about the charges.

    “I am shocked,” said Ghalumian’s wife, Katarine Simonian. “A lot of people know him as a very honest person.”

    The immigration agency began its investigation about two years ago and used undercover agents to contact the defendants and obtain the illicit letters. All five people were allegedly carrying out the same scheme but were not part of a larger criminal organization, officials said.

    Immigration authorities executed search warrants at various locations, including Mkrtchyan’s Glendale residence, Hovanesyan’s travel agency and Nardos’ residence, and left with refusal letters and official stationery from the consulate. Immigration officials have identified some of those who received the letters and said they could face federal criminal charges.

    Although the letters in this case were allegedly obtained fraudulently, there are thousands of immigrants across the country with legitimate letters of refusal. They have served time for crimes and been ordered deported but are still here because the U.S. cannot get passports or visas for them. Among them are Armenians born in the former Soviet Union, Palestinians born in refugee camps and Africans from countries whose international borders have shifted.

    [email protected]

    [email protected]

  • The Jews of Turkey and the Armenian Genocide

    The Jews of Turkey and the Armenian Genocide

    By Ayse Gunaysu • on July 20, 2009

    Ayse Gunaysu is an pro Armenian and sympathiser in the cause.

    A groundbreaking book by independent scholar and historian Rifat Bali was published recently in Turkey, unearthing facts and first-hand accounts that unmistakably illustrate how the Turkish establishment blackmailed the leaders of the Jewish community-and through them Jewish organizations in the United States-to secure their support of the Turkish position against the Armenians’ campaign for genocide recognition. The title of the book, Devlet’in Ornek Yurttaslari -Cumhuriyet Yıllarında Türkiye Yahudileri 1950-2003, can be roughly translated into English as “The Model Citizens of the State-Jews of Turkey in the Republican Period 1950-2003.” (I will refer to the book as “The Model Citizens” in this article.)

    The book is a product of the meticulous work Bali carried out for many years at around 15 archives worldwide, including the American Jewish Archives (Cincinatti, Ohio), B’nai B’rith International Archives (Washington, D.C.), National Archives and Records Administration (Maryland), Israeli National Archives (Jerusalem), Central Zionist Archives (Jerusalem), Turkish State Archives (Ankara), public archives in Tel Aviv, private archives (like that of Manajans Thomspson A.S., an advertising agency based in Istanbul), and his personal archives. He also researched hundreds of books, dissertations, and articles in Turkish and other languages, and interviewed numerous individuals.

    “The Model Citizens” is in fact the complementary volume of Bir Turklestirme Seruveni-Cumhuriyet Yıllarında Türkiye Yahudileri, 1923-1945 (A Story of Turkification-Jews of Turkey in the Republican Period 1923-1945), a reference book Bali published in 1999 that reveals the true picture of the relations of domination between the ruling elite and non-Muslims in general (and Jews, in particular) after the founding of the Turkish Republic.

    Rifat Bali’s books are the richest sources of information for anyone looking to study the history of the non-Muslims in Turkey during the republican period. These books differ from others by their sheer wealth of archival references, details from daily life, and insights into the political, social, and cultural background. They are the result of arduous and untiring work carried out in both the public and private archives, in addition to a very detailed scanning of the daily press-which, apparent in both volumes of the history of the Jews of Turkey, significantly sheds light on how the “establishment” in Turkey, an organic system covering not only the state apparatus but also the representatives of the “civil society” from business organizations to the press, operated as a whole to treat the non-Muslims in Turkey as hostages and not as equal citizens. Although the history of the minorities in Turkey has become a topic of interest among the dissenting academia and a limited circle of intellectuals (especially after the turn of the millennium simultaneously with Turkey’s prospective membership to the European Union), as far as I can see, none of the works in this field is supported by such a comprehensive press scan, which includes cartoons in addition to news items and articles.

    Turkish Jews lobbying against the Armenian Genocide

    In his 670-page book, Rifat Bali gives a detailed account of the Turkish government’s efforts to mobilize its Jewish subjects to win the support of the Jewish lobby in the United States against the Armenian campaigners. At the same time, Bali shows, how the Turkish authorities played the Israeli government against U.S. policymakers for the same purpose, by making use of its strategic position in the Middle East, at times promising rewards (i.e., raising the level of diplomatic relations with Israel), at times overtly or covertly making threats (i.e., cutting off Israel’s vital military logistical resources by hindering the use of U.S. bases in Turkey).

    The book also offers rich material about how Turkish diplomats and semi-official spokesmen of Turkish policies, while carrying out their lobbying activities, threatened both Israel and the U.S. by indicating that if the Jewish lobby failed to prevent Armenian initiatives abroad-Turkey might not be able to guarantee the security of Turkish Jews. Such Armenian initiatives included the screening of an Armenian Genocide documentary by an Israeli TV channel in 1978 and 1990; Armenian participation in an international conference in Israel in 1982; Armenian genocide bills up for discussion in the U.S. House of Representatives, and so on. It has been a routine practice for Turkish authorities to invariably deny such threats. However, Bali’s industrious work in the archives reveals first-hand accounts that confirm these allegations.

    But this is not all. Rifat Bali throughout his book unfolds the entire socio-political setting  of the process of making the Jewish community leaders active supporters of Turkish governments’ struggle against the “Armenian claims” in the international arena.

    Now let us look at this background. From what Bali brings to our attention, we can see that there has always been a frantic, extremely vulgar anti-Semitism freely expressed by Islamic fundamentalists and racists, and openly tolerated by the government and judiciary. Such anti-Semitism-escalating at times with the rising tension between Israel and the Muslim countries of the Middle East-often went as far as warmly praising Hitler for doing the right thing and exterminating the Jews; declaring Jews the enemies of the entire human race; listing characteristics attributed to Jews as the worst that can be found in human beings; in one instance, putting up advertisements on walls in Jewish-populated neighborhoods in Istanbul; and in another case, sending letters to prominent members of the Jewish community threatening that if they didn’t “get the hell out of Turkey” within one month, no one would be responsible for what happened to them.

    Whenever Jewish community leaders have approached the authorities for a determined stance against such open anti-Semitism, the answer has been the same: These are marginal voices that have no significant effect on the general public; and there is freedom of expression in Turkey.

    The eternal indebtedness of Jews to Turks

    An important fact about such violent anti-Semitism is that it goes hand in hand with the widespread official and public conception of the Jews as guests who are indebted to their hosts; it is a debt that cannot be paid no matter how hard the debtors tried. This view isn’t only shared by extremist elements in Turkey, but by the entire society-from the elites to the average person. It is a conviction purposefully designed and maintained by the establishment. And it enables the perpetual, unending, and unrestricted generation and regeneration of the relations of domination in Turkey between the establishment and non-Muslims in general, and Jews in particular, manifested in the treatment of the latter as hostages.

    There are regular manifestations of this relationship. The most unbearable is the shameless, extremely offensive repetition by both top-ranking government officials and the mainstream media of how Turkey generously offered shelter to the Jews in 1492, when they were expelled from Spain, and how the Turkish people have always been so “kind” to treat the Jews with “tolerance” throughout history. This theme is repeated on every occasion but is voiced more loudly and more authoritatively whenever pressure on Turkey regarding the Armenian Genocide increases abroad. Another theme has been the obligation of the Jews to show material evidence of their gratitude to Turkey on account of the latter’s welcoming of German Jewish scientists right after the Nazis’ ascension to power. (Readers of Bali’s first volume instantly will remember how Turkey declined thousands of asylum requests by German Jews; how 600 Czeckoslavakian Jews on board the vessel “Parita” were turned down; and how 768 passengers on the Romanian vessel “Struma,” after being kept waiting off Istanbul for weeks in poverty and hunger, were sent to death in the Black Sea by Turkish authorities, with only one survivor in the winter of 1942.)

    An illustrative example is the story of the fury that broke out in Turkey in 1987 when the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Council in Washington, D.C. decided to include the Armenian Genocide-as the first genocide of the 20th century- in the Memorial Museum that was going to be built.
    The mainstream media, and not only the ultra-nationalist extremists, started a campaign that would last for years. Melih Asik from Milliyet (which has always positioned itself as a liberal and democratic newspaper), in his article on Dec. 20, 1987, accused “Jews” for being “ungrateful.” After observing the regular ritual of reminding the Jews of the Turks’ generosity in 1492 and during World War II, he wrote: “We treated them with utmost kindness for many years and now these same Jews are preparing to present us to the world in the Holocaust museum as genociders. Before everything else this behavior should be exhibited in the museum of ‘historical displays of ingratitude and disgrace.’”

    Melih Asik, as can be seen, is so confident that his readers would not question the use of the words “these same Jews,” nor ridicule the identification of those Jews who sought shelter in the Ottoman Empire in 1492 with those sitting in the Holocaust Memorial Museum Council in 1987. He is that confident because he knows that such identification and essentialization is a regular, daily pattern internalized by the readers of the Turkish press.

    Another very liberal and democrat anchorman of Turkey, Mehmet Ali Birand, known as a taboo breaker in recent years, joined-and even surpassed-Asik in his Dec. 29, 1987 article that appeared in Milliyet. In it, he publicly called on the Jews of Turkey to fulfill their “duty of gratitude” and do their best to prevent the Armenians from including the Armenian Genocide in the museum. He added: “Isn’t it our right to expect [such a display of gratitude] from every Turkish citizen?” There’s hardly any need to mention that just before this call to duty, Birand paid tribute to the routine of mentioning the Turks’ generosity towards the Jews back in 1492.

    Not an apologist at all

    Yet, it is important to note that Bali is by no means interested in justifying the Jewish lobby’s vigorous efforts to please the Turkish authorities. While he puts forth a wealth of evidence of the huge pressure the Jewish community in Turkey is subjected to, that evidence does not prevent him from giving a critical account of how the Jewish leadership in Turkey has displayed an eagerness to advocate Turkish views and to support official Turkish policies. There are numerous accounts in the book of how the Turkish chief rabbinate confirmed the Jewish community’s happiness and well-being in Turkey, opposing the promotion of the Armenian Genocide thesis, and how the Quincentennial Foundation, established by Turkish Jewish leaders in 1992 to celebrate the 500th year anniversary of the arrival of the Jews to Ottoman lands, actively championed Turkish official theses.

    It is clear from the book that Bali does not like to make comments on the meaning of his findings; rather, he puts the facts together like a scientist, avoiding to make personal comments, draw conclusions, or speculate about the reasons or outcomes of certain facts and events. What he exposes is clear enough to make the picture complete in the eyes of the reader. It’s up to the reader to acknowledge, for example, the fact that those who criticized Turkish Jews for their submissiveness had no right to expect bravery-when none of them raised their voice against the rabid anti-Semitism freely displayed by fundamentalists, or against the innuendos from government officials, or against the quite obvious threats from opinion leaders who kept asking the Jews to prove their loyalty to the Turkish state or relinquish their right to be treated as equal citizens.

    A last word about Rifat Bali’s book “Model Citizens.” It should definitely be translated into English for those who are interested in the Jewish factor in Turkey’s struggle against Armenian initiatives to recognize the genocide. It would be impossible for anyone either in Turkey or elsewhere to make a realistic, objective, and complete evaluation of Turkey’s success in securing the support of Jewish leaders both in Turkey and abroad without reading this book. Not only that, but the “Model Citizens” is a guide to understanding how deeply rooted anti-Semitism still is in Turkey that claims to be a European country knocking on the door of the EU. It also shows how powerful it can be when mobilizing a country’s human resources against its Jewish citizens-to make the leaders of the Jewish community act as they are told. Turning the pages of Bali’s book, the reader is made to see that anti-Semitism has a historical context so horrifying and so vivid in the collective memory that it can be very instrumental in manipulating victims, and very successful in carving out “model citizens” as the voluntary executioners of government policies.

    ))))))))))))))))))) 

    Aslan Bey

    By Aslan Bey on April 27th, 2009 at 8:14 pm

    Ayse Gunaysu is an pro Armenian and sympathiser in the cause. Anything she writes should not be treated as trustworthy. The article is highly unlikely to be true…
    I have a friend who grew up in Istanbul living in Yesilkoy, which is predominantly Armenian. He is a Turk. He went to school with Armenian kids, attended university with them, and some of these Armenian students went on to perform their military service. One is a dentist and even displays the Turkish flag and a foto of himself in his reception are of his dentist. They still catch up. One of his friends now resides in the US, and every couple of years, returns to Istanbul to visit. They meet and my friend collects the rent (in cash) from his tennant and gives it to him each visit (in cash)…
    This is the trust they have in one another…
    I am one person who spent the a considerable time in Turkey, and studied high school and Lise in Izmir, Turkey. I had friends of all sorts. Kurdish, Jewish etc. I travelled alot in Turkey over the years and prettymuch went everywhere.
    Turks do not preach hatred of Armenians, (Can you say the same for yourselves?)I myself did not find out about the so called “Genocide” until 2002 when I came across some silly website. To be honest, I beleived it at first, then knowing my own countrymen, our history etc I started to do some research. Without being biassed I have learned what I have learned and am quite comfortable about it. It was a tragedy, yes, it was a dark terrible time in Anatolia… Armenians wanted their own lands and were tricked by Russians.. I can understand this and why you did what you did…
    Why wont you open your archives for the historians to research? The Turkish government for decades have been inviting historians and scholars to investigate the archives of all those countries involved, Russia, Armenia, France, US and England. Recep Tayip Erdogan just in his comments on the Obama speach yesterday said “I have written a letter to the prime minister of Armenia in 2005 asking him to open his archives so a joint investigation can occur. The results should to to the international courts…. And Turkey is willing to accept its history, just show us unconditional, categorical, decisive truth in recorded (undocted) documents. Remember you are talking about rewriting history and the history of peoples who have been around as long as history itself.
    By the way, Prime Minister Erdogan is yet to receive a reply. What is it Armenia is hiding???
    Read the below// (Because you all speak and write Turkish fluently)
    You can review this link :

    “MEKTUBUMA CEVAP ALAMADIM”

    – Ancak gösterdiğimiz bu hassasiyetin iyi algılanmadığını da zaman zaman görüyoruz. 1915 olaylarıyla ilgli önceki gün yapılan açıklamaları gerçeği yansıtmayan bir tarih yorumu olarak görüyorum. Açıklama metninin olayların bir bölümünün kaleme alındığını görüyorum. Tarihe ve tarih bilimcilerine bırakılması gereken böyle bir uzmanlık konusunun sürekli olarak kullanılması, her yıl lobilerin istismar meselesi haline getirilmesi, ülkeler arasındaki ilişkilerin normalleşmesini engelliyor.

    – Türkiye olarak tarihçiler tarafından incelenmesi için her zaman samimi bir gayret içerisinde olduk. 2005′te bizzat yazdığım mektupla bu mektubun da cevabını almış değilim. İyi niyetli önerilerimiz karşılık bulmadık.

  • Why Don’t Jews Condemn Anti-Semitism in Turkey?

    Why Don’t Jews Condemn Anti-Semitism in Turkey?

    Rifat Bali, a Jewish scholar and a native of Istanbul, has been investigating anti-Semitism in Turkey for many years. He has authored several books and articles on the history of Turkish Jews. His most recent book, “The Jews of Turkey and the Armenian Genocide,” is a monumental work that documents how the Turkish government pressured not only Turkish Jews, but also the Israeli government and American-Jewish organizations, to lobby against congressional resolutions on the Armenian Genocide.
    Turkey’s blackmail of Jews in and out of Turkey is not news to our readers. Neither is the fact that there has been widespread anti-Semitism in Turkey for decades, if not centuries. In a lengthy article published in July by the Institute for Global Jewish Affairs in Jerusalem, Mr. Bali meticulously documents the fact that such racist attitudes are held by practically the entire spectrum of Turkish society.
    In his article, “Present-day Anti-Semitism in Turkey,” Mr. Bali summarizes his analysis in four key points:

    · “Turkish intellectuals have always taken a pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli stance. Islamists associate the ‘Palestine question’ with alleged Jewish involvement in the rise of Turkish secularism. Leftists see Israel as an imperialist state and an extension of American hegemony in the Middle East. Comparable themes are found among nationalist intellectuals.

    · “Turkish reactions to Israel’s 2006 war in Lebanon and 2009 war in Gaza often spilled over into anti-Semitism. Newspaper columnists, some of them academics, belonging to the various ideological streams helped fan popular sentiment against Israel and Jews. Israel was said to be exploiting Holocaust guilt and the services of the ‘American Jewish lobby’ to further its own nefarious aims.

    · “Turkish approaches to the ‘Palestine question’ rarely venture outside the clichés of Turkish popular culture. Turkish publishing houses providing translated works on the issue are careful not to run afoul of popular sentiment. The net result is that both Turkish columnists and their readers utilize only limited sources on the conflict that are preponderantly anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic.

    · “Any attempt by the Turkish Jewish leadership to confront Turkish society on combating anti-Semitism is likely to backfire and even further exacerbate the problem. Given this reality, the only options left for Turkey’s Jewish community are to either continue living in Turkey amid widespread anti-Semitism or to emigrate.”

    Mr. Bali documents his assertions by quoting from dozens of anti-Semitic statements published in various Turkish newspapers in recent years. Here are some examples:
    — Toktamış Ateş, professor of political science at Istanbul and Istanbul Bilgi universities, newspaper columnist, and a prominent intellectual who frequently appears on TV, described Jews as “the first and most racist people in history.” (Bugün, July 20, 2006).
    — Ayhan Demir, a commentator for the Islamist Millî Gazete, wrote: “The first thing to be done to achieve the security of Istanbul and Jerusalem is to get rid of, in as short a time as possible, this ‘shanty town’ that has begun to harm humanity on the entire face of the earth, and which is as offensive to the heart as to the eye. To send the occupiers to the garbage heap of history, together with their bloody charlatanism would be one of the most noble acts that could be realized in the name of humanity. A world without Israel would be, without a doubt, a much more peaceful and secure world.” (Millî Gazete, December 30, 2008).
    — Nuh Gönültaş, a well-known columnist, said Hitler was justified in his treatment of the Jews, since “the state of Israel is an even greater tyrant than Hitler.” (Bugün, August 1, 2006).
    — The Islamist sociologist Ali Bulaç, a well-known columnist for Zaman, described Gaza as “a concentration camp that in reality surpasses the Nazi camps.” (Zaman, December 29, 2008).
    It is simply astonishing that Israeli officials and Jewish leaders worldwide hardly ever react, at least not publicly, to such widespread and vicious anti-Semitic outbursts in Turkey. Why is Rifat Bali resigned to the fact that “the only options left for Turkey’s Jewish community are to either continue living in Turkey amid widespread anti-Semitism or to emigrate?” This is a fundamental question that Jews themselves should answer!
    By keeping quiet, Jewish leaders are simply encouraging Turkish commentators to continue making racist and insulting remarks. If Israel’s President Shimon Peres and ADL’s National Director Abraham Foxman were not so busy denying the Armenian Genocide, they would perhaps spend more of their time fighting anti-Semitism!