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

  • Senator Saxby Chambliss: Resolution on the so-called Armenian genocide will damage US foreign policy

    Senator Saxby Chambliss: Resolution on the so-called Armenian genocide will damage US foreign policy

     

     
     

    Washington – APA. Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia said the passage of the resolution on the so-called Armenian genocide in the US Senate would damage the country’s foreign policy.

    APA reports that answering the letter sent through US Azeris Network, the senator noted that the passage of S.RES.106 would damage United States-Turkish relations and possibly harm U.S. interests in the Middle East and Central Asia.
    “Such a resolution will not advance the Turkish-Armenian dialogue and it will not improve the process of Turkey’s examination of its own past. The United States-Turkish relationship is both deep and broad. Turkey is a strategic partner with the United States in a number of significant areas, including the War on Terror and the United States ’ involvement in Iraq. Our friendship with Turkey goes back a very long way and we must continue to work together on issues of importance.

    In response to the appeals of the US Armenian community for recognition of the so-called Armenian genocide to the White House, Azerbaijani and Turkish communities of the US have also begun counterpropaganda among the White House officials, Congressmen and public. Letters about the real essence of the 1915 happenings are sent to the US officials through US Azeris Network.

  • Armenian Intellectuals Appeal To Gul For Genocide Recognition

    Armenian Intellectuals Appeal To Gul For Genocide Recognition

     

     

     

     

     

    By Lilit Harutiunian

    Nearly 300 Armenian intellectuals and other public figures have appealed to Turkey to acknowledge that the 1915 mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire constituted genocide, saying that is a necessary condition for Turkish-Armenian reconciliation.

    In an open letter to Turkish President Abdullah Gul made public on Tuesday, they said modern-day Turkey bears “hereditary responsibility” for what they consider an “monumental crime against humanity.”

    “Genocide is a crime against humanity and present civilization values, and no individual, organization or even state authority can cast doubt on what happened,” the letter said, challenging Ankara’s vehement denial of any government policy to exterminate Ottoman Turkey’s Armenian population.

    “Your generation of Turkish leaders must accept the undeniable truth and recognize the fact of the Armenian Genocide … Only in that case can there be a sincere dialogue and a process of real reconciliation between our peoples,” it said.

    The letter was apparently initiated by prominent writers, musicians and artists close to Armenia’s ruling establishment, suggesting that it was approved by President Serzh Sarkisian. The latter has been instrumental in an unprecedented thaw in Turkish-Armenian relations observed in recent months. Sarkisian has won plaudits in the West for inviting Gul to visit Yerevan and watch with him a September match between Armenia’s and Turkey’s national soccer teams.

    The so-called “football diplomacy” was followed by a series of further negotiations between the Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers. It is still not clear, however, whether Ankara is ready to normalize relations with Yerevan before a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

    The unprecedented open letter to Gul was welcomed on Tuesday by Giro Manoyan, a leading member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), a junior partner in the ruling coalition that has watched with unease Sarkisian’s diplomatic overtures to the Turks. “I think this letter is significant in the sense that it originated from Armenia and clearly reflects our public’s view that it is impossible to evade the issue of genocide recognition,” Manoyan told reporters.

    Dashnaktsutyun’s top governing body urged the Sarkisian administration last week to exercise caution in the ongoing rapprochement with Turkey, saying that Ankara is using it to scuttle recognition of the Armenian genocide by more countries, notably the United States.

    https://www.azatutyun.am/a/1598796.html

  • ATAA Sends Protest Letter to PBS

    ATAA Sends Protest Letter to PBS

    December 8, 2008

    To the Producers of Frontline and PBS Network,

    In a similar vein with Andrew Goldberg’s “The Armenian Genocide,” which many PBS stations aired in April 2006, the recent short documentary by George Kachadorian – Turkey: A Family Erased – amounts to little more than a paid advertisement for a single view on a genuine and unfinished historic debate.  Likewise, it adds little new to the study of the underlying controversy.  It is simply unremarkable and supports highly predictable theses.  Nevertheless, the broadcasting of this documentary disturbed the Turkish-American community to the utmost degree.

    As you may know, historians and legal scholars who are experts on the late Ottoman Empire, who have actually conducted the archival research and who are skilled in the languages necessary, do not share a doctrinal view on this issue.  For example, the following are among those respected experts who reject the label of genocide to describe the events of the period in question:  Bernard Lewis, Stanford Shaw, David Fromkin, Justin McCarthy, Guenther Lewy, Norman Stone, Kamuran Gurun, Michael Gunter, Gilles Veinstein, and William Batkay.  This is not an exhaustive list.  The ATAA will gladly provide more at your request.

    By no means does the ATAA seek to deny Armenians their voice to tell their story as they perceive it.  Yet many Armenian Americans work tirelessly to ensure that their view of history is the only view that is known.  If rewarded, these efforts will harm the fundamental right of all Americans, not just Turkish Americans, to learn about an historic controversy from a plurality of viewpoints and to reach their own conclusions.  Denying viewers the ability to observe the panel discussion following the program would clearly violate PBS’ standards of balance and objectivity and would eliminate the open dialogue that, as you have noted, is a crucial part of serving our democracy.

    Repeatedly showing documentaries reflecting on a single viewpoint vis-à-vis this complicated chapter in historical scholarship, while displaying a reluctant attitude or no interest at all on the other side of the same tragedy, which affected both Armenians and Muslims, is prejudicial. The PBS mission states that programs are aired that demonstrate multiple perspectives on such issues; PBS is also supposed to consider underserved audiences (i.e., Turkish-Americans), in making its broadcasting decisions.  What galls us most, however, is that PBS, partially with taxpayer funds, has been turned into an accomplice in the “Armenian genocide” industry.  Until PBS broadcasts a program that places the genocide issue in its proper historical perspective, it is failing in its mission as a publicly funded media organization.

    We wholeheartedly hope that you will also consider airing programs that portray other important dimensions of Turkey’s compelling history and urge you to consider airing programs that present views on both sides of the story on Armenian genocide allegations.  The ATAA can help suggest quality programming in this regard, much of which already exists and is ready to be aired.

    The ATAA is a District of Columbia tax-exempt, non-profit corporation comprising more than 50 local Turkish American community associations. Established in 1979, the ATAA promotes the interests of Turkish Americans in the United States. Among its goals is to ensure a balanced and accurate portrayal of Turkey and Turkish Americans in government, the media, and the public at large.

    Thank you for your consideration.

    Nurten Ural
    President
    Assembly of Turkish American Associations

    Contact Information:
    Nurten Ural, President, ATAA

    Onur Isci, Projects Coordinator, ATAA
    202.483.9090 [email protected]
  • TURKEY IN EUROPE, IS IT THE END?- EUROPEAN ARMENIAN FEDERATION PRESS RELEASE

    TURKEY IN EUROPE, IS IT THE END?- EUROPEAN ARMENIAN FEDERATION PRESS RELEASE

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    EUROPEAN ARMENIAN FEDERATION
    For Justice & Democracy
    Avenue de la Renaissance 10
    B-1000 Bruxelles
    Tel/ Fax: +32 2 732 70 27/26
    Website :Eafjd

    l

    PRESS RELEASE

    For immediate release

    Monday 8 December 2008

    Contact : Varténie ECHO

    Tel. / Fax. : +32 (0) 2 732 70 27

    TURKEY IN EUROPE, IS IT THE END?

    – the draft report presented Tuesday in the European Parliament seems to definitely abandon the prospect of Turkey’s progress as well as its accession perspective

    – December 2009 set as a deadline date

    The Member of the European Parliament Ria Oomen-Ruijten (European Popular Party, Conservative, Netherlands) presented on Tuesday the draft version of her 2008 report on Turkey in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament. Significantly, this presentation occurred late in front of a sparse assembly of Turkey’s supportive MEPs and of Anatolian journalists.

    From a general perspective, the draft resolution impresses through the resigned dissatisfaction it expresses: “concerns” and “regrets” are the main message delivered to Ankara while accession prospect is even no more mentioned, but to recall that it is subordinated to the “full compliance with all the Copenhagen criteria and EU integration capacity”.

    On the other hand, the report recalls its “concern to see in Turkey, for the third consecutive year, a continuous slowdown of the reform process” despite the strong mandate of the AKP government. It regrets too that the EC-Turkey Association Agreement and the Additional Protocol – which would be considered by Brussels as an implicit recognition of Cyprus by Turkey – “have not yet been implemented fully by the Turkish government” and it recalls that the non-fulfilment by Ankara of its commitment “by December 2009 will further seriously affect the process of negotiations”.

    “We are pleased to note the new tone of this report, compared to the previous year, which is now pointing out Turkey’s shortcomings rather than excusing them. Facing the countless failed pledges of Ankara, this report gives ground to the credibility of the EU political approach” stated Laurent Leylekian, executive director of the European Armenian Federation.

    About Human Rights and freedom of speech issues, the report regrets that “freedom of expression and freedom of the press are still not fully protected in Turkey”, that the amendment to Article 301 of the Penal Code was not sufficient, as people continue to be prosecuted” and it is now calling for the repeal of this article. It regrets also “the frequent website bans, the extent of which draws Turkey away from standards of a democratic, pluralistic society”.

    About minorities, the draft report expresses its concerns “about continuing hostility and violence” that they endure and about the fact that “Turkey has made no progress on ensuring cultural diversity and promoting respect for, and protection of, minorities”

    “These actual facts are very important to remind us, especially now, as Turkey is currently threatening even Europeans in Europe, especially those who dare to mention the Kurdish issue or the Armenian genocide – for instance columnists Alberto Rosselli, Dogan Özgüden or professor Ronald Mönsch” commented the director of the European Armenian Federation.

    About the various aspects of the Armenian issue, Mrs Oomen-Ruijten report “Welcomes the visit of President Gül to Armenia in September 2008 following an invitation from President Sarkisian, and hopes that it will indeed foster a climate favourable to the normalisation of relations between their countries”. The paragraph also “calls on the Turkish government to re-open its border with Armenia and to restore full economic and political relations with Armenia”. Lastly, Mrs Oomen-Ruijten restates her motto, calling “once again on the Turkish and Armenian governments to start a process of reconciliation, in respect of the present and the past, allowing for a frank and open discussion of past events; and calls on the Commission to facilitate this reconciliation process”.

    “This time again, Mrs Oomen-Ruijten keeps on to equalise victims and their butchers while genocide is an imprescriptible crime against Humanity that cannot be reduced to bilateral relations between two States” declared Laurent Leylekian. “We regret this outmoded attitude through which Turkey is encouraged to keep on its denial policy and through which she put in jeopardy Turkish intellectuals who are now less afraid to talk about the Armenian Genocide as such than some MEPs” he concluded.

    You receive this Press Release from :
    European Armenian Federation
    for Justice & Democracy
    Avenue de la Renaissance 10
    Brussels, 1000

    The European Armenian Federation is the biggest and most influential Armenian grassroots organisation in Europe

  • Armenian Activities in the Archive Documents 1914-1918

    Armenian Activities in the Archive Documents 1914-1918

    Turkish Armed Forces published archive documents about Armenian activities between 1914 and 1918. You can download those documents below. (In English, Turkish and original documents in Ottoman)

    Volume 1 | Volume 2 | Volume 3 | Volume 4 | Volume 5 | Volume 6

  • ABOUT INNOCENT ARMENIANS

    ABOUT INNOCENT ARMENIANS

    “As an  Armenian, I never condone terrorism, but there must be a reason behind this. Maybe terrorism will work. It worked for the Jews.

    They have  Israel.”

    Kevork Donabedian, the editor of the Armenian Weekly, an ethnic  newspaper published in the United States, reported in an  article in The  Christian Science Monitor, November 18, 1980

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    “We have first hand information and evidence of Armenian atrocities against our people (Jews). Members of our family witnessed the murder of 148 members of our family near Erzurum, Turkey, by Armenian neighbors, bent on destroying anything and anybody remotely Jewish and/or Muslim. Armenians should look to their own history and see the havoc they and their ancestors perpetrated upon their neighbors.

    Armenians were in league with Hitler in the last war, on his premise to grant themselves government if, in return, the Armenians would help exterminate Jews. Armenians were also hearty proponents of the anti-Semitic acts in league with the Russian Communists.”

    Signed Elihu Ben Levi, Vacaville, California.

    Source: Extracts from a letter dated December 11, 1983, published in the San Francisco Chronicle, as an answer to a letter that had been published in the same journal under the signature of one B. Amarian.

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    ERMENİLERİN YAPTIĞI KATLİAMLARDAN FOTOĞRAFLAR
    Balta ile Katliam: İzmit’in Kollar köyünden Ermeniler tarafından balta ile katledilen müslümanlardan bir kısmının olaydan sonra çekilen fotoğrafı; 1- Boşnak Malik 2- Abdulmecid oğlu Ali 3- Ali oğlu Seyid (14 yaşında) 4- Ömer oğlu Abdulgani 5- Abdulgani oğlu Mecid 6- Abdullah oğlu Hüseyin 7- Bekir oğlu Yusuf 8- Osman oğlu Ismail
    Kaynak : Ermeni Ayaklanmaları ve Ihtilal Hareketleri.

    Erzincan’da Ermeniler tarafından ırzına geçilerek öldürülen Pakize adlı bir Türk kadını.
    Kaynak :Massacre Exerted By The Armenian On The Turks During World War I Pictures.


    25 Nisan 1918’de, Subatan’da Ermeniler tarafından öldürülen Türk çocuklar, kadınlar ve karınları deşilerek bebekleri çıkarılan anneler.
    Kaynak:Massacre Exerted By The Armenian On The Turks During World War I Pictures.

    Erzincan’ın Odabaşı bölgesinde, Ermeniler tarafından oyularak katledilen bir Türk.
    Kaynak :Massacre Exerted By The Armenian On The Turks During World War I Pictures.

     


    Sivas’ta Ermeni çeteleri tarafından yapılan katliamda boğazı kesilerek öldürülen jandarma Mustafa.
    Kaynak : Ermeni Ayaklanmaları ve Ihtilal Hareketleri.


    Ordudan hava değişikliği için terhis edilen ve 23 Temmuz 1915 de Diyarbakır’ın Lice kazasına bağlı Kum ve Çom köyleri civarında elleri ayakları bağlanarak Ermeni komitecileri tarafından şehid edilen askerler.
    Kaynak : Ermeni Ayaklanmaları ve Ihtilal Hareketleri.

    Diyarbakır’ın Şark nahiyesine bağlı Hızır İlyas köyü Mersani deresi (23 Temmuz 1915). Hono ismindeki ermeninin başında bulunduğu çete tarafından hançer ve kurşunla şehit edilen erkek, kadın ve çocuklar.
    Kaynak : Ermeni Ayaklanmaları ve Ihtilal Hareketleri.

     

    29 Ağustos 1914 tarihinde Ermeni çeteleri tarafından Siverek-Urfa Yüksekyol ve Karacadağ civarında türbe ziyareti sırasında esir edilip canlı hedef yapılarak şehit edilen müslüman Türkler.
    Kaynak : Ermeni Ayaklanmaları ve Ihtilal Hareketleri.

     


    Silvan civarında, Beşnik ermeni köyüne Van ve Tolorya’dan gelip, Doryan Dano ve kardeşlerinin başında bulunduğu Ermeni çeteleri tarafından 11 Haziran 1915 tarihinde Şeytankaya mevkiinde şehit edilen milis subayı Hamid Efendi komutasında bulunan erzak kafilesi, jandarması ve subayları.
    Kaynak : Ermeni Ayaklanmaları ve Ihtilal Hareketleri.

    Erzincan Odabaşı bölgesinde, birbirlerine bağlanmış halde öldürülmüş kadın ve çocukların cansız bedenleri.
    Kaynak :Massacre Exerted By The Armenian On The Turks During World War I Pictures.

     

    16 Şubat 1918’de, Erzincan’ın Vagarir köyünde, Ermeniler tarafından şehit edilen ve bir evin arkasında bulunan şehit edilmiş Türkler.
    Kaynak :Massacre Exerted By The Armenian On The Turks During World War I Pictures.

      

    Hasankale’de, Ermeniler tarafından şehit edilen kadın ve çocuklar.
    Kaynak:Massacre Exerted By The Armenian On The Turks During World War I Pictures

    —
    Düşmanım, düşmanlığından vazgeçinceye kadar, ben de onun amansız düşmanıyım.
    Gazi Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK

     


    Özkan BOSTANCI