“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
A friend of Doğan Akhanlı holds a banner that reads ‘Justice for Doğan Akhanlı’ in front of the courthouse in Istanbul as the hearing was taking place. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GÜREL
The real reason behind Turkish writer Doğan Akhanlı’s arrest in Istanbul is his work on Armenian genocide claims, German intellectual Günter Wallraff said Wednesday.
Wallraff was in Istanbul to attend the first hearing of Akhanlı, who was arrested last August while returning from self-imposed exile in Germany.
Akhanlı, who fled Turkey after serving sentences for his political activities following the 1980 military coup and settled in Germany as an author, translator and human rights activist, attended the first hearing of a murder case on Wednesday. Prosecutors accuse Akhanlı of being the member and leader of a terrorist organization and of killing jewelry store owner İbrahim Yaşar Tutum during an attempted robbery in 1989. Prosecutors have demanded a life sentence for Akhanlı.
The first hearing was continuing as the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review went to press late Wednesday.
German writer Wallraff told the Daily News that his government was not lending support to Akhanlı, who is also a German citizen.
Wallraff said he believed Akhanlı’s 2003 work “Talat Paşa Minutes,” about the Ottoman political figure seen as responsible for the death of Armenians in the 1915 events, is the real reason behind his arrest.
He said Germany did not want to be involved since it shared responsibility for the Armenian tragedy equally with Turkey.
“Akhanlı is a real intellectual,” said Wallraff, criticizing the fact that despite democratic reforms in Turkey, authors and writers were still being victimized by judicial processes.
“We want to see Turkey in the European Union. But there needs to be improvement in human rights, freedom of expression and democracy,” he said, adding that he does not believe Akhanlı, a long-time friend, committed the murder of which he is accused.
Akhanlı came to Turkey this summer to visit his sick 90-year-old father, but was unable to see to the latter before he died because of his arrest at Atatürk Airport.
“The innocence of Akhanlı will be proven one day or another. But how will one compensate for this humanitarian tragedy?” Wallraff asked.
Anderej Hunko from the German parliament was also present at the trial and said what was happening to Akhanlı was unacceptable.
LOS ANGELES–The US Consulate General in Istanbul was forced to mediate when in 2005 Turkish authorities accused MasterCard of “Insulting Turkishness” after the credit giant published a visitor’s guide to Istanbul, in which it made references to Kurdish aspirations for independence and the Armenian Genocide, newly-published State Department cables leaked by WikiLeaks revealed.
MasterCard, which was a corporate sponsor of the UEFA Champions League Cup Final between Istanbul and Liverpool, published a 290-page “Lonely Planet” guide on the host city and distributed it to visiting athletes and fans. In the guide, the author, an Istanbul-based British journalist depicted Istanbul as a city with an “Eastern” mentality and made references to the Kurds and Armenians. It’s offices received death threats and protests and, as a result, forced to close to protect its employees.
“The breezy narrative noted that ‘Ataturk banned any expression of Kurdishness in an attempt at assimilation,’ adding that major battles and atrocities followed in the 1920s and 1930s, with the deaths of more than 30,000 coming since 1984,” reported the cable written by David Arnett, the then US Consul General in Istanbul.
“On the equally sensitive Armenian issue, the guide noted that while most Armenians had remained loyal to the Ottoman Empire, some had rebelled,” explained Arnett in his cable, adding that the so-called rebellion “set off a powerful anti-Armenian backlash and the ‘widespread massacre of innocent Armenians in Istanbul and elsewhere.’
On June 5, 2005, the Hurriyet Daily News reported that “MasterCard Europe’s CEO Alexander Labak sent a letter of apology to the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism over the guide, which the company claims was mostly written by the Lonely Planet UK.”
“Given the sensitivities that exist here, inclusion of any material on topics such as Turkey’s minority policy or the Armenian tragedy in a sporting guide was in retrospect a serious mistake. The harsh, instinctive reaction, however, shows the heightened sensitivities and hair-trigger nature of public discourse here since the December 17th EU decision [Asbaerz: The 2004 decision by the European Council decision to begin talks of Turkey’s membership in EU]. Post RSO has reached out to Mastercard, which is an active member of the OSAC Advisory Council, to ensure that they are satisfied with the police response they have received and to provide assistance if needed.
Ironically, MasterCard announced on Monday that it would no longer process payments to WikiLeaks and on Wednesday its Web site was attacked by “Operation Payback,” a group that supports and protests the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
via MasterCard Endures Turks’ Wrath for Genocide Reference | Asbarez Armenian News.
The trial of a Turkish-German author living as a political refugee in Cologne has begun in Istanbul. He faces charges of manslaughter and robbery. The controversial trial will shine a spotlight on Turkey’s legal system.
The Armenian massacre during World War I left few survivors
Nearly 20 years after fleeing to Germany from his native Turkey, author Dogan Akhanli has gone before an Istanbul courtroom on Wednesday facing charges of robbery and manslaughter.
The 53-year-old Akhanli, who has lived in Germany since 1991 and holds German citizenship, is charged with involvement in an armed robbery at a currency exchange office in Istanbul in 1989.
His lawyers told the court they would seek an acquittal for their client, who, they said, had been blackmailed under torture and was the subject of a fabricated case.
A delegation of Akhanli’s supporters has traveled to Istanbul for the trial, among them German author Guenter Wallraff, who said earlier Wednesday that Akhanli had revoked statements allegedly given under torture.
“If due process is considered here, he must be released. And I expect this to happen,” Wallraff said. “He is a colleague who has been innocently arrested.”
His publisher Regip Zarakoglu, meanwhile, said “they couldn’t punish Akhanli for his writings, so they’re trying to pin another crime on him.”
Wallraff called for Akhanli’s immediate release
Germany’s Foreign Ministry is also expected to be closely watching the trial. Akhanli is receiving consular assistance, and the ministry is in contact with lawyers in Cologne and Istanbul, according to a spokesperson.
Author’s perspective
Akhanli said earlier through his lawyer: “If I wasn’t being threatened with a life sentence, I’d have to laugh about my situation. I feel like Franz Kafka’s tragic-hero Josef K., and not just because I’ve been arrested even though I’m innocent.”
The Cologne-based political author was arrested on August 10 after returning to Turkey for the first time since his escape to visit his ailing father who later died at the end of November without seeing his son. Since August, Akhanli has been held in a prison in the province of Tekirdag.
Following his arrest, Akhanli was also charged with a political offense, as prosecutors have said the crime was part of a move to destabilize the constitutional order in the country. If convicted, he faces life in prison.
Akhanli’s lawyer Haydar Erol has claimed the criminal charges are based on witness statements that were either fabricated or obtained through torture.
He said one witness, the son of the exchange office owner killed during the robbery, later disputed ever having identified Akhanli in a photograph. In addition, Erol said Akhanli’s fingerprints were never found at the scene. “The scenario was produced by the police,” Erol told German press agency dpa in September.
The Armenian massacre during World War I left few survivors
A belated settling of accounts
Erol said the author’s arrest was a belated settling of accounts with the political left. He has called for Akhanli’s release and for the legal proceedings to be discontinued.
After the Turkish military coup in 1980, Akhanli went underground and was arrested four years later for being a member of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Turkey (TDKP). He was imprisoned from 1985 to 1987, during which time he said he was tortured.
Living in Cologne for the past two decades, Akhanli, who has won awards in Turkey and Germany for his writing, has worked with the research association Recherche International to uncover and study the genocides of the last century, in particular the Ottoman Empire’s massacre of Armenians during World War I.
His work has led some to believe he was targeted for writing on the topic. It remains a sensitive subject in Turkey, which has refused to classify the event as genocide.
‘No valid reason to keep Akhanli in custody’
Turkey has refused to classify the Armenian massacre as genocide
Akhanli’s arrest has led to demonstrations in Germany and his supporters, among them Amnesty International, fellow authors, intellectuals and politicians, plan to follow the trial closely.
“There is no valid reason to keep Akhanli in custody,” said Selami Guerel, a friend and supporter. “We expect that he will be released after the first day in court.”
The Berlin Academy of Arts has called for international protests against Akhanli’s arrest, and along with various European human rights organization and legal associations has demanded “freedom and justice.”
Author: Martin Kuebler, Darren Mara (AFP, dpa)
Editor: Rob Turner
via Manslaughter trial of Turkish-German author opens in Istanbul | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 08.12.2010.
PanARMENIAN.Net – Kurds of Turkey admit their ancestors’ blame for and complicity in the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire.
“Armenians were annihilated at our hands and today we pay for sins of the past,” said in Istanbul Chairman of Diyarbakir Chamber of Commerce and Industry Galip Ensarioglu, who is ethnic Kurd.
According to him, if the Kurdish problem is not resolved within upcoming years, it will lead to a new catastrophe in Turkey, Sabah Turkish paper reported.
via Kurds of Turkey admit their ancestors’ blame for Armenian Genocide – PanARMENIAN.Net.
“The Genocide of Truth” (Vol.1) book was written by compiling information from neutral or anti-Turkish sources, which could be found through the middle of the year 2007.
Istanbul Commerce University, with its own resources printed 3000 copies of the book which have been distributed gratis to all Turkish Universities and few Universities overseas. Book presentation was made in early 2008.
The book was also put on the E-library of the blogsite “TurkishArmenians” and made available to the whole world. I understand there has been more than 5000 downloads from the electronic library, ninety percent from outside of Turkey.
The book comprises more than 2000 verbatimbook or original document excerpts. So far, no party claimed that even ONE excerpt is not true!
New documents and sources which have been uncovered “after publishing my first book”, did not only RECONFIRM the TRUTH of EVERYTHING written in there BUT BROUGHT NEW KNOWLEDGE and DOCUMENTS which is shared with readers in this “continuation and final volume in the set!”
Chapter 1
BOOK REVIEW
HISTORY OF THE ARMENIAN REVOLUTIONARY
FEDERATION DASHNAKTSUTIUN 1890-1924
(by HRATCH DASNABEDIAN)
This book written by Armenian historian Hratch Dasnabedian about the foundation and vctories of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, explains in full their past, their methods of milking and blackmailing their own people TO OBTAIN MONEY
“POTORIG” (Storm) to RUN THE OPERATION!
Everything in this chapter is a self confession of their REVOLUTIONARY TERROR METHODS and that they were at WAR with TURKS at ALL TIMES!
Apparently, Dasnabedian had some access to the Armenian archives, WHICH WILL NEVER BE OPENED BECAUSE OF THEIR BLOOD SOAKED RECORDS!
Chapter 2:
The PASTERMADJIAN BROTHERS
TREACHERY or BRAVERY?
This chapter tells the interesting story of one of the great leaders of revolutionaries, who raided the Ottoman Bank in 1896 with 26 volunteers, and was let go to Europe. He became a Doctor of Chemistry and a successful businessman in early 1900 in Tiflis.
With the Ottoman 1908 Elections he was made Parliamentary member for the Province of Erzurum. He was among the top leaders who revolted even before war started! Above, Armenian “Volunteers” taking an oath with the service of Church. He later went to USA, became Ambassador of the short lived Armenian Republic 1918-1920. He wrote a book in 1918 comprising photographs and confessions about revolutions!
His younger brother was an officer in the Turkish Army and was wounded in his foot when fighting Russians and Armenians on the Caucasus.
Chapter 3
ARMENIAN CONFESSIONS of COMPLICITY(Paris 1919)
< Boghos Nubar – A. Aharonian >
This chapter elaborates the official Memorandum given by the Armenian Delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in February 1919 in which they confess their treason and services to Russians, -British and French and ask half of Anatolia as reward, “free of non-Chritians” (85% of the population).
A comparison between my Vol. 1 book and the referred Memorandum is given, reconfirming my first findings.
Chapter 4
Intimate ARF – CUP Cooperation and Loss of Autonomy
This chapter quotes an article by a young Armenian historian scholar Dikran Kaliglian and tells about the story that the Ottomans had offered Autonomy to Dashnakist Armenians in their Congress in Erzurum (August 1914).
Kaliglian’s article is a complete confirmation of my Vol.1 excerpts, except he has omitted some important details.
At the end of the chapter I have attached
< Organic Regulation Project for Turkish Armenia >
English Translation of: REGLEMENT ORGANIQUE pour L’ARMENIE TURQUE
This document (I think) is released for the first time. It gives details, rules and statistics prepared by the “Inspector Generals” for the Two AUTONOMOUS Inspectorates that were to start in 1914. The project was cancelled because of WW1.
Chapter 5:
INNOCENT TURKISH ARMENIANS IN ARMED REVOLT Newspaper Clips 1914-1915 NY TIMES
Chapter 6:
REVIEW and EXCERPTS from “Armenia and the Settlement”
A Report of a public meeting to express sympathy for the Armenian Cause, held at the Central Hall, Westminster, on Thursday June 19, 1919 !
This chapter gives details of a special meeting in London in 1919, after the Paris Conference with morale boosting speeches of various British dignitaries. It is another proof of British duplicity and Armenian treason.
Chapter 7:
NEAR EAST RELIEF Organization Report of the
Activities up to 31.12.1921
U.S. Senate Official Resolution – April 22, 1922
This report makes no mention of Turkish massacres, but almost thanks Turks for help given to Relief Workers. It affirms that 1.414.000 Armenians were all alive on 31.12.1921.
Is it possible to kill 1.5 millions out of 1.3 or 1.4 million population before the war, and have a balance of 1.414.000 after 7 years? Ask any child!
Present US Senate and Congress members FORGET the existence of this DOCUMENT in their records, and say that Turks killed 1.5 million! Who is lying? The US Senate of 1921 or of 2010?
Chapter 8
REVIEW of US Senate Doc. 151/Nov.19,1919 Presented by Mr. Lodge
Another U.S. Senate Document that no one ever mentions.
This document brings light on
WHAT HAPPENED IN PARIS
and how Senator Lodge tried to convince the U.S. Senate to recognize the young Republic of Armenia.
Chapter 9:
Report of Captain Emory H. Niles & Mr. Arthur Sutherland Jr.
(On trip ofinvestigation through Eastern Turkish Vilayets)
This official U.S. document prepared by Captain Niles and Mr. Sutherland after traveling some 1.500 KM in the areas of combat and conflict
affirm that
< …hatred of Armenians, and, strongest of all, the material evidence on the ground itself, have convinced us as of the general truth of the facts, first, that Armenians massacred Musulmans on a large scale with many refinements of cruelty, and second that Armenians are responsible for most of the destruction done to towns and villages.>
Question: Does this 1919 REPORT PREPARED ON SITE, LIE ?
Chapter 10:
U.S. Senate Resolution
General Harbord’s REPORT after a long lasting trip to Turkey in 1919
P.11: Such are conditions to-day in the regions where the remnant of the Armenian people exist; roads and lands almost back to the wild; starvation only kept off by American relief; villages and towns in ruins; brigandage rampant in the Tran Caucasus; lack of medicines and warm clothing; winter comingon in a treeless land without coal. We saw nothing to prove that Armenians who havereturned to their homes in Turkey are in danger of their lives,
This document is never referred to!
Questions;
1. Why this is not
known by U.S.A.?
2. Did they ever give RELIEF to Moslems or to the
Armenians when in Turkish camps?
3. Who guarded the RELIEF supplies?
Chapter 11:
POPPED UP or POLLUTED INFORMATION on POPULATIONS
This chapter presents a large variety of new
authentic U.S. and non-Turkish documents
explaining the great distortions or discrepancies in the numbers of relocated, surviving or dead Armenians at different dates.
Chapter 12:
FREE CONSOLATION versus FRAIL COMPENSATION and CASH HUNT
This chapter shows the letters of agreement between USA and the new Turkish Republic, proving that ALL CLAIMS OF ALL U.S. parties until 1935 have been paid and settled.
Chapter 13:
BOOK REVIEW “SECRETS of a CHRISTIAN TERRORIST STATE ARMENIA
This long chapter analyzes the book written by Samuel Weems, a Baptist Judge, reacting to the treacheries and killings of the Armenians.
It includes the declaration given by 63 scholars back in May,1985 in TheNew York Times and The Washington Post and how some of the scholars were forced to take back their signatures!
It includes a long list or condensed chronology of the international terror acts by Armenians for the period 1918-1999. It tells of the Armenian Legion service to Hitler, with lots of irrefutable documentary evidence.
Chapter 14/1:
FAKE and SHAKE HISTORY by TEACHERS CHEATERS
Examples of various forgeries done by Armenians on documents, with explanatory photographs! Involvement or indifference of some Universities!
Eight separate incidents;
The last one deals with the recent organized FRAUD in the U.S. MEDICARE system involving the swindle of about
$ 163 Millions.
Chapter 14/2:
US HOLOCAUST MUSEUM and POLITICIZED GHOSTS
How a quote, Hitler never said, found a place in the Holocaust Museum of Jews?
How Nazi Armenian Legion (22.000) became “victims” and entered Museum?
Turkish diplomats saved about 15.000 Jews from France but they are not known!
Chapter 15:
A Magical Ambassador and his Disastrous Distortions of History – Book Review of
“Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story”
A rather long chapter exposing the huge differences in what the Ambassador wrote in his book published in 1918 and his personal Diary he kept when he was in Istanbul. The Ambassador’s book and his personal notes and other documents expose his duplicity and changes after he returned to USA in early 1916!
Morgenthau was on the Executive Board of the Near East Relief Organization and that report too does not confirm what the Ambassador wrote in his book to win Wilson’s applause and fabricate “humane cause for USA to enter WW1 and sit with victors”. Gen. Harbord was a Trustee, two Armenian Patriarchs wrote letters, no mention of ANY TURKISH Massacre or mistreatment!
Chapter 16:
U.S.A. AFFIRMS ARMENIANS WERE AT WAR !
Excerpts from Colonel House’s (President Wilson’s personal advisor)
about the conflicts between the Allies at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference.
Colonel House confirms that Armenians were always at war with Turks. He regrets that USA had not declared war on the Ottoman Empire!
Chapter 17:
The 106th ANNUAL REPORT of American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
1916 Report of American Missionaries, how they were treated, how they had to leave Turkey because USA entered in war with Germany and had to break diplomatic ties with Germany’s Ally the Ottoman Empire.
No mention of massacres or mistreatments.
An interesting humane gesture; Enver Pasha gives his own medal to the son of an American doctor who saved many lives, but died of typhus.
Chapter 18:
“Britain and the Armenian Question, 1915-1923″
Book Excerpts – Akaby Nassibian, London
This is an excellent book exposing all contacts between British and Armenians, their flattering, scolding and unkept words
Chapter 19:
Britain’s GREAT WAR; Pope Bendict’s Lost Peace
Excerpts from Belfast Magazine by Dr. Pat Walsh
An interesting study revealing Pope Benedict’s efforts to stop WW1 but that Britain did not want to do any peace!
Chapter 20:
“THE TURKS AND EUROPE” – Excerpts and Comments (Gaston Gaillard – London, 1921)
This book explains the WW1 incidents and the Ottoman Empire’s actions.
This old book presents no great contradictions with the information given in Volume 1 book.
Chapter 21:
The Armenians and Ottoman Military Policy, 1915
Edward J. Erickson “War in History 2008”
This book brings a military explanation to the factors behind the relocations, why some in the internal cities were also relocated for strategic priorities.
Detailed maps with location of the military logistic depots clarifies an important dark part of the history!
Chapter 22:
“THE TRICOLOR OVER THE TAURUS” (Excerpts)
Robert F. Zeidner,
This book elaborates the French occupation of Cilicia, vicinity, and the incidents during the period 1918-1922 which forced them to make a peace with Nationalist Turks and evacuate the area owing to lack of discipline with the army’s Legion d’Orient and Turkish resistance!
Turkey’s political and historical thought prepares for the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, member of ARF Bureau, Levon Mkrtchyan said at a conference dedicated to ARF 120th anniversary.
“Presently, Turkey has raised its Propaganda to a new level, trying to bring falsification of history in line with European standards,” Mkrtchyan said.
According to him, Turkey realizes the necessity of delivering a blow to history, showing the world that the Armenian people does not have the rights it declares.
“At first Turkey’s falsifications were primitive, while now Turkey tries to falsify history with archive materials, at official level,” Mkrtchyan said adding that Armenia should respond to Turkey by holding conferences.
“Such events have great historical and political importance,” ARF representative stressed.
via ARF: Turkey prepares for 100th anniversary of Armenian Genocide – aysor.am – Hot news from Armenia.
