Category: News

Could the SPIEF boost the TurkStream flows?

Putin and Erdogan open TurkStream gas pipeline

The Saint Petersburg Economic Forum to be held in Russia on June 2-5 is the first post pandemic global event that is focused to gather international delegations from the U.S., Germany, Italy, China, South Asia and the Middle East.

With the Forum’s main focus on energy and sustainable development, Russia aims to boost international trade ties and attract investments to its economy. And Turkey could be among most prospective partners for Russia following the SPIEF ambitions. Today Ankara’s major interest is to provide permanent gas flows through the Turkish Stream. On the other side, Turkey, a NATO’s member, has been manipulated by the United States for years following Washington’ efforts to sign a deal with Ankara on U.S. natural compress gas (GNC).

However, the recent tensions between Biden and Erdogan on Ankara’s recognition of the atrocities committed against the Armenian people in 1915 as genocide as well as the recent criticism of Erdogan towards the U.S. on the Gaza-Israeli conflict have been a sore spot between the countries placing their further economic and political cooperation in question.

This explains why Turkey has been seeking a closer cooperation with Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to support the Turkish Stream supplies. The pipeline, which transits the Black Sea, took five years to complete and is one of two major new natural-gas export routes totaling nearly $20 billion. Russia on its parts also expects to go on line this year and the SPIEF is likely to become a platform for developing further economic cooperation and trade ties between Turkey and Russia.

June 2, 2021
Netanyahu’s Last Battle

Dr. Abdullah Manaz : The MiddleEast Analyst

The most important development in the last Palestine & Israel war was the results of opinion polls regarding the elections to be held in Gaza and the West Bank. It was clearly understood that the Fetih Movement would lose both the Presidency and its majority in the Assembly in these elections. This situation alarmed both Palestinian President Abbas and Netanyahu.

The first step came from Abbas and postponed the elections to an uncertain date. Then Netanyahu stepped up his plan to evict Palestinians around Jerusalem from their homes. He took action to evacuate the homes of about 500 Palestinians in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Radical Jewish Groups also started demonstrations and riots in this neighborhood. However, they encountered resistance from the Palestinians that they never expected. Netanyahu increased his pressure without understanding the religious importance of the month of Ramadan for Muslims. Netanyahu announced on Sunday (May 9th) that the Israeli army will hold a major military exercise in the Lebanese border, the West Bank and Gaza. This was actually the first announcement of the war. The attack of Israeli security forces on the Aksa Mosque ignited the fuse of the bomb. Hamas responded with the same harshness to Netanyahu’s attempt. It announced that if the Israeli Army does not withdraw from the Holy Land, they will respond strongly. Indeed, Hamas fired more than 1000 rockets at Israeli targets overnight.

The range of Hamas Rockets varied between 70 and 100 km. Such an attack came as a surprise to Israel. The rockets that reached TelAviv have killed 5 Israelis and injured dozens so far. A great panic started within the Israeli Police. On the evening of May 11, Palestinians demonstrated in all Israeli cities. Especially in the city of Lid, the Israeli Police lost control and a state of emergency was declared.

Netanyahu claimed that Hamas would pay a huge price. Warplanes hit hundreds of targets in Gaza on May 11-12. Around 50 Palestinians have died so far. 13 of them are children and 4 of them are women.

Although Netanyahu spoke harshly, he contacted Cairo and the United Arab Emirates and offered to mediate with Hamas. Hamas, on the other hand, refused mediation offers and declared that they “do not trust the Israeli government and are ready for a great war”. The Kassam Brigades, which are the Special Military Units of Hamas, said that: “Some of their commanders were martyred in Israeli attacks and they will hit an important target every day”.

It is the first time that Israel has faced such strong Palestinian resistance. Many Zionist writers within Israel and in the US admit that “Israel fell short for the first time”.

Although Netanyahu succeeds in staying in the Government by going to early elections last years, this time he will not be able to do so. This war seems to be Netanyahu’s Final War. The Israeli people are tired of the war, with the exception of some radical groups. Especially 17-year-old youth recruited into the army complain of long military service periods. The New Generation aspires to live in peace with the Palestinian people with whom they live on the street.

May 12, 2021
Joint Statement of Turk American Associations

Americans of Turkish heritage are deeply disappointed with President Joe Biden’s characterization of the Events of 1915 as genocide. President Biden’s April 24 statement is misguided because it:

·       Discriminates against and prejudices our community, by choosing to side with Armenian Americans, while passively denigrating Turkish Americans with the accusation of genocide and contributing to the enduring turcophobia that targets people of Turkish heritage;

·       Denies the tragedy that befell Ottoman Muslims and Jews, during the Armenian insurrections that massacred and displaced over 1 million Ottoman Kurds, Turks, and Jews in eastern Ottoman Anatolia;

·       Disrespects the rule of law, including the United Nations Genocide Convention which designates the International Court of Justice as the adjudicator of allegations of genocide; the Separation of Powers which does not authorize the Executive Branch to adjudicate; and last but not least, Due Process — Presumption of Innocence — Benefit of the Doubt — Equal Protection — all rights denied to our community;

·       Disregards international legal precedent, including the 1921 Malta Tribunals which acquitted 144 Ottoman officials of war crimes, the United Nations which has thrice declared it does not consider the Armenian case a genocide, and the European Court of Human Rights which held that the Armenian case is an allegation and not a proven genocide.

In times when our nation is deeply divided, polarized with hatred and prejudice, and when hate crimes have become routine, including attacks against people of Turkish and Muslim heritage, we wish President Biden would have taken the lessons of April 24, 1915, to promote unifying reconciliation, rather than divisive accusations. President Biden’s unfortunate statement is more about America than Turkey or the world. President Biden should have addressed our own past injustices in America, before casting the stone at others for events more than 100 years ago, thousands of miles away.

·      Ahiskan American Society of Massachusetts

·      American Association of Crimean Turks

·      American Karachai-Kafkas Benevolent Association

·      American Turkish Association of Washington DC (ATADC)

·      Amerika Ülkü Ocaklari New York

·      Association of Turkish American Industrialists and Business

Owners (MUSIAD USA)

·      Azerbaijan Association of New York

·      Azerbaijani Community Center of Pennsylvania

·      Balkan Turks of America

·      Besiktas USA

·      Federation of Turkish American Associations (FTAA)

·      Fenerbahce USA

·      Galatasaray USA

·      Hasene America

·      Long Island Turkish House

·      New York Turkish American Center

·      Samarkandian Forum of Philadelphia

·      TURCA Los Angeles

·      Turkish Ahsican American Association

·      Turkish American Arts Society of America

·      Turkish American Ahiska Association (DATUB)

·      Turkish American Association of New York

·      Turkish American Chamber of Commerce and Industry

(TACCI)

·      Turkish American Giresuns Association

·      Turkish American Giresuns Organization of New York

·      Turkish American Pharmacists Association

·      Turkish American Restaurateurs Association

·      Turkish American National Steering Committee (TASC)

·      Turkish Community Center of Hagerstown, New Jersey

·      Turkish Cultural Association of Rhode Island

.     Turkish Forum – Dunya Turkleri Birligi (TF-DTK )

·      Turkish Hars Union and Community Cultural Alliance

·      Turkish Society of Lancaster, Pennsylvania

·      US Azeris Network (USAN)

·      US Bulgarian Turks Cultural Association and Aid Society

·      Western New England Turkish Association

.       Southern New England Turkish American Association (SNE-TACA)

·      Young MUSIAD USA

April 28, 2021
Condemning the US Administration

I strongly condemn The US Administration, especially President Biden, due to their decision to recognize Armenian allegations.

President Biden’s decision:

** Collaborates with the Government of Armenia which formally declared Turkey as an enemy;

** Hurts Turkish nation, particularly our martyrs who lost their lives while saving an American Division’s soldiers’ lives from sure destruction in the Korean War;

** Collaborates with the enemies of Turkey who has been defending the values of the western civilization for decades;

*Disregards true historical information, archival documents and violates international laws and ethical principles;

** Forgets that many acts of genocide and atrocities have been committed against millions of human beings all over the world for centuries by their own state. This includes millions of American Indians killed, atrocities against Black Americans, using of nuclear weapons against Japan, and millions killed in Vietnam, Korea, Cambodia, Laos, Iraq and Afghanistan with conventional weapons of war.

This politically inexperienced decision was a huge blow to Turkish-American relations. It significantly reduced the value of the Unite States in the eyes of Turks.

Here, I would like to remind a saying of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, (by adapting from army to state) which would hold true for any state: “The value of a state is measured by the value of those who run that state.” Unfortunately, due to this unfair decision, members of the US Administration have undermined the value of their own state by listening to the lies of the Armenian side, violating historical realities, legal and ethical rules, forgetting their own genocides, massacres and atrocities, and putting themselves in a judgmental position and exceeding their limits, even though they are just politicians.

I would like to remind those who made this terribly unwise decision that they are doing significant harm to their own state.

While I strongly condemn the US administratiion once again, I sincerely ask the Turkish Government to react swiftly, adequately and decisively against this hostile decision.

Orhan Tan,

Ret. Major General

April 25, 2021
ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS OWE THEIR LIFE TO TÜRKS

LET THE ARMENIANS AND PRESIDENT BIDEN KNOW THE FOLLOWING FACTS……

Turkish News

· In 1452 Vatican with its status quo had brought the Orthodox Christianity at the stage of extinction. The Christian pope in that era was applying genocide to orthodox people by saying either you become catholic or to be extinction. During that era the Ottoman Empire had prevented the orthodox Christians’ sweeping from history by conquer of istanbul. Because of this fact the clerics of that era had greeted the Ottomans with respect. The closed orthodox churches with the order of Vatican had been reopened. The current biggest orthodox patriarchate namely the Eastern Greek Orthodox Church had reestablished. All orthodox communities had been saved from genocide by this way. The saved communities were as follows;The Greeks, Armenians, Georgians, The Orthodox Gagavuz Turks, Lezgin Turks… and the other orthodoxes which we don’t know the names of them. Those communities whose describing the ottomans as genociders owe all their existence to Ottomans. Whereas the Ottomans had not saved those orthodox communities from extinction there would not be no Greek and Armenian communities that claim the ottomans applied genocide.

April 24, 2021
VAN MASSACRE OF APRIL 21, 1915

TADA-FEYM WORKING GROUP ANNOUNCEMENT ON

On the 106th anniversary of the vicious slaughter of 22,900 innocent Muslims at the provincial center of the City of Van on April 21, 1915 by mutinous Armenian gangs (Hunchak, Dashnak and alike), We, The Turkish People around the world, would like to commemorate our martyrs with compassion and love, bowing down in front of their honorable, loving memory with respect.

The VAN massacre originates from the mutinous attitude fanatical Armenian gangs acquaired in the depths of history. Similar massacres committed by Armenians were witnessed throughout the Ottoman-Russian Wars of 1828 and 1877-78, due Armenians’ cooperation with the enemy, as well as other major massacres Armenians committed on their own.

During the early phases of these Russian invasions, aiming the realization of Russia’s historical ambitions, some Armenians who knew the region very well as Ottoman citizens and whose second language was Turkish, led the Russian forces into Turkish territories, causing them to raid Turkish forces and massacre many Muslims. Armenians have repeated similar practices in the VAN MASSACRE.

Due to the fact that Turkish men were engaged in the war efforts against invading enemy armies on six different battle-fronts during WWI, and that this situation created a vulnerability in the security forces of the region, Armenians who wanted to take advantage of this situation committed wide-scale massacres in Eastern villages and towns of Turkey, against the Muslim population. Armenians’ true intent was to reduce the numbers of the local Muslims, and thereby increase the ratio of the Christian population in the region, against Muslims.

Once the Tsarist Russian Army entered Eastern Anatolia, taking advantage of this weakest time of the Ottoman State, Armenians increased their terror activities in the City of Van with the purpose of gaining majority in the population of the city, while once more helping the invading Russian Army. Their massacres in the region peaked on April 21, 1915, at the centre of Van.

During these massacres where 22,900 Muslims perished, extremely cruel and inhumane acts of murder took place on the Akdamar Island where a historic Armenian Church is located; Armenian gangs also committed all sorts of immoral acts against Muslim women and girls. Many girls and women ended up having to commit suicide by jumping into the Lake of Van in order to protect themselves, their honor and dignity against the Armenians’ sexual violence.

Perhaps the best response to the groundless Armenian claims came from the Armenian Republic’s First Prime Minister, Hovhannes Katchaznouni, in his 1923 manifesto to the Armenian Revolutionary Federation’s (Dashnaktsutyun) Party Conference, in Bucharest. This manifesto of Katchaznouni, which has been removed from the libraries of the civilized(!) Western World by Armenian propagandists, blamed not the Turks but the Armenians as “the responsible party for the suffering of the Armenians”. He states that “the Armenians rebelled against their own state and committed treason by cooperating with the imperialist countries that occupied the Ottoman Empire”.

Based on such Armenian confessions and the research of expert historian and demographer Prof. Justin McCarthy, we now know that 1,189,332 Muslims lost their lives in Anatolia during those years, mainly in the hands of rebellious Armenians.

Considering Johanness Lepsius’ pre-WWI population numbers and numerous archival reports showing the number of Armenians surviving the war, we come to the conclusion that only around 83,000 Armenians lost their lives during the forced relocations of 1915.

Despite such true archival information, Armenian propaganda machine resorts to all kinds of intrigue and deceit, telling world public the biggest lie of all times – that 1.5 million Armenians were killed in the hands of Turks! They pursue policies similar to that of Hitler’s Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. Every year, they engage in political activities to force the politicians around the world to pass meaningless, unbinding resolutions declaring April 24th as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.

On the other hand, we wish the sane, impartial and fair people of the world would at least ask themselves the very question that French historian Prof Yves Bérnard asked himself once, when he gave the following title to one of his books: “Génocide Arménien: Et si on nous avait menti? (Armenian Genocide: What if they have lied to us?)”.

According to the researches of Prof. McCarthy, apart from the human casualties they caused, the Armenian insurgents also destroyed all 3,400 buildings, except 3, in the province of Van, belonging to the Muslims, and left the region.

With Regards and Respect,

Uğur Kara, TADA Chairman Orhan Tan, FEYM Chairman

April 19, 2021