Tag: Armenian

MASSIVE ARMENIAN FRAUD EXPOSED … AGAIN!

The 33 Chilean miners were not the only ones brought to daylight last week; a massive criminal Armenian immigrant ring defrauding the Medicare by a whopping $135 million was, also. While the former delighted us and uplifted our spirits, the latter shocked, disgusted, and outraged us.

How can one not be incensed? While those gold chain wearing, hairy and smelly thieves were lining up to buy 350,000 dollar sports cars with American taxpayers’ hard-earned money, most American families, faced with job cuts, dwindling incomes, and foreclosures, were dreading to put food on table.

But there is worse. What the Armenian crooks perpetrated has far reaching implications impacting a wide range of policies and programs affecting all of us well into the future. These range from the cost of recent health care reforms, identification theft, and safety of senior citizens, all the way to the security of government archives, abuse of taxpayer funds, and foreign policy influenced by Armenian crooks and terrorists with access to some gullible or corrupt American politicians.

ARE BOXER AND MENENDEZ, RECIPIENTS OF ARMENIAN MONEY, CLEAN?

This is why I think Boxer’s campaign chest must be investigated: “Armenian organization to back Barbara Boxer at November elections”, news.am, October 15, 2010: https://news.am/eng/news/34644.html ; )

“ The committee on political affairs of the Armenian Council of America will back Sen. Barbara Boxer at the elections scheduled for November…The Armenian Council of America made the decision due to close ties of Sen. Boxer with the Armenian community and pro-Armenian activities in the Senate…Barbara Boxer is an advocate of the Armenian Genocide recognition and has repeatedly been the author of relevant bills. She also raised the issue on unblocking of the Armenian border by Turkey. Senators Barbara Boxer and Robert Menendez have jointly placed a “hold” on U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan nominee Matthew Bryza, noting his close ties with Azerbaijan.”

Here is my beef with all this: ambassadors to Turkey and Azerbaijan, both staunch American allies, cannot be appointed, as the vetting process is taken hostage by the Armenian lobby through their proxies in the Senate, Boxer and Menendez. I am wondering, therefore, how much of that dirty Armenian money found its way into the coffers of Boxer, Menendez, Schiff, Pallone, Radanovich, and other passionate “genociders” who bend over backwards to appease the Armenian lobby, even at the cost of sacrificing American interests.

I am in the process of getting a copy of the official indictment. I plan to check the Armenian names against the Armenian donors of Boxer and Menendez, as the Federal Election Commission reports are public. If names match, then Boxer and Menendez must resign immediately for using Armenian fraud money to serve Armenian interests. Whether American interests were hurt or not by their actions does not even matter at that moment, because they will have served the interests of a foreign government (Armenia) without first registering as a foreign agent or lobbyist, thus breaking the law. This goes for Schiff, Pallone, Radanovich, and other bogus “genociders” on the hill.

I appreciate that it could be hard to check, since Boxer has had over 8,000 donors in 2010, and the tricky Armenians use different spelling variations of their names making it much harder to track them down without serious investment of time and resources. But I think FBI should do it to protect the American taxpayer. If FBI finds some of those Armenian crooks in the donor rolls of Boxer, Menendez, or others, then so be it! If they do the crime, they should do the time. Let’s throw the trash out! Impeach them!

If you think all this is far-fetched, then I suggest you think again. See, for example, “Dem donor arrested in Medicare ring”, Politico, October 14, 2010 ( .)

One of the alleged Armenian gangsters arrested in the record-breaking $163 million Medicare fraud scheme was also a major donor to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Pogos Satamyan of Glendale, CA, reportedly arrested today, gave the DCCC $10,000 just this July, according to public records. (Only $10K? What a cheapskate! )

OUTSMARTING THE SYSTEM: A “SKILL” REVERED IN ARMENIAN CULTURE

Armenian fraud is not something new. “Outsmarting the system” seems to be a national pass time among most Armenians. Deception, fraud, lies, in the finest tradition of Andonian of the fake Talaat telegrams fame, should give any fair minded American a clue about the Armenian psyche.

What I wonder is not that organized Armenian fraud makes the news for the millionth time, but did any of this Armenian fraud money, even a cent, found its way into the campaign funds of some gullible and/or corrupt politicians. After all, these politicians sold America’s interests time and again, just for a few dirty Armenian dollars, didn’t they? Shouldn’t we impeach corrupt politicians for siding with Armenian criminals?

ARMENIAN FRAUD AND DECEPTION: A CHRONIC DISEASE

This is not the first case of medical fraud by Armenians in US, nor is it the biggest. For example, just two years ago, in 2008, some 6 Armenians were indicted by the FBI on a $2 million fraud case: . Here is what was said in the April 4, 2008 report “ Six arrested and charged in connection with $2 million health care fraud ring”:

“ LOS ANGELES – Six men charged with running a crime ring that stole nearly $2 million from federal and private health insurers were arrested here today following a federal and local probe involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) into a health care fraud scheme.
Collectively, the defendants face 62 counts of conspiracy to commit a crime, money laundering and grand theft of personal property. The alleged crimes occurred between March 2005 and September 2006.

‘On a national level, health care fraud continues to milk billions of dollars annually from government-funded health plans and private health insurers,’ District Attorney Steve Cooley said. ‘Health care fraud affects us all. These criminals not only squander health funds for underserved populations who truly warrant subsidized aid, they also affect the average consumer who is hit in the pocket book by fraud-related costs incurred by private health companies.’

Robert Schoch, special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Office of Investigations in Los Angeles, said ICE will continue to work with its local and federal law enforcement partners to attack and dismantle these kinds of schemes.

‘Aside from the obvious harm to insurers and needy patients, the money siphoned off in fraud schemes like this is often funneled into other forms of criminal enterprise,’ Schoch said.

Those charged in the case are: Karapet Khacheryan, 37; Hovik Joe Altunyan, 30; Edkar Mikirtijyan, 25; Grigor Khorikyan, 29; Vahan E. Harutyunyan, 32; and Smbat Khachtryan, 26. The six men are due to be arraigned at the Criminal Justice Center April 7. Bail is recommended at $1.98 million for each defendant.
The case, which was referred to the District Attorney’s Office by ICE and the United States Department of Health and Human Services – Office of the Inspector General, began as a drug and money laundering investigation, later expanding to include health care fraud.

‘Fighting Medicare and Medicaid fraud is a top priority,” said Glenn Ferry, Special Agent in Charge for the Los Angeles Region of the Office of Inspector General for the federal Department of Health and Human Services. “We will work tirelessly with our federal and state law enforcement partners to bring those who perpetrate such frauds to justice.’

The men were taken into custody early this morning by federal authorities from residences in North Hollywood, Glendale, and Van Nuys, Calif. A seventh suspect was taken into custody on an unrelated gun charge. Search warrants also were executed at two businesses in Burbank. Of those named in the case, the highest number of charges faced by a single defendant is 31 counts. ..”

It was a coordinated effort The Los Angeles County Health Authority Law Enforcement Task Force (HALT), the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Major Crimes and COPS bureaus, and the California Department of Justice, Bureau of Medical Fraud and Elder Abuse assisted federal agents in this investigation. All defendants faced special allegations because the offenses involved fraud and embezzlement with a pattern of related felony conduct. The special allegations also stemmed from the fact the defendants were suspected of taking more than $500,000, with estimated property losses exceeding more than $1 million.

ARMENIAN THIEVERY HAS DEEP CULTURAL ROOTS

I remember well how back in 1999, we were all shocked to learn that a bunch of Armenian crooks defrauded Medi-Cal (that’s California’s Medicaid) of $1 billion USD! That’s by far the largest medical fraud case in the history of the world:

Here is what was reported by Rone Tempest , Los Angeles Times Sacramento Bureau Chief, on December 08, 1999, in his article titled “Medi-Cal Scandal Alarms Armenians”:

“ Culture: Leaders stress that those caught are a tiny minority, and that they may have learned such behavior as a survival skill in former Soviet Union.

Chagrined by the estimated $1-billion Medi-Cal fraud scandal among new immigrants in their community, Armenian church and civic leaders say that an explanation may lie not in Los Angeles, where most of the crime occurred, but in the culture and politics of their homeland in the former Soviet Union.

Vazken Movsesian, parish priest of St. Gregory Armenian Orthodox Church in Pasadena, said members of the largely ethnic Armenian network charged with bilking the state and federal governments using phony medical billings came from a place ‘where the government was the government you cheated from.’ “

Nice try by the Armenian priest to control damage, but unfortunately for Armenians, the organized fraud cases unearthed since this 1999 report shows that the Armenian community supports such illegal activities, just like they supported Armenian terrorism victimizing Turks, both in the Ottoman Empire from 1882-1922 and in the United States 1973 to present. Violence and corruption, the twin evils, seem to find fertile grounds in the Armenian culture.
Armenian Consul General in Los Angeles and Mayor are in jail as we speak for selling fake documents to Armenian murderers and rapists to get a permanent residence in USA, for a mere , $35.000… A bargain!

ARMENIA IN PANIC

Alarmed by the developments, the government of Armenia embarked upon a hastily put together damage control program (See “Armenia to help US investigate Medicare scam”, By AVET DEMURYAN, Associated Press, YEREVAN, Armenia, October 14, 2010: . ) Too little, too late.

Armenia now says it will cooperate with the United States in an investigation of Armenian gangsters accused of using bogus health care clinics to cheat Medicare out of $163 million.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan said today that Armenia was sorry. The operation was reportedly led by captured crime boss, Armen Kazarian, who is known by the Soviet term “thief in law,” or “godfather” in English. Here is the rub: a top Armenian police who wanted to remain anonymous apparently told The Associated Press that about 40 ethnic Armenian godfathers operate in Europe, the U.S., Australia and the Middle East. U.S. authorities, who say this is the largest fraud in Medicare’s history, are not amused.

VIDEOS OF ARMENIAN CROOKS AND SWINDLERS AVAILABLE

See “Dozens Charged in $163M Medicare Fraud Scheme”, a CBS, , New York, Oct. 13, 2010:

Here is a glimpse of what CBS said:

“A vast network of Armenian gangsters and their associates used phantom health care clinics and other means to try to cheat Medicare out of $163 million, the largest fraud by one criminal enterprise in the program’s history, U.S. authorities said Wednesday. (Scroll down to watch a “60 Minutes” report on Medicare fraud from earlier this year)

Federal prosecutors in New York and elsewhere charged 73 people. Most of the defendants were captured during raids Wednesday morning in New York City and Los Angeles, but there also were arrests in New Mexico, Georgia and Ohio.

CBS News reports that more than 60 people were in custody as of Wednesday afternoon.

The scheme’s scope and sophistication “puts the traditional Mafia to shame,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said at a Manhattan news conference. “They ran a veritable fraud franchise.” ( Read the First Indictment (PDF) , Read the Second Indictment (PDF) )

Unlike other cases involving crooked medical clinics bribing people to sign up for unneeded treatments, the operation was “completely notional,” Janice Fedarcyk, head of the FBI’s New York office, said in a statement. “The whole doctor-patient interaction was a mirage.” (video:
Medicare Fraud: A $60 Billion Crime )

The operation was under the protection of an Armenian crime boss, known in the former Soviet Union as a “vor,” prosecutors said. The reputed boss, Armen Kazarian, was in custody in Los Angeles.

Bharara said it was the first time a vor – “the rough equivalent of a traditional godfather” – had been charged in a U.S. racketeering case.

Kazarian, 46, of Glendale, Calif., and two alleged ringleaders – Davit Mirzoyan, 34, also of Glendale, and Robert Terdjanian, 35, of Brooklyn – were named in an indictment unsealed in Manhattan.

Most of the defendants were to appear in court later Wednesday on charges including racketeering conspiracy, bank fraud, money laundering and identity theft.

Authorities began the New York-based investigation after information on 2,900 Medicare patients in upstate New York – including Social Security numbers and dates of birth – were reported stolen.

The defendants in the New York case also had stolen the identities of doctors and set up 118 phantom clinics in 25 states, authorities said. The names were used to submit fake bills for care that was never given, they said.

Some of the phony paperwork was a giveaway: It showed eye doctors doing bladder tests; ear, nose and throat specialists performing pregnancy ultrasounds; obstetricians testing for skin allergies; and dermatologists billing for heart exams…”

In the New York portion of the case, more $100 million in fraudulent bills were submitted and Medicare paid out at least $35 million, sometimes by wiring it to the clinics’ banks accounts, according to the investigators. Most of the defendants were reported to be “ Armenian nationals or immigrants” with substantial ties to Armenia and even criminals there, in the indictment. Couriers would often carry cash proceeds from the fraud back to Armenia, it added. Prosecutors were reportedly seeking forfeiture of real estate in Las Vegas; Palm Springs, Calif.; and elsewhere, and of expensive cars like a 2007 Maserati and a 2006 Jaguar.

***

This is far from over as the saga of Armenian thieves, crooks, swindlers, fast talkers, and genocide peddlers continues…

Stay tuned !

October 18, 2010
MASSIVE ARMENIAN FRAUD EXPOSED … AGAIN!

The 33 Chilean miners were not the only ones brought to daylight last week; a massive criminal Armenian immigrant ring defrauding the Medicare by a whopping $135 million was, also. While the former delighted us and uplifted our spirits, the latter shocked and outraged us.

How can one not be incensed? While those gold chain wearing, hairy and smelly thieves were lining up to buy 350,000 dollar sports cars with American taxpayers’ hard-earned money, most American families, faced with job cuts, dwindling incomes, and foreclosures, were dreading to put food on table.

But there is worse. What the Armenian crooks perpetrated has far reaching implications impacting a wide range of policies and programs affecting all of us well into the future. These range from the cost of recent health care reforms, identification theft, and safety of senior citizens, all the way to the security of government archives, abuse of taxpayer funds, and foreign policy influenced by Armenian crooks and terrorists with access to some gullible or corrupt American politicians.

ARE BOXER AND MENENDEZ, RECIPIENTS OF ARMENIAN MONEY, CLEAN?

This is why I think Boxer’s campaign chest must be investigated: “Armenian organization to back Barbara Boxer at November elections”, news.am, October 15, 2010: https://news.am/eng/news/34644.html ; )

“ The committee on political affairs of the Armenian Council of America will back Sen. Barbara Boxer at the elections scheduled for November…The Armenian Council of America made the decision due to close ties of Sen. Boxer with the Armenian community and pro-Armenian activities in the Senate…Barbara Boxer is an advocate of the Armenian Genocide recognition and has repeatedly been the author of relevant bills. She also raised the issue on unblocking of the Armenian border by Turkey. Senators Barbara Boxer and Robert Menendez have jointly placed a “hold” on U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan nominee Matthew Bryza, noting his close ties with Azerbaijan.”

Here is my beef with all this: ambassadors to Turkey and Azerbaijan, both staunch American allies, cannot be appointed, as the vetting process is taken hostage by the Armenian lobby through their proxies in the Senate, Boxer and Menendez. I am wondering, therefore, how much of that dirty Armenian money found its way into the coffers of Boxer, Menendez, Schiff, Pallone, Radanovich, and other passionate “genociders” who bend over backwards to appease the Armenian lobby, even at the cost of sacrificing American interests.

I am in the process of getting a copy of the official indictment. I plan to check the Armenian names against the Armenian donors of Boxer and Menendez, as the Federal Election Commission reports are public. If names match, then Boxer and Menendez must resign immediately for using Armenian fraud money to serve Armenian interests. Whether American interests were hurt or not by their actions does not even matter at that moment, because they will have served the interests of a foreign government (Armenia) without first registering as a foreign agent or lobbyist, thus breaking the law. This goes for Schiff, Pallone, Radanovich, and other bogus “genociders” on the hill.

I appreciate that it could be hard to check, since Boxer has had over 8,000 donors in 2010, and the tricky Armenians use different spelling variations of their names making it much harder to track them down without serious investment of time and resources. But I think FBI should do it to protect the American taxpayer. If FBI finds some of those Armenian crooks in the donor rolls of Boxer, Menendez, or others, then so be it! If they do the crime, they should do the time. Let’s throw the trash out! Impeach them!

If you think all this is far-fetched, then I suggest you think again. See, for example, “Dem donor arrested in Medicare ring”, Politico, October 14, 2010 ( .)

One of the alleged Armenian gangsters arrested in the record-breaking $163 million Medicare fraud scheme was also a major donor to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Pogos Satamyan of Glendale, CA, reportedly arrested today, gave the DCCC $10,000 just this July, according to public records. (Only $10K? What a cheapskate! )

OUTSMARTING THE SYSTEM: A “SKILL” REVERED IN ARMENIAN CULTURE

Armenian fraud is not something new. “Outsmarting the system” seems to be a national pass time among most Armenians. Deception, fraud, lies, in the finest tradition of Andonian of the fake Talaat telegrams fame, should give any fair minded American a clue about the Armenian psyche.

What I wonder is not that organized Armenian fraud makes the news for the millionth time, but did any of this Armenian fraud money, even a cent, found its way into the campaign funds of some gullible and/or corrupt politicians. After all, these politicians sold America’s interests time and again, just for a few dirty Armenian dollars, didn’t they? Shouldn’t we impeach corrupt politicians for siding with Armenian criminals?

ARMENIAN FRAUD AND DECEPTION: A CHRONIC DISEASE

This is not the first case of medical fraud by Armenians in US, nor is it the biggest. For example, just two years ago, in 2008, some 6 Armenians were indicted by the FBI on a $2 million fraud case: . Here is what was said in the April 4, 2008 report “ Six arrested and charged in connection with $2 million health care fraud ring”:

“ LOS ANGELES – Six men charged with running a crime ring that stole nearly $2 million from federal and private health insurers were arrested here today following a federal and local probe involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) into a health care fraud scheme.
Collectively, the defendants face 62 counts of conspiracy to commit a crime, money laundering and grand theft of personal property. The alleged crimes occurred between March 2005 and September 2006.

‘On a national level, health care fraud continues to milk billions of dollars annually from government-funded health plans and private health insurers,’ District Attorney Steve Cooley said. ‘Health care fraud affects us all. These criminals not only squander health funds for underserved populations who truly warrant subsidized aid, they also affect the average consumer who is hit in the pocket book by fraud-related costs incurred by private health companies.’

Robert Schoch, special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Office of Investigations in Los Angeles, said ICE will continue to work with its local and federal law enforcement partners to attack and dismantle these kinds of schemes.

‘Aside from the obvious harm to insurers and needy patients, the money siphoned off in fraud schemes like this is often funneled into other forms of criminal enterprise,’ Schoch said.

Those charged in the case are: Karapet Khacheryan, 37; Hovik Joe Altunyan, 30; Edkar Mikirtijyan, 25; Grigor Khorikyan, 29; Vahan E. Harutyunyan, 32; and Smbat Khachtryan, 26. The six men are due to be arraigned at the Criminal Justice Center April 7. Bail is recommended at $1.98 million for each defendant.
The case, which was referred to the District Attorney’s Office by ICE and the United States Department of Health and Human Services – Office of the Inspector General, began as a drug and money laundering investigation, later expanding to include health care fraud.

‘Fighting Medicare and Medicaid fraud is a top priority,” said Glenn Ferry, Special Agent in Charge for the Los Angeles Region of the Office of Inspector General for the federal Department of Health and Human Services. “We will work tirelessly with our federal and state law enforcement partners to bring those who perpetrate such frauds to justice.’

The men were taken into custody early this morning by federal authorities from residences in North Hollywood, Glendale, and Van Nuys, Calif. A seventh suspect was taken into custody on an unrelated gun charge. Search warrants also were executed at two businesses in Burbank. Of those named in the case, the highest number of charges faced by a single defendant is 31 counts. ..”

It was a coordinated effort The Los Angeles County Health Authority Law Enforcement Task Force (HALT), the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Major Crimes and COPS bureaus, and the California Department of Justice, Bureau of Medical Fraud and Elder Abuse assisted federal agents in this investigation. All defendants faced special allegations because the offenses involved fraud and embezzlement with a pattern of related felony conduct. The special allegations also stemmed from the fact the defendants were suspected of taking more than $500,000, with estimated property losses exceeding more than $1 million.

ARMENIAN THIEVERY HAS DEEP CULTURAL ROOTS

I remember well how back in 1999, we were all shocked to learn that a bunch of Armenian crooks defrauded Medi-Cal (that’s California’s Medicaid) of $1 billion USD! That’s by far the largest medical fraud case in the history of the world:

Here is what was reported by Rone Tempest , Los Angeles Times Sacramento Bureau Chief, on December 08, 1999, in his article titled “Medi-Cal Scandal Alarms Armenians”:

“ Culture: Leaders stress that those caught are a tiny minority, and that they may have learned such behavior as a survival skill in former Soviet Union.

Chagrined by the estimated $1-billion Medi-Cal fraud scandal among new immigrants in their community, Armenian church and civic leaders say that an explanation may lie not in Los Angeles, where most of the crime occurred, but in the culture and politics of their homeland in the former Soviet Union.

Vazken Movsesian, parish priest of St. Gregory Armenian Orthodox Church in Pasadena, said members of the largely ethnic Armenian network charged with bilking the state and federal governments using phony medical billings came from a place ‘where the government was the government you cheated from.’ “

Nice try by the Armenian priest to control damage, but unfortunately for Armenians, the organized fraud cases unearthed since this 1999 report shows that the Armenian community supports such illegal activities, just like they supported Armenian terrorism victimizing Turks, both in the Ottoman Empire from 1882-1922 and in the United States 1973 to present. Violence and corruption, the twin evils, seem to find fertile grounds in the Armenian culture.
Armenian Consul General in Los Angeles and Mayor are in jail as we speak for selling fake documents to Armenian murderers and rapists to get a permanent residence in USA, for a mere , $35.000… A bargain!

ARMENIA IN PANIC

Alarmed by the developments, the government of Armenia embarked upon a hastily put together damage control program (See “Armenia to help US investigate Medicare scam”, By AVET DEMURYAN, Associated Press, YEREVAN, Armenia, October 14, 2010: . ) Too little, too late.

Armenia now says it will cooperate with the United States in an investigation of Armenian gangsters accused of using bogus health care clinics to cheat Medicare out of $163 million.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan said today that Armenia was sorry. The operation was reportedly led by captured crime boss, Armen Kazarian, who is known by the Soviet term “thief in law,” or “godfather” in English. Here is the rub: a top Armenian police who wanted to remain anonymous apparently told The Associated Press that about 40 ethnic Armenian godfathers operate in Europe, the U.S., Australia and the Middle East. U.S. authorities, who say this is the largest fraud in Medicare’s history, are not amused.

VIDEOS OF ARMENIAN CROOKS AND SWINDLERS AVAILABLE

See “Dozens Charged in $163M Medicare Fraud Scheme”, a CBS, , New York, Oct. 13, 2010:

Here is a glimpse of what CBS said:

“A vast network of Armenian gangsters and their associates used phantom health care clinics and other means to try to cheat Medicare out of $163 million, the largest fraud by one criminal enterprise in the program’s history, U.S. authorities said Wednesday. (Scroll down to watch a “60 Minutes” report on Medicare fraud from earlier this year)

Federal prosecutors in New York and elsewhere charged 73 people. Most of the defendants were captured during raids Wednesday morning in New York City and Los Angeles, but there also were arrests in New Mexico, Georgia and Ohio.

CBS News reports that more than 60 people were in custody as of Wednesday afternoon.

The scheme’s scope and sophistication “puts the traditional Mafia to shame,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said at a Manhattan news conference. “They ran a veritable fraud franchise.” ( Read the First Indictment (PDF) , Read the Second Indictment (PDF) )

Unlike other cases involving crooked medical clinics bribing people to sign up for unneeded treatments, the operation was “completely notional,” Janice Fedarcyk, head of the FBI’s New York office, said in a statement. “The whole doctor-patient interaction was a mirage.” (video:
Medicare Fraud: A $60 Billion Crime )

The operation was under the protection of an Armenian crime boss, known in the former Soviet Union as a “vor,” prosecutors said. The reputed boss, Armen Kazarian, was in custody in Los Angeles.

Bharara said it was the first time a vor – “the rough equivalent of a traditional godfather” – had been charged in a U.S. racketeering case.

Kazarian, 46, of Glendale, Calif., and two alleged ringleaders – Davit Mirzoyan, 34, also of Glendale, and Robert Terdjanian, 35, of Brooklyn – were named in an indictment unsealed in Manhattan.

Most of the defendants were to appear in court later Wednesday on charges including racketeering conspiracy, bank fraud, money laundering and identity theft.

Authorities began the New York-based investigation after information on 2,900 Medicare patients in upstate New York – including Social Security numbers and dates of birth – were reported stolen.

The defendants in the New York case also had stolen the identities of doctors and set up 118 phantom clinics in 25 states, authorities said. The names were used to submit fake bills for care that was never given, they said.

Some of the phony paperwork was a giveaway: It showed eye doctors doing bladder tests; ear, nose and throat specialists performing pregnancy ultrasounds; obstetricians testing for skin allergies; and dermatologists billing for heart exams…”

In the New York portion of the case, more $100 million in fraudulent bills were submitted and Medicare paid out at least $35 million, sometimes by wiring it to the clinics’ banks accounts, according to the investigators. Most of the defendants were reported to be “ Armenian nationals or immigrants” with substantial ties to Armenia and even criminals there, in the indictment. Couriers would often carry cash proceeds from the fraud back to Armenia, it added. Prosecutors were reportedly seeking forfeiture of real estate in Las Vegas; Palm Springs, Calif.; and elsewhere, and of expensive cars like a 2007 Maserati and a 2006 Jaguar.

***

This is far from over as the saga of Armenian thieves, crooks, swindlers, fast talkers, and genocide peddlers continues…

Stay tuned !

October 16, 2010
VAN REBELLION BY ARMENIANS: IT WAS THE 9/11 FOR THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE

Why is it that the Muslim victims at the hands of Armenian nationalists during WWI is almost always ignored?

According to the “Dictionary of WWI” by Stephen Pope & Elizabeth-Anne Wheal, 2003, ISBN 0 85052 979-4, page 34, 120,000 Muslims, mostly Turkish, were killed by Armenian nationalists in 1914.

And that does not even take into account the infamous Van Rebellion by Armenians in April of 1915.

Why is it so difficult to comprehend that the Van Revolt by Armenians—where about 40,000 Muslim inhabitants of the town were cut down by Armenians and the city was turned over to Russian invader—is the EQUIVALENT TO 9/11 FOR THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE?

Consider this: The U.S. crossed oceans and continents to wage a trillion dollar global war on terrorism because about 3,000 of its citizens were killed on American soil. Why is it, then, so difficult to understand that the Ottoman Empire, having lost 120,000 of its citizens, resorted to similar , but much lesser, measures of TERESET (Temporary Resettlement) of the perpetrators?

Rephrased, how can 3,000 victims in 2001 justify a international, global war, but 120,000 victims in 1914 (and many more in 1915) do not justify even a domestic, local TERESET ?

Values and concepts like fairness, balance, double standards, religious bias, ethnic bigotry, racial prejudice, defamation, demonization, and others seem to all come into play here…

24TH OF APRIL, 1915: IT IS THE BEGINNING OF OTTOMAN GUANTANAMO, NOT A BOGUS GENOCIDE

Why is it so hard to see that the 24th of April, 1915, is the beginning of OTTOMAN GUANTANAMO, not the bogus genocide. On that day, some 237 Armenian suspects (not thousands as claimed) of treason were arrested and sent to central Anatolia, to places like Corum, and subjected to house arrest, which meant they could roam around during the day but had to check into a designated house at night. Not exactly even Guantanamo, is it? All of them were returned in the end, except two. They were murdered but on unrelated matters of money and trade. No matter how one slices it, this does not sound like genocide, does it?

Here is, then, the forest for those who miss it because of a tree or two: Turks and Armenians had lived in a relatively harmonious cohabitation in Anatolia for nearly a millennium before the Armenian took up arms against their own government towards the end of that millennium (i.e. 1894-1915). Had the Armenians (and others) not taken up arms against their own neighbors, co-citizens, and government, they would have still been living in Anatolia today, just like the Armenians of Istanbul who mostly stayed loyal to the Ottoman Empire .

Since when, then, defending one’s home a genocide?

Would America behave differently today if three million Americans (roughly equivalent of 120,000 Ottomans killed by Armenians) were mercilessly killed by some insurgent groups who then enthusiastically joined the enemy armies equally brutally invading America?

Please!

August 26, 2010
ARMENIAN PROPAGANDA WINS, FOR NOW

Boston Globe reports that a federal appeals court yesterday ruled that statewide public school guidelines on teaching human rights history can exclude materials disputing that the mass slaying of Armenians in the First World War era constituted genocide. Below, please read the article first and then my reaction to it.
***
SCHOOLS CAN EXCLUDE MATERIALS DISPUTING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Court ruled on 1999 case
By Peter Schworm , Boston Globe Staff / August 12, 2010
In a closely watched case, a federal appeals court yesterday ruled that statewide public school guidelines on teaching human rights history can exclude materials disputing that the mass slaying of Armenians in the First World War era constituted genocide.
The decision, written by retired Supreme Court justice David Souter, who occasionally hears cases with the First Circuit Court of Appeals, found that state education officials did not violate public school students’ free speech rights in 1999, when they excluded all “contra-genocide’’ sources calling the Armenian genocide into question.
Van Z. Krikorian, a professor at Pace University Law School who filed a brief defending the state’s move, said he was thrilled by the ruling, equating those who dispute the genocide designation to Holocaust deniers.
“It would have put human rights education in reverse,’’ he said. “It’s a major defeat for genocide denial.’’
Upholding a lower-court decision, the court ruled that although state guidelines were advisory, and “not meant to declare other positions out of bounds in study and discussion,’’ they were part of the official curriculum and therefore under the discretion of state authorities.
Requiring that officials include references to dissenting viewpoints, Souter wrote, “might actually have the effect of foreclosing future opportunities for open enquiry in the classroom.’’
Harvey Silverglate, a Boston civil rights lawyer representing the Assembly of Turkish American Associations, had argued that removing the references amounted to government censorship and prevented students from hearing both sides.
“It always is a sad day when a court constricts First Amendment rights rather than expand them,’’ he said. “I think they made a mistake.’’ Silverglate said his clients will consider whether to appeal.
The Turkish-American group disputes that the Muslim Turkish Ottoman Empire committed genocide against its Christian Armenian minority population. Over 1.5 million Armenians died at the hands of Turkish forces, but Turkish activists maintain it was not the result of a policy.
In 1998, the Legislature ordered the state Board of Education to prepare an advisory curriculum guide for teaching about genocide and human rights, and a draft of the guide initially included a section on the “Armenian Genocide.’’ Under pressure from Turkish advocacy groups, the commissioner of education, David P. Driscoll, revised the draft to include references to opposing views, said the ruling.

When officials filed the guide with legislators in March 1999, the state’s Armenian community protested the inclusion of “contra-genocide’’ viewpoints, and the education commissioner removed the references.
Peter Schworm can be reached at schworm@globe.com.
***

ARMENIAN PROPAGANDA WINS, FOR NOW
Jewish Holocaust is supported by due process and a court verdict by a competent tribunal (Nuremberg, 1945.) What due process and court verdict support Armenian claims of genocide? The answer might surprise you: none! That’s right, Armenian claims are based on a racist and dishonest version of history, not law or the truth. They are racist because they ignore the Turkish victims at the hands of Armenian revolutionaries (120,000 in the year 1914 alone, according to the dictionary of World War One, by Stephen Pope and Elizabeth-Anne Wheal, 2003, page 34.) And they are dishonest because they simply dismiss the six T’s of the Turkish-Armenian conflict. Too bad, our children in Boston will never know that the Armenians took up arms against their own government. Too bad the “poor, starving Armenians myth” will be ingrained in their brains like zombies, never seeing the photos of the Armenian ultra-nationalists armed to the teeth (www.ethocide.com ) They’ll never hear about the Armenians revolts, terrorism, treason, territorial demands and more. Just because a “sundown town” ruling by a misinformed judge said so. The decision must be appealed in the spirit of independence in 1776, anti-slavery in 1862, and civil rights of 1960s.

BIAS & BIGOTRY IN THE TERM “ARMENIAN GENOCIDE”
If one cherishes values like fairness, objectivity, truth, and honesty, then one should really use the term “Turkish-Armenian conflict”. Asking one “Do you accept or deny Armenian Genocide” shows anti-Turkish bias. The question should be re-phrased “What is your stand on the Turkish-Armenian conflict?”
Turks believe it was an inter communal warfare mostly fought by Turkish and Armenian irregulars, a civil war which is engineered, provoked, and waged by the Armenian revolutionaries, with active support from Russia, England, France, and others, all eyeing the vast territories of the collapsing Ottoman Empire, against a backdrop of a raging world war.
Armenians, on the other hand, totally ignoring Armenian agitation, raids, rebellions, treason, territorial demands, and Turkish victims killed by Armenians, unfairly claim that it was a one way genocide.

GENOCIDE ALLEGATIONS IGNORE “THE SIX T’S OF THE TURKISH-ARMENIAN CONFLICT”
While some in unsuspecting public may be forgiven for taking the blatant and ceaseless Armenian propaganda at face value and believing Armenian falsifications merely because they are repeated so often, it is difficult and painful for the children of Turkish survivors of hate crimes committed by Armenian nationalists and other Christians. Those seemingly endless “War years” of 1912-1922 brought wide-spread death and destruction on to all Ottoman citizens. No Turkish family was left touched, mine included. Those nameless, faceless Turkish victims are killed for a second time today with politically motivated and baseless charges of Armenian genocide. Those six T’s which are censored by an ill-informed judge are:
1) TUMULT (as in numerous Armenian armed uprisings between 1894 and 1920)
2) TERRORISM (by well-armed Armenian nationalists and militias victimizing Ottoman-Muslims between 1882-1920)
3) TREASON (Armenians joining the invading enemy armies as early as 1914 and lasting until 1921)
4) TERRITORIAL DEMANDS (where Armenians were a minority, not a majority, attempting to establish Greater Armenia, the would-be first apartheid of the 20th Century with a Christian minority ruling over a Muslim majority )
5) TURKISH SUFFERING AND LOSSES (i.e. those caused by the Armenian nationalists: 524,000 Muslims, mostly Turks, met their tragic end at the hands of Armenian revolutionaries during WWI, per Turkish Historical Society. This figure is not to be confused with about 2.5 million Muslim dead who lost their lives due to non-Armenian causes during WWI. Grand total: more than 3 million, according to Prof. Justin McCarthy.)
6) TERESET (temporary resettlement) triggered by the first five T’s above and amply documented as such; not to be equated to the Armenian misrepresentations as genocide.)

VERDICT WITHOUT DUE PROCESS AMOUNTS TO LYNCHING
Those who take the Armenian “allegations” of genocide at face value seem to also ignore the following:
1- Genocide is a legal, technical term precisely defined by the U.N. 1948 convention (Like all proper laws, it is not retroactive to 1915.)
2- Genocide verdict can only be given by a “competent court” after “due process” where both sides are properly represented and evidence mutually cross examined.
3- For a genocide verdict, the accusers must prove “intent” at a competent court and after due process. This could never be done by the Armenians whose evidence mostly fall into five major categories: hearsay, mis-representations, exaggerations, forgeries, and “other”.
4- Such a “competent court” was never convened in the case of Turkish-Armenian conflict and a genocide verdict does not exist (save a Kangaroo court in occupied Istanbul in 1920 where partisanship, vendettas, and revenge motives left no room for due process.)
5- Genocide claim is political, not historical or factual. It reflects bias against Turks. Therefore, the term genocide must be used with the qualifier “alleged”, for scholarly objectivity and truth.

HISTORY IS A MATTER OF SCHOLARSHIP, NOT CONSENSUS
History is not a matter of “conviction, consensus, political resolutions, political correctness, or propaganda.” History is a matter of research, peer review, thoughtful debate, and honest scholarship. Even historians, by definition, cannot decide on a genocide verdict, which is reserved for a “competent court” with its legal expertise and due process.

POLITICAL LYNCHING OF THE TURKS BY ARMENIANS TODAY
What we witness today amounts to lynching of the Turks by Armenians to satisfy the age old Armenian hate, bias, and bigotry. Values like fairness, presumption of innocence until proven guilty, objectivity, balance, honesty, and freedom of speech are stumped under the fanatic Armenian feet. Unprovoked , unjustified, and unfair defamation of Turkey, one of America’s closest allies in the troubled Middle East, in order to appease some nagging Armenian activists runs counter to American interests.
Those who claim genocide verdict today, based on the much discredited Armenian evidence, are actually engaging in “conviction and execution without due process”. Last time I looked in the dictionary, that was the definition of “lynching”.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH? WHAT FREEDOM?

This unfortunate and racist decision promoting Armenian propaganda over honest scholarship and civil dialogue, turns Boston into a SUNDOWN TOWN. Remember those towns, thousands of them coast to coast that sprang up during the NADIR PERIOD OF RACE RELATIONS in America, i.e. roughly 1890-1940, where signs told so-called COLORED PEOPLE TO LEAVE TOWN BY SUNDOWN or else live with the consequences, which meant death by lynching?
Freedom of speech is dealt such a terrible blow by this SUNDOWN TOWN DECISION by an ill-informed judge today: 11 August 2010. What a sad day for America, , indeed….

August 12, 2010
AMERICA CAN RELY ON TURKEY, BUT NOT ON ANTI-TURKISH LOBBIES IN AMERICA

What follows below is a yet another typical, toxic and vituperative anti-Turkish propaganda, this time from the notorious Turk-hater Congressman Sarbanes, the son of equally notorious Turk-hater Greek-American Senator Sarbanes—of originator of US-arms-embargo-on Turkey- in-1970s fame. Sarbanes spewed this disinformation and falsifications to mark the 36th anniversary of the Turkish rescue and peace operation on Cyprus on July 20, 1974 to protect the lives and liberty of the island’s Turkish Cypriots. First Sarbanes’ words, then my rebuttal. Enjoy!

***

CAN AMERICA RELY ON TURKEY ?

by Rep. John Sarbanes, Huffington Post, July 20, 2010

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/can-america-rely-on-turke_b_652739

Turkey has been getting a lot of attention recently. American foreign policymakers, among others, are beginning to realize that the United States cannot count on its ally Turkey in a pinch. But American surprise and dismay at Turkey ‘s increasing petulance on the world stage and among its NATO peers reflects just how naive the U.S. has been in its interpretation of Turkish behavior over many decades. Turkey ‘s unreliability as a NATO ally and its incompatibility with Western democratic values is well understood by those who have long suffered Turkish aggression in the Eastern Mediterranean .

Turkey ‘s failure to genuinely uphold the shared values of NATO makes it a weak link in the alliance. By design, NATO originated as a defensive political and military alliance for those countries engaged in the hostilities of WWII. Turkey , the largest NATO member not to have fought in WWII, was enlisted to reinforce defenses against the Soviet Union . Yet, in the summer of 1974, NATO member Turkey invaded and occupied more than one third of the island Republic of Cyprus . Coming at the height of the Cold War, and at a time of delicate relations between Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, and the NATO alliance, Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus risked war with NATO member Greece and a resultant rupturing of the NATO alliance.

Adding insult to injury, the weapons used by the Turkish military to invade Cyprus were those of its NATO benefactors, principally the United States . In 1975, the Congress imposed an arms embargo on Turkey for its offensive use of American weapons. Rather than fulfill its NATO obligations, or follow its legal obligations as demanded by Congress , Turkey retaliated by closing all American military installations on Turkish soil, and by severely restricting American access at two NATO bases. At that time, military installations in Turkey were deemed essential surveillance posts in the Cold War fight against the Soviet Union . Turkey refused to reopen these facilities until the U.S. lifted the arms embargo, signaling that its relationship with the United States was never more than a transactional one, rather than one rooted in a shared commitment to the rule of law, individual liberties, democracy, and collective Western security.

July 20th marks 36 years that the Turkish military has occupied Cyprus . In that time, neither the Republic of Cyprus nor its people have directed any aggression towards Turkey . In stark contrast, Turkey maintains an active colonization program where it is illegally resettling some 180,000 Anatolian Turks into the homes and possessions of the 200,000 Greek Cypriots it evicted from the occupied territories. The Turkish military is also systematically eradicating the Hellenic and Christian heritage from the occupied territories. All but five of the 500 Greek Orthodox Churches in the occupied territories have been looted, desecrated, or destroyed. To no avail, the international community, including the United States , the European Union, the United Nations, the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice have all called on Turkey to honor its international obligations and cease and desist from these hostilities against the people of Cyprus .

The Republic of Cyprus is a full-fledged member of the European Union. Turkey seeks that status as well, but as a NATO member illegally occupying European Union soil, Turkey puts NATO and the EU at loggerheads. The result is that the EU and NATO are unable to cooperate in the consolidation of their economic and strategic interests in the Eastern Mediterranean .

Turkey ‘s ongoing occupation of Cyprus is compelling evidence that it has little interest in meeting the standards of individual liberties, human rights and religious tolerance shared by America and other democratic nations. Lacking the ties that bind, Turkey is apparently quite willing to jeopardize relations with its long-time allies. Witness its 2003 denial of the deployment of US forces along the Northern Iraq border and its recent vote in the U.N. against Iran sanctions.

The United States and its allies must call upon Turkey to abide by international law and meet its responsibilities as a dependable NATO partner. And on this, the 36th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Cyprus , the United States should demand an immediate withdrawal of the 45,000 Turkish soldiers now occupying northern Cyprus . Until that occurs, policymakers in the White House and in the Congress must press the issue in every conversation with their Turkish counterparts. In this way, the United States can work towards establishing a strong, enduring, and values-based alliance with Turkey that will serve to bring justice to the people of Cyprus , strengthen NATO, and reinforce collective Western security.

***

TURKISH INTERVENTION BROUGHT PEACE TO THE ISLAND – Part 1 of 8

The Cyprus question is one of the longest-running ethnic conflicts in the world dating back to the mid-1950’s. It is the result of the Greek Cypriot armed campaign to annex the island to mainland Greece – an irredentist ambition known by the Greek term enosis –against the will of Turkish Cypriots, one of the two ethnic peoples of Cyprus for over four centuries, and against the internationally established legal status of the state of Cyprus.

CYPRUS WAS BORN OUT OF A COMPROMISE, THEN RENEGGED ON IT – Part 2 of 8

The independent Republic of Cyprus was born as a compromise solution in 1960. The Republic of Cyprus was a partnership state based on the political equality of the co-founding Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot peoples. It had a Greek Cypriot president and a Turkish Cypriot vice-president, each with veto powers to ensure political equality at the executive level. The legislature reflected the demographic balance between the two communities, on the one hand (with a 70/30 per cent ratio), and their political equality and effective participation in the legislative process, on the other. The judiciary was composed of one judge from each side, with a “neutral” judge from a third country as its president. This partnership Republic was guaranteed by the three “Guarantor” powers – Turkey, Greece and the United Kingdom – under a special international treaty, the Treaty of Guarantee.

DELICATE INTERNAL BALANCE WAS DESTROYED BY GREEK ULTR-NATIONALISTS, NOT TURKS – Part 3 of 8

The “state of affairs” thus created by the Zurich and London Agreements of 1960 was based on an internal balance between the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities, as well as an external balance between Turkey and Greece as the respective “motherlands” of the two ethnic peoples of the
island. This seemingly perfect system of checks and balances, however, faced a serious challenge within three years of its inception, when the Greek Cypriot side attempted to amend the Constitution by removing all provisions that gave the Turkish Cypriots a meaningful say in the affairs of the State. Failing that, they launched an all-out armed attack on the Turkish Cypriots throughout the island, killing and wounding thousands, driving one-quarter of the Turkish Cypriot population out of their homes and properties in 103 villages and causing widespread destruction.

GREEKS TURNED CYPRUS INTO A SLAUGHTERHOUSE VICTIMIZING TURKISH CYPRIOTS – Part 4 of 8

The ferocity of this onslaught was described by former Undersecretary of the US State Department, George Ball, in his memories titled “The Past Has Another Pattern” by observing that Makarios, the then Greek Cypriot leader, had “turn(ed) this beautiful island into his private abattoir.” He further stated that “Makarios’ central interest was to block off any Turkish intervention so that he and his Greek Cypriotes could go on happily massacring the Turkish Cypriots.”

THE TURKISH RESCUE OPERATION SAVED THE TURKISH CYPRIOTS FROM ANNIHILATION – Part 5 of 8

The Turkish rescue operation undoubtedly saved the Turkish Cypriot community from mass-extermination; prevented the annexation of Cyprus to Greece, and thus saved the independence of the island. Turkey’s legitimate and timely action has kept the peace on the island since 1974. Today, the Constitution of the Republic is dead and the “Cyprus” government has been completely usurped and monopolized by the Greek Cypriots. Turkish Cypriots and successive Turkish Governments have worked for the achievement of a settlement and have either initiated or accepted all major United Nations documents aimed at such just and lasting solution.

THE “ANNAN PEACE PLAN”: ACCEPTED BY TURKS, REJECTED BY GREEKS – Part 6 of 8

The latest and most elaborate document in this respect was the “Annan Plan” named after former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who was the architect of the plan. The Annan Plan was put to separate and simultaneous referenda of Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots on April 24, 2004. It was overwhelmingly accepted by the Turkish Cypriot people by a 65% majority; but was rejected by the Greek Cypriot people, at the behest of their leadership, by even a greater margin of 76%.

EU AND USA FAILED TO KEEP THEIR PROMISES TO TURKISH CYPRIOTS – Part 7 of 8

Although the United States, the European Union and other members of the international community have joined in the call for the lifting of the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots, little has been done to put words into action in this regard. What is at stake is not only the long-overdue and well deserved restoration of the human rights of the Turkish Cypriots through their integration with the international community, but also the credibility of those who have made promises and took decisions to end this
isolation. Concrete and meaningful steps in that direction will not only put an end to this untenable situation but will also help the unification efforts on the island by motivating the Greek Cypriot side to come to a just and lasting settlement.

NO BLOOD SPILLED FOR 36 YEARS, THANKS TO TURKISH INTERVENTION – Part 8 of 8

Despite the absence of an international solution to unify the island of Cyprus, Turkish Cypriots have been enjoying peace and tranquility and have developed strong democratic institutions, world class universities, tourism facilities and able entrepreneurs. In fact, Turkish Cyprus can be a model for other nations in that region on how to cope with hardship within the framework of democracy and respect for human rights. A beautiful country with its unspoiled nature and famous for its warm Turkish hospitality, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is a place worth visiting year around. For more information on travel and other issues related to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, please visit www.trncinfo.com.

***
For more information please visit: www.tc-america.org. and www.ataa.org

July 22, 2010
ATAA IS AS VERSATILE, VIBRANT, AND RESOURCEFUL AS EVER

Re: “Better or worse days for the ATAA?” , by İLHAN TANIR, Friday, February 5, 2010 ;

Rebuttal by Ergun KIRLIKOVALI

I thank Mr. Tanir, HDN reporter based in Washington DC, for taking the time to chat with President Evinch and I over the phone on 3 February 2010. That’s a first and I appreciate it. My message was simple and I think he got it: if Hurriyet Daily News (HDN) wishes to cover Turkish-American issues objectively, then HDN should make an effort to talk to Turkish-Americans first, along with others who HDN may see fit.

The problem with the recent unfortunate HDN coverage arose because HDN reporter in that case failed to get the input of the Turkish-Americans in a matter closely related to them. Had the HDN reporter done so, we would have filled him in on points, that even Mr. Tanir agrees, the previous article missed. I am glad to hear that Mr. Tanir will work closely with us in future to avoid a needless lack of communication. To me, then, this whole unfortunate episode is water under the bridge and we all learned something from it. Chalk it off to experience.

Having said that, though, I must express my initial reaction to Mr. Tanir’s article as slight disappointment as he seems to have missed what I was trying to emphasize during our telephone conversation. I know he means well so I will not lose any sleep over it, but I would like him to know that I am not against including dissenting points of view in any media, HDN or others. What I am against is including dissenting points of view to the exclusion of my point of view, and the views held by others like myself in our community.

I can effortlessly pinpoint to many articles published in HDN that directly concern our community–as all Turkish-American relations matter to us–and where the ideas and views presented diametrically clash with those held in our community. I cannot, however, point a single article where ATAA views are solicited, urged, or otherwise presented in response (the jury is still out on this letter you are reading now.) No op-ed, no article, no survey, not anything. .. What is worse, there had been no efforts by HDN to do so, that is , not until my letter to HDN editor crossed Mr. Tanir’s desk. That kind of lopsided coverage at HDN is what I am against, not publishing of dissenting views there. Let’s please make that clear to one and all.

Maybe Mr. Tanir can be kind enough to explain what he means by “…The ATAA, unfortunately, has not had a good reputation among the Turkish community living in America until recently for its internal fights…” Is not this the kind of sweeping and unfair generalizations that sparked this incident in the first place?

Just because one group disagreed with another, a common occurrence within all volunteer organizations, shall we stamp “bad reputation nationwide” over the name of that organization? Does Mr Tanir realize that the United States is perhaps the most litigious society on earth and that if he writes off everyone involved in litigation, he would have no one to report on in America? Please, let’s not go overboard with generalizations.

Then Mr Tanir notes “… (ATAA) has become mostly a grassroots organization that uses almost all its energy, time and money to fight the Armenian diaspora’s efforts, especially before and during the April 24 fever every year …” Here is another generalization with which I have problems. Perhaps if Mr. Tanir gets to know ATAA better, he would correct himself.

First, ATAA was founded as a grassroots organization and performed as such through its volunteers nationwide since day one.

Second, we are not fighting “Armenian diaspora’s efforts”; we are fighting defamation of Turkish culture and heritage and demonization of all things Turkish. Whoever is engaged in such practices, that is with whom ATAA fights. It just so happens that mostly Armenian and Greek Diasporas seem to be engaged in such malicious practices and ATAA has been directing its resources towards those practices.

Where Mr. Tanir makes probably his gravest mistake is this: “…especially before and during the April 24 fever every year …” That is a cliché that is no longer true as the Armenian lobby (not diaspora, lobby) saw to it that the scope and depth of its efforts to defame and demonize Turkey are widened, deepened, and spread over twelve months of a year. I can effortlessly provide you with lists of articles, op-eds, books, panels, meetings, commemorations, services, films, exhibits, and more for each and every month, even week, of the year. So, please, let’s kindly stay away from obsolete clichés and sweeping generalizations.

Mr. Tanir comments “… when the American administration announces how it considers and words the tragic events that happened to the Armenians during World War I…” This is a typical line that shows indifference that I hear people often say when I visit Turkey. Some have not heard of the Armenian issue; others simply do not understand the gravity of the genocide charges; while most have not read a single book, pro or con, about it. Some even think “What’s in a word?” They don’t understand the four-phase Armenian lobby plan (acceptance-apology-reparations-land) to harm and destabilize Turkey. They have no clue that if the U.S. Congress accepts the Armenian falsifications as genocide, then the flood gates open.

To date, for instance, there are no countries in Asia or Africa and only three in the entire Americas that recognized the alleged genocide, upon intense political pressure by the Armenian lobby. There are 15 countries which recognized the genocide claims in some form in Europe, out of a possible 55 countries. That makes a total of about 20 countries worldwide which recognized the bogus genocide, which in turn, is only about 10% of the world community. So all those books, films, museums, memorials, propaganda, agitation, violent demonstrations, flag burnings, bombings, assassinations, terrorist acts, and persistent lobbying, and more, over almost a century, got Armenians only the 10% of the world. Perhaps not much to write home about, right?

With US recognition, though, all this can change in a hurry. Pro-genocide countries can reach 80-90% of the United Nations within a few short years. That is how important US President’s approval of genocide is, which, ironically, would make a mockery of the U.S. Congress’ own records because of the following documents, among many others, that clearly refute the Armenian claims of genocide:

a- “American Military Mission to Armenia” (General Harbord) Report 1920 and the Annex Report Nat. Archives 184.021/175 – which does not mention any “race extermination” but, on the contrary, refers to “…refinements of cruelty by Armenians to Muslims…”

b- Joint U.S. CONGRESS RESOLUTION NO. 192, APRIL 22, 1922 relative to the activities of Near East Relief ending 31 December 1921 which has unanimously resolved that a total of 1,414,000 Armenians were alive (which makes killing of 1.5 million Armenians an impossibility, since the total Armenian population was around 1.5 million at the time.)

c- George Montgomery, a member of the U.S. delegation at the Paris Conference, had presented a detailed tabulation in 1919, showing a total of 1,104,000 Armenians alive, apart from those who had already immigrated to other countries.

d- 29 March 1919 report of the Paris Conference subcommittee on atrocities, chaired by the U.S. secretary of State Lansing, lists Armenian losses as “…more than 200,000…” Even this number is exaggerated as they got their information from the Armenian church, not exactly an impartial source. The Turkish Historical Society documented the deaths of 53,000 Armenians using Ottoman police reports field on site, of which number only about 8,400 are reported as victims of massacres. The paragraphs a, b, and c jointly point to the THS number being closer to reality.

Who, then may have jacked this number of Armenian casualties from the original 54,000 first to 200,000 in March 1919, 600,000 in May 1919 (in a poster created by Armenians) to the current 1.5 million?

Take a guess!

Going back to Mr. Tanir’s article, he asserts “…being tied to (genocide) struggle only, in addition to the never-ending internal fights – until recently …” Another unfounded generalization that totally ignores ATAA’s many excellent programs (please see www.ataa.org ) and uses an unfairly broad brush to paint the only litigation in ATAA’s history of 31 years as “never-ending” infighting.

Mr. Tanir states “…narrow-minded and reactionary organization that turned me, along with many others, off over the years…” So a single litigation in 31 years turned him off of ATAA?

Selfless fight against defamation of all things Turkish by incessantly-hate-cultivating Armenian lobby turned him, along with other journalists off? If Mr. Tanir reads a book by another Turkish journalist, who shall remain nameless for now and whose book I have read last year, about the state of Turkish journalists in America, he would know who is turned off by who. Please, let’s not try to white wash ineptness of some journalists by what ATAA did or didn’t do. I will abstain from giving examples at this time.

Mr. Tanir claims “… I was saddened at hearing a point of view that usually would not be expected from a person who will assume an important position representing the Turkish community in America…” This point of view, as you wrongly stated in your article, was not being against publishing dissenting views but it was publishing it at the expense of my views. Journalistic ethics and objectivity require that “Both sides” of an issue be provided to unsuspecting readers. What is so strange about this? Why stick to one side and ignore the other?

By the way, if you had your finger on the pulse of our community, you would know how difficult it is, if not impossible, to get an op-ed published in Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, and the New York Times. How come these papers, who used to use the qualifier “alleged” before the term genocide until late 1990s, all of a sudden “decided” to forego such practice after intense Armenian pressure?

NYT would not even publish a paid public announcement by Turkish American scholars and intellectuals in 2002 ruling it “against the consensus”. Modern psychology defines the term “critical thinking” which contradicts the concept of consensus, relegating it to “groupthink”.

So, let me get this right: No eyebrows are raised when the big media can censor and HDN can ignore our views, but when we complain about it, HDN reporter becomes “… saddened at hearing a point of view that usually would not be expected from…” an ATAA leader? Guess who is saddened more.

Mr. Tanir adds “…I disagreed with his complaining about the Hürriyet Daily News just because it gives space to different opinions, including opinion pieces that run contrary to the official Turkish state policies in many matter….” There multiple errors here.

1) I am not against giving space to different opinions at HDN; I am against doing this at the expense of our views being ignored. Big difference, right? I tried to explain this many times during our chat. For good measure, I am also making it a matter of record here.

2) About “…including opinion pieces that run contrary to the official Turkish state policies…”, I guess we need to get Mr. Tanir sensitized a little bit with your loose descriptions. They may sadden and disappoint us, but more importantly, they can get him in trouble. ATAA is an American institution with American citizens as members. It is illegal to promote the interests of a foreign government in America without registering as a lobbyist first. By sloppily implying that ATAA promote official (Turkish) state positions , Mr. Tanir is implying we are unregistered lobbyists, not volunteers educating the Americans on Turkish culture and promoting better understanding between Turkey and America. We, as ATAA and Turkish Americans, have absolutely no say on Turkish state policies, nor do we always with all of them. If you read my articles (and there are quite a few) you will realize that I even criticize Turkish government from time to time. Please, try to be more meticulous with your sweeping characterizations.

Mr. Tanir concludes with “…ATAA tries to do better work and I am ready to give the group the benefit of the doubt, even if I disagree sharply with some of its perspectives…” Would Mr. Tanir please tell us what those perspectives are with which he disagrees? I am very curious.

Mr. Tanir, while I appreciate your time spent with me and President Evinch, I must say I am disappointed with the obsolete clichés, sweeping generalizations, and sloppy implications you felt you had to include.

Most Armenians and their sympathizers disagree with the Turkish position on the historical controversy surrounding the interpretation of Ottoman-Armenian history and that is understandable. But none of this means that the Turks, Turkish-Americans, and ATAA are advocating against these people. To make such interpretation is to grossly misunderstand the nature and value of free speech in the United States.

To censor contra-genocide views on account that they may suggest revision to history is also misguided and against America’s core values. It suggests that there is a widely accepted version of what truth shall be, a “groupthink”, about issues that need further research and debate, sort like legislation of scholarship which in itself is a disturbing notion. Freedom of expression is at the core of everything and we must all practice what we preach. It is a far greater evil to stunt debate and curtail free speech (as big media in America frequently attempt to do in our case) than it is to advocate for a broader interpretation of any controversy.

After all, History is not a matter of belief, convictions, or gut feelings; it is a matter of research, peer review, debate, and revision to include the emerging truth. History of 100 years ago, or 50 years ago, or even 10 years ago is continually changing with every bit of new archives opened or exposed, every new document “declassified”, every information placed in circulation after being held secret. Revision, if done scholarly and properly, is not only good, but required for a vibrant society.

The ability to explore and discuss controversial issues in a reasoned, civilized, and scholarly manner is one of the things that make the Turkish American community a rich and vibrant place. I hope to reach a future phase fast where we can understand each other better.

I find our exchange thoughtful, considerate, and very useful. So, by all means, Mr. Tanir should please keep in touch.

February 10, 2010