Tag: Politics

The Gülen movement plays big in Washington

.The Assembly of Turkish-American Associations, or ATAA’s, president, Günay Evinç, was pretty upset. Evinç, who has had good relationships with the Gülen Movement’s organizations so far, did not seem as thrilled with the idea of this alternative Turkish assembly of Gulen <……………………………..

Gülen appears to be hitting the organizations closer to Turkish Government in power and thus closer to him. ATAA is one example next lucky organization Might Be the FTAA. We are not sure about TCA (Turkish Coalition of America .. Since about 2 years old TCA consists of only 3 paid people and lots of green dollars from Turkish Deep State which happens to choose not to actively engage Fetullah Gülen.. but to follow or copy his teachings and his way of operation .. If we look at broader picture Both Gulen and Turkish deep state get their direction from the same corner of OBAMA which we call it CIA they are the 2 friendly actors of the same game .. and “THE GAME CONTINUES” …. TURKISH FORUM

Friday, May 14, 2010

İLHAN TANIR

It was one of the lavish lounges of the Willard Hotel in Washington where hundreds of Turkic people from all across America with plain name tags gathered to mark the creation of a new umbrella Turkic Assembly last Wednesday. Six Turkish-American federations, which have close proximity to Mr. Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish cleric and the exiled leader of the Turkey-based religious Gülen Movement joined to form the Assembly of Turkic American Federations, or ATAF, a non-profit organization.

Half a dozen U.S. Senators and a few dozens of U.S. Representatives made a strong showing at the reception and the Gülen Movement hinted that its new assembly has some muscles to flex in Washington already.

One would think bringing that many U.S. Senators and Representatives should require loads of money for campaign donations. “No,” said, Mahmut Yeter, president of one of the six federations that formed the ATAF, “this strong turnout owes its success to their members who worked voluntarily, often visited these lawmakers in their local offices and finally convinced them with their persistence that they have to be at the reception.”

I had a chance to talk with some of the congressmen and senators who participated at the reception. I asked Ms. Gabrielle Giffords, representative from Arizona’s 8th. District, why she chose to come to a Turkic community gathering, considering that there is a very tiny Turkic community in her district. Gifford turned and pointed out a young Turkish man who was standing next to her. According to the congresswoman, that young Turkish man had visited Gifford’s district office several times recently and finally persuaded her to show up for the reception “even though I do not like to go such events,” Gifford said, before responding my question and telling me that she never heard of Fethullah Gülen.

The Gülen Movement accelerated its activities in U.S., especially since the leader of the Movement, Fethullah Gülen settled in Pennsylvania about a decade ago. During the mid ’90s, after almost three decades in the making, it was still operating very much under the radar in Turkey.

The unexpected and sudden decision to combine all of their 180 organizations under one umbrella assembly was a surprising move, at any rate, for those who follow the Gülen movement closely and are aware about its cautious strategies and steps.

Mr. Gülen first decided to go public with a wide ranging interview in early 1995, and in the following years the movement attracted ever-increasing attention. The postmodern-military coup of Feb. 28, 1997 pushed Gülen out of Turkey to find refuge in the U.S. Only more than a decade later, the Gülen Movement gathered enough manpower, recognition and credit to bring dozens of members of Congress to its half-official Washington debut night. The Turkish ambassador to the U.S., Mr. Namık Tan, came to the reception and stayed there almost the entire night, having conversations with the members of the U.S. Congress – alhough not everyone was as joyful about the new kid in town. The Assembly of Turkish-American Associations, or ATAA’s, president, Günay Evinç, was pretty upset about the name of this new assembly because of its similar word selection with their own assembly. Evinç argued that this name similarity has created a big administrative disaster for their organization to explain the difference.

Evinç, who has had good relationships with the Gülen Movement’s organizations so far, did not seem as thrilled with the idea of this alternative Turkish assembly. “ATAA,” Evinç said while describing the difference, “promotes an inter-Turks dialogue, not interfaith.” Evinç pleaded that he wanted “a dialogue and to stay on good terms with everyone, including this new organization.” However, this name confusion is such a huge issue, he said, adding that they would even consider finishing “the whole partnerships and dialogue with them.”

Another Gülen Movement member in Washington said when told about this complaint, “for 30 years, ATAA has been the leading voice to represent Turkish people in the U.S. Now rapidly increasing numbers of Gülen-tied assemblies are taking the market, and ATAA’s and others’ maneuvering room is shrinking.”

Decision from Gülen

This decision of “combining all Gülen-related Turkic or Turkish associations and federations under one assembly,” was decided by Fethullah Gülen, another active member of the movement who came to the reception from a long distance said. “This decision was too big to let other leading members of the Gülen Movement to take on. Gülen took the initiative,” said the well-connected member while listening to speakers at the reception.

It is the “Turkic American Federations,” not Turkish, because this umbrella organization represents not only those Turks who are from Turkey, but those “citizens from Central Asia, Anatolia and the Balkans… as part of [America’s] cultural mosaic” the website of the ATAF notes.

The Gülen Movement also sent an important signal to the political leadership in Ankara by fetching this many U.S. Congress members. The movement made a psychological statement in Washington that they should be also taken into consideration in terms of multi-leveled relations between Turkey and America by demonstrating that they have a few strings to play in Washington.

Mr. Gülen motivates his followers in the U.S. to contribute and visit their local representatives. Gülen, according to another active member of the movement at the reception, asks those who want to visit his compound in Pennsylvania “to donate to their local representatives first,” before they show up at his door.

“This is just a beginning,” another participant told me during the night, while pointing out a group of senators and representatives along with the Turkish ambassador having a conversation.

The Gülen Movement last week made it official that its members are here in America to stay and expand at an even faster pace in coming years.

This looming scenario would have two possible upshots for Turkish-American relationships. One is: increasing the presence of the movement in Washington will help Turkey during some of the threatening developments for its interests, such as the Armenian genocide resolution discussions. The Gülen Movement proved with this year’s “genocide” fights in Washington and other states that the movement will be another influential venue to advance Turkey’s interests in Washington on many matters.

The second upshot is the strong possibility for the Gülen Movement to become a leading voice among the Turkish groups in Washington to reach the U.S. Congress and other Washington decision makers to narrate the contemporary domestic issues of Turkey and relate them to U.S. politicians. In that sense, members of the U.S. Congress, most of whom do not have much international affairs on their resume, might be just happy while swallowing concentrated education pills on Turkey through Gülen Movement recipe.

The Gülenists deserved a big round of applause with being able to pull off such an impressive gathering at the heart of Washington this week at the end of the day.

The Gülen Movement members are disciplined, loyal and they complete their assignments as they are told. The movement is able to mobilize its members to fulfill its leader’s vision even in America.

It is a tough competitor for any other movement.

That is why we hear more often greetings to Pennsylvania these days from unexpected places.

List of Websites About Fethullah Gulen

Fethullah Gülen was listed among the top hundred public intellectuals by Foreign Policy magazine .

Fethullah Gulen’s website: www.fgulen.com, www.fethullahgulen.org

Gulen Institute’s Website: www.guleninstitute.org

Gulen Library’s website: www.gulenlibrary.org

Fethullah Gulen Forum: www.fethullahgulenforum.org

Gulen Conferences’ Websites:

www.fethullahgulenconference.org, www.gulenconference.net , www.gulenconference.us , www.gulenconference.org.uk , www.gulenconference.nl

http://gulenmovementforabetterworld.blogspot.com/

READER COMMENTS

Guest – Frustrated “Eniste”

2010-05-15 23:00:06

Having lived in the US with my Turkish wife, during the time of ASALA; I find myself very confused by your report. In those days, my friends the Turks were totally patriotic to their homeland, at the risk of their lives. They were mostly well educated, financially secure people; which probably differentiated them from the obvious, Tarikat type Gulen disciples you describe. I find it a sign of the total govt. disaster of AKP, that “our” Ambassador pays lip service to the prosperity of a fugitive, who desires the total destruction of the republic’s democracy! I think the comment by the Rep. from Arizona, that she didn’t even know who Imam Gulen was, shows the pathological lies, which underpin the movement! I also pity my countrymen for their stupidity; and condemn them for interference in the affairs, of another nation. Turkey is more subtle; but little better than Iran and Chile!!

May 16, 2010

EVENTS FOR THE GREEK – PONTIC GENOCIDE IN NEW YORK AND IN CANADA.

19 MAYISDA PONTUSLULARIN NEWYORKDA BAYRAK TORENI VAR – ERTESI HAFTA TURK DERNEKLERI ISE AYNI DIREGE TURK BAYRAGI CEKME MUSADESI ALMISLAR – EMPERYALIST GUCLERIN HALA TURKIYENIN KARADENIZ SAHILLERINDE GOZLERI VAR (GENISLETILMIS BUYUK OPRTADOGU PROJESININ BIR PARCASI) (BOLUNECEK TURKIYEDEN KOPACAK OLAN PONTUS FEDERASYONU) TURKISH FORUM
—————————

Apostolos Papapostolou

May 10 2010

The international remembrance day of the Greek-Pontic genocide will be
honored in New York with public events and the hoisting of the Greek
Pontic flag and the Greek flag at the Bowling Green Park in Manhattan
(on the corner of State Street and Broadway).

The remembrance social event is being organized by the American – Canadian all-Pontic
Federation and by the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater
New York

During the event Greek and Greek – American officials and leaders will
deliver speeches. Also speaking will be American officials, authors,
intellectuals, activists against genocides and representatives of
the American Armenian and Assyrian communities.

This year, during the remembrance of the Greek Pontic Genocide social
event the Swedish Ambassador will also be honored for the recent
acknowledgement of the Armenian, the Assyrian and the Greek Pontic
genocide by the Swedish Parliament.

Ms Fanoula Argirou, a Greek-Cyprian researcher, journalist and author
who will be arriving from London, will also give a speech on Wednesday,
May the 19th, at 7.30 at the Stathakion Centre 22-51 Street, Astoria,
NY 11105.

The title of the speech is “From the Greek Pontic genocide to the
Turkish invasion in Cyprus.”

In Canada the American and Canadian all-Pontic Federation is staging
a series of events in collaboration with organizations during the
month of May.

Greek Reporter

May 15, 2010
The FETULLAH is the key force supporting Turkey’s ruling AKP Party

Gülen movement an enigmatic mix of Turkish nationalism, religion, education

Tim Steller Arizona Daily Star

Sunday, April 25, 2010

American sociologist Joshua Hendrick stumbled into the U.S. branch of the Fethullah Gülen Movement by agreeing to attend a 2005 conference about the Turkish Muslim leader in Houston.

Expecting a standard academic conference, what he found instead was a ‘two-day promotion of Fethullah Gülen and the schools and social network that associate with his teaching.’

All the presenters’ expenses were covered, and each received a $500 honorarium. Awards of $1,000 were offered for the best graduate-student papers, and reporters were flown in from Istanbul to cover the event.

Hendrick, now at the University of Oregon, went on to write a Ph.D. dissertation on the Gülen movement in Turkey, where the secretive preacher has over decades become one of Turkey’s most powerful political figures. The Gülen movement is the key force supporting Turkey’s ruling AKP Party, a conservative religious party that competes for power with the country’s strongest traditional force – the military.

Along with the military and the AKP, the Gülen movement is Turkey’s “third force,” the major British consultancy IHS Jane’s reported last year.

But defining the movement is difficult because it is “part spiritual, part commercial, part Islamic, part education, part political,” Bill Park, a lecturer in defense studies at King’s College London, said via e-mail.

Gülen’s followers and the leader himself use “strategic ambiguity” in talking about the movement, Hendrick wrote in his 2009 dissertation, “Globalization and Marketized Islam in Turkey: The case of Fethullah Gülen.”

“Gülen was born both in 1938 and in 1941 … Gülen is both the reason behind his schools and he has nothing whatsoever to do with them,” Hendrick wrote. And when asked about the connections between Gülen-supporting organizations and the movement itself, Hendrick repeatedly heard the same answer: “There is no organic connection between these institutions.”

The ambiguity makes some sense in historical context. The Turkish state established by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in the 1920s imposed secularity in the public sphere and put religion under state control. Today the struggle persists between a secularist military and religious forces, with the Gülen movement strongly on the religious side.

The movement “would like to see Islam play a more dominant role in public life,” said Hakan Yavuz, a native of Turkey who is a professor of political science at the University of Utah. “The movement is today a religio-political movement similar to Opus Dei in the Catholic Church.”

Yavuz continued, “The movement is not a fanatic movement. It’s also not a terrorist movement either. But it is a conservative communitarian (movement) and to some extent authoritarian.”

The movement also celebrates the Turkish nation and culture, even in some foreign countries where it has established schools, posting portraits of Atatürk and teaching the Turkish national anthem, Park reported in a 2007 paper, “The Fethullah Gülen Movement as a Transnational Phenomenon.”

“The movement’s philosophy fuses its brand of Islam with a Turkish nationalism,” he wrote in a 2007 paper.

Gülen’s conflict with the military peaked in 1998, when he was charged with attempting to subvert the secular government. He fled to the United States, where he began living in exile on a retreat in eastern Pennsylvania.

In the United States, Gülen began emphasizing interfaith dialogue, and his followers set up institutions dedicated to that pursuit throughout the country. One, the Foundation for Inter-Cultural Dialogue, is based in Phoenix and annually sends Arizonans on trips to Turkey.

Gülen’s presence in the United States inspired some Turkish analysts to begin thinking of him as an American ally. However, the U.S. government has long had close relations with Turkey’s military.

The multifaceted picture of Gülen’s relationship with the U.S. government became clearer in 2007. That year, Gülen sued the Department of Homeland Security (FBI), arguing that it should act on his application and award him permanent residence based on his extraordinary ability in education. The department fought him, arguing that he is not an expert in education.

But eventually the department lost, and Gülen got his green card.

Among those who wrote letters in support of Gülen were George Fidas and Graham Fuller, both former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)officials.

“The U.S. has accommodated Fethullah Gülen himself (a source of irritation to Kemalist/secularists in Turkey) and the movement’s schools, colleges, dialogue associations, as has the U.K. and other Western democracies,” Park said via e-mail. “This is though less the doing of the U.S. government, narrowly defined as of U.S. society, the U.S. way of doing things.”

Contact reporter Tim Steller at 807-8427 or at tsteller@azstarnet.com

May 8, 2010

UTAH CLOSES FETULLAH’S SCHOOL

Utah daki Charter okul incelemeye alinmis acik cikan (KAYIP) para yuzunden, FETULLAHIN BIR DENIZ FENERI DAHA.

State charter board votes to close Beehive academy

Money matters» State governing body concludes that the school is financially unstable.

By Rosemary Winters

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 04/30/2010 10:10:16 AM MDT

For the first time in its six-year history, the Utah Charter School Board has voted to revoke an operational school’s charter.

Beehive Science & Technology Academy in Holladay will close after this school year unless it files and wins an appeal. Any appeal would be heard by the Utah Board of Education.

The charter board, which voted 6-0 on Thursday to close the school, said Beehive doesn’t have enough students to be financially viable and is burdened by debt. The enrollment currently is 199, but the school could accommodate 250 students.

In an e-mail, Principal Murat Biyik said the board relied on outdated financial statements to make its decision and that the school plans to appeal.

“All of us were totally shocked” by the board’s decision, Biyik wrote, noting he was denied permission to speak at the meeting. “We are very optimistic that we will save the school during [the] appeal process.”

Beehive was placed on a one-year probation in February, and Biyik said the school has complied with or made “substantial improvements” on all the issues the board identified. For example, the school has addressed concerns with its special-education program.

Charter board chairman Brian Allen said the decision made him “heart sick” because he knows Beehive’s students like their school, which has a good academic record.

“At the end of the day, we had to weigh the impact to the students who go to the school against our responsibility that taxpayers are getting the best deal for their money,” Allen said. “The scale tipped toward taxpayers.”

Beehive, which serves grades 7 through 12, was founded by a group of Turkish-American scholars. It opened in August 2005.

Last fall, the charter board, after a months-long investigation, cleared Beehive of allegations the school existed to advance and promote Islamic beliefs but flagged it for poor financial management. Charter schools are tuition-free, tax-funded public schools so they must be nonsectarian.

In November, records obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune showed that the school, operating on a $2 million annual budget, had a $337,000 deficit. The school renegotiated its building lease and laid off several staffers.

On Thursday, Biyik said the deficit has shrunk substantially. Currently, the school has an income balance of $259,000 with $38,000 in the bank, he said. The difference has been used to pay off credit lines, a state revolving loan amount and other debts, Biyik said. The academy still owes money on the revolving loan, which originally was $184,000.

But if the board’s decision sticks, Beehive students will have to find a new school for the 2010-11 school year.

“It’s the most frustrating thing. I don’t know where to send my son,” said Marie Jess, whose son Jordan started at Beehive as a seventh-grader and now is finishing 11th grade. “I’ve never found a [public or charter] school that I felt compared to Beehive.”

Jess called the board’s decision “unfair.” She hopes the school, which has achieved high scores on state academic tests, stays open.

She likes the support she receives from Beehive’s faculty, who frequently send her e-mails to update her on how her son is doing.

“I felt like they personally wanted my son to succeed,” she said, “and that’s a good feeling.”

=========================

From: FLTURK@yahoogroups. com On Behalf Of Cuneyt Oskal

Sorun Gulen hocada degil zaten.

Sorun, “Parayi gordum” filminin senaristleri Fethullahci bazi abilerde.

Topladiklari parayi istedikleri yere harcayabilmeyi zannetmelerinde.

Utah daki Charter okul incelemeye alinmis acik cikan para yuzunden

bakalim o sorusturmanin sonucu nasil olacak?

insallah Fethullahci abiler yuzlerinin aki ile cikarlar isin icinden

yoksa…….

“Parayi gordum” filmini cekerler Fethullahci abilerinde

(Mahsun in trilogy si olabilir belki, “gunesi gordum” den sonra:)

Deniz Feneri olayina donerse is cok uzulurum.

May 8, 2010

How A Court Case Was Won In France Against A Dashnak

Maxime Gauin
Paris, May 2, 2010

“We live in fact for some moments, intense and special; the rest of the time, we wait these moments.”

Edgar Faure (1908-1988), French lawyer and statesman.

On April 27, the Lyon’s tribunal declared Movsès Nissanian, municipal counselor of Villeurbanne (biggest city of Lyon’s suburb) member of Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF-Dashnak), guilty of “public insult against an individual” (me) and sentenced him. As a preliminary information, I have to say the following:

— Lyon is comparable to Boston in USA for the influence of Armenian nationalism, and the ambiance in Villeurbanne could be compared, by some aspects, with New Jersey’s ambiance. The mayor and former MP, Jean-Paul Bret, has some common points with US Senator Robert J. Menendez.

— I received no support from Lyon’s Turkish associations for the costs, or any other aspects, of my court case.

— As a MA student in history, I sued Mr. Nissanian to defend my dignity and the freedom of speech, against the political misuse of history.

I) Background: the facts, the procedure, the collateral incidents

.

February 15, 2008. During a meeting about the Sirma Oran affair, Movsès Nissanian says that I am exactly like “those who sent Jews to Auschwitz” during the WWII. He says that because I wrote an article, published on the Web, criticizing the mayor of Villeurbanne (who harassed Sirma Oran by his questions about the so-called “genocide”) and the ARF (for his crimes of the past, including terrorism and massacres of Muslims and Jews). I signed the article by initials only, to remain quiet, but my name was revealed on the free-access forum of armenews.com, first French-Armenian Web site. His editor-in-chief is Ara Toranian, former spokesman of ASALA (1976-1983) then of dissident group ASALA-RM (1983-1985).

May 15, 2008. I file a complaint in Lyon’s tribunal.

June 2008. The Lyon’s prosecutor opens a criminal investigation.

October 21, 2008. I file a complaint in the police station of my Parisian district, against vitriolic messages who insult and defame me, on the forum of armenews.com. I sent before several e-mails to Mr. Toranian, but he did not respond, so I take my promise to complaint. Less than seven hours after that, Mr. Toranian destroys for ever his dear free-access forum. Even some of his friends asked to him, before my complaint, to close this forum, because it was full of racist, anti-Semitic and anti-homosexual messages, several with direct incitation to physical violence, including murder.

December 2008 (I do not remember the precise date). I give to the chief of Lyon’s investigative magistrates, in charge of my complaint, the record of Mr. Nissanian’s statements during the meeting of February (Jean-Patrick Martz, husband of Sirma Oran, was in the room and recorded the speeches). The record is later authenticated by an expert, because a demand of Mr. Nissanian.

July 31, 2009. The procedure is completely finished. Both the chief of investigative magistrates and the deputy prosecutor ask that Mr. Nissanian be sent in front of Lyon’s tribunal for “public insult against an individual”.

September 9, 2009. The trial is fixed to November 3.

End of October 2009. Mr. Nissanian’s lawyer, Xavier Vahramian, files his written conclusions: 18 pages, plus 33 pieces, mostly about the so-called “genocide”; Mr. Nissanian lawyer argues that since I “denied the genocide”, I am guilty of “provocation”, as defined by law, and that, as a result, Mr. Nissanian must be not sentenced. He adds that “ARF did never use terrorism” and even that “ARF has always condemned terrorism”. The defense lawyer filed nothing during more than one year of investigation. It is now too late to make an appropriate response. Me and my lawyer ask that the trial be postponed; the tribunal accepts and fixes the date to January 5.

One can notice that the accusations of war crimes against Muslim and Jewish civilians, perpetrated by ARF members from 1914 to 1922, were never challenged, or even mentioned, by Mr. Nissanian or his lawyer, during the whole procedure.

November 3, 2009. Oran vs. Bret trial. The ambiance is terrible. I am scolded upset when I am leaving the tribunal’s room, by fanatic young Dashnaks (it is fair to add that few others young Dashnaks were unaggressive and expressed their disapprobation to such an aggressive attitude). I prevent insult and assault only in asking: “Do you want take the place of Mr. Nissanian?” I file a “main courante” (complaint without legal consequence) in the police station of my Parisian district, in coming back to my home.

November-December 2009. In French National Library, I search extensively in the archives of Haïastan, official newspaper of young Dashnaks and France-Arménie, monthly edited by Dashnaks of Lyon; I photocopy many articles supporting stridently terrorism. During the same time, I write a draft of response, about Dashnak crimes (terrorism of 1890’s and 1900’s years; terrorism of interwar period; collaboration with Nazism; terrorism of 1970’s and 1980’s; celebration of terrorism until today) and about the allegations of “genocide”, using writings of Feridun Ata, Donald Bloxham, Gwynne Dyer, Edward J. Erickson, Yusuf Halaçog(lu, Hilmar Kaiser, Guenter Lewy, S,inasi Orel and Sürreya Yuca, Stanford J. Shaw, Philip H. Stoddard, Malcom E. Yapp and others. My lawyer makes with this draft two appendixes for the revised version of his written conclusions (the first was established in October 2009). Written statements of Türkkaya Ataöv, Mumtaz Soysal and Norman Stone are also filed. I would like express my thanks to these professors.

January 4, 2010. Ara Toranian publishes on his site armenews.com a defamatory article against me, saying that Movsès Nissanian was right in saying that I have the same mentality of those who sent Jews to Auschwitz. Immediately, I sent an e-mail to him, threatening to make a new court case. Less than one half-hour, he answers that to prevent any misunderstanding about his intentions, he is deleting the article (and keeps his promise).

II) The trial of January 5, 2010, and its consequences

The trial happens in front of the same tribunal than for Oran vs. Bret case. However, the ambiance is much more quiet for this trial that on November 3. Not a single young Dashnak, and less activists in general. All are calm — excepted one, expelled by the president in the beginning of my statement. I speak about terrorism: nobody screams. I say that Mr. Toranian was president of the “National Armenian Movement for ASALA” (I say that because Mr. Nissanian used one of his articles for his defense); Mr. Toranian is three or four meters behind me; he says absolutely nothing. The president asked to everybody to be short, so I say almost nothing about “genocide” claims, just quoting Hilmar Kaiser’s praising of Yusuf Halaçog(lu.

Movsès Nissanian’s lawyer asks few question to me, but no one about history. My lawyer asks to his colleague of defense: “You asserted in your written conclusions that ‘ARF has always condemned terrorism’; did you file a single piece proving that?” No reply. My lawyers asks then to Mr. Nissanian if he regrets to have used such words against me. The defendant answers that yes.

Later during the trial, the president says: “the tribunal has not to decide between historical thesis”.

As usual in French procedure, the last word is for the defendant. In his short final declaration, Mr. Nissanian says: “I reprove these acts of terrorism” used by ARF and ASALA.

Mid-January 2010. Clash in the staff of France-Arménie, which published my account of trial on its Web site. Readers are chocked by what Mr. Nissanian said about terrorism, and call him a “coward”, a “shame” for ARF. Both my account and the comments are finally deleted, and the editor-in-chief, the passionately anti-Turkish racist Laurent Leylekian is furious because this incident.

III) The judgment: some commentaries

It is pronounced on April 27. The full text is available here:

Even more quiet ambiance than on January 5. No one Armenian media announced the date of the judgment. The tribunal rejects the excuse of provocation, arguing that such an excuse needs to be a direct and personal attack against the person who insult, and must be made few time before that the insult happens. No allusion to “genocide” claims in the discussion of the excuse of provocation. Mr. Nissanian is declared guilty of insult against an individual and sentenced. The president found a judgment of the Cour de cassation (French Supreme court) of April 1908 (!), saying that there is a difference between a “fault” of victim (excessive imprudence in the expression), which decreases the sentence, and the excuse of provocation, which prevents a sentence. In this case, the tribunal argues that it is an unneeded strident formulation to quote Gaïdz Minassian’s critical analysis about Dashnak terrorism (ARF “elevated terrorism until a saint method”, he writes in his book “Guerre et terrorisme arméniens”) in a context which concerns not ARF, but its Villeurbanne’s chapter, not involved in terrorism or in glorification of terrorism. I wanted not to libel this section, but to show the contrast between the repeated ask to Sirma Oran about “genocide” recognition (asks made by the Villeurbanne’s mayor) and the complete absence of ask of “recognition” about crimes perpetrated by ARF; but I did not insist of this point, before and during the tribunal, because I did not know the decision of 1908, and because my lawyer did not think to it.

So, Mr. Nissanian is sentenced, but to slight punishment: 300 € of suspended fine; 90 € as costs of judgment’s registration; 500 € for me. The president says that “it is a warning” to him.

Despite the slightness of the sentence, this judgment is terrible for ARF. The “genocide” claims are not accepted, not even discussed; the tribunal confirms by this way that he does not want “decide between historical thesis”.

The basic accusation of terrorism against ARF is validated; the judgment says that I mentioned “the acts attributable to ARF”, referring, among others, to terrorism. Even the use of jurisprudential notion of “fault” is terrible for ARF: the fundamental contradiction between the Dashnak terrorism on one side, the Dashnak desire of respectability, not the say the Dashnak arrogance in pretending to say what is good, on the other side. Mr. Nissanian escaped to a severe sentence only in substantiating his claims to be not favorable to terrorism, i.e. in saying “I reprove these acts of terrorism”; so, he broken ties with a considerable part of Dashnak activists. But the worst is perhaps that this defeat happened in front of the same tribunal than Mr. Bret’s success against S?rma Oran.

When I am writing this text, not a single Armenian Web site or forum has been mentioned the judgment; so, even is the sentence is slight, it seems sufficient for a strong symbolic effect.

As a result of two years of I renounce to nothing and regret nothing; I express my thanks to the thirty persons who I did not know before the judgment, and who sent to me their congratulations for the success in front of Lyon’s tribunal.

Many other people could make a successful court case, in France as well as in other countries of Western Europe, against Armenian nationalists who use insult or defamation as a political instrument — frequently with more viciousness and perseverance than Mr. Nissanian; one can hope, at least, that I will not remain alone to do that for a long time.

Maxime Gauin
Paris, May 2, 2010

Google Translation Of Maxime gauin’s Article in

The Theodor Mommsen Villeurbanne
A misunderstood genius: Jean-Paul Bret
By Mr. G, lundi11 February 2008

“Hypocrisy is a tribute that vice pays to virtue. “

Francois de La Rochefoucauld, Maxims.

The mayor of Villeurbanne, Mr. Bret is an extraordinary perspicacity. He decided to joint list with the Greens. He asked one of the candidates nominated by the party to “recognize the genocide of Armenia. This person has a Turkish name, she would have called Jeannine Smith, the same question he asked was, no doubt. This person runs. It is not enough for Mr. Bret: he asks her to repeat the “Armenian community” of Villeurbanne. She runs again. It is still not enough for Mr. Bret, which then requires a “recognition” writing.

Hunting “revisionist”

For Mr. Bret, anyone denying that the plight of Armenians in 1915-1916 could be a genocide, he said, “Holocaust denier” – even if this dispute does not affect the individual suffering and the magnitude of various crimes. The slightest suspicion that subject can cause the most severe sanctions, the most exemplary. Mr. Guenter Lewy, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Massachusetts, who fled Nazi Germany as a teenager with his family in 1939, is “revisionist”.

“The three pillars of the Armenian claims, to classify the losses suffered during the First World War as genocide fail to substantiate the charge that the Young Turk regime organized the massacres. Other alleged evidence of a plan of annihilation are no better.

Apply or not the term genocide to events which occurred here nearly a century may seem unimportant to many historians, but this application – or not – keeps a great political importance. The Armenians and their supporters, such as Turkish nationalists have made claims and defended their cause at the cost of simplification of historical reality, complex, and by ignoring crucial evidence that would lead to a more nuanced view of the past. Scholars have based their professional position on previous work, often ignoring dishonest interpretations of primary sources as they behaved. Against the backdrop of major policy issues, both sides have sought to silence opponents of their views, and to prevent a confrontation of all arguments in this case [1]. “

Historians specializing in Ottoman history, and whose fame is international, so all are “deniers”, including MM. Bernard Lewis (Jewish), Stanford Jay Shaw (of the Jewish faith), and Gilles Veinstein (born in 1945 in Paris, in a Jewish family).

“During the rest of the [First World War], much of the Armenian population was killed or fled. […] The Armenians say that these deaths are the result of a policy of genocide implemented by the Ottoman government. […] The minutes of the council of ministers did not confirm this, rather they show great willingness to investigate and improve a situation where six million people (Turks, Greeks, Arabs, Armenians, Jews and others) were killed by a combination of rebellions, attacks by bandits, killings and massacres-cons, famine and diseases, compounded by sudden foreign invasions, in which all peoples of the empire, Muslim and non-Muslims, have counted the victims and criminals. […] After the Revolution [Russian], a truce was signed between the Republic and the Ottoman Empire, but the Armenian units then began a massacre of Turkish peasants generalized still resident in the South Caucasus and eastern Anatolia, where were more than 600,000 refugees, in addition to 2,295,705 Turks living in the provinces of Erzurum, Erzincan, Trabzon, Van and Bitlis after the war [2]. “

“1) There was no hate campaign aimed directly at the Armenians, no demonizing comparable to European anti-Semitism.

2) The deportation of the Armenians, although widespread, was not total, and in particular it did not apply to the two main cities of Istanbul and Izmir.

3) The Turkish actions against Armenians, although disproportionate, were not born from nothing. The fear of a Russian advance into the eastern Ottoman provinces, knowing that many Armenians viewed the Russians as liberators against the Turkish regime and awareness of Armenian revolutionary activities against the Ottoman State, all contributed to create an atmosphere of anxiety and suspicion, aggravated by the situation becoming more desperate by the Empire and the neuroses – oh – usual time of war. In 1914, the Russians formed four large Armenian volunteer units and three others in 1915. These units accounted for many Ottoman Armenians, including some well-known public figures.

4) The deportation for criminal reasons, strategic or otherwise, had been practiced for centuries in the Ottoman Empire [3]. “

“Second point: there were also many casualties among Muslims throughout the war, the fighting but also by actions against them by Armenians, in a context of ethnic and national rivalry. If there are victims forgotten, are those, and the Turks of today are right to denounce the bias of Western opinion in this regard. Is it because there were only Muslims that are neglected, or because they implicitly consider that the ultimate success of their peers deprives them of the status of martyrs? What view would carry us so on the same facts, if things had turned out differently, if the Armenians were eventually based on the rubble Ottoman state in Anatolia sustainable?

But the last point is crucial, debate, its legal and political implications, is whether the massacres perpetrated against the Armenians were the order of the Young Turk government, if the transfers have been a lure for systematic extermination company, implemented in different ways, but decided, planned, RC governmental level, or if the Young Turks were only guilty of recklessly triggered movements which ended in bloodshed. Merely asking the question may seem absurd and outrageous. It is true that state involvement is a prerequisite for the complete application to the Armenian tragedy of the term genocide, as it was coined in 1944 and defined by the Nuremberg Trials and the United Nations Convention of 1948.

It must however admit that one has so far no evidence that government involvement [4]. “

Similarly, are counted among the “deniers”, Professor Eberhard Jäckel, one of the leading names of Nazi [5], the UK government [6], the German government [7], the Spanish government, Israeli Parliament [8], the Bulgarian Parliament [9] and the Nobel Peace Shimon Peres. [10]

Some disgruntled say that Mr. Bret has led a miserable political operation, whose methods disturbingly reminiscent of inquisitorial trials: the repentant heretic in public, and is excluded from the community if it persists in the heresy. Daring to proclaim the truth loud and clear: Mr. Bret is a genius – a misunderstood genius. Although he never made a study of history (like many other “specialists” self-appointed Ottoman history, such as Yves Ternon surgeon), he managed to unmask the “denial,” where is: in scientific research, recognized as such, and the governments of key allies of France. This genius can not be praised enough.

Dear friends of Mr Bret

Think! He is already struggling Turkish hydra, but it must also be wary of his friends. Mr. Bret indeed maintains the best relations with the local Armenian Revolutionary Federation (USA-Dashnaktsutiun). For, as amazing as it sounds, this foreign party (or to be absolutely correct its youth branch) has a section villeurbannaise, and also a section of Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, and another in Décines, situated, as Villeurbanne, a suburb of Lyon. If a reader knows a European Turkey section of the PS in the suburbs of Munich, Milan, and Edinburgh, he would write to the association, which will transmit.

The heroic and visionary Mr. Bret managed a tour de force: to remain an impeccable democrat, while the friend of the local members of the FRA. Indeed, the FRA has “elevated to the rank of terrorism sacrosanct practice [11]. The list of major terrorist acts in the ARF include:

the first hostage of the contemporary era, which took place at the Ottoman Bank (Istanbul), August 26, 1896, the stated purpose (and succeeded, unfortunately, beyond all hope) promote violence antiarméniennes, a pretext for intervention further increased the great powers in the Ottoman Empire [12];

the failed assassination attempt against Sultan Abdul Hamid II in 1905, which killed the founder of the Dashnaktsutyun, Christapor Mikaelian, who died while handling a bomb he was preparing [13];

the assassination of Bedros Kapamaciyan Mayor Armenian Van, 10 December 1912 [14];

the massacre of many Muslim civilians between 1914 and 1922 [15];

the assassination of Archbishop Leon Tourian, head of the Armenian Church in the Americas, New York, December 24, 1933 [16];

a series of attacks between 1973 and 1985, including the suicide bombing of Lisbon, July 27, 1983, commemorated each year by the FRA [17];

the twin bombings of August 1, 1993, against Viktor Polianitchko (Russian officer) and General Ossetian Safonov [18] who won, the FRA to be prohibited in Armenia until the election of Mr. Kocharian, a of his friends, as President of the Republic [19].

The long record of party Dashnak not limited to these terrorist activities, it also includes the pro-Nazi activism of some of its most prominent members, never disavowed activism, but rather glorified, until today, by the direction of FRA. Hairenik, party organ Dashnak United States, has shown its unwavering support and full support to Nazi ideology. The edition of September 17, 1936 states as follows:

“Then came Adolf Hitler, after fighting worthy of Hercules. He spoke of race in the pulsing heart of the Germans, making the fountain spring of the national genius. “

A month earlier, on August 19 exactly Hairenik not hesitate to write:

“It is sometimes difficult to eradicate these harmful [Jews], when they have contaminated up to the root like a chronic illness, and when it becomes necessary for one people [in this case the Germans, or rather Nazis] to eliminate an uncommon method these attempts are regarded as revolutionary. During such surgery, it is natural that the blood flows. Under such conditions, a dictator emerges as a savior. “

Other members of the FRA are not content to support the Third Reich by words: they gave him the gift of their person. Thus General Ganayan (or Kanayan, according to a transcript of the Armenian alphabet in Latin script), better known by his nickname, Dro, he formed and led the 812th battalion of the Armenian Wehrmacht, the main fact of weapon was the roundup of Jews in occupied Soviet Union [20]. Dro is in the mausoleum since 2000, inaugurated by President Kocharian [21]. In an editorial in April 2001, General Dro Hairenik ranks among the “heroes” of the Armenian people [22], thereby demonstrating his perfect continuity with the line of the 1930 pro-Nazi. Mr. Vahan Hovhannesian, candidate of the ARF in the presidential elections in Armenia, also believes Dro as a “hero” [23].

It goes without saying that Mr. Bret has asked all his friends from the USA to recognize and condemn, orally then in writing, all of his crimes. It goes without saying that Mr. Bret is necessarily also “committed” to the “recognition” of the “Armenian genocide” as “recognition” of numerous crimes of the FRA, the 1890s to today.

How? You have not read, heard or seen it in the media, but then not at all? This may be an omission on their part. Just think, a genius like Mr. Bret can not ignore such acts.

[1] Guenter Lewy, “Revisiting the Armenian Genocide,” Middle East Quarterly, Winter 2005.

[2] Stanford and Ezel Kural Shaw Jay Shaw, History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, New York / London, Cambridge University Press, Volume II, revised edition, 1978, pp. 315-325 (according to Ottoman documents).

[3] “The explanation of Bernard Lewis,” The World, 1 January 1994.

[4] Gilles Veinstein, “Three questions about a massacre,” The History, April 1995.

[5] “But if we take into account the fact that Turks and Kurds have also deplored the heavy loss, and certainly more than combat due to illness, approximately one third of British soldiers Indians and taken prisoner by the Turks in 1916 have died, all this strongly suggests that no genocidal intent existed. “Eberhard Jäckel,” Genozid oder nicht? “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, March 22, 2006.

[6] “The evidence is insufficient evidence to convince us that the events should be classified as genocide under the terms of the UN Convention on Genocide of 1948 which, anyway, is not to retroactive application. The interpretation of events in Eastern Anatolia in 1915-1916 is still the subject of genuine debate among historians. “Lady Scott (Foreign Office), statement on behalf of the British Government in the House of Lords, 2001.

[7] “The federal government believes that consideration of massacres in 1915-1916 can not be by definition a matter of history and that it therefore applies only to historical research and both countries are interested in ascertaining the Turkey and Armenia. Response from the German Minister of Foreign Affairs to a parliamentary question in March 2001.

[8] “Israeli Parliament Rejects Alleged Genocide Bill”, Turkish Daily News, March 16, 2007.

[9] “Bulgarian Lawmakers reject Armenian” genocide “claims”, Turkish Daily News, January 18, 2008.

[10] “We reject attempts to create a similarity between the Jewish Holocaust and the Armenian allegations. Nothing comparable to the Holocaust has taken place. What the Armenians suffered a tragedy but not a genocide. Shimon Peres interview with the Turkish Daily News, April 10, 2001.

[Eleven] Gaïdz Minassian, Armenian War and Terrorism, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 2002, p. 262.

[12] Francis Georgeon, Abdulhamid II, Sultan Caliph, Paris, Fayard, 2003, pp. 299-300, Stanford and Ezel Kural Shaw Jay Shaw, History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, op. cit., pp. 203-205.

[13] Gaïdz Minassian, Armenian War and Terrorism, op. cit., p. 2.

[14] Justin McCarthy, Esat Arslan, Ömer Cemalettin TASKIRAN and Turan, The Armenian Rebellion at Van, Salt Lake City, Utah University Press, 2006, pp. 164-165.

[15] Justin McCarthy et al, The Armenian Rebellion at Van, op. cit., pp. 233-251.

[16] Michael M. Gunter, “Pursuing the Just Cause of Their People. A Study of Contemporary Armenian Terrorism, Connecticut, Greenwood Press, 1986, p. 55.

[17] Gaïdz Minassian, Armenian War and Terrorism, op. cit., pp. 21-114, especially pp. 88-93 on the attack in Lisbon.

[18] “A representative of Boris Yeltsin killed in the North Caucasus”, Le Monde, August 3, 1993; Gaïdz Minassian, Armenian War and Terrorism, op. cit., p. 262. It is true that the two victims have not breached the global humanism, is the least we can write, but they deserved a trial, not an ambush.

[19] The ban was also motivated by the relations between the USA and part of the Russian extreme right, one led by Mr. Zhirinovsky: Gaïdz Minassian, Armenian War and Terrorism, op. cit., p. 241.

[20] Sedat Laçiner, “The Second World War: Armenian-Nazi Collaboration? “The Journal of Turkish Weekly, May 21, 2005. id = 1133

[21] “Dro, became pro-Nazi hero,” L’Humanite, 19 April 1999. See also the official website of the FRA:

[22]

[23]
URL for this article: http://www.turquieeuropeenne.org/article2455.html

© 2004 European Turkey. All rights reserved

May 3, 2010
APRIL 24 Statement of President Barack Obama

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

April 24, 2010

Statement of President Barack Obama on Armenian Remembrance Day

On this solemn day of remembrance, we pause to recall that ninety-five years ago one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century began. In that dark moment of history, 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or marched to their death in the final days of the Ottoman Empire.

Today is a day to reflect upon and draw lessons from these terrible events. I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and my view of that history has not changed. It is in all of our interest to see the achievement of a full, frank and just acknowledgment of the facts. The Meds Yeghern is a devastating chapter in the history of the Armenian people, and we must keep its memory alive in honor of those who were murdered and so that we do not repeat the grave mistakes of the past. I salute the Turks who saved Armenians in 1915 and am encouraged by the dialogue among Turks and Armenians, and within Turkey itself, regarding this painful history. Together, the Turkish and Armenian people will be stronger as they acknowledge their common history and recognize their common humanity.

Even as we confront the inhumanity of 1915, we also are inspired by the remarkable spirit of the Armenian people. While nothing can bring back those who were killed in the Meds Yeghern, the contributions that Armenians have made around the world over the last ninety-five years stand as a testament to the strength, tenacity and courage of the Armenian people. The indomitable spirit of the Armenian people is a lasting triumph over those who set out to destroy them. Many Armenians came to the United States as survivors of the horrors of 1915. Over the generations Americans of Armenian descent have richened our communities, spurred our economy, and strengthened our democracy. The strong traditions and culture of Armenians also became the foundation of a new republic which has become a part of the community of nations, partnering with the world community to build a better future.

Today, we pause with them and with Armenians everywhere to remember the awful events of 1915 with deep admiration for their contributions which transcend this dark past and give us hope for the future.

April 24, 2010