Bilgin Ayata on the Armenian Genocide, denial, and the genocide of the Dersim Alevi Kurds

Obama Got Played

More on "Whats in a word":

There's a post at Jim Meyers Borderlands about why Obama's speech on April 24 upset the Turkish Government so much, even though Obama didn't use the word "Genocide".

According to Hürriyet, during Barack Obama's visit to Turkey in early April of this year, Obama threatened to make good on his campaign pledge to recognize as a 'genocide' the events of 1915, in which at least several hundred thousand (and possibly more than one million) Ottoman Armenians perished. Every year, the president of the United States makes an address on April 24, the day in which these events are commemorated, and every year there is speculation over whether or not the word 'genocide' will be used in the address. In not using the word 'genocide' in his address, Obama was sharply criticized by Armenian groups and others for having 'turned his back' on the pledge. As a quid pro quo for Obama's using the term, apparently, the Turkish government had agreed to speed up the pace of talks with Armenia—with Turkey offering the initial concession of agreeing (it seemed) to soon open the border with Armenia. As I discussed in an earlier post on this site, Turkey's apparent willingness to open the border with Turkey without first realizing progress on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan infuriated both government and opposition figures in Baku. Following Baku's protests over the perceived direction of the Turkish-Armenian talks, the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border has been delayed.

The prospect of an American role in the talks and a possible agreement between Obama and the Turkish government of the sort described by Hürriyet would also explain the Turkish government's anger over Obama's use of the term "Meds Yeghern" in his April 24 speech, which Ankara described as "unacceptable." "Meds Yeghern" is the term which Armenians themselves use to describe the events of 1915, and at least some voices in Turkey have suggested that this term could perhaps become an acceptable compromise term in place of 'genocide.' Nevertheless, Ankara's strong reaction to Obama's use of this term, which included the Foreign Ministry's demand to see US Ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey for consulation, perhaps makes a little more sense if seen in the context of a deal in which Ankara thought Obama had agreed to avoid using terminology that would upset the Turkish government.

Actually the most telling sentence in the above post is : Following Baku's protests over the perceived direction of the Turkish-Armenian talks, the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border has been delayed.

Because this is how Turkey treats human rights, language recognition, the "question" (Kurdish, Armenian) issues:



Progress on any issue is promised and then ripped away at the last moment. Just like what Lucy did with that football. If Obama thought something was going to change, if he thought that engaging in absurd linguistic contortions to make Erdogan, Gul, and all the Pasha's happy was going to result in something REAL, like the opening of the border between Turkey and Armenian... he got played.

Obama's Speech in Turkey: Kutsal Saçmalık (holy shit)

I expected that Obama was going to do some kind of linguistic hootchie kootchie about the role of Turkey in history and the state of its human rights situation today, but I wasn't prepared for him to bend over and bare his ass to Turkish Nationalism. Or for the utter wimp out on the G word.

Text of Obama's speech to Turkish parliament
By The Associated Press

A few excerpts with translation into "reality speak":

This morning I had the great privilege of visiting the tomb of your extraordinary founder of your republic. And I was deeply impressed by this beautiful memorial to a man who did so much to shape the course of history. But it is also clear that the greatest monument to Ataturk's life is not something that can be cast in stone and marble. His greatest legacy is Turkey's strong, vibrant, secular democracy, and that is the work that this assembly carries on today.
This future was not easily assured, it was not guaranteed. At the end of World War I, Turkey could have succumbed to the foreign powers that were trying to claim its territory, or sought to restore an ancient empire. But Turkey chose a different future.

(Um, yes, it chose to massacre and exile its "minority" populations and force everyone else to pretend to be Turkish).

You freed yourself from foreign control, and you founded a republic that commands the respect of the United States and the wider world.

Translation: you became the fourth largest arms customer of the United States and we are happy to profit from sales of helicopters and jets which enable you to destroy the villages of your Kurdish citizens. We are willing to say anything to keep the cash flowing. Sometimes when I read the words of an American President,and this one is no different, I am not sure what world I'm living in:

"Now, of course, Turkey has its own responsibilities. And you've made important progress towards membership. But I also know that Turkey has pursued difficult political reforms not simply because it's good for EU membership, but because it's right for Turkey.
In the last several years, you've abolished state security courts, you've expanded the right to counsel. You've reformed the penal code and strengthened laws that govern the freedom of the press and assembly. You've lifted bans on teaching and broadcasting Kurdish, and the world noted with respect the important signal sent through a new state Kurdish television station."

Wouldn't it be nice if all that were true? Wouldn't it be nice if article 301 was abolished. If Kurdish was actually legal:

for instance, this from Info-Turk

154 Inmates on Hunger Strike in Erzurum

Rights activists called on the Ministry of Justice to act, stating that the health of four inmates in Erzurum prison, who are on hunger strike since 23 February, is deteriorating. Cihan Alkan, Bozo Açlan, Aydın Atalay and Abdulvahap Karatay are among the 154 inmates who went on hunger strike in turns, to protest right violations in the prison.

Allegedly, books and publications in Kurdish aren't allowed, the inmates' right to exit to courtyard together is obscured, they aren't allowed to talk to their families in Kurdish on the phone and arbitrary disciplinary punishments are given.

In a joint statement, rights defenders Esra Çiftçi, Yüksel Mutlu, Murat Çelikkan, Yusuf Alataş, Ataol Behramoğlu, Adil Okay, Ahmet Telli, Baskın Oran, Ercan Kanar, Gün Zileli, Hicri İzgören, Metin Bakkalcı, Nihat Behram, Oral Çalışlar, Şanar Yurdatapan, Şükrü Erbaş and Temel Demirer requested an immediate end to such practices.

And perhaps Obama would like to send a card to some of these journalists who are currently in prison... this is also from Info-Turk:

18 Journalists and Columnists Meet Year 2009 in Turkish Prisons

Let’s Send to Imprisoned Journalist A Card For New Year

Many journalists and columnists meet year 2009 in prisons in Turkey and all over the world.

We, as Solidarity Platform With Imprisoned Journalists, celebrate new year of all journalists and columnists who are imprisoned in our country and in the world, and wish they would be free as soon as possible.

Imprisoned journalists and columnists were arrested because of the fact that they defended freedom of thought and expression, freedom of press and information right of people.

We can act with solidarity by sending new year card to 18 imprisoned journalists and columnists.

Cancel Law No. 301 and Anti-Terror Law Which Block Freedom of Thought and Expression!

Freedom for Imprisoned Journalists!

We present names and prisons in which they are imprisoned of 18 journalists and columnists imprisoned since 29 December 2008 to the information of press, public, sensitive people and institutions…

Ali Buluş, Karaman-Ermenek M Tipi Cezaevi
Barış Açıkel, Kandıra 1 Nolu F Tipi Cezaevi, KOCAELİ
Bayram Namaz, Edirne 1 Nolu F Tipi Cezaevi
Behdin Tunç, Diyarbakır D Tipi Cezaevi
Erdal Güler, Amasya E Tipi Cezaevi, İstanbul
Erol Zavar, Sincan F Tipi Cezaevi, ANKARA
Faysal Tunç, Diyarbakır D Tipi Cezaevi
Füsun Erdoğan, Gebze Özel Tip Cezaevi, Gebze/KOCAELİ
Hatice Duman, Gebze Özel Tip Cezaevi, Gebze/KOCAELİ
İbrahim Çiçek, Tekirdağ 2 Nolu F Tipi Cezaevi
Mahmut Tutal, Urfa E Tipi Cezaevi
Mehmet Ali Varış, Metris Cezaevi
Mehmet Bakır, Bolu F Tipi Cezaevi
Mehmet Karaaslan, Karaman-Ermenek M Tipi Cezaevi
Murat Coşkun, Adana Kürkçüler F Tipi Cezaevi
Mustafa Gök, Sincan F Tipi Cezaevi, ANKARA
Sedat Şenoğlu, Edirne 1 Nolu F Tipi Cezaevi
Ziya Ulusoy, Tekirdağ 1 Nolu F Tipi Cezaevi

Solidarity Platform With Imprisoned Journalists (TGDP)
29 December 2008

CONTACT: Necati ABAY-TGDP Spokesperson, GSM: 0535 929 75 86, Fax: (0212) 514 68 77
e-mail: tutuklugazeteciler@mynet.com


Speaking during a press statement, Democratic Society Party (DTP) MP Hasip Kaplan criticized the conditions in prisons as "worse than the 1980 coup period."

Human Rights Association (İHD) chair Öztürk Türkdoğan said that they have repeatedly warned and informed the authorities about the severity of the situation and they failed to act.

Turkey's Human Rights Foundation (TİHV) chair Metin Bakkalcı noted that currently there're 108 thousand people in prisons across the country. "If the situation isn't improved, hunger strikes will result in deaths." (BIA, April 2, 2009)


AND THEN OBAMA SAID THIS:

Another issue that confronts all democracies as they move to the future is how we deal with the past. The United States is still working through some of our own darker periods in our history. Facing the Washington Monument that I spoke of is a memorial of Abraham Lincoln, the man who freed those who were enslaved even after Washington led our revolution. Our country still struggles with the legacies of slavery and segregation, the past treatment of Native Americans.
Human endeavor is by its nature imperfect. History is often tragic, but unresolved, it can be a heavy weight. Each country must work through its past. And reckoning with the past can help us seize a better future. I know there's strong views in this chamber about the terrible events of 1915. And while there's been a good deal of commentary about my views, it's really about how the Turkish and Armenian people deal with the past. And the best way forward for the Turkish and Armenian people is a process that works through the past in a way that is honest, open and constructive.

Mr. President, excuse me? The TERRIBLE EVENTS? I thought a terrible event was when your appointments haven't paid their taxes, or you get snippy in a press conference. But obviously Obama just had a major wimp out moment. Everybody thought Obama was going to be the Santa Claus of human rights... not me. Business will go on as usual.

Turkey Bribes American Academia

The following is from: ENTOTIAN REVOLUTION:

ENOTITAN REVOLUTION IS A COLLECTION OF WRITINGS AND OPINIONS OF IOANNIS FIDANAKIS. SUPPORTING THE STRUGGLES OF NATIVE AND ETHNIC PEOPLE BEING OPPRESSED, ENSLAVED, MANIPULATED OR EXPLOITIVE BY FOREIGN ELEMENTS WITHIN THEIR OWN NATURAL AND HISTORICAL HOMELANDS.

which features an article about the massive funds the Turkish government spends to manipulate the American as well as public opinion.


NEW YORK—The Washington Post reported in its Saturday edition on the ongoing
corruption and manipulation of American scholarship by the Turkish government,
Susan Kinzie’s article “Board Members Resign to Protest Chair’s Ousting Leader
in Georgetown-Based Agency Encouraged Scholars to Research Mass Killing of
Armenians” details the most recent scandal surrounding the ITS (Institute of
Turkish Studies) founded with a $3 million dollar grant paid directly by the
Turkish government.

Beginning in the 1980s, in response to the Congressional arms embargo of the
1970s following Turkey’s criminal military invasion of Cyprus, the Turkish
Embassy in Washington DC, under the leadership of then Turkish Ambassador Sukru
Elekdag, initiated a far flung campaign in America to whitewash Turkish criminal
history. The practically non-existent ,apathetic community of Turks in America,
was reorganized with the help of millions of dollars of funding-- buying high
priced advisors to set up such Cyprus Invasion denying entities as the
Washington DC-Based “American Friends of Turkey” the ATC (American Turkish
Council) recently reorganized under the new name “Turkish Coalition of America”
,the ATAA (Assembly of Turkish American Associations) and the New York-New
Jersey-Based FTAA (Federation of Turkish American Associations) whose job was to
organize a “Turkish-American” parade to counter the decades long parade by
Greek-Americans on New York’s Fifth Avenue.

Susan Kinzie's Washington Post article goes on to describe the blatant buying of "scholarship" by the Turkish Government:

The Turkish studies institute, founded in 1983, is independent from Georgetown University, but Executive Director David Cuthell teaches a course there in exchange for space on campus.

Julie Green Bataille, a university spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mail, "we will review this matter consistent with the importance of academic freedom and the fact that the institute is independently funded and governed."

The institute's funding, a $3 million grant, is entirely from Turkey.

Quataert, a professor of history, said the institute has funded good scholarship without political influence. The selection of which studies to support is done by a committee of academics on the associate board, he said, and approved by the board, which includes business and political leaders. Never once, he said, did he think a grant application was judged on anything other than its academic merits.

He also noted that during his time there, no one applied for grants that would have been controversial in Turkey. Asked if any of the research characterized the events as genocide, Cuthell said, "My gut is no. It's that third rail."

Roger Smith, professor emeritus of government at the College of William and Mary, questioned whether the nonprofit institute deserves its tax-exempt status if there is political influence -- and whether it is an undeclared lobbying arm for the Turkish government.

A few years ago, Quataert said, members of the board checked on what they thought was an irrevocable blind trust "and to our surprise it turned out to be a gift that could be revoked by the Turkish government."

"Denial is like being killed again."

This is a picture taken in Kurdistan, inside the borders of Turkey. All over the mountains in the Eastern parts of Turkey, land is stripped of it's vegetation and these huge signs are carved into the mountains with sayings like "We are ready and we are not afraid. Jandarma Kommando", or "One Country, Jandarma Kommando" etc. Around Dersim I remember thinking, that if they were really "not afraid" why do they have a tank on every hillside? I never saw these signs in the west but in all the Kurdish areas the military had to carve these messages into the mountains to reassure themselves that they are really still in Turkey. Huge sums of money go into this self reassurance and image control, and a lot of this money is spent in the US.


There's a very good article from the Southern Poverty Law Center's website about the Turkish government's INDUSTRY of denial about the Armenian genocide. The same tactics are used to deny the ongoing genocide of the Kurds as well. The Kurdish issue is sometimes referred to in the Turkish press as "The Kurdish Question" or the "Kurdish Problem". It's my experience that whenever you see an ethnic or minority group with the word "Question" or "Problem" after the the name of the group, the real "question/problem" at hand is "how do we get rid of these people." It's worth noting that the mission of The Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project is: dedicated to monitoring hate groups and extremist activity in the U.S.

The article goes on to document the millions of dollars the Turkish government spends on it's propaganda and genocide denial machine, including paying off congressmen and US scholars.

Early this year, the Toronto District School Board voted to require all public high school students in Canada's largest city to complete a new course titled "Genocide: Historical and Contemporary Implications." It includes a unit on the Armenian genocide, in which more than a million Armenians perished in a methodical and premeditated scheme of annihilation orchestrated by
Gul
Turkish president Abdullah Gul warns of severe repercussions to the relations between the United States and Turkey if the "Armenian allegations are accepted."
the rulers of Turkey during and just after World War I.

The school board members each soon received a letter from Guenter Lewy, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Massachusetts, rebuking them for classifying the Armenian genocide in the same category as the Holocaust. "The tragic fate of the Armenian community during World War I," Lewy wrote, is best understood as "a badly mismanaged war-time security measure," rather than a carefully plotted genocide.

Lewy is one of the most active members of a network of American scholars, influence peddlers and website operators, financed by hundreds of thousands of dollars each year from the government of Turkey, who promote the denial of the Armenian genocide — a network so influential that it was able last fall to defy both historical truth and enormous political pressure to convince America's lawmakers and even its president to reverse long-held policy positions.

The article goes on to describe the funding of the "Institute for Turkish Studies" in the US by the Turkish government.

In 1982, the government of Turkey donated $3 million to create the Institute for Turkish Studies, a nonprofit organization housed at Georgetown University that pushes a pro-Turkey agenda, including denial of the Armenian genocide. Three years later, in 1985, Turkey bought full-page advertisements in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Washington Times to publish a letter questioning the Armenian genocide that was signed by 69 American scholars. All 69 had received funding that year from the Institute for Turkish Studies or another of Turkey's surrogates like the Ankara Chamber of Commerce, a quasi-governmental agency in Turkey's capital city.

The Institute for Turkish Studies has since received sizable donations from American defense contractors that sell arms to Turkey, including General Dynamics and Westinghouse. Turkey continues to provide an annual subsidy to support the institute. In 2006, the most recent year for which tax records are available, the institute awarded $85,000 in grants to scholars. Its chairman is the current Turkish ambassador to the U.S., Nabi Sensoy.

The most important and moving point in this article lies in this statement:

"Denial is the final stage of genocide," says Gregory Stanton, president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars. "It is a continuing attempt to destroy the victim group psychologically and culturally, to deny its members even the memory of the murders of their relatives. That is what the Turkish government today is doing to Armenians around the world."

Last year, the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity issued a letter condemning Armenian genocide denial that was signed by 53 Nobel laureates including Wiesel, the famous Holocaust survivor and political activist. Wiesel has repeatedly called Turkey's 90-year-old campaign to cover up the Armenian genocide a double killing, since it strives to kill the memory of the original atrocities.

He was hardly the first. As long ago as 1943, law professor Raphael Lemkin, who would later serve as an advisor to Nuremburg chief counsel Robert Jackson, coined the term "genocide" with the Armenians in mind.

The denial of memory, the erasing of narrative-- this is what my first "Turkish Teacher" meant when he talked about "cleaning". This article is worth reading in detail, as well as a separate section detailing all the "denial" web pages which often include the names, photos and home addresses of American scholars who speak openly about the Armenian genocide.

Taner Akcam, Robert Fisk, - Armenian Genocide

Taner Akcam at Columbia University on his book "A SHAMEFUL ACT"

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part 12



I was told by the person who shot this video that during this talk there were people from the Turkish Embassy, photographing people as they went into the talk, and if you listen to the question and answer section you can hear the staged "provocative" questions, which reveal and absurd lack of logic and wind up being simply an embarrasment: for instance one young woman asked "If the Turks committed genocide, why are there still Armenians living in Istanbul, and they are living there happily!" The Turkish government aggressively monitors all intellecutal and academic talks, they send representatives to photograph participants, write down the remarks of people, try and find out their names, harrass and intimidate them. At a preious talk at a New York University, Taner Akcam was actually roughed up as assailants rushed the stage. The aggressiveness on behalf of the Turkish government shows a kind of desperation to control the terms of the historical narrative.

Below is a video of Robert Fisk speaking about his book THE GREAT WAR FOR CIVILIZATION which inclueds a chapter about the Armenian genocide. In his account he discovers a mass grave of Armenians in Syria, where they'd been driven by the Turks. He discovers it after interviewing and old Armenian woman who remembers seeing her mother and sister being dragged away to be killed.

Taner Akcam on the Armenian issue in Turkey