124) The Armenian Campaign to Prevent Turkish Studies at Universities

 

 

Armenians and their supporters are aghast Turkey is donating money to American universities... they claim Turkey would somehow control the minds of professors who are hired to teach history. (Which would be impossible, if you think about it... try maintaining a facade day in and day out in front of a scrutinizing classroom audience, and see how easy it would be.) Princeton, for example, was accused of being seduced by Turkish grants; there was a smear campaign against Professor Heath Lowry led by Peter Balakian, which ultimately succeeded in Lowry's ouster as chairman of a Near Eastern studies program.

 

Armenians have enjoyed telling their tall tale practically unopposed for about a century. Now that Turks have finally awakened to the need for telling the truthful side of the tale (thinking for years it would have been more mature not to dwell on the crimes committed by Armenians, for the sake of brotherhood), what should the Turks do? American schools and universities have been inundated by the Armenian viewpoint... assisted by the deep pockets of wealthy Armenians. For Turkey to give a grant here and there would serve as only a trickle to counteract the juggernaut of widely established false Armenian history.

Preventing Turkish Studies is part of an uglier picture 

 

 

December 2. 1997

 

Letters to the Editor
Los Angeles Times

 

Dear Sir/Madam:

 

Kenneth R. Weiss in his article (“Strings on Foreign Aid Troubles Colleges,� November 24, page A-1), when mentioning the assassination of three Turkish diplomats in Los Angeles. unexplainably fails to mention that all three were killed in cold blood by Armenian terrorists. This is a fact that should hardly be kept undisclosed in an article that gives such a prominent role to Armenian efforts to supposedly protect ethics and integrity in this country. Furthermore, the writer also seems to be unaware of the fact that even in the world of academics, the methods of physical violence, such as the bombing of the house of a UCLA professor claimed by the “Armenian Group of 28,� intimidation and constant harassment against academicians who do not agree with the Armenian �party line� on Turkish history, are still being employed by extremist Armenian groups.

 

Therefore, the efforts by “moderate� Armenians to prevent Turks from expanding the study of Turkish history. society and culture in the U.S. through academic outlets are really part of a larger picture. But even aside from that, the Armenian arguments are hypocritical at best. During the past two decades, more than a dozen major American universities, including UCLA, have established programs or professorships in Armenian studies with contributions from wealthy Armenians. The majority of these chairs and programs have been headed by academicians of Armenian descent or by individuals who have proven their “academic integrity� by writing what Armenians view as a permissible version of their joint history with Turks. If the heart of the matter is whether universities are influenced by the agendas of their donors, the same academic and public scrutiny should be applied to Armenian-sponsored programs. Because, if there is indeed a concerted effort to disseminate a certain view about Turkish history to the American public, there is no doubt that Armenians have already undertaken it.

 

Sincerely,

 

Güler Koknar
Executive Director
ATAA

 

 

The preceding appeared in the December 15. 1997 issue of The Turkish Times

 

 

Nobody seems to care when Richard Hovannisian's impartiality is clearly suspect, and when his position as Chair in Modern Armenian History at the University of California was endowed (since 1986) by the Armenian Educational Foundation (AEF).

 

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© Holdwater 

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