155) Inventing history for political ends: N.Y. Governor George Pataki

It's not unusual for American politicians to toady up to ethnic groups in an effort to woo their votes. In my turf, New York City, it was once reported that more Greeks lived there than in all of Athens... and perhaps that's still the case. So Governor George Pataki came up with a "Proclamation" recognizing the "Genocide" of the Greeks. (That is, "Genocide of the Greeks of Pontus and Asia Minor.") He has recognized the Armenian "Genocide" with similar expressions of his unstudied opinion, as well. Of course, he is not the only American governor to have issued such butt-kissing proclamations, but because he happens to be my governor at the moment, I'm particularly sensitive to this serious mark on his even-handed leadership. His opponents in the last election used the revealing tagline to . . describe the Republican politician: "Pataki: It's About the Money."

Born in 1945, George E. Pataki was elected Governor of New York State in November 1994, previously having served in the State Senate and Assembly, and holding office as Mayor of Peekskill (1981-1984), where he was born. As most politicians in the United States, he worked as a lawyer... for about a decade... before entering the wonderful world of politics.

One of the responses below states, in part:

"As a respected and experienced lawyer in your own right you would have been better advised if you had had time to research the legal definition of the term "genocide" according to the United Nations convention of the same name. A loose usage of the crime mentioned above can only damage the prestige of the user."

George E. Pataki Proclamation

STATE OF NEW YORK
EXECUTIVE CHAMBER
GEORGE E. PATAKI, GOVERNOR

Press Office
518-474-8418
212-681-4640
FOR RELEASE IMMEDIATE

The following proclamation was issued by Governor of New York State, George E. Pataki, in commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the Asia Minor Catastophe presented to the Holocaust Memorial Observance Committee of Asia Minor on Sunday, October 6, 2002.

P r o c l a m a t i o n

Whereas, the Empire State is home to many ethnic communities whose members benefit from the freedom and democracy upon which our Nation was founded; as a global leader in many areas of basic human and social rights, New York State has a prominent role in acknowledging events in history — many of them tragic and distressing — that teach valuable lessons from which our greater society benefits; such events are the destruction of the city of Smyrna and the Genocide of the Greeks of Pontus and Asia Minor, tragedies that took the lives of hundreds of thousands of Greek civilians during World War I; and Whereas, these Greeks, whose ancestors had lived in communities along present-day northern Turkey near the Black Sea for three millennia, were singled out by the Turkish authorities for expulsion from their ancestral lands along with Armenians and Assyrians; from 1915-1923, Greeks of Asia Minor endured immeasurable cruelty during a Turkish Government-sanctioned systematic campaign to displace them; destroying Greek towns and villages and slaughtering additional hundreds of thousands of civilians in areas where Greeks composed a majority, as on the Black Sea coast, Pontus, and areas around Smyrna; those who survived were exiled from Turkey and today they and their descendants live throughout the Greek diaspora; and Whereas, in 1922, Smyrna, the largest city in Asia Minor called "the jewel of the Mediterranean", a cosmopolitan hub populated by a highly educated Greek community and flourishing commercial and middle-classes, was sacked and burned and its inhabitants massacred by the Turkish forces; the pier of Smyrna became a scene of final desperation as the approaching flames forced many thousands to jump to their death, rather than be consumed by flame; George Horton, the Consul General of the United States in Smyrna at the time of the catastrophe, is quoted as saying, "...the destruction of Smyrna happened, however, in 1922, and no act ever perpetrated by the Turkish race in all its bloodstained history has been characterized by more brutal and lustful features, nor more productive of
the worst of human sufferings inflicted on the defenseless and unarmed. It was a fittingly lurid and Satanic finale to the whole dreadful tragedy..."; and

Whereas, it is believed by many that acknowledgment and awareness of this shameful event will not only teach future generations, but also will help mankind prevent such crimes from being repeated; this concept is particularly important as our State works to instill in youth, a universal respect for other cultures, races, religions and viewpoints; and


Whereas, it is fitting that all freedom-loving people worldwide and
New Yorkers alike, share in the solemn commemoration of the Great Catastophe of Asia Minor of 1915-23, and join with the Greek-American community and its many religious, communal and philanthropic organizations as they honor the sacrifices and memory of their noble ancestors;

Now, Therefore, I, George E. Pataki, Governor of the State of New
York, do hereby proclaim October 6th, 2002 as the

80th Anniversary of the Commemoration of the Burning of Smyrna and the Persecution of the Greeks of Asia Minor in the Empire State.

Holdwater: Holy Mother of Mercy! Sounds like the ignorant attitudes of 1922 that prevailed against Turkey are back in full force... even down to the quoting of foaming-at-the-mouth Turcophobe George Horton (Author of "The Blight of Asia.") He still even uses the old "Christian code," calling Izmir "Smyrna"... in the year 2002! Exactly what kind of an obsequeous butt-licker is my dear honorable governor, George "It's About the Money" Pataki, anyway?

American author, E. Alexander Powell, in his "The Struggle for Power in Moslem Asia," (1923), said, on pages 32-33:

There was scarcely a newspaper of importance in the United States that did not editorially lay that outrage (The Burning of Izmir) at the door of the Turks, without waiting to hear the Turkish version, yet, after it had been attested by American, English, and French eye-witnesses, and by a French commission of inquiry, that the city had been deliberately fired by the Greeks and Armenians in order to prevent it falling into Turkish hands, how many newspapers had the courage to admit that they had done the Turks a grave injustice?

More on really happened, documented by Western sources, may be found in the Izmir page.

Unfortunately, the honorable George Pataki is one of many murderers, in the form of Rufmord; and his is the kind of murdering that is all the more insidious, coming from the high and official position that it does. Shame on you, Governor, for failing in your duty to fairly represent all the people... and not just an influential part.


A Briton Takes Exception to a Similar Action by Governor Pataki


PATAKI PULLED THE SAME STUNT SIX YEARS PRIOR! (In 1996.)

Holdwater's Favorite Guestbook Commentator: the Briton, NICK

From: NICK
Date: 8/6/99

An article on education in the UK "Telegraph" today: A law was passed in New York State three years ago, " which effectively laid down that all schoolchildren should be taught that the Irish potato famine was an act of deliberate genocide by the British government." The New York governor stated at the signing ceremony in Albany that under the new curriculum students would be taught that " the great Irish hunger was not the result of a massive failure of the Irish potato crop but, rather, the result of a deliberate campaign by the British to deny the Irish people the food they needed to survive." The article goes on to say that this "is an outrageous lie, as any serious historian of 19th century Ireland will testify. And it clearly shows the extreme danger of allowing politicians to set the curriculum for schools. It is fair to guess that......the next generation of New Yorkers will be far more inclined to buy guns and bombs for the IRA than if their education had been left to respectable historians, with some regard for the truth. Ignorance and a bad curriculum can actually cost lives.".....Who was the New York governor I hear you all ask. His name is George Pataki who, as a Greek, must be well versed in inventing history for political ends. What we had here was a grubby politician rooting around for votes by getting into bed with a single issue ethnic lobby. Sound familiar?

The Irish say that it's a stupid idea. They say that the Brits did not try to commit genocide.

Tell me, have you ever met an Armenian that said that the Genocide didn't happen?


Holdwater: Especially in the mid-to-late 1980s, there were a lot of Irish coming into New York City. Governor Pataki... who claims he is Hungarian and not Greek... just can't resist catering to sizable immigrant groups, a la Tammany Hall. (Hey, it worked for Boss Tweed... most recently brought to life in the Martin Scorsese movie, GANGS OF NEW YORK.)

(For a while, anyway.)


Professor Mahmut Ozan Responds, in his Inimitable Way
October 9, 2002

AN ANSWER TO THE "PROCLAMATION" OF GEORGE PATAKI, THE GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK

(An Editorial)

Mahmut Esat Ozan
Chairman Editorial Board of The Turkish Forum
Prof. Emeritus Miami
Dade, North Campus, Dept.
International Studies


Governor George Pataki

I am taking the liberty of answering your highly inflammatory words to be found in your so-called proclamation of October 6, 2002 . I am doing this on behalf of Turks everywhere on this globe who think that what you have done was a despicable act of intolerance. We think that it is a damnable pity that a person in your position had to stoop to such a low level of obvious hatemongering. The President of the United States of America is determined to win the greatest war ever fought against terrorism, and asks every decent citizen of the western world to unite, and come together for the swift accomplishment of that supreme task of winning this war. You ,
on the other hand as the petty and insignificantly small political
official compared to Mr. Bush, find it convenient and acceptable in your blackened heart to attack Turkey, and go against the grain of all decent behavior, and dare to defame Turks at a moment when the same president whose name was mentioned above has been praising almost daily those very Turks you learned to hate so much ever since your childhood.

The Turks' proper stance taken against the above-mentioned international terrorism to which your kin and relatives who may still be living in your family's country of origin, Greece, where the Nov.17th terrorists have been killing dozens of American, British, and Turkish military and political personnel, without batting an eye. Do you think with this slanderous, so-called proclamation of yours, you will be of help to the United States of America in the fight against bigotry, intolerance and petty vendettas ? Where is the atmosphere of unity , the environment of fairness and the ambiance of tolerance which you are expected to inculcate into the citizens of a state you have been elected to serve as the governor?

If you excuse me, Governor, you are elected to unite the people of your state, not to polarize and divide them. Your so-called proclamation against all Turkish and Turkic peoples of the world, numbering over 200.000.000, is just untenable. Some of these Turks are calling New York City and State their home, working there , paying some of the heaviest taxes ever levied for any citizen alive. They do this from their hard-earned salaries so that you accomplish the good deeds and fair treatment you promised during your past election campaign speeches. Or were they only hot air? Did your promise " to be fair and kind to all ethnic nationalities," include the Turks also? Those Turkish citizens of the great State of New York seem to have been fooled, by your hypocritical double-talk. They may have voted for you, not knowing who you really were.
Governor Pataki, you are from now on not in a position to expect such a largesse in the future.

Your so-called proclamation stands as the worst monument erected by anyone so far. You, as a Greek descent person, have unabashedly attacked with untold lies and vituperations the honorable nation of Turks (the words of George W. Bush) . Your unfortunate behavior and sinister act is none other than a dichotomy thrown at the face of our esteemed President and it refutes vehemently his many efforts in uniting the American society, and
finding ways to solidify coalitions for a great cause, to win the war on global terrorism.

The ignoble, slanderous, and disrespectful statements you dared to include in your so-called turcophobic edict illustrates one thing: You, as the governor of the state of New York, with your hateful attitude infesting the innocent citizens with your venomous 80 year-old petty vendettas replete with lies and prevarications against us Turks are unacceptable.

Governer Pataki, stop wearing your Greek heritage on your sleeve . Stop your intolerant , offensive rhetoric. Redeem yourself by retrieving your pathetic pronouncements. Simply say that you made a huge mistake and that you are sorry. You may even say that the 'Diavolo' made you do it . Then and only then that history along side Turkish peoples everywhere may forgive your disgraceful words.

You may have heard of the well-known and respected German anthropologist and historian Jacob Philip Falmerayer, who lived between 1790-1862. Prof. Dr. Falmerayer, in his scholarly-researched book called: FRAGMENTE AUS DEM ORIENT BIZANS UND DES ABENDLANDES published in 1861,
re-printed in 1900, wrote the following: "Contrary to the views of the
revisionist of ancient Greek history , today's Greeks have no continuity with their namesakes, the Greeks of antiquity." According to the records of the ancient history, the enlightened, cultured and democratically- inclined ancient inhabitants of what is known today as GREECE, and the contemporary Greeks are as much related to one another as the common Fellaheen of Egypt are related to the all-powerful and all-knowing Pharoahs of millennia ago.

A campaign ad for billionaire Thomas Golisano compares Gov. George Pataki to Stalin, which is unfair. George Pataki bravely stands against the mass-murderers of history, so he should not be compared to one.


Nevertheless, there was a Greek who broke the mold of the present-day mongrel race. He manifested during the first quarter of the 20th century a close resemblance to the ancient Greeks. (the enlightened ones) The name of this enlightened person is Elefterios Venizelos. He lived during the times in which your ridiculous so-called proclamation accuses Turks with the most shameful acts of perfidy. This decent Greek statesman Elefterios Venizelos knew Turks better than you ever could, better than all the inhabitants of Astoria, New York or for that matter, better than anyone
living in that tiny mainland country called Greece, situated at the bottom of the European map, and the hotbed of European terrorism.

Elefterios Venizelos, despite the humiliating defeat of GREECE, a country which had the temerity of invading a dying Ottoman Empire, holding on to the shirt sleeves of its benefactors Britain and France, attacked the Turkish lands with the hopes of reclaiming a portion of the old Byzantine Empire where some folks once inhabited those areas a thousand years earlier. This is a situation similar to our old U.S. history of the Eastern and the Western America. This enlightened old Greek statesman Venizelos, having lived in those times, and having fought, fair and square, the armies of the valiant Turkish General Gazi Mustafa Kemal,and having been defeated by him on the battleground as well as in all political arena, did something which will put you to shame, governor. Venizelos did not hesitate to nominate the man he admired, Gazi Mustafa
Kemal, for that 1934 Nobel Peace Prize. Elefterios Venizelos not unlike yourself was a Greek.(of the ancient ilk) His government had fallen after the tragic defeat of Greece's Armed Forces at the hands of those Turks whose leader he was showering with numerous accolades.

There was a time when we had heard of another Greek person whom you may very well know. He is Mr. P.D. Spyropoulos, the Executive Director of the American Hellenic Media Project. He is also a virulent Turcophobe such as you, Governor. In this day and age of the internet revolution, the web sites are everywhere. It is almost impossible to ignore them. The content of one such site is most disturbing, to say the least. It must have had the approval of Mr. Spyropoulos' organization. It is labeled: GREEK SOUL, GREEK ACTION. The following message was displayed in large letters on the screen. The content of this site is not too distant from the content of your so-called proclamation. The pronouncement says:

"HELLENES, the struggle for the liberation of the last enslaved Greek lands, such as: North Epirus (Albania), North Macedonia,(the independent country of Macedonia), East Thrace (Turkish Trakya), Asia Minor (Anatolia), North Cyprus (TRNC) has started. The brilliant progress of our Greek ancestors has to continue in the same manner. A historical responsibility has passed on upon us. "Our goal is, the GREAT HELLAS, (Greece) OUR CENTER
IS CONSTANTINOPLE." (today's ISTANBUL)

Following these outrageous statements, a Greek Military's Evzone-like cartoon character, with the effeminate pleated skirt appears and walks towards a Turkish flag, which is spread out on the dirty ground, and begins to urinate on it. This disgusting and revolting event repeats itself continuously on a loop, every three or four seconds, until one decides to change the web site or to turn the computer off. This is not an isolated Greek manifestation. Another one was observed right after Turkey was admitted into the European Customs Union. On that occasion the official spokesman of the Greek government, Telemahos Hyrtiris makes the following explanation using the most undiplomatic analysis, this side of Theodoros Pangolos, (which the Turkish Press used to call DANGALOS on the subject. "The Hellenic government 'dropped' the veto without securing any compromise by the Turkish government. At the same time, Hellas was opening the door of civilized Europe for the BARBARIC MONGOLOIDS, the Turks."


Another web site, observed recently, called Turks A MURDEROUS BUNCH who killed more than 2.5 million Armenians during the first genocide of the 20th century, (an inflation factor must be working here) and assassinated 200,000 Greeks at the end of their 'invasion' of the Greek cultural center called Izmir."Governor Pataki, as long as you continue with your asinine, so-called proclamations, this hatred will never end. It is not a well-kept secret that the Greeks and the Turks did not get along too well in the past. Of all the ethnic groups integrated under the aegis of the Ottoman rule, the Greeks were the most resentful of not being independent. It is only natural that the governed should resent those who govern them. The
Turks were the rulers of the Greeks for more than 400 years, until the middle of the 19th century. This fact, plus the fact that Turks were victorious in a fairly recent war, 1919-1922, a Greek invasion of Turkey, mentioned earlier makes our case. A war instigated by Britain's Prime Minister of the time, another turcophobe Lloyd George, and the First Lord of the British Admiralty, Winston Churchill, this senseless intrusion onto Turkish soil in Anatolia, and the Greeks' humiliating defeat at the hands of their former masters , the Turks, could be counted as the prime source of your frustration, Governor, and may have brought About consequently your unbearable inferiority complex.

At one time, there appeared a period of relaxation of tensions on both sides, a calculated rapprochement of sorts was initiated by the Turkish President, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk during the early Thirties. This lull lasted until the end of the Second World War. I remember quite vividly that Turks thought of Greeks as their friendly neighbors. So during those feverish days of the war in 1941 the Turkish government-owned cargo ships smuggling into Greece tons of wheat and other necessary staples cut from Turks' meager supplies of food stuffs, maneuvered at night through the hazardous German navy's mine-infested Aegean and the Mediterranean Seas to
reach Greece, so that Turks' neighbors, perhaps some of your relatives there would not starve. In the process, Turks lost scores of their citizens and vessels.

A BIT MORE HISTORY LESSON YOU SHOULD HAVE LEARNED, BEFORE YOU SIGNED YOUR CLEVER BUT VICIOUS PROCLAMATION

This feeling of closeness and empathy toward one another slowly dissipated after the demise of Ataturk. Then Venizelos passed away. The rabid anti-Turkish groups were now at the helm in Greece. The short-lived détente between the two nations was no more. Taking its place was the Greek experiment with International Communism, which ended 1946, with the inauguration of the Marshall Plan, and the full membership of Greece and
Turkey in NATO in 1952. The Tri-partite treaty of 1959-60 among Great Britain, Greece and Turkey, granting Turkish and Greek Cypriots an independent status, followed by massacres, the Greek Army Colonels' coup, resulting with the Turkish military intervention to save the Turkish nationals, the 26 year-old stalemate continuing on the island of Cyprus, all have contributed to the present day "state of affairs" existing between the two neighbors. Alas, a long-lasting peace is not yet around the corner. As long as the Greek-American lobby, the Greek Orthodox Church, and the ethno-centric Greek organizations operate as negative
propaganda machines, there will be no chance for the cessation of
hostilities emanating from the Greek side, targeting continuously the interest of Turkish people everywhere. The web site mentioned above is but one of dozens of similar sites spewing venom, Greek style, against anything Turkish, 24 hours a day. Never mind the fact that Turkey is four times the size of Greece and six times more populated than Greece, and that there are more people living in Istanbul alone, than in your entire nation of Greece, the arrogance displayed by the representatives of the Greek government in mainland Greece and the Greek Cypriots on the island
is truly incomprehensible, at best. Furthermore, the striking example of the unbelievable audacity of the Greek people calling Istanbul by its previous name of CONSTANTINOPLE, even though its name was changed 549 years ago, when the city was conquered by the Turks, is appalling. Nobody in his right mind would call New York City by its old Dutch name of New Amsterdam, Leningrad in Russia is now called St. Petersburg, the name of Stalingrad is replaced by Volgagrad, the Dominican Republic's ex-capital Ciudad Trujillo adopted the name of Santa Domingo, Rodesia has become Zimbabwe, its ex-capital Salisbury is now Harare. Ceylon has changed its name to Sri Lanka., the old Upper Volta is presently known as: Burkina Fasso, and the old Burma is now Myanmar.


These rather relatively new changes are officially accepted by everyone at the United Nations. However, the Greeks are still determined to call our Istanbul CONSTANTINOPLE. Multiple attacks on what is sacrosanct for the Turks are violated daily. As if the above multiple variety of intransigence was not enough, Greeks, now seem to have adopted a different agenda comprised of bold-faced lies and savage attacks against a legendary leader every Turk considers being inviolable. Not so long ago, very laudatory words were spoken on the pages of a prominent southern Florida Spanish language daily called EL NUEVO HERALD. The article was entitled: ATATURK, TURKEY'S GREAT HERO. Its author, Rolando Francisco Bravo, was criticizing the Greek-Americans who were constantly trying to belittle Ataturk, even though they were very vocal in claiming that they were the originators of democratic ideals, respect of human rights, and of fair-play. Mr. Bravo was relating to the nationwide campaign started by the Greek organizations headed by P.D. Spyropoulos who gave a nasty reply entitled THE CRIMES OF ATATURK appeared on the pages of the same newspaper where the Bravo article was published earlier. The letter was written by none other than a Mr. P.D. Spyropoulos, (I still think he may be your friend , Governor) he is the Director of Hellenic Media Project,. He signed his letter claiming to be a lawyer of Greek origin residing in south Florida.

Our investigation discovered that Mr. Spyropoulos had no local address, or phone number, and he had no registration with Florida's Bar. His letter was very reminiscent of your so-called proclamation Governor , and it was replete with all kinds of stereotypical lies, falsehoods, slanders, and invented statistical falsehoods the Greeks have been using all along. Among Spyropoulos' most outrageous claims was one which could take the first prize in any contest of mendacity . Upon reading his reply, I personally wrote to him and corrected his deliberate vicious lies, where he claimed that 'invading' Turkish armies in 1922 not only burned their own city of Izmir, which they were liberating and not invading, but the magic was that also in a period of less than 24 hours the Turkish forces managed to butcher 200.000 Greek nationals and a few more Christians, too. This statement of Mr. Spyropoulos boggled my mind. On the 9th of September, a Turkish army entered Izmir Since the witnesses told the investigators over and over again that all remaining foreigners had left the city within 24 hours with the remnants of the routed Greek military forces, Mr. Spyropoulos' outrageous claims of a massacre of 200.000 Greeks would have made the Turks the world's greatest military logistic experts, almost military magicians. What they had accomplished could now be a subject of course study in many war colleges around the world.

Izmir in flames.

I have an American educated nephew living in Izmir, Turkey. His name is Cuneyt Kuey. He works at the NATO headquarters. I sent him an urgent e-mail and asked him to do some research for me. I wanted to know the size of the population of the entire city of Izmir and of its suburbs in the year 1922. This was the time of the great fire, and the ghastly massacres blamed on the Turks. The next day my nephew sent me the following break-down of ethnic groupings in Izmir, but added that the 1922 statistics were not available because they had perished during the fires. Nevertheless, here are the records from the year 1918 four years earlier than 1922 : Greeks...55,000; Jews...21,000; Armenians...10,000; Ottoman Turks...114,000; Foreigners: British, French, German, Italian...50,000. As one can easily see, the total population of Izmir in 1918 was not surpassing 250,000 souls. Since the number of Greeks and Armenians did not go beyond 65,000 people, in order for the Turkish military forces to be able to have massacred 200,000 Greeks and Armenians, they had to bring somehow into the city from other parts of the empire 135,000 additional people to kill and thus achieve this Houdiniesque legerdemain within a few hours, so that they could start butchering 200,000...a ridiculous figure invented by Mr. Spyropoulos. The interesting point here is that he, Mr. Spyropoulos, was corrected by me a year or so earlier concerning the same subject. He apparently, wants to stick with those invented lies, because perhaps that is how you at the Governor's Mansion and Spyropoulos at AHEPA headquarters are 'getting your jollies.' Even though all of this conjuration of prevarication does not make sense to us and to serious
historians, you Greeks and Armenians, being the 'brothers in hatred' persist on lying, forging documents, re-writing history books to fit your ugly agendas. Actually, in the long run, there have been so many lies told that now you believe your own lies in order to make Turks look bad.

It's that simple, Governor Pataki. Daydreams are unproductive. Whether they are called hallucinations, wishful thinking, re-inventions of world history, the end result won't benefit either Greeks or Armenians. Whether you re-write, update, edit, or blue-pencil the truth, these actions of yours will make you the laughing stock of historians. One thing is going for you, however, and it seems that you have stacked all your eggs into that basket. Unfortunately, because you are smart, fiendish, and cleverly deceitful, you are able to pull the wool over the eyes of those who read your so-called Proclamation without bothering to search for the truth. They are the unsuspecting bystanders, who are impressed by your clamor, and believe inadvertently the content of what you preach during your baseless political charades. A short time ago, a Greek-American confronted me in a 'chat room' with an ugly personal message. The following is a small sample of his ugly words.

"You damned Turks are pathetic. You can't even accept the fact that our Western civilization is founded on the pillars of Greek thought and mind. One Plato is worth ten thousand ATATURKS. Where are your Aristoteles, Socrates, Euripedeses, Aristophaneses, Archimedeses and the Euclids? Both science and civil administration of the Western world are of Greek
origin. You have an Ataturk, a pedophile who was born of a Jewish prostitute and died of syphilis,. We have our Alexander the Great. Then I remembered a bit of history I had learned in school, and researched on it to amplify my knowledge .Here's what I found out

"It was King Phillip II of Macedonia who had united the Thracian Greeks, and the rest of the natives of the areas he had conquered, to prepare them for an expedition against Persians. His son, Alexander, founded, later on, his vast dynasty on the ruins of the old empire built by his father, a Macedonian. Historians are unanimous on this one point that the ancient Macedonians as well as today's citizens of the independent country of MACEDONIA are not Greeks at all. In reality, the ancient Greeks had a name for them,"Barbarians", a word which simply means an alien, or a foreigner. The famous Athenian statesman and orator Demosthenese spoke of King Phillip II of Macedonia in very pejorative terms when he said in part: ". ..he,(Phillip) not only is no Greek, nor related in any shape or form to Greeks, but he is not even a true 'barbarian' from any place that can be named with honors, but a pestilent knave from Macedonia, whence it was never yet possible to buy a decent slave."

Now this very same 'Macedonian barbarian' refered to by Demosthenese in his speech, defeated his enemies, the Greeks, at the battle of Chaerones in August, 338,B.C. and appointed himself 'Commander of the Greeks.' But regardless of all the information available to them the Greeks still prefer to lie and call ALEXANDER THE GREAT, a noble 'Greek.' Therefore, Governor George Pataki, the author of the the infamous Pataki Proclamation, why do you think we should believe you. Give the world one good reason!
Who Committed the REAL "Genocide" in Izmir?




Professor Stanford Shaw Responds to a Greek who "Uncharacteristically" had Problems with Turkey

It should... be pointed out that when the Greek army invaded Turkey between1919 and 1922, it carried out a conscious policy of ethnic cleansing with the purpose of killing and/or driving out all inhabitants of western Turkey who did not share Greek nationality and religion, causing those Muslims and Jews who survived to flee to the areas under Turkish nationalist control. This policy was eloquently reported in a detailed report presented by an International Commission of Investigation chaired by American Admiral and High Commissioner Mark Bristol, and including representatives of Italy, France and Great Britain, as well as Greek and Turkish observers, by a Red Cross report written by the Red Cross representative in Turkey, Maurice Gehry, and by historian Arnold Toynbee in a series of articles published at the time in the Manchester Guardian and later summarized in his book, 'The Western Question in Greece and Turkey.' As a result, Great Britain cut off all military and financial assistance to the Greek invasion, a major reason for its ultimate defeat by the armies of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Professor Stanford Shaw Professor Emeritus of Turkish and Judeo Turkish History, University of California Los Angeles Professor of Modern Turkish History, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey



From greekmurderers.net;
Another Turk Responds to the Governor (Excerpts)




Below are excerpts from a October 21, 2002 letter sent to Governor Pataki from Yuksel Soylemez, which borrowed heavily from Stanford Shaw.



Dear Governor Pataki, I read with dismay and indeed with deep regret your Commemoration Proclamation dated October 6, 2002, on the Greeks of Asia Minor.

...

Did it not occur to you why the Greeks were in Smyrna? When they were finally repulsed by the Turkish armies of Mustafa Kemal, could it have been the retreating Greek forces that may have burned Smyrna out of revenge and enmity? Only history will tell, but not the bias the proclamation mentioned. It must also be recalled that while retreating from Sakarya, the Greek army burned some 100 towns in western Anatolia and destroyed an entirely Greek and Armenian community that had prospered in Izmir during Ottoman rule.

As Governor Pataki you issued a totally biased proclamation on the issue of the Greeks of Pontus. You did this solely in order to
bolster your popularity with Greek-American voters.

...

Professional politician as historian?

To acknowledge history is usually the business of professional
historians as scholars. History should not be the concern of
politicians except to expose old skeletons in every cupboard.
Politicians are frequently used and perhaps willingly exploited by
ethnic interest groups but no doubt to their discredit. Politicians
are not normally historians by profession. They cannot be blamed for having a superficial knowledge of their own national history, let
alone world history or the history of faraway lands.

Those who pass judgment on the history of events in Asia Minor at the beginning of the 20th century must be in line with true facts and not with political fiction. The claims mentioned in the Proclamation can only be described as grossly exaggerated, completely erroneous and utterly ill founded.

...

A respected lawyer

As a respected and experienced lawyer in your own right you would have been better advised if you had had time to research the legal definition of the term "genocide" according to the United Nations convention of the same name. A loose usage of the crime mentioned above can only damage the prestige of the user.

...

I felt duty-bound to correct some of the erroneous claims in the
Proclamation, unfortunately signed by you as Governor of the State of New York.


Holdwater: Mr. Soylemez "soyle"/said it to the governor quite well. He backed up his letter mainly by excerpts from Professor Stanford Shaw's two-volume "The History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey," and advised the politicking Pataki to further educate himself with Shaw's recent six-volume work, particularly Volume 5, "From Empire to Republic." We will just have to pretend to believe Mr. Pataki rushed to his local bookstore to see what he could have done to right his wrongful political move. The excerpts from Professor Shaw's original work, along with other Western accounts as to what really took place in Izmir may be found (once again) in the "Who Burned Izmir?" page.


A Relevant Non-Turk Voices His Concern

To the HELLENIC-NET
To Mr Patakis

Gentlemen,

You are thinking that the proclamation of Mr. Patakis about 1922 is a service to the truth. My forbears were in 1922 in Turkey, and they lost 50% of their family members through the atrocities of the Turkish army. But on the schools nobody of my teachers told my anything about the atrocities of the Greek army during the period 1919-1922, against the Turkish civil population. Your action to tell 50% of the truth is a service against Greece and against Turkey. You are serving the hate, the deformation of the history and the financial support of the industry of weapons. It means the war and the death of thousands or millions the young people of Greece and Turkey.

Shame you

Dr George Nakratzas
Chest physician


JUST SO THE ARMENIANS DON'T FEEL TOO JEALOUS...


...Don't worry, Governor George Pataki is an Equal Opportunity Turk-Hating Kowtower. Governor Pataki loves you very much... he has gone "proclamation"-bananas over the years, regarding the Armenian "Genocide." Additionally, every year he dances the "Armenian Genocide" dance. Let us allow our friends from ANCA, one of the many well-financed Armenian propaganda organizations, to tell the tale...



GOVERNOR PATAKI HONORS 102 YEAR-OLD ARMENIAN GENOCIDE SURVIVOR

-- Presents Powerfully Worded Proclamation to Lucy Derderian at Moving Ceremony in his Manhattan Executive Offices

NEW YORK, NY (4/26/02)- In an emotional tribute to the Armenian Genocide, New York Governor George E. Pataki presented his annual Armenian Genocide proclamation to Lucy Derderian, a 102 year-old survivor of the Armenian
Genocide, during an April 25th ceremony at his Manhattan offices, reported the Armenian National Committee (ANC) of New York.

Speaking to an intimate gathering, Governor Pataki recalled the suffering of the Armenian people at the hands of the Ottoman Turkish government and called for recognizing the Genocide for what it was, "genocide."

The Governor's powerfully worded proclamation stated that, "the Armenian Genocide of 1915-23 was an organized extermination campaign employed by the Ottoman Turkish authorities." The proclamation further noted that, "the final result of the Armenian Genocide of 1915-23 was the near extermination of the Armenian people, the loss of the majority of their ancestral lands and the dispersing into many areas of the world the scarred survivors of this extreme crime against people."

Condemning the Turkish Government's denial of this great crime against humanity, the Governor's proclamation explained, "[this denial] is an abomination that occupies no proper place in debates carried out by New Yorkers, who represent some of the most intellectual and also the most morally certain people anywhere; as the movement toward full recognition of the Genocide follows its steady pace, every human being wanting to be counted as an Armenian Genocide recognition supporter can be considered a citizen of New York or an honorary citizen of New York."

"We want to thank Governor Pataki for his leadership in the fight for full recognition of the Armenian Genocide" commented Alex Sarafian, chairman of the ANC of New York. "We appreciate the Governor's continued dedication and personal involvement in this cause, as illustrated today by his presentation of his proclamation to Mrs. Derderian during a very moving ceremony."

"Speaking to the Governor today, I can see why New York's Armenian community - from Erie to Albany to New York City - sees in him a friend who cares deeply about the Armenian Genocide and understands what is at stake - for Armenians and for all people - in allowing Turkey to continue denying this crime against humanity," added Sarafian.

Opening the meeting and making introductions was Antovk Pidedjian, Esq., who has served as master of ceremonies for several of the Governor's Armenian Genocide observances, including a program in April of 1998 featuring presentations by Vartan Gregorian, President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and Peter Balakian, renowned writer, college professor, and author of "The Black Dog of Fate."

In May of last year Governor Pataki issued a proclamation naming June 17th as the Empire State's Armenian Apostolic Church Recognition Day, in recognition of the 1700th anniversary of Armenia's adoption of Christianity as its state religion.

As in years past, Governor Pataki was assisted in arranging this program by James Barcia, who coordinates his outreach to New York's diverse ethnic communities.

Participating in the gathering along with Mrs. Derderian were Aggie Ellian of the New York Armenian Home in Flushing, New York and Alex Sarafian and David Attarian representing the ANC of New York. Also taking part was the pastor of St. Illuminator's Armenian Apostolic Cathedral, Very Rev. Father Muron Aznikian, who also represented the Armenian Prelacy. Accompanying him were Gilda Kupelian from the Armenian National Education Council, Deacon Shant Kazanjian, and Christine Karamanian.

Don't Quit till you make 'em
say ANCA!

Published by the Armenian National Committee of America

Holdwater: ANCA... as mentioned, only one of many well-financed Armenian organizations... was given eight million dollars by Armenia in 2001, to aid in its mission of spreading deceitful lies, and to help in influencing politicians like Governor George ("It's About the Money") Pataki.

Outside Reading:
Setting the Record Straight on Pontus Propaganda Against Turkey
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© Holdwater
tallarmeniantale.com/pataki.htm
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