693) Objection To the Resolution Presented By Mr. Covan Esteemed members of the Australian Parliament

OBJECTION TO RESOLUTION PRESENTED BY MR. COVAN
(OR THE NUMBER OF THE RESOLUTION IF WE KNOW IT):

Istanbul, May 25, 2006

Esteemed members of the Australian Parliament,

As a humanist of Turkish nationality in his late seventies (having traveled all over the world for business and pleasure), I feel it is my duty to address this letter to all members of the Australian parliament since you are scheduled to meet on May 29th Monday in connection with a motion which lacks wisdom and objectivity and is contradictory to truth. I have been in your beautiful country with my wife some fifteen years ago for nearly a month, visiting beautiful sites in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Mount Cook, Adelaide, Murray River, Hobart and all of Tasmania. I had the pleasure of meeting a lot of Australians who acted warm and kindly upon hearing that we were from Turkey. Hence, I might not have felt it is necessary to write to you friendly, had I not shared wonderful sentiments with the Australian people, who expressed no antagonism towards Turks.

Gentlemen, when a person becomes the citizen of a new country, the minimal ethical conduct is to serve this new country and not drag habits, thoughts, religious and other egos from the old country. Motions such as Mr. Covans hardly brings benefits to the new country or the world at large. It exhibits serious poor judgment and careless mistakes that are summarized below:

1- She pretends that she is trying to achieve condemnation of persecution of all religious minorities around the world. In the broad sense no one would object to such a statement, provided it also includes justice for other minorities such as the Aboriginals, American Indians, Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Turks of the Western Thrace, as well as many others...

2- She moves on to request that the Government of the Republic of Turkey, in the spirit of freedom and human rights...
What a ridiculous paradox, that such request is made only from Turkey in the whole World... Some 150 years ago, the majority population of the island of Crete, the city of Erivan or Karabagh were Muslim Turks. What happened to hundreds of the mosques or hundreds of thousands of Turks living in those cities? Can you show but one Turkish community with minority rights still living in either place?

Gentlemen, Turkey is not a Banana state, it has existed for over centuries and those of Turkish origin have been in Anatolia since the Sumerians, some three thousand years ago. Our State is a signatory of all international treaties, including the International Court of Justice, European Court of Human Rights etc... I expect that you will not lower the quality of the esteemed house by allowing one member to abuse her duties by indirectly serving the interests of some other countries, (like Greece and Armenia). The Authorities accepted World WIDE, are there... and the motion brought in front of you does not serve any truth or peaceful purpose. It also makes me wonder where a parliament gets the power to dictate another countrys jurisdiction.

a- Mr. Covan asks the return of all the properties expropriated by the Turkish State(!), to Christian minority foundations as well as to individual Christian Assyrians, Armenians and Hellenes!..

I wonder why she does not include the return of the same favor to Turks who used to live in what now is called Greece or Armenia or other Balkan states? Further she is ambiguous about which country she is referring to; the Ottoman Empire which ran its course from 1293 to 1918 or the Turkish Republic, which was founded in 1923 as an independent state to date.

The Republic of Turkey is a secular, democratic and judiciary state and has not expropriated any properties belonging to an individual or ethnic group of people. All citizens are treated equal and there is no religious discrimination in our daily lives.

Those citizens who were left outside our current borders were given a few years after the Lausanne Treaty to return to our new country Turkey, to assume citizenship and claim their properties. Some came back, some decided to remain in their newly adopted countries. Whoever returned, acquired all citizenship rights and their personal properties in Turkey. Those who abandoned... had as much right to take back their inheritance as the Turks who had escaped the tyranny of Greeks in the Balkans...

Gentlemen, do you know that Greek citizens of Turkish ethnicity who are still living in Western Thrace are not permitted to buy even a tractor to till their lands and they are not even allowed to mend their old houses further preventing them from buying new houses...

Gentlemen, our living too far away is not at the root of this grave misunderstanding; obviously, somebody is trying to condemn my country and nation without taking our defense, and also the same body is out of place for acting like the judge, the jury and the accuser all at once, if not out of place!

Turkish citizens of Armenian ethnicity have a lavish life style in our country; they work hard, they live in better houses, villas, than the rest of us and they also own lucrative businesses as well as factories. I wonder what they are short of in comparison to other Turkish citizens. They have their own schools, three hospitals, a few foster homes, orphanages and Turkey has the most number of churches than any other country in the world...

I am sure the Armenian Patriarchate in Istanbul, will be much grateful to your parliament, if you can help them get back the properties owing to them in Cyprus. According to the below news of Hurriyet daily of 22.03.06 which is not refuted by any party so far:

A Turkish Armenian named Garaved Melkonian originally from the town of Kayseri, as his death bed request in 1921, donated all his properties in Cyprus which were worth millions of Dollars, to the Istanbul Patriarchate, to be spent for building school and orphanages. An orphanage bearing his name was opened in 1924 in Nicosia in 1924, but in the dust of the uncertainties about the future of Istanbul Armenian Patriarchate, the management of subject inheritance was given to EDLP - an organization which is a subsidiary of AGBU (Armenian General Benevolent Union). Last year AGBU closed down the school and sold this property for 60 million Dollars, without notifying any party. It is further claimed that this property is worth over a hundred million Dollars. A court case has been opened in Paris by the Istanbul Armenian Patriarchate against AGBU.

So they have been swindled by the Diasporas AGBU...and some clever buyers in Cyprus! (The Diaspora adheres to profit like bees attach to candy! )

b- Mr. Covan demands the Turkish Government to re-open the Greek Orthodox Theological College on the island of Halke!

This is confusing because the school was closed down by the Greek Patriarchate 30 years ago, not the Turkish Government.
Turkey is a secular state and all educational institutions are governed by laws of education. The Greek Patriarchate can open the school by adhering to the current educational laws of Turkey. If they choose to adhere to Greek law, they may have to open up their school in Greece. Turkish Constitution does not allow capitulatory rights to any religion not even Islamism which is the religion followed by 98.3% of our citizens. Does starting up another Vatican, suit a country which abolished the highest Islamic post of Caliphate and became secular ?

c- She further demands reopening of the Armenian Apostolic Seminary in Constantinople!

First of all Istanbul is not Constantinople. Constantinople was conquered by Sultan Mehmet the Second in 1453, later to be renamed Istanbul and has been a Turkish city since then. May be it will make some fans confortable in using the name ISTANBUL, which was derived from the Greek words stan polis., meaning to the city.
The same Mehmet the Second founded the Armenian Patriarchate in Istanbul. This Patriarchate and the Armenian community have been expressing themselves freely in Turkey without any hindrance. I do not think that they delegated such a request to any foreign countys parliament. Arent minorities expected to respect the Australian law like the rest of your citizens?

There is no shortage of Armenian or Greek clergy in Turkey. On the contrary, there is surplus of Orthodox clergy when compared to the size of their congregation. In fact this surplus of clergymen has fomented nothing but trouble for centuries...

If Turkey was not suiting their expectations, would 50.000 illegal Armenian workers escape to Turkey instead of Greece ?
For your information, I am attaching (no.1) some 23 pages of excerpts from various books written by anti-Turkish sources. Even they are describing the involvement of the clergy class in the adventures that brought great calamities to all parties involved. To learn from history and avoid repetition, please take your time to read before passing your fair judgment!

d- Mr. Covan demands other Christian denominations (Syriac Orthodox) to operate seminaries...
This reminds us of the Capitulations!...

Gentlemen, this much of religious fanaticism in a parliament that is supposed to be secular, is much too hard to understand or justify by average intelligence and tolerance. I quote the following sections from Deceptions and Myths of the Bible Lloyd Graham, Citadel Press., ISBN 0-8065-1124-9;
A section from the preface goes like this; The Bible is the Book of the Church... The Jewish Church stands behind the Old Testament. The Christian Church stands behind the New Testament. The Bible is the Making. And behind the Church stands the priesthood.

The back cover reads like this; Mr. Graham believes it is time this scriptural tyranny was broken so that we may devote our time to man instead of God and to civilizing ourselves instead of saving our souls that were never lost.

Regarding item 3 on your agenda about the Cyprus issue, I ask you to open Attachment No.2, from the cover page of a book written by a British journalist. If you want to learn more about the truth, you can refer to subject book and other valid sources/

In conclusion I am attaching, passages as a reminder of those ANZACS buried in a country they came to kill without reason, but earned mutual sympathy and respect between our two nations. The two people that were supposed to be enemies, ended as friends, respectful of each other. Lets keep it that way.

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Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives…
You are lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace.
There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side in this country of ours….
You the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears. Your sons are now living in our bosom and are in peace.
Having lost their lives on this land, they have become our sons as well...
General Mustafa Kemal

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Ankara, March 18, 1934

Reference: CANAKKALE by Henri Benazus, Toplumsal Gelisim Yayinlari Turkiye)


We left the Gallipoli Peninsula after having fought the Turks at the expense of many of our sons lives. We took back with us our admiration and appreciation for the love of the Turks towards their land.

All Australians love the Mehmetciks like their own sons. Their courage, love for their country and mankind as a whole, their irresistible grandeur in the trenches, and barvery won all Anzacs admiration. Their love of their land is a virtue to be exemplary to all men. With my appreciation and respect...

Sydney April 25, 1940
Lord Casey Ex Anzac Officer
Then Governor General of Australia

From the October 10, 1915 Letter of an Australian Colonel whose name is illegible.

The Turks are most righteous warriors. Their courage and bravery is indisputable. The rumors of torture, cruelty, and dumdum bullet are unfounded..The other day, one of their shrapnel inadvertently shot one of the Red Cross mules. They apologized on the spot. Prior to that, they had attended to our wounded. They dropped our wounded at the beach and informed us of their whereabouts. I doubt that any one of us here harbors animosity towards the Turks. (Dardanelles, October 10, 1915)
Are the Turks Really Tired of Fighting? Australian Liutenant T. J. Richard, Dardanelles May 4, 1915

These Turks are amazingly good fighters. Ignore rumors that they are demoralized and there is controversy among them.
According to General Hamiltons message shared with us yesterday, Turks are so tired that they may throw the towel anytime soon. However, I disagree with this estimation.

We expect wisdom from Australia. Please be as reasonable as Mr. Graham.

Thank you for your paying attention in order to give a humanely and intelligent decision instead of ignorantly succumbing to antagonism.

Kindest regards and good luck... May God, or your better wisdom be your guide...

Sukru Server Aya
Kemeralti Cad. 36/a Karakoy – Istanbul Turkiye
Phones: 90-212-2925459, 2925460, 2451140
Fax: 90-212-292-5458