1039) Erecting a Hate Monument in Las Vegas is Highly Improper

Please create your own short letter and e-mail to these politicians today. Thank you.


September 23, 2006

To: Mayor Oscar B. Goodman

City Hall, Tenth Floor, 400 Stewart Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89101
Phone: (702) 229-6241 Fax: (702) 385-7960 E-mail

cc: Sen John Ensign Email Senator Ensign

cc: Sen Harry Reid Email Me

cc: Rep. Shelley Berkley e-mail

cc: Rep. Jon Porter Click here to send me an e-mail

cc: Rep Jim Gibbons Email Jim Gibbons

Lois Tarkanian, Councilwoman

City Hall, Tenth Floor, 400 Stewart Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89101
Phone: (702) 229-6405 Fax: (702) 382-8558 E-mail

Dear Mayor Goodman,

As a concerned American of Turkish heritage, I was deeply saddened and hurt by the news that you have "... announced the city's commitment to dedicate land..." for an Armenian Genocide Memorial in Centennial Plaza in downtown Las Vegas. An Armenian newspaper boasts that you have made this announcement "...during the annual April 24 commemoration, which was also attended by all three Nevada congressmen, Rep. Jon Porter, Rep. Shelley Berkley, and Rep. Jim Gibbons, as well as a representative from Sen. John Ensign's office..."

I oppose the use of the term genocide in connection with the Turkish-Armenian conflict during World War I. Genocide is a highly charged, technical, legal term, precisely defined by the United Nations in 1948, and can only be used after a "competent tribunal" reaches that verdict after proper "due process". There are no court verdicts, such as Nuremberg, clearing the way for this term to be used in connection with the Turkish-Armenian conflict during WWI [1] The British had attempted to try the Turkish leadership of the alleged war crimes; failed to come up with any supporting evidence that could stand the scrutiny of a court of law right ; and eventually had to let the Turkish detainees go without filing a single charge. [2] That is why the British government, to this day, will refuse to regard this human tragedy that engulfed Armenians, Turks, and other inhabitants of the area a genocide despite pressure and threats from the Armenian Diaspora. [3] Similarly, neither the United States [4] nor Israel [5] will bow the intimidating pressure by the Armenian Diaspora to call the tragedy a genocide.

Dear Mayor, you hold a law degree and have been a successful trial lawyer in the past. You, above all else, should know the difference between allegations and facts. Armenian charges of genocide are yet-to-be-proven "allegations", not incontrovertible facts. In the absence of a verdict by a competent court, therefore, all the civilized and decent people of the world must use the qualifier "alleged" before the phrase “Armenian Genocide”, let alone erecting a monument it on public land.

No one is trying to minimize the suffering of the Armenians; but Armenian suffering must not blind one to the much larger suffering of the Turks and other Muslims of the same era and area, mostly caused by the brutal acts of greedy and vicious Armenian revolutionaries supported by invaders bent on destroying the Ottoman Empire ( Britain, France, and Russia and their Ottoman-Christian proxies.) Calling it genocide would unfairly place all the blame on Turks whereas it was the Ottoman-Armenian revolutionaries that first poisoned the 800 years of mostly harmonious Turkish-Armenian co-habitation in Anatolia with their revolts and treason. [6] I would not oppose Armenians' recognition of Armenian losses if their memorial was named a more realistic "The Armenians’ War Memorial."

Dear Mayor, I am sure you would agree that Las Vegas is hardly the place and its politicians are hardly the expert historians the settle the old scores of history or fanning the flames of anti-Turkish hatred among some Armenian groups. Armenian terrorists in our midst already assassinated four Turkish diplomats on American soil in the last 30 years and tried to justify their heinous acts by the false charge of genocide, while wearing ugly grins and flashing victory signs in American court rooms. [7] Do you really want to provide more ammunition to these Armenian terrorists with a hate monument in Las Vegas? Do you wish to make Las Vegas the capital of Armenian hate crimes victimizing more Turks and Turkish-Americans? Don’t people love to visit Las Vegas for entertainment, fun, and recreation? Do you want to offer visitors the new excitement, stress and intimidation of political rallies and unresolved old world conflicts now? Is this your new mission?

Insisting blindly on such anti-Turkish biased policies and programs based on partisan Armenian propaganda and un-substantiated historical claims will almost surely offend and anger the good citizens of the Republic of Turkey, a staunch ally of the United States since the Korean War. Turkey has been with us, standing shoulder to shoulder in all conflicts, including but not limited to Korea, cold war, Cuban missile crisis, Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan. This memorial serves no benefit other than further polarizing Turkish and Armenian communities in America as well as adding to the apprehension and anxiety felt in Turkey over America’s Iraq policies. Your move will add to the tension in the already troubled Balkans- Caucasus- Middle East triangle at a time when we need friendly cooperation and support more than ever. Is this proper? Wise? Necessary? Now?

I am one of the eight children of a sole Turkish survivor of a Turkish village of Kirlikova (hence my last name) during the Balkan Wars of 1911-1912 that preceded the WWI. My father barely escaped to Anatolia under deplorable conditions as a one year old baby - along with other children packed into a train and whisked to Istanbul for relative safety - and lost his entire family, relatives, neighbors, and indeed, the entire population of Kirlikova. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims also fleeing Ottoman-Christian excesses in the Balkans were confronted with yet another cycle of Ottoman-Christian violence in Anatolia: by the Ottoman-Greeks in the West and by the Ottoman-Armenians in the East. My story is not unique; in fact, quite typical of every Turk’s. One might say that those poor, starving Ottoman-Muslim refugees jumped from the frying pan right into the fire. Turkish losses were unfathomable: 2.5 million dead; many times that number wounded; in a country left in rubble; starvation and disease everywhere... And here is the rub: 523,000 thousand of those Turkish dead met their tragic ends at the hands of the Armenian revolutionaries. And due to endless, senseless, baseless, and fraudulent Armenian propaganda in the West since 1915, like this hate monument in Las Vegas for example, one hardly ever heard Turkish side of the story, felt the Turkish pain, or noticed the Turkish tears. [8] If the missionary reports did not mention my father’s tragedy, if the Western diplomats’ reports to their capitals ignored the enormous Turkish suffering, if the New York Times dismissed the Turkish losses, if Las Vegas did not erect a monument for Turkish dead, does that mean the Turkish suffering does not exist? On the other hand, since it exists – and I am the living proof of that – then why this selective morality and double standards of paying respects to only Armenian dead? What about the Turkish dead resulting from Armenian brutality and excesses?

According to most Armenians, Turkish dead do not matter. Such a clearly racist approach, unfortunately, seems to have found its way to Las Vegas politicians now as indicated by the support given to the upcoming Armenian hate monument. It is a well-documented fact that the Ottoman-Armenians resorted to agitation, terrorism, armed revolts [9], and supreme treason [10] (as in joining and invading enemy), in that order, from 1890 to 1915. Ignoring all of these historical facts in order to justify the charge of genocide would boil down to dishonest history. There is ample evidence of Armenian deception plaguing Turkish-Armenian history. [11], [12] It is not up to Las Vegas politicians to sort all of this out with simplistic partisan declarations. There are historians, scholars, researchers for that.

Dear Mayor, it was a civil war within a world war [13], a terrible human tragedy [14], that engulfed and victimized all the people of the area, not just the Armenians. Calling it genocide, approving a hate monument for the alleged genocide, and assigning it a parcel of “publicly owned land” would be a racist, dishonest, and un-American posturing, as well as an outright insult to all Turkish Americans and Turks around the world. (Why, it might even be illegal.)

Dear Mayor, world is a powder keg as it is. If you can’t help build peace, then please, at least refrain from sabotaging it…

Dear Mayor, I know you will do the right thing.

Peace,

Ergun Kirlikovali

9741 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine, CA 92618
Tel, office: 949-788-1050
Fax: 949-788-1051

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[1] Revisiting the Armenian Genocide - Middle East Quarterly , Guenter Lewy

[2] http://www.turkla.com/yazar.php?mid=441&yid=4 , “The Malta Tribunal : Case Closed Due To Lack Of Evidence”, Bilal N. Simsir

[3] http://www.turkla.com/yazar.php?mid=453&yid=4 , British Sources Refuting The Alleged Armenian Genocide

[4] http://www.turkla.com/yazar.php?mid=451&yid=4 , American Sources Refuting The Alleged Armenian Genocide

[5] http://www.turkla.com/yazar.php?mid=462&yid=4 , Israeli and Jewish Sources Refuting The Alleged Armenian Genocide

[6] http://www.ataa.org/ataa/ref/armenian/testimony.html “The Armenian Issue Revisited: Testimony” by Justin McCarthy at the House International Committee

[7] http://www.turkla.com/yazar.php?mid=490&yid=4 , Armenian Terrorism: Then And Now

[8] http://www.turkla.com/yazar.php?mid=509&yid=4 , “Turkish Last Names : Honest Story Tellers”, Ergun Kirlikovali

[9] ] Why it was a tragedy of war, Bruce Fein

[10] http://www.turkla.com/yazar.php?mid=525&yid=4 , Connecting The Dots On The “Alleged" Armenian Genocide

[11] http://www.tallarmeniantale.com/andonian.htm , The Andonian "Documents" Attributed to Talat Pasha Are Forgeries, By Professor Türkkaya ATAÖV

[12] http://www.ataa.org/ataa/ref/arm_uscongress/arm_uscongress.html, Heath W. Lowry, Institute of Turkish Studies, Inc. Washington, D.C., Political Communication and Persuasion, Volume 3, Number 2 (1985)

[13] http://www.ataa.org/ataa/ref/armenian/boghosnubar.html , Boghos Nubar Pasha Letter to The Times of London (1919)

[14] http://www.ataa.org/ataa/ref/katchaznouni.html : The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnagtzoutiun) has nothing to do any more. The Manifesto of Hovhannes Katchaznouni, First Prime Minister of the Independent Armenian Republic.

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Some of these politicians wil not receive e-mails from non-residents of Nevada. In that case, you may wish to send your letters with US postal service. Here are their mailing street addresses. Simply print this sheet, cut and paste the address on an envelopes; place stamp and mail it. Time is of the essence. Please do it now. And ask your friends to join you in this protest.



Congressman Jon Porter
218 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Congressman Jon Porter
2501 North Green Valley Parkway
Henderson, NV 89014

Congressman Jim Gibbons
100 Cannon House Office Building
Washington D.C. 20515

Congressman Jim Gibbons
600 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Suite 680
Las Vegas, Nevada 89101

Mayor Oscar B. Goodman
City Hall, Tenth Floor,
400 Stewart Avenue,
Las Vegas, NV 89101

Lois Tarkanian, Councilwoman
City Hall, Tenth Floor,
400 Stewart Avenue,
Las Vegas, NV 89101

Hon. Senator Ensign
356 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington • District of Columbia • 20510

Hon. Senator Ensign
Lloyd George Federal Building
333 Las Vegas Boulevard South Suite 8203
Las Vegas • Nevada • 89101

Hon. Senator Reid
Lloyd D. George Building
333 Las Vegas Boulevard, South, Suite 8016
Las Vegas, NV 89101

Hon. Senator Reid
528 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510

Congresswoman Berkley
439 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515

Congresswoman Berkley
2340 Paseo Del Prado, Suite D-106
Las Vegas, NV 89102