1533) Dance or Struggle of Opinions Among Armenian Writers

Dear All,
I am pleased that my yesterday message attaching Ara Baliozian’s open commentary, already raised interest and understanding among friends. . One much respected lady friend within our group, corrected me that his surname, is not derived from the “Turkish” – BALYOZ, but is a deviation from “BARON”, which adds a touch of nobility !

I am also “told that he lives around Toronto, that his family was originally from Aksehir (Nasreddin Hodja’s home) and that his father had moved to Greece, where Ara was born. Apparently, since he took care of his old mother, he did not have the time to get married!” (I knew only a portion of this information). Whether he is a “baron” or “balyoz” it is his way of thinking and courage of (eloquent) expression, that really attracts me. To understand Ara (and why I read most of his editorials) better, I would suggest that you read below letters of his duel with the reputed “Harut Sassounian”, (The TF members may refresh their memories by remembering the Jan. 29th letter, attaching the announcement of Harut Sassonian conference at ARPA Institute on Jan.25th with a wide selection of anti-Turkish topics.) Please read from:
Open Letter to Sassonian and also the article Sassounian wrote in “The Armenian Weekly” Volume 73, No.7. Feb.17, 2007.http://www.hairenik.com/armenianweekly/com02170701.html

Once you read everything, Ara’s very sincere and open letter, will mean much more to all! (Note: For a typical Ara article please read on the same blogspot under No.1523. (Actually everything from 1523 through 1531 is worth reading)

I take this opportunity to take a tiny excerpt from Prof. Dr Barton’s (Head of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in Istanbul – who was a staunch enemy of anything related to Turks, and fought all his life to defend the interests of Armenians only, even writing booklets together with Lord Bryce) letter dated May 6,1921 to Admiral Bristol:

“With reference to the false reports that come through reporting massacres of the Armenians by the Turks, there is no one who can deprecate this more than I do. But there is a situation over here which is hard to describe. There is a brilliant young Armenian, a graduate of Yale University, by the name of Chardashian. He is a lawyer, with office down in Wall Street ,I believe. He has organized a committee, so-called, which has never met and is never consulted with Mr. Gerard as Chairman. Chardashian is the whole thing. He has set up what he calls an Armenian publicity bureau or something of that kind, and has a letterhead printed.

Gerard signs anything that Chardashian writes. He told me this himself one time, Chardashian is out with his own people and with everybody else, except Gerard and perhaps one other leading Armenian who was in London a month ago, Pasdermadjian. Not long since Chardashian came out with a pamphlet in which he charged the Near East Relief and the American Missionaries as being the greatest enemies Armenia ever had, claiming that they, in cooperation with President Wilson, had crucified Armenia and keeps in a pretty close touch with Senator Lodge, the President, the State Department, and others in Washington….

He is constantly reporting atrocities which never occurred and giving endless misinformation with regard to the situation in Armenia and in Turkey. We do not like to come out and attack him in public…” (Note: We know that Chardashian was instrumental in USA’s Congress not ratifying the Lausanne Treaty and hampered any development of Turkish-American relations. Who knows, some time later famous US Congressmen my share the fate of Barton, who did innumerable good to Armenians only! Isn’t history repeating? Is there no one to tell those politicians about historical inversions ?)

Conclusion: Ara bey has a strong dislike against “…ists”. And I think that he is very right, after some sad experimentations. “Ultra nationalists”, end becoming “facists, racists, communists, etc.” I want to add another dimension about “ultra religionists” becoming “fanatics ”, and it is hard to decide which one is worse than the other. I think that any arguments on the subject, should not be made dependant on “your nation, my nation, your flag, my flag or your religion my religion” and alike cheap crap which successfully is being exploited by some (XXX) to build a sense of superiority or inferiority, camouflaging the “object of profiting!”

No nation (or persons) are ever “angels” -even that is arguable- and unless this nonsense friction watered by hate and grudge, is overcome with the intelligence of our brains and compassion of our hearts, decent people like us, may be swindled of our hard earned possessions plus peace of mind and happiness. Ataturk had said: “Peace at home, peace in the world”! Just think how many politicians and lawyers would lose their jobs, if they had let all of us live in peace. After all, it is not too hard to say “I’m sorry”, for any unintentional mistake, if any, by the part. But it sounds absolutely stupid to inherit, any such politeness or animosity rot in a century.

Best wishes for Peace for All,

Sukru S. Aya
23.03.2007
Istanbul

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Dear All,

Re: A “hammer strike” from Ara Baliozian

While many people find “chat sweethearts” on the internet, my “kismet” was to meet a “very different” Armenian writer living in Canada. We have similarities in many thoughts, and naturally some differences as well on our basic knowledge. However, we both agree that “acquiring knowledge and wisdom” is for the good of humanity.

I share his last message hereunder, which I hope that you will find interesting as I do. Ara bey strikes like his surname Baliozian or the sledgehammer man. Few fanatics may object such a “friendship of opinions” Let them be that way; may be some day they may start enjoying approaches to events, from different viewpoints.

His web site is in Armenian language only. If any of you would like to relay a counter commentary in English to him, it will be my pleasure to transmit to him. If you are interested to read his previous articles, you may enter his name in the “armenians-1915.blogspot.com” (of Turkish Armenians). Several of my previous commentaries can be read in the same site, under my name. This message is relayed in English and Turkish and is meant for open sharing as “free expression of opinion”.

Best wishes for all

Sukru S. Aya

Wednesday, March 21, 2007
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ON A COMMON FALLACY
Politicians operate like lawyers: it is their job to defend their side at any cost even if their side or client happens to be a serial killer.

To this day Talaat, Mussolini, Stalin, and Hitler have their friends in the same way that Lincoln, FDR, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King have their enemies.

Most political controversies are based on the assumption "our side speaks the truth, the other side lies." Translated into dollars and cents, this simply means: my self-interest matters more than your self-interest. Whenever I read an

opinion or commentary that assumes this fallacy to be a self-evident truth, I know I am dealing with a dupe and a moral moron.

We all know there is a difference between self-interest and self-sacrifice. We look up to heroes and martyrs and down on charlatans and swindlers. A politician is more akin to a charlatan than to an honest man, and propaganda works because there is a swindler in all of us.

THE VOICE OF WISDOM
Georges Braque: "Art disturbs, science reassures."

Choderlos de Laclos: "Crooks have virtues as honest men have weaknesses."

André Gide: "The appetite for knowledge is born in doubt. Stop believing and start learning."

Claude Lévi-Strauss: "Wisdom consists not in providing true answer but in asking the right questions."

http://baliozian.blogspot.com

Muhterem Dostlar,

Konu : Ara Baliozian’dan bir « balyoz vuruşu »

Bir çok kimse internetten “chat sevgilisi” bulurken benim de kısmetime Kanada’da yaşayan “çok değişik” bir Ermeni yazar çıktı. Birçok düşüncede aramızda benzerlikler, fakat bazı temel bilgilerde de doğal olarak aramızda bazı ayrılıklar var. Ancak ikimiz de “bilgilenme ve akılcılığın” insanlığın hayrına olduğuna inanıyoruz.

Alınan izin ile ,Ara Bey’in “balyoz gibi vurucu”, son mesajını sizlerle aşağıda paylaşıyorum. Az dahi olsa bazı fanatikler bu tür bir “fikir arkadaşlığına” karşı olabilirler. Bırakın olsunlar: belki bir gün onlar da olaylara, farklı görüş açıları ile yaklaşımlardan hoşlanabilirler.

Verdiği WEB sayfası yalnız Ermenice’dir. Eğer sizlerden her hangi bir kimse, kendisine İngilizce olarak mukabil bir görüş bildirmek isterse, zevkle iletirim. Eğer önceki başka yazılarını da okumak isterseniz, Türk-Ermenilerin kurduğu “armenians-1915.blogspot.com” sitesinde, ismine ayrılan bölümde okuyabilirsiniz. Benim de bazı yazılarım aynı sitede adıma ayrılan bölümde okunabilir. Bu mesaj İngilizce ve Türkçe, “fikir beyan serbestliği” anlamında, paylaşıma açık olarak iletilmektedir. Herkese en iyi dilekler,

Şükrü S. Aya

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BİR GENEL ALDATMACA Hakkında

Politikacılar, avukat gibi çalışırlar. Temsil ettikleri tarafı savunmak, müşterileri bir seri katil bile olsa, işleridir.

Bu güne dek Talat, Mussolini, Stalin, Hitlerin de dostları vardır; tıpkı Lincoln, Roosvelt, Gandi, Martin Luter King’in düşmanları olduğu gibi!

Ekseri siyasi ihtilaflar, temelde “bizim tarafımız doğruyu, diğer taraf ise yalanı söylemektedir” faraziyesine dayanır. Bunun Dolar ve Sentle tercümesinin anlamı şudur : Benim menfaatimi ilgilendiren şeyler, senin kişisel menfaatlerinden daha önemlidir. Bir aldatmacayı, doğal bir gerçek gibi varsayan bir eleştiri veya görüşü okuduğum zaman, fikren kuşbeyinli bir salakla karşılaştığımı bilirim.

Hepimiz, kişi menfaati ile kişi fedakarlığı arasında fark olduğunu biliriz. Şehit ve kahramanlıklara takdir, sahtekar ve dolandırıcılara da aşağılama ile bakarız. Bir politikacı, dürüst olmaktan çok, şarlatan olmaya daha yakındır; hepimizin içinde bir aldatıcı var olduğundan, propaganda etkisini gösterir..

AKILCILIĞIN SESİ

Georges Braque: “Sanat rahatsızlık, ilim ve teminat verir.”

Choderlos de Laclos: “Dürüst insanların zayıflığı olduğu gibi, dolandırıcıların da erdemleri vardır.”

André Gide: “Bilgiye olan açlık, şüphe ile doğan inanmayı bırak, öğrenmeye başla.”

Claude Lévi-Strauss: “Akıllı olmak doğru cevabı vermek değil fakat doğru sualleri görmekten ibarettir.