1659) Letter To California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

April 17, 2005
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814

Dear Honorable Governor Schwarzenegger,

We were delighted to hear that you will be one of the speakers at the ‘’World Hydrogen Energy Conference’’ to be held in Istanbul on July 12, 2005. Your efforts for clean energy in the State of California should be an example for Turkey as well once the new ‘’Renewable Energy Law’’ is passed by the Turkish Parliament’’ next week. Several US energy companies that I represent in Turkey are looking forward to investing in the electricity sector in Turkey once the new law goes into effect. . .

I want to take this opportunity to plead with you not to sign the usual ‘’Armenian Genocide Resolution’’ that the Armenian-Americans demand each year, unjustly. As the Governor of the great state of California, where Americans of every ethnic origin try to live in harmony, you must face a difficult task of determining who is telling the truth. I am afraid some Armenian-Americans who constantly bring to the world’s attention the commemoration of an alleged Genocide by the Ottoman Government in 1915 pervert the meaning of citizenship, and, as such, do disservice to their fellow Americans. Armenians in California with the support of Armenian organizations around the world are getting ready to convince you to sign the so-called Armenian Genocide proclamation, which I hope you will reject..

The accusations against the Ottoman Turks are one sided and ignores the Armenian atrocities committed by the Armenian nationalists going back to the 1860s. Armenians of today and their sympathizers overlook the fact that the Armenian Tragedy in 1915 was largely brought on by the ruthless fanaticism of Armenian agitators, who were responsible for riots in Istanbul and raids on the Ottoman Bank in 1896, uprising behind the Ottoman armies, collaboration with the Russians and many other atrocities committed against the Ottomans. Bohos Numar, the leader of the Ottoman Armenians, admitted in his letter of January 27, 1919 to the Times of London, that the Armenians colloborated with the Allied forces.

April 24, 1915 is the date when the Ottoman Minister of Interior ordered the arrest of the Hunchak party functionaries, known revolutionaries and agitators in Istanbul. On May 17, 1915, the Armenians with the support of the Russian troops, took Van and set fire to the Moslem section of town, proclaiming ‘ Armenian Republic of Van’. Only after this, and the atrocities committed by the Armenians in Kars, Erzurum, Erzincan, and many other villages and towns in the Eastern part of Turkey, that the Ottoman Government had to order the relocation of Armenians to the southern regions of the Empire. However, many moved to Europe, the US and some even returned to Turkey after the conflict was over.

The killings, started long before 1915 and continued for many years until the establishment of the Republic of Armenia in 1922, were initiated by the revolutionary Armenians during World War I with the backing of the Russians, the French and the British, when Turkey was attacked from all sides. The back stabbing by the Armenians took place while the Ottomans were fighting British and allied forces at Gallipoli. William Saroyan, the famous Armenian-American author of many books and a long time resident of California before his death, wrote the following in one of his stories, Antranik of Armenia, published in 1935. ‘’The war was with the Turks of course. The other enemies were less active than the Turks, but watchful. When the time came, one of these, in the name of love, not hate, accomplished in no time at all what the Turks, who were more honest, whose hatred was unconcealed, could not accomplish in hundreds of years. These were the Russians.’’

As a representative of a California Firm in Turkey, I respectfully request that you, as the Governor of California, refrain from issuing the so-called Armenian genocide resolution during your term of office.

Sincerely,
Yuksel Oktay, PE
Irvine, California 92612-1046
16/04/07