1865) To the Editor of Baltimore Sun and Public Editor Paul Moore,

The editorial on August 10, 2007 (A debate not needed) is yet another distorted view of the Armenian issue which was created during the First World War and kept alive by the avengeful Armenians. Historical truth can be fascinating and adsorbing, especially when the Americans read memoirs of some diplomats mentioned in the article as historical facts. Ambassador Henry Morgenthau’s book ‘’Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story’’ is one of them, which was esentially a story, devoid of truth on the atrocities committed by Armenian committees against the Turkish people, whose purpose was the establishment of a state of their own on lands where they were not the majority. The book was written for the ambassador by his Armenian secretary and Armenian translator, presenting only the Armenian views, which is widely used as a proof of a genocide that never took place. The editor of the article refers to individual acts of cruelty, but anyone who has done some research knows that the Armenians ‘’Fired the First Shot’’ and were responsible for many uprisings accross the eastern Anatolia which resulted in the death of over half a million Turks and forced the Ottoman Government to relocate the Armenians in eastern Anatolia to the southern part of the empire. The relocation was done while the Ottoman Empire was fighting against the West at Dardanelles, The Russians in the Caucauses and other fornts.

The editorial writer admits that history is messy and ugly, but forgets that hundreds and thousands of books and articles are being published by some Armenians and their supporters with totally fabricated stories and lies, ignoring the Armenian terrorism that started at the beginning of the 20th century and continued through the 70s and 80s when 34 Turkish diplomats and many others were killed. The writer of the editorial is advised to watch the youtube version of the ‘’NBC Datline presentation on Armenian Terrorism in America’’, aired on July 26, 2007. Yes, the only statement in the editorial that I agree with is''This is not edifying.''

Sincerely,

Yuksel Oktay, PE
August 12, 2007


www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bal-ed.armenia10aug10,0,7258678.story
baltimoresun.com
A Debate Not Needed
August 10, 2007

The 90-year-old genocide of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks is being turned into a spectacle - in Washington , naturally, where even the past becomes a fruitful topic for lobbyists.

On one side are well-organized and locally influential Armenian-American interest groups and their Democratic friends in Congress, who want to push through a resolution declaring that the deaths of 1.2 million Armenians during World War I were in fact a result of genocide. On the other side is the Turkish government, which has hired former congressmen Richard A. Gephardt and Robert L. Livingston to push its case that Armenians died in the brutal chaos of war but that it wasn't genocide, and the Bush administration, which believes that current relations with Turkey are more important than parsing a crime that took place during Woodrow Wilson's presidency.
Last year the White House yanked the U.S. ambassador to Armenia , John Evans, out of his post in Yerevan for daring to utter the G-word. Last week, the career foreign service officer who was nominated to replace him, Richard Hoagland, withdrew his name from Senate consideration after Sen. Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, put a hold on his bid because he won't say "genocide."

This is not edifying.

It is painful for Armenians to have the deaths of so many dismissed as virtually an accident by the government in Ankara . Much of the documented record was assembled by Americans - diplomats and others - who were in Turkey when it happened.

(By the 1920s, though, the chief of the U.S. mission in Istanbul tended to give some credence to the Turkish claim that the Armenians were victims of ineptitude and individual acts of cruelty, both of which were in ample supply in Turkey . He noted that Americans seemed much more concerned about the travails of Christians in the old Ottoman Empire , such as the Armenians, than those - also horrible - of millions of Muslims.)

But have you noticed something? This is starting to delve into history, which is another way of saying it's not a question that belongs before Congress in 2007. The verbose, pompous (and, yes, pandering) resolution cheapens Armenian history, not the reverse.

But it's also not a matter over which the White House should be issuing a gag order. History is messy and ugly and is best served by free and robust discussion. Americans as well as Turks and Armenians should have the confidence to recognize that.