1916) Open Letter To Shelomo Alfassa, Author Of: ‘’Turks Unfairly Remain A Hated People’’, Writer & Researcher Working In Sephardic Community

29 August 2007

Open Letter to Shelomo Alfassa, the author of the article: ‘’Turks Unfairly Remain a Hated people’’, the writer and researcher working in the Sephardic community. http://israeljewishnews.blogspot.com . .

I take exception to the title of your article which is supposed to have been written in defense of the Turkish people, which I believe does just the opposite. Yes, there are those who hate the Turks, and I have been told this to my face by many individuals in different countries, many times, by individuals ranging from an Albanian, to an Armenian and, yes to a Mexican lady (following the assassination attempt on her Pope by a Turk.) But these are isolated cases and does not reflect the general sentiment against all the Turks.

You are idendified as a researcher, but your article reveals otherwise since you have quoted only the negative statements about the Turks. If you had perhaps read the book ‘’Travels in the Levant (1664) by John Thevenot’’, you would have discovered the author’s comment that ‘’Turks are human beings like ourselves.’’ The great French poet Lamartine stated this about Turks (1868): ‘’Their character is noble and towering. They are generous and sensitive.’’ Sweeden’s King Charles XII called Turks ‘’people so affectionate, so noble, so gentle’’ even though he was prisoned by the Turks in the early 18th century. You go back to the 16th century to write about the Turks but ignore reference to any of the above remarks or many others that would have served your purpose better.

The August 21 statement by the Jewish Anti Defamation League (ADL) on the reversal of their stand against the recognition of alleged Armenian genocide mentions that their conclusion was based on Ambassador Henry Morgenhau’s and Samantha Power’s books, ignoring the fact that these books do not tell the truth about the Armenian issue. Both were written for propaganda purposes; Morgentahu’s allegations even found its way into the infamous British ‘’Blue Book’' and what Samantha Power wrote in Chapter 1, ''Race Murder'' in her book ''A problem from Hell - America and the Age of Genocide.'' was nothing more than a modern version of Morgenthau’ book, ''The Murder of a Nation''. There were many books in between, such as the novel ‘’Forty Days at Musa Dagh’’ by Franz Werfel, a jew from Prague, who later confessed that the book had many untrue historical and distorted facts. However, you do not mention any of these which are at the root of anti-Turkish propaganda and false acceptance of the alleged Armenian genocide. I believe you owe an apology to the Turkish people and a more truthful commentary on the subject that you seem to be interested in and concerned with, but without ignoring or concealing the facts.

Probably no other person in history has done more damage to the image of Turks than the US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire 1913-1916 with his book ‘’Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story‘’, used freely by anyone to justify the alleged Armenian genocide. Morgenthau acts like a career diplomat and a historian, but in actual fact, he is neither. He is a Jewish real estate developer from upstate New York, who raised the most funds for President Wilson in the campaign of 1912 and was rewarded for his partisan efforts with an ambassadorial post. He was a rabid anti-Turk who never even once mentioned the Turkish suffering in his reports (which were mostly written by one of his two male Armenian secretaries.) And yet, neither you nor anyone else in countless articles and statements have made any reference to the unreliability of Morgentahu’s book. An earlier commentary on Morgenthau’s book, ‘’The Murder of a Nation’’ is given below for your information.

Perhaps, to undo the damage that you have created, you could write to the ADL and the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and other organisations, and tell them the real facts about Morgenthau’s and Samantha's books. Although ADL wrote to the Turkish Prime Minister on Friday, Aug 24, expressing their sorrow over the developments, he did not retract their earlier statement. In the same letter, you could also ask the ADL and AJC’s help for removing the fabricated Hitler statement from the walls of the US Mesueum of Holocaust, which is a disgrace to humanity.

Regards.

PS. A comprehensive web site with detailed analysis of all the subjects related to the Armenian issue and Morgenthau's book is Holdwater's www.tallarmeniantale.com

Open Letter to Shelomo Alfassa, the author of the article: ‘’Turks Unfairly Remain a Hated people’’, the writer and researcher working in the Sephardic community. http://israeljewishnews.blogspot.com . .

I take exception to the title of your article which is supposed to have been written in defense of the Turkish people, which I believe does just the opposite. Yes, there are those who hate the Turks, and I have been told this to my face by many individuals in different countries, many times, by individuals ranging from an Albanian, to an Armenian and, yes to a Mexican lady (following the assassination attempt on her Pope by a Turk.) But these are isolated cases and do not reflect the general sentiment against all the Turks.

You are identified as a researcher, but your article reveals otherwise since you have quoted only the negative statements about the Turks. If you had perhaps read the book ‘’Travels in the Levant (1664) by John Thevenot’’, you would have discovered the author’s comment that ‘’Turks are human beings like ourselves.’’ The great French poet Lamartine stated this about Turks (1868): ‘’Their character is noble and towering. They are generous and sensitive.’’ Sweden’s King Charles XII called Turks ‘’people so affectionate, so noble, so gentle’’ even though he was prisoned by the Turks in the early 18th century. You go back to the 16th century to write about the Turks but ignore reference to any of the above remarks or many others that would have served your purpose better.

The August 21 statement by the Jewish Anti defamation League (ADL) on the reversal of their stand against the recognition of alleged Armenian genocide mentions that their conclusion was based on Ambassador Henry Morgenhau’s and Samantha’s books, ignoring the fact that these books do not tell the truth. Both were written for propaganda purposes; Morgentahu’s allegations even found its way into the infamous British ‘’Blue Book’’ and what Samantha wrote was nothing more than a modern version of Morgenthau’ book, with many in between, such as the imaginary novel ‘’Forty Days at Musa Dagh’’ by Franz Werfel, a Jew from Prague who later confessed that the book had many untrue historical and distorted facts. However, you do not mention any of these which are the root of anti-Turkish propaganda and false acceptance of the alleged Armenian genocide. I believe you owe an apology to the Turkish people and a more truthful commentary on the subject that you seem to be interested in and concerned with. But do not ignore or conceal the facts.

Probably no other person in history has done more damage to the image of Turks than the US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire 1913-1916 with his book ‘’Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story‘’, used freely by anyone to justify their statements on the alleged Armenian genocide. Morgenthau acts like a career diplomat and a historian, but in actual fact, he is neither. He is a Jewish real estate developer from upstate New York, who raised the most funds for President Wilson in the campaign of 1912 and was rewarded for his partisan efforts with an ambassadorial post. He was a rabid anti-Turk who never even once mentioned the Turkish suffering in his reports (which were mostly written by one of his two male Armenian secretaries.) And yet, neither you nor anyone else in countless articles and statements has made any reference to the unreliability of Morgentahu’s book. An earlier commentary on Morgenthau’s book, ‘’The Murder of a Nation’’ is given below for your information.

Perhaps, to undo the damage that you have created, you could write to the ADL and the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and other organizations, to tell them the real facts on Morgenthau’s book, just as ADL wrote to the Turkish Prime Minister on Friday, Aug 24, expressing their sorrow over the developments, but not retracting their earlier statement. In the same letter, you could also ask the ADL and AJC’s help for removing the fabricated Hitler statement from the walls of the US Museum of Holocaust, which is a disgrace to humanity.

Regards.

Yuksel Oktay
Kirklareli, Turkey

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THE BLUE BOOK, THE BLACK BOOK

The Real Problem is The ORANGE BOOK

A war Propaganda by the US Ambassador to Ottoman Empire Henry Morgenthau

There has been a great deal of discussions and presentations in the Turkish media and TV channels during April this year about the British propaganda material ‘’The Blue Book’’, and Talat Pasha’s recording of Armenian re settlements in ‘’The Black Book.’’ However, there has been no mention of another book which is worst than ‘’The Blue Book.’’ This is The Murder of a Nation, by Henry Morgenthau, available in most libraries in the United States and possibly in other countries as well.

The book appeared in 1975 during the 60th anniversary of the alleged genocide and was published by ‘’Armenian General Benevolent Union of America Inc’’, located in New Jersey, with contributions from many Armenian Americans, including Vahan and Mary Najarian. On the cover of the orange book is a picture of the Akdamar Armenian Church in flames, located on an island in the middle of Lake Van.

The book is actually a re-print in a book form of 125 pages from Ambassador Henry Morgenthau’s infamous book, ‘’Ambassador Morgentau’s Story’’, which was published in 1918 by Doubleday, Page and Company. Henry Morgenthau was the US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1913 to 1916 and supposedly wrote only one book in his life, which was first issued from his diaries under the English title ‘’Secrets of the Bosphorus’’.

Prof. Heath Lowry did a research on the book and published his findings in ‘’The Story Behind Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story’’. Prof. Lowry showed that most of the material in Morgentahu’s book was provided by his Armenian translator and Armenian secretary, most second and third hand, devoid of what was actually happening in eastern Anatolia where the Ambassador never visited.

On page 51, Morgenthau writes the following: ‘’Perhaps the one event in history that most resembles the Armenian deportations was the expulsion of the Jews from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella. According to Prescott 160,000 were uprooted from their homes and scattered broadcast over Africa and Europe.’’

Ambassador Morgentau, himself a Jewish American, conveniently omits the fact that it was the Ottoman Turks who took the Jews from Spain and settled them in cities like Salonika, Istanbul and Bursa. There is a Museum in Istanbul that tells the story of this humanitarian deed.

And yet on page 50, the Ambassador writes the following: ‘’My only reason for relating such dreadful things as this is that, without the details, the English-speaking public cannot understand precisely what this nation is which we call Turkey.’’

Everyone who is concerned about the ongoing and never ending smear campaign of Armenians against Turkey all over the world should read this book and tell the librarians that the book is actually a propaganda material which does not tell the truth, and therefore, does not belong in a library.

Respectfully.

Yuksel Oktay

April 30, 2005 Istanbul
(First published in the New Anatolian, Ankara)