2139) Armenians In Bursa And Its Vicinity Between 1860 And 1880

Instructor Özgür YILDIZ
Erciyes University Atatürk’s Principles of Research and Implementation Center / Kayseri

I. INTRODUCTION

Turks and Armenians have lived in harmony for ages. The Ottoman Empire was one of the empires that had used “the art of living in harmony” and tolerance successfully. Turks and Armenians have lived in Bursa and its neighborhood in harmony for ages. Armenians established churches and chapels in this region and practiced their beliefs freely. According to the American Board of Foreign Mission’s [ABCFM] documents, some Armenians lived in Bursa and its neighborhood between 1860 and1880.. .

Armenians and Turks received their education in the same schools. The language of instruction in these schools was Turkish and Armenian. Turkish and Armenian orphans lived together in the Armenian orphanage in Bursa. The documents which we examined showed that there were no major problems of public security between Turks and Armenians in this area. It is clear that the missionaries became thoroughly familiar with the stations of Bursa within the years of 1860 to 1880.1 This paper, based on the ABCFM documents, is aimed to give information about the Armenians who lived in Bursa and its vicinity between 1860 and 1880.


This paper’s main objective is to bring a new perspective to Turkish and Armenian relations.

II. TURKISH-ARMENIAN RELATIONSHIPS WITH RESPECT TO LANGUAGE AND RELIGION

As all over the Ottoman Empire, Armenians spoke their language freely in Bursa. In a letter dated May 24, 1873, Missionary Richardson wrote for the Armenians who lived in the center of Bursa that Turkish and Armenian languages are used in Bursa...1 It is understood from these letters that Armenians spoke their language freely2. We understand from a letter dated March 18, 1875 that there were no problems about publication. Armenians produced weekly publications and articles in their mother tongue in Bursa3.

According to the annual reports, there were also outlying villages in which Turks and Armenians lived together. For example, Mihaliç, which was within 12 hour’s walking distance to Bursa, had 900 houses, 150 of which belonged to Armenians. There was no security problem in this village4. It is seen that Turks and Armenians lived together at Kirmasti and Edincik as well. Armenians observed their religious beliefs freely in Edincik, and am Armenian could read his Holy Book freely with other Armenians5.

Under the Bursa station’s out-stations were Bilecik, Balıkesir, Eskişehir, Karahisar, Kütahya, and Ankara. To better understand the Ottoman community, I would like to summarize a letter written by Mr. Parson on May 5, 1862.

“Mr. Parsons visited Angora [Ankara] in April, taking with him Baron Hampartsoon, the colporteur [one who sells religious books]. They started on Friday April 11, visiting Sabanja, Koorbeleng, and Nalichan on the way, and reached Angora on Saturday April 19, where they were cordially welcomed by Baron Abkar, the native helper, and by four persons from the Roman Catholic Armenian community, who

1 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 593, No:790
2 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 593, No:800
3 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 592, No:60
4 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 582, No:451
5 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 582, No:453


are under the excommunication by the priests for their adherence to the doctrines of the Protestant church.

Four years ago, when Abkar first visited Angora, Hasan converted with him, professing to be an Armenian arguing in favor of the fast but in a way which indicated that he was not easy. At length he confessed that he was a Muslim, but said he wished to become a Christian.

From the time that he was fully enlightened, he ceased not in preaching Christ and his crucifixion to all persons as he had opportunity - to Muslims, Jews, Greeks, Armenians and Roman Catholics - until the first day of the last month of Ramadan, when, instigated by his father-in-law and other bigoted Turks, the Pasha had him arrested and imprisoned.

On the fourth day he was called before the Pasha who asked, ‘Are you a Moslem?’

He replied: No, I believe not in Mohammed, who is dead, but in Christ, who lives ever more. My rule of faith is this book. -showing his New Testament.

The Pasha said: Religion is free, you can be what you like but why have you, an apostate, been living with a faithful woman?6

The important thing here is the sensitivity of an Ottoman commander to religious freedom. Still, it will be fruitful to analyze the matter with respect to family life. There was no dispute between Turks and Armenians in Ankara regarding religious matters. However, Armenians had some problems among themselves. It is clearly reported in some American documents that there were contradictions and quarrels between the Catholic Russian Armenians and Protestant Armenians. To the contrary, we found no documents (some 500 documents analyzed) mentioning that there were problems between Turks and Armenians7.

6 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 586, No:27
7 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 584, No:1166


The Ottoman tolerance for religious diversity may clearly be seen in all the Anatolian regions as well as in Istanbul8. A tolerance in all parts of life is necessary in order to create a comfortable environment for all citizens. It can be seen that an Armenian priest was free to direct religious ceremonies easily in a Protestant Armenian Church in Setbaşı-Bursa9. According to the information gathered from a letter by Scheneier Benjamin in 1870, the priest of an Armenian Church established in 1848 was Dionican, the priest of an Armenian Church established in 1857 was Hohammes Stepian, and the priest of a Muradiye Church built in 1865 was Alexander Parhtiliyian. The Armenians performed their religious duties freely in these churches10.

As it is understand from the reports of Bursa station between 1866 and 1867, there was an Armenian church at Kütahya, which was an outstation of Bursa11. At Kütahya, there were two newspapers published to teach Christian doctrine and these newspapers were read by Armenian people12. We see that there was a church in Balıkesir in 1865, too, and the Armenian community performed their religious duties freely there13. There were 5,000 Turks and 400 Armenians in this city at that time and the minority observed their beliefs without any problems14. There were 6 Armenian Protestants in Edincik, who continued their religious activities regularly as well15. Hagi Madteas, who lived at Karahisar and was an Armenian preacher, like all other Protestants could perform his religious duties without any problems. He also knew Turkish and Armenian languages16.

There were Armenians at the Muradiye outstation as well. They, too, held their religious prayers easily.17 They cooperated and worked with

8 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 583, No:597
9 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 588, No:478
10 P.A.B.C.F.M Reel: 594, No:16
11 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 582, No:477
12 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 584, No:1177
13 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 584, No:1135
14 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 582, No:498
15 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 584, No:1147
16 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 584, No:1157; Reel: 588, No:453
17 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 584, No:1135


the Turkish peasants. There were four Christian Armenian families at Eskişehir, who performed their Protestant activities18.

From American Board Archives, we can learn the number of Protestant Armenians who lived in Bursa and its vicinity. There were 146 Armenian Protestants in central Bursa, 18 in Mihaliç, 17 in Edincik, 5 in Yenişehir, 35 in Bilecik, 26 in Muradiye, 4 in Eskişehir, 13 in Kütahya, and 15 in Ankara19. Any Armenian who lived in these areas could keep their Sabbath and carry out their religious ceremonies.

III. SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RELATIONS BETWEEN TURKS AND ARMENIANS

When Turkish and Armenian relations are examined socially and culturally, it can be noted that Turks and Armenians were educated at the same schools. For example, an Armenian orphanage was opened in Bursa, and Turkish and Armenian orphans lived in this orphanage together. Furthermore, in 1865, there was a school in Bursa in which Turks and Armenians were educated together. The medium of instruction in this school was Turkish and Armenian20. There was also an Armenian school at Karahisar in which American course books were followed21.

As it is understood from a letter dated April 12, 1867 written by Bursa missionary Joseph. K. Greene, he visited some Armenian houses at Yenişehir and mentioned that Turks and Armenians attended the same school there and used the same course books22.

The Armenian orphanage opened in Bursa at that time made great contributions to mutual relations between those two communities. The document about the Armenian orphanage in Bursa is of great importance for historians.

The numerous kind friends in England of Broussa [Bursa], M. A. Secretary of the Turkish Missions Aid Society in London, would kindly, on his recent tour through the Bible lands, visit this institution also.

18 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 586, No: 622
19 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 584, No:1141
20 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 584, No:1142
21 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 584, No:1154
22 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 584, No:1176


On the 29th of March 1887 the Reverend Visitor arrived with other friends in Broussa, on the 30th the visitation and an inspection took place, and on the 2nd of April the following official statement was received by Mr. and Mrs. Baghdasarian from Constantinople.

Constantinople April 1st 1887. Having visited on the 30th of March the orphanage and schools conducted by Mr. and Mrs. Baghdasarian at Broussa. The following brief statement is offered for the satisfaction of those interested in the orphanage.

On approaching the orphanage our party, which was expected, was welcomed very cordially by the children. About one hundred in all clean in their persons and dress and with happiness and contentment in their looks. They first assembled in the Chapel and after a hymn of praise a very cordial welcome in Turkish was addressed specially to Rev. T. W. Brown, M.A. Secretary of the Turkish Missions Aid Society, by the only Turkish pupil son of an officer, in the name of the whole school. Various pieces were then recited by the pupils of both sexes in Armenian, Turkish, Greek, and English interspersed with hymns in those languages and in French accompanied by the harmonium. The Rev. Mr. Brown and Dr. Thomson then addressed and questioned the pupils, who had been for some length of time in the orphanage and seemed to understand perfectly.

The premises were then inspected, including two large class-rooms on the ground floor, dining-room, kitchen, bath-room etc. Two separate and spacious dormitories for the boys and the girls on the floor above were a very great improvement on the state of things Dr. Thompson had seen four years before, when the dormitories were on the ground floor.

The pupils were then assembled in one of the school rooms and Dr. Thomson and Mr. Brown examined them in Germen reading, in Geography physical and political, and other branches greatly to their satisfaction and lastly the drawings and needlework were inspected while Mr. Baghdasarian presented Mr. Brown with a programmed of work of every day of the week as well as a list of the names of all the pupils indicating their age, nationality, time of admission, and whether an orphan, boarder, or day scholar with the fees paid by the latter.


We have great pleasure in bearing our testimony to the perfect discipline of the schools, the unmistakable contentment and happiness of the pupils, the neatness and cleanliness both of the pupils and of every part of the premises, the good health which all seemed to enjoy, and to the thoroughly intellectual training, both in general knowledge and in divine truth, which the pupils manifestly received. Mr. and Mrs. Baghdasarian seem indeed to have succeeded to no small extent in attaining their high ideal of so conducting the orphanage as to render it a pure and happy Christian home.

We, therefore, cordially commend it to the support of its already numerous friends in Britain, Germany, Switzerland, and elsewhere, as well as to the native Protestant churches of this country, to which it has already offered so valuable assistance23.

According to the document, the Bursa Armenian orphanage was opened in 187524.

This was established through donations. It was the priest Gregory Baghdasarian who founded the orphanage. Mrs. and Mr. Baghdasarian directed the orphanage together. The Turkish authorities did not object to the establishment of this orphanage. The most interesting side of the document is that the Turkish and Armenian orphans were accommodated in the same place. Modern sciences were taught in the school near the orphanage. In the orphanage both Turkish and Armenian languages were spoken. From this document, it can be understood that Americans carried out their missionary activities in this orphanage and that the children were obliged to learn the Gospel and sing psalms together.

Over 600 children were accepted in this orphanage from the time it was founded. At this orphanage there were 50 children in 188025. However, it offered food and clothing to 500 orphan girls and boys. However, the placement and accommodation of orphans began to be a problem.

The help of Turkish authorities was sought and subsequently welcomed by the Ottoman State26. The Ottoman Empire supported the decisions

23 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 596, No:570-571
24 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 615, No:1189
25 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 615, No:1189
26 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 615, No:1189


taken about the Armenian orphans. In addition, the philanthropist Christians granted $10,000 to a city at Asia Minor to make a dispensary for the orphans and this philanthropy was stated in this document27.

On 24th of July 1890, Mr. Mihran was appointed the secretary of the committee in order to gather help for the orphanage in Bursa. Cyrus Hamlin (the former Istanbul missionary and director of Robert College) declared that he would support these facilities28.

L.S. Crawford (Bursa ABCFM Missionary) believed that this orphanage was useful for the Turkish Government. All the grants for the orphanage had to be written down29. The education of the children in the orphanage was very important for them and they continually monitored the children’s progress. In addition, the children’s medical treatments were done as private cases30.

According to the documents from the Ottoman Archives, the Ottoman Empire watched the orphanage closely. The orphanages established by foreigners at various places in the country had always been under inspection. They kept track of the minority orphans who belonged to them. The lives and transfers of the orphans were noted. They always cared for their citizens.

As it is understood from a handwritten document sent in code from Bitlis, the Armenian orphans living in Bitlis were to be transferred to the American Missionary orphanages in Bursa and Izmir31. The governor of Bitlis himself monitored the event32. The governor stated that the passes for these orphans were issued by the police, Zaptiye Nezareti, who gave permission for those orphans to travel to those places. The children set off for the orphanages belonging to American Missionaries and first arrived at the English Consulate in Erzurum and then were sent to Trabzon with the consul’s advice. The English consul in Trabzon reimbursed these orphans for travel expenses and sent them to Izmir and Bursa on

27 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 615, No:1189
28 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 615, No:1190
29 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 615, No:1190
30 P.A.B.C.F.M. Reel: 607, No:610
31 BOA, A.M.K.T.MHM. Dosya No: 702 Gömlek No:21/1
32 BOA, A.M.K.T.MHM. Dosya No: 702 Gömlek No:21/3

board the steamship called Bunye, owned by a Greek company33. The Ottoman Empire watched closely whether they arrived in Bursa and Izmir or not34. Thus, the Armenian citizens’ orphans were protected35. It was evident that the Ottoman Empire was aware of the activities of the orphanages in Izmir and Bursa. To sum up, we can say that there was collaboration and friendship between the Turkish and Armenian citizens of the time.

CONCLUSION

According to the statements made by Kirkor Damatyan, the Patriarch of the Armenian Church:

We are celebrating the 700th anniversary of the state which dominated three continents. The most important feature of the Ottoman Empire is that it has managed, 623 years, to gather the members of three religions, speaking different languages and coming from different origins. The Ottoman Emperors gave the right to have different religions, and freedom of prayer not only to the Muslims but also to the members of other religions. As a result of this tolerance of the Ottoman administration, the Christians and Jews living within the borders of the Ottoman Empire had the opportunity to observe their religions freely and comfortably.

As mentioned by the Armenian Patriarch, the Ottoman state provided much tolerance in the field of religion36. This religious tolerance was felt throughout the stations of Bursa, too. As a result we can say that the Armenians and Turks living in Bursa and its neighborhood between 1860 and 1880 showed “the art of living together” peacefully. They were educated in the same schools and they lived in the same orphanages. Ottoman tolerance was felt in every aspect of life. After 1880, the Armenians were provoked by some powerful countries. This was the beginning of the following events. The Ottoman Empire enacted a law called Tehcir (relocation) for the safety of both communities. As a

33 BOA, A.M.K.T.MHM. Dosya No: 702 Gömlek No:21/5
34 BOA, A.M.K.T.MHM. Dosya No: 702 Gömlek No:21/8
35 BOA, A.M.K.T.MHM. Dosya No: 702 Gömlek No:21/9
36 Krikor Damatyan; Ermeni Kilisesi metropoliti, Osmanlı’da Hoşgörü Birlikte Yaşama Sanatı, Gazeteciler ve Yazarlar Vakfı Yayınları, İstanbul, 2000, syf.175.


result of this law, some Armenians were made to go to the south of the country and live there. It is the responsibility of all nations to remember historic facts and face the future under light of these facts. This study has been made to clarify some historical realities and remind the world of Ottoman tolerance.

REFERENCES
A. Papers of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission (P.A.B.C.F.M.)
1- Reel 582, Belge No: 451, 453, 477, 498
2- Reel 583, Belge No: 597
3- Reel 584, Belge No: 1135, 1141, 1147, 1154, 1157, 1166, 1176, 1177
4- Reel 586, Belge No: 27, 600, 622
5- Reel 588, Belge No: 453, 478
6- Reel 592, Belge No: 60
7- Reel 593, Belge No: 790, 800
8- Reel 594, Belge No: 16
9- Reel 596, Belge No: 570, 571
10- Reel 607, Belge No: 610
11- Reel 615, Belge No: 1189, 1190

B. Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi (B.O.A.)
1- A.MKT. MHM. Dosya No: 702 Gömlek No:21/1
2- A.MKT. MHM. Dosya No: 702 Gömlek No:21/2
3- A.MKT. MHM. Dosya No: 702 Gömlek No:21/3
4- A.MKT. MHM. Dosya No: 702 Gömlek No:21/5
5- A.MKT. MHM. Dosya No: 702 Gömlek No:21/8
6- A.MKT. MHM. Dosya No: 702 Gömlek No:21/9

C. Books;

KRIKOR Damatyan; Osmanlı’da Hoşgörü Birlikte Yaşama Sanatı, Gazeteciler ve Yazarlar Vakfı Yayınları, İstanbul, 2000.

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2138) University Of Louisville History Professor Justin Mccarthy Said The Conflict Between Muslims And Armenians During World War I Was Not Genocide

Prof questions Armenian genocide
Diction should be reconsidered to describe the Ottoman Empire 'civil war,' speaker says

The conflict between the Ottoman Empire and Armenians . . during WWI was a tragedy, but it was not genocide, despite widespread belief to the contrary, historian Justin McCarthy said at a talk Saturday at the University Hilton.

"What happened to the Armenians was so horrible; what happened to the Muslims was so horrible," McCarthy said. "(But) there has never been any credible evidence of any kind that the Ottoman government ordered a genocide."

McCarthy, a history professor at the University of Louisville, cited the bloodshed on both sides of the conflict as evidence that their deaths were not a genocide as the term is usually defined: the systematic deaths of an ethnic or religious groups out of hatred.

If anything, the conflict could be called a "mutual genocide," he said at the talk which was sponsored by the Turkish-American Heritage Society and Turkish PAC.

"When people think of the word genocide, what do they think of? They think of Hitler," he said. "Genocide is a word I think that should not be used any longer."

Efraim Zuroff, an Israeli historian and director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Israel branch, told the Jerusalem Post in August that the events should be categorized as genocide.

Raphael Lemkin, the Holocaust survivor who pioneered the term "genocide" was partially motivated to create the term in light of the suffering of Armenians, historians Peter Balakian and Deborah Lipstadt said in an editorial in the New York Jewish Week.

McCarthy said the most widely cited number of Armenian deaths, 1.5 million, is based on inflated pre-WWI Armenian population statistics. A differing and more accurate count, McCarthy said, puts the number of deaths closer to 600,000, which he bases on two censuses done individually by Turkish and Armenian political leaders.

The conflict emerged from a "poisoned atmosphere" encouraged by the Russians, McCarthy said, in which neither the Armenians nor the Muslims fully trusted one another.

During WWI, pockets of Armenians revolted all over the country, taking over cities, cutting telegraph lines and attacking roads.

McCarthy said the Armenian rebellion in 1914 was modeled after a Bulgarian revolution in the late 19th century. The Armenian revolutionaries hoped - just as has happened in Bulgaria - their activities would produce a violent response from the Ottoman Empire followed by intervention from Europe and their own independent state, he said.

"The intent is to have the Muslims retaliate," he said of the revolutionaries' plans. "The intent is to attack Ottomans, to take over cities, to cause Turkish peasants to rise up and start slaughtering Armenians."

The plan did not spur European intervention, however, because Western powers did not want the Ottoman Empire to fall into the hands of the Russians after a defeat, McCarthy said.

During WWI, the Ottoman Empire faced not only civil war at home, but also the encroachment of Russia to the northeast.

"Everybody was involved in a civil war," he said.

McCarthy argued that Armenian revolutionary activities appear to be intended to help the Russians by disrupting communication and supplies to the fighting units. Armenian attacks on cities also kept Ottoman soldiers away from the fronts against Russia.

Many were killed on both sides of the conflict, McCarthy said. Two-thirds of the Muslim population of Van, a pre-dominantly Muslim city in the eastern Ottoman Empire, were killed in an Armenian take-over of the city or later died, he said.

Muslim deaths nearly always outnumbered Armenian deaths in the conflict, McCarthy said. In some areas Muslims accounted for over 80 percent of the dead. In Van, Armenian rebels destroyed homes and government buildings with malice, McCarthy said.

The Ottoman Empire's re-location of 439,000 Armenians to Syria starting in 1915 led to the death of 20 percent of them, McCarthy said, but he attributed the deaths to bureaucratic incompetence rather than hatred.

"It's the government; it screwed up. It didn't know what it was doing," he said.

Some Armenians went to train stations and rode to their relocation site first-class; others were forced into difficult and deadly journeys on foot. McCarthy said more Armenians, who came under control of the Russians in the northeastern Ottoman Empire, died than those who were controlled by the Ottomans. About 50 percent, or 175,000, of the 350,000 Armenians re-located by the Russians died, and about 87,800 of the Armenians relocated by Ottomans died.

According to contemporary historian Arnold Toynbee, at least 250,000 Armenians died during the Ottoman deportations.

Many Armenians also remained settled in their homes throughout the conflict and were never re-located, McCarthy said.

After the conflict ended in the loss of the Armenian rebels, McCarthy said, the Ottoman Empire convicted 1,200 of its officials for the mass murders of Armenians. Many of those convicted, including one governor, were hung.

Such trials would not occur if the state had intended to annihilate the minority, McCarthy said.

"Of the Armenians who slaughtered Turkish villagers, how many were punished by their own people?" he said.

Although McCarthy said he believes many of the claims and assertions of those who label the Armenian deaths in WWI as genocide are wrong, he said he does not think they are willfully misleading others but have only heard one side of the issue.

"The people who believe it, believe it. They look on it as a genocide; they believe it's a genocide," he said. "I think the Turks made mistakes for many years by being quiet about it."
By: Kelsie Hahn 10/29/07 © Copyright 2007 The Daily Cougar

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2137) Letter To The Editors Of Newsweek & Time Magazines On The Armenian Issue

Newsweek Magazine
Dear Editor,

The statement by Amb Abromowitz,''They (Turks) have not come to grips with their history'', in his long article (Toward the Point of No return, Oct 25, 2007) is nothing more than a classical expression by those in the West who do not face their own history and conveniently ignore the real facts on the Armenian issue. For the benefit of the readers of your fine magazine, Amb. Abromowits should perhaps shed light on some of the historical facts on Turkish-American relations listed below which are often ignored by many writers and reporters..


First, the Ambassador should tell your readers the reasons behind his predecessors of long ago, the US Ambassador Henry Morgenthau's mind when he published his book ''Ambassador Morgenthau's Story,'' ghost written for him by his Armenian translator and Armenian secretary, both working at the US Embassy (Istanbul - Constantinople - 1913-1916). Armenians and their supporters have been using this book in their anti-Turkish propaganda, even publishing a chapter as ''The Murder of a Nation'', full of anti-Turkish statements and half-truths.

Second, the Ambassador should give background information on the support of England, Russia and France, and yes the Americans, given to the Armenian aimed at creating a state of their own on lands where they were not the majority and started mass killing of Turks during uprisings in Eastern Anatolia going back to the 1890s, the reason for the re-settlement of Armenians in 1915

Third, the Ambassador should enlighten the readers on the reluctance of the United States of America's in recognizing the Republic of Turkey until 1927, proclaimed in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk), when it took only 10 minutes to recognize the State of Israel in 1948.

Fourth, the Ambassador should also tell the readers about the motives behind Ms Samantha Power, the present day Morgenthau, in repeating the same untruthful ''stories'' from the Ambassador's book and daring to label the Turks with ''Race Murder'' in her book, '' A Problem from Hell'', found in almost every library in the US.

If the Ambassador is serious in helping the Turks and the Armenians in the reconciliation, perhaps he could facilitate bringing this issue to the United Nations where every responsible entitiy can present their case. The whole world has been led to believe that the Armenian issue is between the Turks and the Armenians, when most people know, although do not publicly state, that other countries and many organizations had a hand in its creation and worse, continuation to this day. A former teacher from one of the American High Schools established by the Missionaries stated the following:

''We agree that all of us - including Christian missionaries to the Ottoman Empire and to Turkey - need to acknowledge that wrongs were done to all sides during the early 20th century. We need to ask forgiveness of each other. Then we need to find ways to be friends. None of this is an easy step; the hurts are real, even if some of the causes may be dubious. For us, the greatest reason for friendship and healing is that the alternative is grossly destructive.''

Yes, as the Ambassador correctly states, the timing of the approval of the resolution by the House Foreign Affairs Committee was wrong, but what is more important is the submittal of the resolution to the House of Representatives with false wording, which is full of distorted and baseless claims, even referring to the defunct Sevr Treaty at the end of First World War, which was never ratified by the Ottoman government and rejected by the Turkish nation who fought a war of independence over it under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and replaced it with the Lausanne Treaty in 1923. The Ambassador is also correct in demanding from Washington to drop the resolution, not only ill-timed but also ill-informed and deceitful, never to bring it again.

Yuksel Oktay, PE
Former President, Federation of Turkish American Associations, NYC
Washington, NJ

---

Time Magazine
Dear Editor,
Ms. Samantha Power is at it again, repeating what she has written in her book, ''A Problem from Hell'' and stated at conferences accross America for so long, that death of Armenians in 1915 constitute genocide. Contrary to what she states in her Time article ''Honesty is the Best Policy'' (October 29, 2007), the ''Young Turk'' regime did not order the execution of Armenian leaders and intellectuals, but rather arrested them after their illegal activities in Istanbul and jailed them, some even finding their way to the States after their release, as many Armenians had done earlier. The Ottoman government was forced into re-locating the Armenians in eastern Anatolia to other parts of the Empire following their continous rebellions and the massacre of Turks.

What Power repeats is nothing more than the classical expression by those in the West who do not face their own history and conveniently ignore the real facts on the Armenian issue. For the benefit of the readers of your fine magazine, Samantha Power should perhaps shed light on some of the histroical facts on Turkish-American relations listed below, which are often ignored by many writers and reporters..

First, the Power should tell your readers the reasons behind the US Ambassador Henry Morgenthau's mind when he published his book ''Ambassador Morgenthau's Story,'' ghost written for him by his Armenian translator and Armenian secretary, both working at the US Embassy (Istanbul - Constantinople - 1913-1916). Armenians and their supporters, especially Samantha Power and Peter Balakian, have been using this book in their anti-Turkish propaganda, even Armenian association publishing a chapter as ''The Murder of a Nation'', full of anti-Turkish statements and half-truths.

Second, Power should give backround information on the support of England, Russia and France, and yes the Americans, gave to the Armenian aimed at creating a state of their own on lands where they were not the majority and started mass killing of Turks during their uprisings in Eastern Anatolia going back to the 1890s, the reason for the re-settlement of Armenians in 1915

Third, the Power should enlighten the readers on the reluctance of the United States of America's in recognizing the Republic of Turkey until 1927, proclaimed in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk), while it took only 10 minutes to recognize the State of Israel in 1948.

If Power is serious in helping the Turks and the Armenians in the reconciliation, perhaps she could facilitate bringing this issue to the United Nations where every responsible entitiy can present their case. The whole world has been led to believe that the Armenian issue is between the Turks and the Armenians, when most people know, although do not publicly state, that other countries and many organizations had a hand in its creation and worse, continuation to this day. A former teacher from one of the American High Schools established by the Missionaries stated the following:

''We agree that all of us - including Christian missioanries to the Otoman Empire and to Turkey - need to acknowledge that wrongs were done to all sides during the early 20th century. We need to ask forgiveness of each other. Then we need to find ways to be friends. None of this is an easy step; the hurts are real, even if some of the causes may be dubious. For us, the greatest reason for friendship and healing is that the alternative is grossly destructive.''

Yes, Power correctly states that the timing of the approval of the resolution by the House Foreign Affairs Committee was wrong. However, her claim that the House resolution tells the truth is also wrong and therefore, it should not be submitted to the House of Representatives which is full of false statements, distorted and baseless claims, even referring to the defunct Sevr Treaty at the end of First World War, which was never ratified by the Ottoman government and rejected by the Turkish nation who fought a war of independence over it under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and replaced it with the Lausanne Treaty in 1923. Samantha Power should be demanding from Washington to drop the ill-timed but also ill-informed and deceitful resolution, never to bring it again.

Respectfully,

Yuksel Oktay
Former President of Federation of Turkish American Associations

October 28, 2007

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2136) Associated Press, CNN & BBC Editors : "15 Kurdish Terrorists Dead NOT 15 Kurds Dead"

Contact : CNN Feedback
Contact : BBC News Feedback
Email Your Objection To AssociatedPress

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Dear Sir/Madam:
The headlines of latest development in Turkey is not fair. . .
"15 Kurds dead in Turkey Clashes" should read "15 Kurdish Terrorists Dead in Turkey Clashes."

USA is suffering from terrorism and we cannot succeed against terrorists if we do not name them with their real identity first.

PKK is a terrorist organization according to State Depratment and we should name them as terrorists not rebels or ethnical monirity members.

Please be fair in your reporting.

Sincerely,
Vural Cengiz
Address
Phone
Sun Oct 28, 2007

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Source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SFLTURKS/
CNN
BBC

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Response From BBC World . . 10/29/07
Hello and thank you for your email.

BBC World reflects the policy of BBC World Service, which over a considerable number years, has evolved, and constantly refined, standards of dispassionate and unemotive language.

The BBC regards the careful use of language as essential if we are to achieve the objectives set for us. Impartiality is a vital element of our reputation - together with the accuracy, speed and comprehensive nature of our coverage. In this care with language we differ greatly from large sections of the rest of the media around the world. Nowhere is the difference more apparent than in our treatment of the words 'terrorist' and 'terrorism'.

Our policy is straightforward. We acknowledge the existence of terrorism

- at this point in the 21st century we could hardly do otherwise. We don't change the word 'terrorist' or 'terrorism' when quoting other people, but at the core of the policy is the decision - taken several decades ago - not to label either people, groups or acts as 'terrorist'.

Rather we use unemotive language to describe as accurately as possible what action was taken, and what its results were; or the nature, aims or objectives are of the group or individuals involved.

In considering whether or not we should use the words 'terrorist' and 'terrorism' it's worth mentioning in the first place that there is no consensus on what constitutes a 'terrorist', or a 'terrorist attack'.

The list of comparisons is almost endless, and as our bulletins span the world, our viewers are likely to encompass every variety of opinion. In the second place, there are actions which are not quite so clearly terrorist, and the BBC should not be forced into the position of having to make value judgements in each instance.

We trust this helps explain our position, and we thank you for taking the time to write to us with your opinion on the matter, which we will pass on to our editorial team.

With regards
Heba Hassan
BBC World

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2135) 4 Free New E-Books

• From Berlin To Bagdad And Babylon
• In The Palaces Of The Sultan
• The Cyclopedic Review Of Current History
• The Battlefields Of Thessaly—with Personal Experiences In Turkey And Greece

. .

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1)
"Still again the hue and cry was raised in Europe and America that the soulless Turk, always the Turk, only the Turk, was the guilty one. Armenian agitators, Armenian jacks-in-office, Armenian revolutionary committees provoking the Turks to retaliate on their offenders in order to force the intervention of the Great powers[19]—these political mischief makers go scot-free while the ever vilified Osmanli is pilloried before the world as a monster of iniquity and a demon incarnate.

The Anatolian halil Halid, who was born and bred in Asia Minor and who spend many years in England, commenting on the matters under consideration, pertinently asks, "Did the humanitarian British public know these? No; it does not care to know anything which might be favorable to the Turks. Have the political journals of this country—Britain—mentioned the facts I have stated? Of course not, because—to speak plainly—they know that in the Armenian pie there were the fingers of some of their own politicians."[20] And those that are well informed know the reason of Britain's attitude toward Turkey, for they know that "since 1829, when the Greeks obtained their independence, England's Near East policy has been remorselessly aimed at the demolition of the Turkish Empire and the destruction of Ottoman sovereignty.

Does France, the first nation of Europe to form an alliance with the sublime Porte, know these things? She does, but, at the present time, it suits her purpose to feign ignorance of them and to follow the policy of England in her dealings with those whom she has professed …

It is also evident that, so long as present conditions persist, sporadic massacres like those provoked by the Armenians in Cilicia and Constantinople are inevitable."

[19] Pierre Loti tells of a French consul in Asia Minor who barely escaped assassination at the hands of an Armenian agitator who, when questioned regarding his attempt on the life of the functionary, coolly replied: "I did this in order that the turks might be accused of it and in the hope that the French would rise up against them after the murder of their consul." Les massacres d"Armenie, p. 50 (Paris, 1918).

[20] The Diary of A Turk, p. 130.

Rev. J.A. Zahm, C.S.C., Ph.D., LL.D. (H.J. Mozans), From Berlin to Bagdad and Babylon pp. 210-213 (1922).

E-Book

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2)
Rev. Cyrus Hamlin

"An Armenian Revolutionary party is causing great evil and suffering to the ministry work...It is a secret organization managed with great skill and deceit known only in the East. ... they have the strongest hopes of preparing the way for Russia's entrance into Asia Minor to take possession. ... [they] will watch their opportunity to kill Turks and Khurds, will set fire to their villages, and then make their escape into the villages. The enraged Moslems will then rise and fall upon the defenseless Armenians and slaughter them with such barbarities that Russia will enter, in the name of humanity and Christian civilization, to take possession. ... When I denounced the scheme ... [he said Europe] will listen to our cry when it goes up in the shreik of our wives and children.... [this party is of Russian origin]...

Anna Bowman Dodd, In the Palaces of the Sultan p. 427 (1903),

E-Book

Dodd's book is quoting a letter by Cyrus Hamlin published in: The Congregationalist, December 23, 1893; this letter was also quoted in "Foreign Relations of the United States," 1895, Part II, pp. 1415f.

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3)
"Armenian Agitation.—the Armenian revolutionists in Constantinople resorted again, in August, to those method of violent agitation which on former occasions brought down summary vengeance upon many of their innocent compatriots; but fortunately the disturbances on this occasion were promptly quelled without resulting in a renewal of massacre. … as if to indicate a hopeful case for those Armenians who seek to forward their appeals for reform by legitimate, instead of violent and anarchistic methods, the sultan conferred upon Mgr. Ormanian, the Armenian patriarch, the special champion of the more moderate faction, the decoration of the grand cordon of the Order of Osmanie. … the sultan had ordered the formation of a travelling commission, consisting of two Mahometans, two Gregorian Armenians, one Catholic Armenian, and one Greek, charged to visit the Armenian vilayets which were the chief sufferers in the late troubles. The commission is to raise subscriptions for rebuilding the Armenian schools, churches, and monasteries destroyed during the disturbances, and also to establishes orphanages. … Severe disturbances were reported in early August from the vilayet of van and neighboring regions on the frontier between Persia and Turkish Armenia. They seem to have been due to Armenian agitators ….."

Alfred S. Johnson (Editor), The Cyclopedic Review of Current History, Vol. 7, pp. 578-79 (1897).

E-Book

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4)
A widespread Armenian revolutionary conspiracy was therefore organized and subsidized in Russia, and even patronised by the Russian Ambassador at Constantinople. The aims of this most barbarous and wicked plot were made public some time before its denouement. …

A very shrewd and able correspondent of Reuter's Agency, who traveled throughout the Armenian districts of Asia Minor, wrote in March 1894:--The plan of the Armenian revolutionists was to provoke by the atrocities upon Mussulmans such cruelty, atrocity, outrage, butchery that Christian humanity would rise in wrath. It will be the helpless women and children who will suffer most. The revolutionary leaders know that it will be so; in fact, they count upon it as the chief factor in their success.

The same correspondent wrote the remarkable prediction that the 'chief attack will be made in the city of Constantinople itself, and that the brunt of the fighting will be borne by the Armenian residents therein.'

These prophecies, written in March 1894, were literally fulfilled in Sassun in July and August, 1894, and in Constantinople on September 30th, 1895.

…before any real atrocities to any appreciable extent had taken place—cannot be explained merely on the ground of journalistic anxiety to satisfy an unwholesome popular craving. It was the result of a carefully planned and organized propaganda, whose agents were in some cases mercenary, in others innocent through willing victim of deceit. All of the stories and many of the telegrams originally came form the same persons and locality, and from the same organization, viz., from a group of ingenious Armenian conspirators who were mostly inside the Russian frontier, between Karoungan and Tiflis. Some of these conspirators were on Turkish territory in and around Erzeroum itself. …"

Sir Ellis Ashmead Bartlett, M.P., The Battlefields of Thessaly—With Personal Experiences in Turkey and Greece, pp. 30-33 (1897).

E-Book

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Alternative Download Links for the Books for Non USA Visitors
(as Google restricts the visible download links for outside USA visitors)
Following Links will be valid for 30 days only
http://rapidshare.com/files/65803062/From_Berlin_to_Bagdad_and_Babylon.pdf
http://rapidshare.com/files/65803064/The_Battlefields_of_Thessaly.pdf
http://rapidshare.com/files/65803065/In_the_Palaces_of_the_Sultan.pdf

How To Download From above Rapidshare Links:
-Go to the link
-Find and Click On The Free Link -right column - bottom - Free Link
-You'll see download ticket reserved xx seconds in Countdown
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2134) Action Alert: PBS News Reports Consistently Refer To The PKK As Rebels

Ref: "Iraq Moves on Rebel Fighters to Smooth Relations with Turkey"

Please Submit Your Objections To PBS Ombudsman Here
The U.S. is engaged in a war on terror, and condemns the PKK as terrorists.
Meanwhile, PBS is romanticizing those that have been classified as terrorists by the U.S., EU and UN.

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2133) The Armenian Psyche: Trans-Generational Transmission

Many Armenians, especially those living in the diaspora, are euphoric about . . the adoption of a resolution by the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs labeling what happened to a number of Armenians in the last decade of the Ottoman Empire as genocide, implicating the modern Republic of Turkey as well. Armenians took this as “victory” because they had become perennial mourners of a tragic past and a third party they valued had now endorsed their victimhood. They work very hard to get this result because every validation further reinforces their collective identity shaped by victimhood born out of a “chosen trauma.” And the Armenians did not have to go out of their way to find this trauma. They were decimated and bereft of the land they lived on for millenniums by the Turks. It does not matter whether it was today’s Turks or those of 1915. They could not punish their wrongdoers, and now others are doing it for them, at least by acknowledging their crimes.
How does this mechanism work? When a traumatized group cannot reverse its feelings of resentment, animosity, helplessness and humiliation towards a chosen “enemy,” it cannot effectively go through the work of mourning. Consequently, it transfers these unfinished psychological tasks to future generations. Such transmissions may take place through deliberate official policies and formal education, or it may take place unconsciously in the family environment during child rearing. When the group’s historical narrative is passed onto the child with the stories of ancestors that have experienced a massive trauma and severe losses, children of the next generation(s) are given serious tasks that link them up with the group’s history which is learned as the sole truth. They are obligated to complete the mourning by reversing pain, shame and humiliation. This is done by turning humiliation into accusation, helplessness into assertion and hatred into lasting political and diplomatic strategies that would harm the “enemy.” This trans-generational transmission connects the members of the group mentally and emotionally and carves out an identity out of a traumatic reading of history.

Traumatized groups, who may not have the “power” to turn their passivity into assertiveness, may idealize victimhood. Victimhood is defined as: “A state of individual and collective ethnic mind that occurs when the traditional structures that provide an individual sense of security and self-worth through membership in a group are shattered by aggressive, violent political outsiders. Victimhood can be characterized by either an extreme or persistent sense of mortal vulnerability.”

When victimhood is acquired as a state of mind, not only does it become the foundation of group identity but it also deafens the traumatized group to the apology offered by the perpetrators or their descendents. In order to accept such an apology and to forgive the descendents of their ancestors’ enemy, the group would have to abandon its shared sense of “idealized victimhood.” But then, this is also a traumatic process because its identity is shaped by victimhood.

A chosen trauma may assume new functions as it passes from one generation to the next. In some generations when: 1- the perpetrator or its descendents insist in denying their past wrongdoings; 2- the group is still under domination; 3- the group has not acquired enough power and leverage to overcome its helplessness and humiliation, it may sustain its shared and idealized victimhood. Or a subgroup may appear amongst the wider traumatized group that may be called “avengers.” Avengers carry no feelings of guilt for the wrongdoings and brutalities they commit against the perpetrator or better, their descendents, because their victims are the source of the “original sin.”

In the light of this analysis, it seems seeking peace of mind and a diplomatic peace with Turkey by the Armenians -- especially those living in the diaspora, who have little connection with the needs of citizens of the Republic of Armenia -- will not be that easy until and unless the mourning process is healthily concluded. Of course there is plenty to be done by the Turks to put the minds and souls of the Armenians to rest by re-evaluating their common past. This has to be done not by the politicians but rather by the people who are in direct contact, trying to connect their futures. Dogu Ergil d.ergil@todayszaman.com 28.10.2007

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2132) American Indians From Turkey Put Pressure On Turkish Parliament : U.S. Commit Genocide Against American Indians

* Genocide, Who? When?
Ayse Heinbecker

The Turkish Parliament is debating a resolution that would charge the U.S. with committing genocide against the American Indians. Some American Indians, none being full blooded, who are living in Turkey have put great pressure on the Turkish Parliament to pass this resolution.

They have made large financial contributions to key members of the Turkish Parliament. This money was gained from bringing gambling casino know-how to Turkey.

The Indian timing was well thought out because it comes when Turkish/American relations are at their worst point.

The U.S. has humiliated the Turkish Army with the 2003 sack incident in Northern Iraq. They have threatened Turkey when Turkey refused to join the disastrous invasion of Turkey’s neighbor, Iraq.

They have secretly supported Turkey’s major terrorist organization with arms and given those terrorist protection in Iraq’s northeastern border mountains.

Just this week the PKK infiltrated across the border into Turkey, ambushed and killed 13 Turkish soldiers in one sweep. They then returned to their U.S. protected safe haven in Northern Iraq.

Of course the Americans are bitter also because over the years Turkey has allowed these Indians with their continuing tribal ties to history to assassinate 7 U.S. diplomats in Turkey.

The Indian pressure for the resolution is based on incidents of genocide committed against seven different tribes between 1500 AD and 1800 AD. The case is based on their tribal history which passed by way of mouth for generations. The vote will be taken on this information without listening to the American Governments perspective.

The only conclusion is that the Turkish Parliament will be voting for political reasons only, i.e. to please the Indian minorities in their constituencies. These historic events took place long ago and 7000 miles away, none are political issues for Turks.

What if the above scenario took place? It is based on facts and incidents but on the wrong foot. Can we imagine what the U.S. would do? This would be an attack on the American ego and world image. Would we allow little old Turkey to drag out our supposed dirty wash, and even if it was not dirty, hang it out in front of the world?

THE TURKISH POSITION

On the Armenian issue, the Turkish position which my American friends have not heard (or not heard enough) is that this is an event in history and should be studied by historians, not politicians a half a world away.

The Turks propose the proper “competent tribunal”, as set forth in the 1948 U.N. convention on genocide, be officially tasked to run the Armenian claims through the “due process” to decide, legally, if the events of 1915 could be labeled a genocide. Furthermore, Turkey is willing to accept the conclusions of such a “competent tribunal” after “due process” and if found guilty, apologize to the Armenians and the world. Armenia is Turkey’s neighbor and Turks would like to have this issue solved justly to get on with being good neighbors. If such a tribunal reaches the verdict that the events of 1915 cannot be labeled a genocide, however, then Turkey expects similar honesty, respect, and apology from the genocide believers.

There is one note that may be a road block. The Ottoman Turkish archives on this issue are open to all scholars but the Armenian archives (in Erivan, Boston, and Jerusalem) to date have been kept closely guarded and open only to selected Armenian scholars. This properly authorized and officially tasked “competent tribunal” will need to have full access to all documents.

Interestingly there are also extensive American archives on many of these issues. They are in the U.S. Library of Congress under the title of Bristol papers. I wonder how many in the U.S. Congress read them before committing to voting on this genocide issue.

Warren H. Winkler M.D.
Istanbul, Turkey

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Source: http://www.turkla.com/yazar.php?mid=1206&yid=4

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2131) About Your Article “The Moral Case Against Armenian Genocide Resolution” by Barbara Lerner

Dear Miss/Mrs Lerner

I have read your article dated of Oct.18th, in the Turkish Armenians web site , as well as your article dated Sept.7th. I also have copy of the compliments letter sent by my (!)adopted grand son Gokalp Balkaci on Oct .24th, expressing his appreciation and inviting you to click on the connection he has given, where you can see a multitude of old U.S. newspapers, confirming exactly what you have so concisely put together and which can be related to the everybody that should learn a tiny bit about the truth. The reason of this message is two fold. First, it is very rare that such a long and distorted subject, can be neatly put in the short picture frame you have drawn with your knowledge. I guess you have received a hurricane of nasty letters from the Armenian diaspora community, because this is what they are told to know, and listen-read nothing else. Secondly, since I have written quite an explicit book, to come out before the end of year if course in Turkey, before no publisher would dare to print anything that does not endorse the Genocide fanfaronade!

So, please excuse and take it for my sincere good will, if I dare to add a few remarks, which most researchers miss.

a. Gokalp again discovered two old newspaper clips, and I attach the article of the 1916 Reno Evening Gazette which is a shocking prophecy, explaining yesterday and all that has been going more actively today. We also have copies of staggering amounts of tax returns in millions of Dollars, and it is not hard to guess that the present diaspora mafia is milking their community, with monthly dues, plus extra on-line calls (this year there were three) plus other bookkeeping benefits, which no IRS would dare to investigate. After all, their terrorist gang leader Murat Topalian, was put in prison only for 36 months, thanks to an Armenian Federal Judge! Actually, every US citizen and not only those in the Congress and Senate should read this observation, and ask themselves if they are not one of the referred dupes!

b. If you click on Here or Or Here and go through my previous writings, you may read Anatomy of A Genocide Explaining why there was no cause, no time, no means to plan any annihilation and that the CUP and Dashnaks were so friendly that the Dashnaks held their August 1914 Congress in Erzurum and were offered the autonomy they were fighting for decades, if the Armenians in Russia and Turkey would support the Ottoman army in the expected war with Russia.

It would be totally out of logic, for anyone to think “killing the ally, on which they count” for a big war! The whole thing is a huge distortion but the “show must go on so that they keep collecting money, distributing a little and swallowing the large portion.” If the Genocide show stops, all these people will lose their earnings, so it will never suit their aims! They dream of large reparations from Turkey and hit the Genocide Treasure!

c. About relocations, we have too many records that the new settlers were happy with Zor and their leader Bezjiyan spoke sit to Morgenthau, who was surprised to hear it.

d. Regarding Nazis and Turks, General Dro who butchered Turks during WWI, joined Hitler with several special Armenian battalions with arm-bands. These are all documented in above web site, as well as Holdwater’s web site. At the time Armenians were rounding Jews, the Turkish ambassador in Paris saved some 19.000 of them and sent them to Turkey with rail cars sent from Turkey. What happened then? With the fake Hitler palaver, those Nazi Armenians became “poor Russian Armenian war prisoners” and some 25.000 of them were given affidavits and immigrant status to enter and settle in USA, including the Nazi butcher General Dro Kanajan and Shekerjian. That fake article, typed in Germany on type-writer that did not have a German keyboard and was full of grammar errors, was the life savers for the Armenians doing black marketing in Berlin and being smuggled in from Russia.

e. For the huge size of the Armenian Organizations mainly ANCA and AAA which operate separately, please read the doctor degree paper of Heather S. Gregg of Harvard University and visualize the size of the machine which needs money to turn the wheel.

f. The importance of Turkey as ally, is another subject which I need not to argue. Here we are speaking of morals, and who is staining whom. The study that I made based on anti-Turkish sources, will display very shameful pages regarding the morals of American missionaries, churches and politicians, which prevail even stronger today. Too bad that there are no more Abraham Lincoln or Thomas Jefferson to kick the butts of those Evangelicals selling holy waters in their mega churches.! Isn’t it a shame by itself to invite the Gregorian Armenian Patriarch to the Congress and offer prayers (?) So much bias and bigotry, refutes the simplest logic and intelligence. I guess now it is the turn of USA to be milked by traitors, other than the tax paper moneys donated to Armenia, so that some of it can come back to support campaigns!

There is not a single article in HS 106 that stands on truth! With so many references to Morgenthau, one wonders how come that those who opened his drawer and documents, did not read his diary book contradicting his story book drafted by Andonian, written by Hendrick and checked by Lansing and has not seen in the same drawer the letter written in 1918 after the book came out by the Assoc. Press correspondent George Schreiner who was on the battlefields, may be the only American reporter on spot who was in frequent contact with Morgenthau. His letter to Morgenthau is so adverse that it puts him in the place of a liar and boasting charlatan.

How come that a man of my age nearing 80s and living in Turkey can find all these things by reading several books and papers, but those in USA and particularly those in the congress can prove themselves to be so much ignorant of everything, and trying to play a comedy-drama, which I watched in despise in the video show. If this is the “much praised democracy on top of the world at Capitol Hill”, imagine how it should be, in other smaller countries.

The web site Armenians-1915 have included Armen Garo’s book “Why Armenia Should be Free” printed in 1918 in Boston and while boasting he confesses all their braveries. There are plenty of photographs of the “Innocent Armenians” in several battalions, performing their acts of heroism. It is all there, so that it can be shown to those still not reading their own old papers, archival records.

In case you have any particular question on any detail relating to the this Genocide palaver, I or my better knowing friend Holdwater, hope to have the answers clear, loud and totally documented, without using Turkish archives, and even the reputed scholars who are labeled as “denialists” because they are not “conformists” of swindlers.

Thanks again for having studied the matter objectively and putting it down promptly.

Kind regards

Sukru S. Aya

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Attachment

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Below editorial which appeared in the “Reno Evening Gazette”, Oct.14, 1915 under the heading AMERICA and the ARMENIANS gave a full picture of not only yesterday, but also this very day:

"Having imposed a committee of well meaning but admittedly prejudiced American Missionaries, the same agencies that have been engaging in reporting Armenian outrages which never had been committed are now trying to mislead Christian charity in America and Switzerland into furnishing funds for the relief of the supposed victims of the unspeakable Turk.

It would not matter, so far as the country at large is concerned, but unfortunately there is danger that a self-sufficient person like President Wilson will accept these stories of atrocities as truth, with no further evidence than the statements of Armenians who are directly interested in raising money for the support of themselves. Professional beggars who have bled their own countrymen for years are now trying to induce kindly Americans to support them, not caring whether United States would or should not be embroiled with Turkey and through Turkey with Germany. Ambassador Morgenthau appears to have fallen a ready victim to the smooth rascals that, by apocryphal tales of outrages, have procured contributions from their Armenian countrymen abroad and in this country and have lived in luxury on the proceeds for the last 30 years.

The Ambassador seriously notified the state department that the Turks had slaughtered the “majority of the Armenians of Asia Minor”. This “majority” now turns out to be 32.000 known to be hostile to Turkey and, therefore, dispossessed of their homes in Erzerum and Zeitun and interned in a district where they could be watched by Turkish troops – not killed, nor even dying. The English have done no more with German residents and even with English subjects of German birth and the Germans have done the same with English residents of the German states.

If this country, therefore, does not want to appear foolish before the whole world, it will refuse to be duped by impossible tales and will let the Armenians severely alone."

NOTE – Reply in 2007: The whole world is duped, they believe in those impossible stories and American Armenians plus taxpayers, contribute to support those in luxury!

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2130) Book Review: Armenian Doctor in Turkey By Dora Sakayan

"Bir Ermeni Doktorun Yasadiklari - Garabet Haceryan'in Izmir Guncesi"
Belge Yayinlari, Istanbul, 2005

This is yet another book by the grandson of an Ottoman-Armenian, Dora Sakayan, born in Selanik in 1931, who has been living in Montreal since 1975. While going through his grandfather Dr. Garabet Haceryan's belongings in 1992, Sakayan comes across a diary, kept by his grandfather in 1922 (70 years later). He publishes the diary in Armenian in 1995, than in English in 1997, followed by Spanish, French and Greek editions. The diary supposedly tells the story of his grandfather's 15 days between Sept 9-24, 1922, when they face hardship following the victorious entry of the Turkish army to Izmir. The grandfather claims that the great Izmir fire was started by the Turkish soldiers on September 13 in the Armenian quarters following the liberation of Izmir from the Greek occupiers on Sept 9, 1922. This, of course, has been proven to be a lie by many researchers, including Prof. Dr. Turkkaya Ataov, just like many other fabrications by some Armenians, such as the Hitler statement.

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2129) -Russian Troops Linked with Greek and Armenian Civillians As The Perpetrators" New York Times, 22 Oct 1915

Please click On The Image To Enlarge

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Kindly contributed by Mustafa Balkaya

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2128) Armenian Rebels Advance" New York Times, 6 Sep 1904

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Kindly contributed by Mustafa Balkaya

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2127) 5 Armenian Revolutionary Societies To Bring About The Ruin of The Ottoman Empire" New York Times, 24 Sep 1896

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Kindly contributed by Mustafa Balkaya

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2126) 170 Armenian Bombs Exhibited" New York Times, 23 Sep 1896

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Kindly contributed by Mustafa Balkaya

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2125) Armenian Bomb Factory was Discovered Near Kassim Pasha Cemetery" New York Times, 12 Sep 1896

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Kindly contributed by Mustafa Balkaya

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2124) Armenians Are pardoned : Turkish Amnesty To Zeitoun" New York Times, 14 Feb 1896

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Kindly contributed by Mustafa Balkaya

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2123) Armenians Insurgents Massacred All The Turkish Soldiers at Zeitoun" New York Times, 21 Dec 1895

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Kindly contributed by Mustafa Balkaya

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2122) Armenians landed with Arms and Bombs" New York Times, 15 Dec 1895

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Kindly contributed by Mustafa Balkaya

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2121) Aggression Of Armenians" New York Times, 2 Nov 1895

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Kindly contributed by Mustafa Balkaya

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2120) Mosque, School & Bazaar: Armenians Set Fire" New York Times, 15 Dec 1891

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Kindly contributed by Mustafa Balkaya

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2119) Please leave A Comment on "Turkey's Identity Crisis / By Ralph Peters -USA Today"

Please Leave a Comment on Anti-Turkish article published at the USA Today website!
This is one way to correct the record and begin to influence the media ...
Be sure to read Krikor's comments, they're all wonderful comments, but Krikor's are hilarious. .

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Turkey's Identity Crisis / By Ralph Peters -USA Today
October 23, 2007

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/10/turkeys-identit.html
Domestic conflicts are steering the country toward a battle with Iraq’s Kurds. The fallout could hurt not only Ankara and the United States, but the entire region.

The eastern quarter of Turkey isn't Turkish. It's inhabited by Kurds, the descendents of tribesmen whom the Greek soldier and author Xenophon encountered in those mountains 2,500 years ago — more than a thousand years before the first Turk arrived.

If a referendum on independence were held today, Turkey's Kurds, who make up about 20% of its 73 million people, would vote overwhelmingly to secede from the shrunken empire Ankara inherited from the Ottomans. That's part of what Turkish saber-rattling on the border with northern Iraq is about — the fear that even an autonomous Kurdistan-in-Iraq threatens Turkey's territorial integrity because the region's Kurds might view it as the core of a Kurdish state.

For its part, Washington fears a Turkish-Kurdish conflict that would further destabilize the entire region — just when Iraq shows glimmers of hope.

No regional government ruling over a Kurdish minority has ever allowed an honest head count, but estimates give the Kurds a population of 27 million to 36 million, spread across portions of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria and the Caucasus. Up to 14 million of these people without a state reside in Turkey.

In addition to its determination to preserve its eastern frontier, Turkey faces internal political challenges that propel the huge Turkish military — with more than 500,000 active-duty troops — toward an intervention in northern Iraq.

The immediate justification for a parliament-authorized move across the border is Turkey's allegation that the PKK (The Kurdistan Workers' Party), a Marxist organization that has employed terror, continues to attack soldiers and civilians inside Turkey. The remnants of the defeated PKK, a few thousand men and their families, have taken refuge in Iraq. Turkey claims it wants them handed over — knowing such a course is politically impossible for any Kurdish leader.

PKK a weak threat

Ankara's allegations suffer under scrutiny. One need have no sympathy for the PKK to recognize that the organization has been shattered by Turkey's anti-terror campaign. Its aging members encamped in Iraq have begged asylum from their fellow Kurds (who find them an embarrassment). With pressure from all sides for Iraq's Kurdish officials to "do something" about the rump PKK, the last thing most of its members intend is to give the Turks an excuse to cross the border.

Why attack now?

Because Turkey's generals are desperate to revitalize their image at home. Humiliated by the repeated electoral successes of Turkey's Islamist party the AKP, the army, which views itself as the defender of the secular state, has seen its stock decline in the political marketplace.

In the past, the Turkish military would have staged a coup. That remains a longer-term possibility, but there's now a sense that popular support for military rule would not be as strong as in the past, when Turkey's economy was moribund and terrorism haunted the streets of Istanbul. The military has been a victim of Turkey's success.

The generals view a foray into Iraq as a double win — a body blow to Kurdish aspirations and a chance to rally Turks around the flag. Though an invasion would anger the United States, Ankara feels it has Washington over a barrel, given the United States' need for access to Incirlik Air Base and the criticality of Turkish supply routes and airspace to Operation Iraqi Freedom.

As for Europe's reaction, the Turks believe it would amount to no more than a few white papers filed away in Brussels.

Over the years, I've personally found Turkish generals and diplomats irrational on two subjects: The Armenian genocide (as we saw again in the recent fuss about the House resolution) and the rights of Kurds anywhere to enjoy independence. These topics invariably ignite fiery lectures from Turkish officialdom: The mouths are open, but the ears are shut.

Turks face embarrassment

Yet, a potential problem that the Turkish military does not appear to have grasped is that a move into northern Iraq might not go as smoothly as the generals intend. Well-armed and determined, Iraq's Kurds would resist any major invasion, and the mountainous region is ideal for defensive fighting. For all the on-paper strength of the Turkish military, it could suffer a significant embarrassment in Iraq.

A military disappointment — it needn't be a debacle — in Iraqi Kurdistan would profoundly alter Turkey's internal balance of power. The army has thrived on the perception of its invincibility. A botched cross-border move would damage its all important image, further empowering the political Islamists, who've already subverted many of the laws and values the military inherited from Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (the father of modern Turkey).

Success would fail

On the other hand, should a Turkish military operation succeed, it could excite a land-grab mentality that could draw in Iran, further destabilizing the region. And a Turkish attack on Iraqi Kurdistan — a remarkably successful experiment in self-government — would incite waves of anti-Turkish terrorism, rather than reduce the terrorist threat.

For their parts, Iraq's Kurdish leaders seek to build good relations with Ankara, by policing the PKK and granting concessionary terms to Turkish businessmen in the hope that shared profits will reveal shared interests. Nobody — not the PKK, other Kurds, the Iraqi government or the United States — wants to see a Turkish military adventure.

In the end, such an invasion wouldn't really be about the future of the PKK — which has none — but the future of Turkey. Ankara's military, pledged to defend the state that Ataturk built from the Ottoman ruins, could thoughtlessly hasten its deterioration and decline.

Ralph Peters is a member of USA TODAY's board of contributors and the author of the recent book Wars of Blood and Faith.

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Comments: (30)

marat wrote: 2d 18h ago
Mr. Peters obviously needs to "update" his files on his computer about Turkey. This "cut & paste" article does not mention anything about the killings of 30 Turkish soldiers in the past 2 weeks alone! Bottom line is, U.S. has been protecting pkk since the 1st Gulf War by implementing a "no fly zone" over the Northern Iraq (from the bases located in Turkey!) As a result they are now well armed (with US made weapons!), have many recruits and believe that US will protect them against Turkey no matter what they say or do! It seems to me, we are about to witness yet another major foreign policy flop. Are we ready to take up arms, standing shoulder to shoulder next to the Kurds and fight against the Turks? Lord, have mercy.


My29ekim wrote: 2d 16h ago
It is quite obvious that Mr. Peters needs to learn more about the region and culture of Turkey. I couldn’t understand why he mentioned 2500 years ago. According to this argument, Native Americans came to these lands thousands years before then first British colonies.
I have another question:
What would US do if Cubans in Florida would ask to be separated?
Or, Asians in California?
Mexicans in Texas?


bugradom wrote: 2d 16h ago
Mr .Peters what you are trying to do is justifiying a terorist organization. Your article is an orgy of stultifying cacophonous verbal depravity; an exercise in literary impotence, and an offense to all of good taste and decency.Is 37000 victims from terorist attacks commited by PKK sounds like a week organization to you .To quote Martin Luther King, Jr.: "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than a sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."


Halide E wrote: 2d 16h ago
Mr. Peters, it may behoove you to know the PKK is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and EU countries. You should also know that many of the 35,000+ people murdered by PKK terrorists are other unarmed civilian Kurds. Many Turkish Kurds want what all people want, security, economic stability and safety. The PKK offers them none of that and never has.

Like all terrorists, the PKK are morally bankrupt hate mongers seeking to glorify themselves through mindless acts of violence. It makes one wonder whether your article is intended to support the terrorists or to smear the image of Turks.

Your comment about the Turkish military's image is incorrect. If you knew anything about what's going on in Turkey right now, you'd know that the people are 100% behind the military and furious at the government for not allowing the military to go after the PKK sooner.

Your country was attacked by a terrorist group and 3,000+ of your civilians died. In response, your country invaded a sovereign nation that we all now know had nothing to do with that attack. Your criticism of Turkey's desire to protect its people from terrorists who sit on its border and cross into its sovereign territory on an almost daily basis to kill its civilians is the height of hypocrisy and American arrogance--that is unless you serve as the Public Relations officer of the PKK.


g.ersoy wrote: 2d 15h ago
The article needs more than a few corrections some of which will be included in the following and for sure others to be addressed by rational and fair-minded readers without any regard to their origin.

The Republic of Turkey and its people have no interest in "land-grab" excitements but only to protect their borders and peace within and around the country which is a deed inherited by the founders of this country through battles against the "invaders" and political wit. Any cross-border military act or operation against PKK terrorism should as well be recognized to hold the very same objective: to protect its borders and national security against terrorism which was and still is fed and kept alive by those very mentioned Iraq's Kurdish leaders.

As for "a few thousand men and their families", I would only suggest the columnist to carefully analyze especially the recent attacks, how PKK is organized and well-trained like-wise the heavy weapons and fire power PKK had at its disposal.

The Republic of Turkey and its people come from vast and various backgrounds and origins who gather under the same flag and oath to protect their borders as "Turkish" citizens. To differ the Turkish citizens and segregate them into ethnic groups with percentages has malevolence intentions if not ignorant and biased. We have been mourning for such PKK terrorist killings for decades, a long space in time during which these Kurdish leaders have sought and unfortunately found shelter in the western hypocrisy labeling terrorists as "rebellions" -a manner only serves to justify violence- as well as legitimizing PKK with their call for talks amongst "parties".

And a very simple question to all: Is it only terrorism when it kills your own?


bugradom wrote: 2d 15h ago
By the way the author of this article Mr.Peters is the one who vehemently supported war on Iraq and in his article in 2006 he said everything is rosy in Baghdad . Mr Peters you should stick on writing fiction stories since that is what you are good at it.
Here is some examples from Mr. Peters pearls.
Peters was a strong supporter of the 2003 invasion and ongoing war in Iraq. Defending the war from critics who claimed that Iraq was descending into civil war, he authored a March 5, 2006 piece in the New York Post entitled Dude, Where's My Civil War?, in which he wrote:

I'm looking for the civil war that The New York Times declared. And I just can't find it...The Iraqi Army has confounded its Western critics, performing extremely well last week. And the people trust their new army to an encouraging degree. [1]

Claims that Iraq was descending into civil war, he wrote, were the politically motivated claims of "irresponsible journalists" who have "staked their reputations on Iraq's failure", though six months later, in an interview with FrontPageMag.com magazine, He stated that:

civil war is closer than it was...The leaders squabble, the death squads rule the neighborhoods. [2]

While it would be "too early to walk away from Iraq", the fate of the country was threatened by the US's failure after the invasion to provide adequate troop levels to maintain order, as well as "the Arab genius for screwing things up."

On November 2, 2006, he wrote in USA Today:

Iraq is failing. No honest observer can conclude otherwise. Even six months ago, there was hope. Now the chances for a democratic, unified Iraq are dwindling fast ... Iraq could have turned out differently. It didn't. And we must be honest about it. We owe that much to our troops. They don't face the mere forfeiture of a few congressional seats but the loss of their lives. Our military is now being employed for political purposes. It's unworthy of our nation.[3]

In this piece he also speculates that "only a military coup — which might come in the next few years — could hold the artificial country together" and that

[i]t appears that the cynics were right: Arab societies can't support democracy as we know it.
Mr Peters reminds me a character from Groucho Marx movie.
-These are my Principles if you don´t like them i have others!


ViennaVA wrote: 2d 15h ago
Just an observation on the responses to the article: None address the points made. As the author said, "Over the years, I've personally found Turkish generals and diplomats irrational on two subjects: The Armenian genocide (as we saw again in the recent fuss about the House resolution) and the rights of Kurds anywhere to enjoy independence. These topics invariably ignite fiery lectures from Turkish officialdom: The mouths are open, but the ears are shut."


UncleSam wrote: 2d 15h ago
Dear Mr.Peter , i ve read your paragraphs carefully and i understood that either you have some wrong resources in hand or some body cheated you in a very funny way ... what you write above is not making any sense , i am surprised that this serious magazine or newspaper dares to publish it...anyway i guess you should read some! or you should not cause you understand things wrong


bugradom wrote: 2d 14h ago
Vienna the problem is Mr.Peters are not making any points he is just throwing wild accusation. Again just to see his wild opinons and scenarios do a wikipedia search on him and you will see why?


ViennaVA wrote: 2d 14h ago
bugradom: 'wild accusation'? I don't believe so, or at least I did not see any. It is true that the very concept of autonomous Kurds is anathema to Turkey. I have not forgotten that it was a MAJOR EVENT when a PM (Ozal I believe) actually uttered the word 'Kurd' about 20 years ago. It was considered incredible progress! The fact also is that Turkey has a very long way to go in treating her minorities. Yes, some progress has been made, but it has been under constant and intense pressure, primarily from the EU.

And yes, the military would have staged one more coup by now, had it not been for the EU; they certainly have staged many.


Karabekir wrote: 2d 14h ago
The author's point of view is so one-sided that I would expect coming across this piece in an openly anti-Turkish forum, rather than in a respectable newspaper.

Turkish state and the military are no angels, especially when it comes to dealing with Turkey's Kurdish issue. One could argue that what led to the creation of the PKK, and the adoption of terrorism as a tool of resistance among Turkish Kurds, was the heavy handed military coup of 1980, the authoritative constitution it put in place, and the subsequent closure of all political channels to Kurdish moderates.

However, this subject deserves an objective and academic assesment; not a black and white tale of legendary heroes suppressed by ruthless tyrants, reminiscent of the movie '300', which is the tone of this article.

If the author thinks that all of Turkey's Kurds are (or should be) motivated by ancient history, and if he believes this alone justifies the dissolution of a modern nation-state, then his logic seems to me no different than that of far-right nationalists the world over that are inspired by imaginations of a long gone era to wreak havoc in modern societies. He should be duly reminded of the universal dangers of condoning such thinking.

His subsequent claim that all Kurds would readily choose independence in a referendum today is an unjustifiable speculation at best.

There is reason to suggest that, while a considerable number of Kurds are motivated today by full independence, there is a greater majority, who simply and rightfully demands health care, roads, schools, hospitals, jobs, and an opportunity to live without the constant fear of being crushed between a state apparatus with arbitrary powers and rogue members, and a radical organisation that uses thuggery, extortion and other criminal means to sustain popular and financial support in the region.

That in the last general elections, the party that has provided the most tangible service to Turkey's impoverished southeast and expanded the Kurds' democratic liberties (AKP) received more votes than the Kurdish nationalist party (DTP) demonstrates that service is still in higher demand than ideology among Kurds, even at a period where nationalisms of all kinds is on the rise in Turkey.

More importantly, the authors's suggestion that the PKK is a weak organisation, whose 'aging members' and 'their families' seek asylum in neighbouring mountains, seems to be a conscious effort in bad faith to influence the reader. Let's put the facts straight: it was not a small group of old men and their wives that ambushed Turkish soldiers in Hakkari on 21 October, killing 12 and capturing 8. It was large group of over at least a hundred young and able men, armed to the teeth with automatic rifles.

One could arguably suggest that the Turkish military may indirectly benefit from a general state of emergency in the country, to keep its power and influence from waning in Turkish politics. But to claim that the current situation on the ground is a direct machination of the the military, alone, is a far fetched conspiracy theory. That Turkey intends to go into northern Iraq and grab a chunk the land is another one.

The truth is in the recent wave of violence, the PKK has been the main aggressor. Although the organisation lacks the military and financial strength as well as the popular backing, which it enjoyed at the height of its power in the 1990s, it does benefit from a tremendous safe haven in the mountains of northern Iraq, a comfort that they lacked, at least to this degree, when they had a foe (Saddam) not an ally (the US) in charge of Baghdad who pressured down from the south and passed an occasional blind eye on Turkish cross border incursions.

The author should be reminded that the PKK flourishes in environments of violence, instability and social polarisation - and is threatened by a Turkey that is more democratic and stable, where the Kurds have a democratic channel to have their voice heard in politics and thus have a realistic hope of living in peace at last.

That for the first time in 15 years a subsantial contingent of Kurdish MPs joined Turkey's parliament brings this hopeful scenario closer to reality should be a nightmare for the PKK, who is divided in factions from within and tries desperately to remain relevant for the Kurdish people of Turkey.

Overall, the author has produced a tasteless and skewed argument written from a primordial perspective that does more to provoke than explain and suggest solutions.


melike wrote: 2d 13h ago
Todays Republic of Turkey's borders are drawn by the treaty of Lausanne. Mr Peters. There can be no purpose served by going back 2500 years unless you are trying to justify the map you had drawn for the "Armed Forces" magazine in which you had redrawn Turkish eastern borders by dividing it between the ARMENIANs and the KURDs!!! obviously you had no qualms about it!
For someone looking for reasons to make his column sensational there are plenty of scenarios to come up with in that region... especially after the vacuum that has been created by your so called "Operation Iraqi Freedom"....the after ill effects are rippling through the region everyday and the recent brazen ambushes of the PKK is one them. When US strenghtened the threats towards IRAN, PKK felt that there was even more of a free hand given to them.
Turkish Military's reason is downright simple: to protect its own citizens, not to invade N.Iraq as you insinuate .40 Turks got killed in the last month due to inside border attacks from PKK. As you choose to call PKK " the weak threat" yet it managed to kill a brigade of Turkish soldiers/ citizens in the last 23 years.
Does this sound to you that PKK is aging, weak, no threat at all ? Does this happen without any backing or support and without any future plans? C'mon Mr Peters you are a military man, ok you were in peaceful Germany not in the IRaqi border, but Israil went and turned Lebanon into rubble for 2 kidnapped soldiers... ...here are 40 dead and 8 soldiers are missing; do you still blame Turkish military of grandiose complex? or finally you are emerging to see it is the Turkish PUBLIC Psyche which bears its soul out in the media and out in the streets, burying young men day after day with their babies crying ....left to mourn for a month demands that "Enough is enough"...


melike wrote: 2d 13h ago
Some other known facts also

1) Today in the Turkish parliement there are (around 13) PKK's representatives DTP. (5% of the Parliament)
2) Today in Turkey it is free to speak Kurdish. Any Kurd living in Turkey as its citizen has the same rights and freedom like any other Turkish citizen.
3) Today any Kurd can became President of Turkey and actually this happened
4) Todays P.M ERDOGAN's wife is a Kurd. A lot of big businesses are owned by the Kurdish ethnic groups.
5) PKK is recognised as terrorist by USA, EU, UN.
6) Today PKK has couple of bases in N. Iraq.
7) Today N. Iraq is the biggest DRUG TRADE CENTER in the world. and it is under the control of KURDS.


m.a.b. wrote: 2d 10h ago
you must read history... not much but a little is enough for an uneducated like you.



Brian999 wrote: 2d 9h ago
Since the 1980s, the Turkish government has struggled and battled with PKK terrorists all over Turkey and Northern Iraq. Over 37,000 Turkish civilians and Turkish military and PKK have been killed throughout the conflict. The damage done by the PKK still goes on today. Every week there is another news report in Turkey that a PKK squad has invaded a Turkish police station or a Turkish village, or Turkish civilians or Soldiers that stepped on PKK landmines.

Since the cease-fire in the late 1990s, the PKK has had the peace and rest it needs to recruit more people in Northern Iraq, gather weapons, and create stronger camps. Right now the PKK is at it's strongest since the 1980s because of the turmoil in Iraq and because of recruitment at its height. The PKK is a communist organization that is trying to secede land from Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Iraq. People like Ralph Peters encourages them to do so and believes that they should establish a Kurdistan in those 4 countries. Thus his opinion is biased
and in complete favor of the terrorist organization.

If you look up Ralph Peters you can see that he is completely in favor of re-dividing up the territories of the Middle East which he labels as a final solution. However, the reality is, this will simply cause more wars than before. During Ottoman Rule of the Middle East no one suffered war and life was not as bad as it is now in the Middle East. It was imperialism of oil that caused the chaos in the Middle East and separating states will only cause more wars.

Lastly, I'd like to add a message to Ralph Peters' imperialist ideology. Ralph Peters, the Middle East is none of your business, and since you lack any historical knowledge and a general idea of politics of the Middle East other than your extensive knowledge of war and destruction, I recommend you sit down and learn pottery or a more productive hobby that doesn't involve attacking, insulting, disrespecting, and dividing the Middle East and its people.

Next time get your facts straight instead of relying on PKK propaganda, and learn to research. I recommend www.google.com as a start, but books are a better resource, but I'm sure you never thought of that.


ozlem wrote: 2d 8h ago
Dear Sir,
As i read your article ,i found very offensive allegations towards Turkey and Turkish People.For someone in your position(A published Author)I would have expected to see an article with correct information on the subject . Either you have not done your homework on the matter and wanted to get a quick rise and respond from people ,or your resources has failed you embarrassingly.
Is Turkey in identity crisis? For someone with your resources i can see how you would see what you do see, but if you ask any Professional Historian they could provide you with better understanding of Ottoman Empire and Turkish Republic. Better yet maybe a visit to Turkey and meeting few Turkish People could prevent you from future embarrassments.
Before i sign off ,i leave you with a suggestion to open up your horizons and find the book written by Turgut Ozakman Titled "su cilgin turkler" Maybe this will help you understand the love ,pride and honor we carry in our bloods for our people and our country.


KrikorZohrab wrote: 2d 7h ago
Mr Peters,

Your article is so surreal, it should be compared to Picasso. I will not elaborate on each and every sentence of this article, however, I do want to point out one or two inconsistencies:

"Well-armed and determined, Iraq's Kurds would resist any major invasion, and the mountainous region is ideal for defensive fighting."

Apparently you have a scenario in your head, similar to the following:

May 2008: The TR forces, 1M men and 430 jet fighters in total, are defeated and the 3k PKK "Freedom Fighters" are closing in on Diyarbakir for a final assault that will bring utter humiliation and shame to the TAF. At this point, the generals are thinking "where did we go wrong?!?" All of a sudden, one of the generals looks at the map: "Oh my god, it is a *mountainous* region! And all this time we thought it was flatlands!"

It is enlightening for me, and I believe I speak for the large majority of your readers when I say this, that you assume the generals of the Turkish Army not just to be stupid, but also never to have looked at a Turkish map.

Just to clarify, Turkish Armed Forces has attacked and defeated PKK when it had 6-7 times more men. The success of the attack is not a matter of dispute on Turkish papers, it is what needs to be done during and after the attack, politically and diplomatically.

Your article has a wonderful title, "id crises of Turkey" and I was under the impression that it would include a lot of revelations and interesting sociological observations. I have to admit that it does indeed include a lot of revelations about a parallel universe, here in the twilight, twilight zone.

Mr Peters, Turkey stands united with Turkish flags (it is white on red with crescent and star) hanging all over the country, and Kurdish mothers sing laments in Kurdish to their sons killed by the PKK. There is no identity crises there, and the nature of PKK is obvious to everyone.

It is your government that has declared over and over again that PKK is a "terrorist organization". In three years, they will be declaring PKK a "non-existent terrorist organization", along with all the romantic people of the world that fail to call it what it is.

"thoughtlessly hasten its deterioration and decline."

"hasten"?!?! What decline?!? Mr Peters, Turkey is going to stabilize the region that US Army has failed to stabilize - or should I say - succeeded to destabilize. It has done so with Cyprus in the past, and it will do so again.

Dear ViennaVA,

The rights related to a Kurdish identity have increased tremendously in the last decade when the PKK was passive, almost finished. (See the HRW page to check.) These democratic advancements will continue as Turkey progresses to join the EU. The Armenian Genocide issue can easily be cleared up once the Armenian organizations over the world publicly and convincingly announce that they have no interest in claiming the Turkish soil as their own.


Marieann wrote: 2d 6h ago
GREAT Article, very well put. I would go a step further and say that the Turks are looking for any excuse to kill off the Kurds just like they did the Armenians. Are 30 soldiers worth the stability of Iraq? I don't think so. These are issues best dealt with by diplomacy not by force. THANK YOU for writing this truthful article, great job!


Casey in Chicago wrote: 2d 4h ago
Peters needs no apologists, but have any of the 18 bloggers who precede this actually read what he said. Even the one at the end who applauds seems to miss the essential points, none of which should be viewed as so provocative. I see no encouragement toward aggressive partitioning even suggested in THIS article.

The U.S. needs to be clearly against the PKK and for Turkey's right to defend itself against terrorists. In doing so, we reinforce our own justification for supporting Iraq as an undivided nation. Maybe Peters advocated redrawn maps in the past, maybe not, but he certainly is not pushing partitioning here. The unified message here should be that Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, and the rest of Western Asia and the Middle East and Africa, had better learn to settle age-old differences through democratically elected representatives, and not through terrorism. The degree to which Turkey is already proving this to be true is the degree to which all of its nationalities will live within its current borders in relative peace, and are therefore a model for the rest of those interconnected regions of the world.


ozlem wrote: 2d 3h ago
Marieann
Its not 30 soldier ,try 30.000 + innocent lives lost because of PKK you had your twin towers down and did not even wait to get U.N's approval to go in to Iraq. How is your country any different than Turkey? If you want to talk about genocide please, lets do. Where are the American Indians and what what was promised to them?And what is their population now? during the Armenian war there were great casualties from both sides.If parliament wants to bring few people to point fingers and say what happened during the war i am most certain Turkish Government can provide few victims to tell their story as well. My point is at this point it is nothing more then "he said she said".And if you are this disgust with Turkey why are you using our airbases to help you in Iraq? Your soldiers and civilians life"s are no more valuable than ours.To bad you are not able to see it as it is.


gloriousfall wrote: 2d 2h ago
Turkey has a reason to get in to Northern Iraq, the same reason the US used to attack Afghanistan and Iraq, to eliminate terrorists. In this case, Kurdish terrorists (not rebels, terrorists) are crossing the Turkish border and killing some random innocent people and going back to where they came from, Northern Iraq . And if Iraqi government is not willing to do anything about it, Turkey is probably going to do. Plus, whoever tells Turkey to not invade Iraq should explain Turkey what they are doing in Afghanistan and Iraq. (By the way, what happened to Saddam`s mass destruction weapons? Maybe we should blame Turkey for that too :))

gloriousfall wrote: 2d 2h ago
I totally agree with Ozlem (Afferim kiz :)
We`re talking about Turkey and Northern Iraq.
What`s this has to do anything with Armenians


fcuku4ever wrote: 2d ago
this columnist, co called military expert is actually one of the master mind behind the "New Middle East" which basically follows two steps. Step 1: introduce violence and conflict to a region, and let people kill each other. Step2: Show to "wealthy west" that region needs to be cleaned up and peace must be restored with new borders..

Check this website out, and see the map prepared by this so called columnist, PETERS...

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=v iewArticle&code=NAZ20061116&articleId=38 82

Why Kurds seem to be majority in the eastern Turkey? Because PKK (Kurdish Terrorists) are burning down everything that the government tries to built. Schools, hospitals, bridges, infrastructures. They kill anybody they can find. They kill students, teachers, doctors, policemen, government workers they even kill Kurdish rooted Turkish citicens, just because they dont want to help PKK.

PETERS boy, I do not know how much money you are earning from your so called expert-view books, but I suggest you extend your historical knowledge and keep yourself updated with reality.


melike wrote: 1d 18h ago
To Marieann and Casey in Chicago;
"Stability of IRAQ", are you actually aware what's going on in the MIddle East? IRAQ is actually worse than ever before, stability in IRAQ is utopia atm. That is why every1 who supported this war in the beginning now talking about BALKANIZATION of IRAQ. PLease get a reality check , this generation of IRAQI kids will have no education.. If they survive they will be among the unhealtiest especially after those chemicals like USA forces used in Falluja.. SYRIA is the only country ( the WESTERN world dislikes so much) which took 1 million Iraqi refugees, at least Iraqi kids are able to go to school there. Why US only took a few hundred Iraqi refugees , cos they dont come with the Iraqi oil? More than %50 of Iraqi women are widows or lost their man of the household. When there is stability in Iraq , there wont be any Iraq or Iraqi left, that will be the legacy of ppl like Mr Peters and ppl thinking like you. For you lot ....30 dead is not worth the stability of IRAQ!
Coming back to partioning of Iraq, Mr Peters exactly suggesting that! !!if Turkey succeeds this operation; Iran will come in and Turkey will also get into N. IRAQ .Cos KIRKUK has got oil, US wants to control there, therefore US needs to control N. Iraq +the Kurds..OIL is the reason why this war started in the first place.

When you ppl talk with this no end self righteous attitude as if you are the only "MIGHT" who could bring GOOD to this world, it goes like the water behind a ducks back.especially in the Middle East. We all heard it before, when STABILIZATION comes to IRAQ, PIGS MAY START FLYING TOO!!!!


foutsc wrote: 1d 14h ago
George Washington was right about foreign entanglements. I don't care what it costs, I would rather we fully develop domestic oil than to give one more dime to that hideous cauldron of ignorance, suspicion and petty bigotry. If they want to go on killing and subjecting one another to all manner of medieveal depredations, why stand in their way?

Hemin wrote: 1d 13h ago
What Mr.Peters has objectively put forward, may not be satisfactory for those who opt to ignore the reality of Kurdish
nation and its demands in Turkey.
What is going on in Turkey has nothing to do with "terrorism" .
The existance and struggle of PKK and Kurdish political movement in Northern Kurdistan is after a legitimate right, which is the formal recognition of Kurdish political. cultural identity.
The Name KURD and KURDISTAN have been prohabited in
old-fashioined dominant mentality in Turkey. where as the old
ideaology in Turkey tries to forcefully make any one into a Turk,
PKK and Kurdish movement in the North asks for brotherhood
and peacefull co-existance there.
The present authorities should come to their senses and
understand that they are not able to annihilate Kurds under
the pretext of "terrorism".
They should accept the concept of " Kurdistan Regional Government" which is part of would be Federated Iraq, and forget
to call part of Greater Kurdistan as "Kuzey Irak".
History can not let down the Kurd once again!
Hemin


melike wrote: 1d 11h ago
“There is much to be said in favour of modern journalism. By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.”


Casey in Chicago wrote: 1d 11h ago
Stability IS coming to Iraq, despite what melike claims, because Iraqis are turning against terrorists. While there is something to be said for what foutsc says about letting barbarians have their way with each other, there is scant evidence, current or historical, that their aggression will remain confined within narrow boundaries. Like it or not, the civilized world is again forced to unite against barbarians. Peters is not the provocoteur here just because he envisions more consequences than meet the eye if a Turkish adventure into Iraq turned out to be the only strategy remaining to take out terrorists. Terrorism is, was, and will be the problem, and those who perpetuate it, sponsor it, or turn a blind eye toward it need to be killed, stopped, and/or deciseively discouraged. We all have blood on our hands for having tolerated terrorism in the past. It's time to move on.


melike wrote: 1d 10h ago
you may find a bit more enlightment for Kurdish kins in this site

Depending on your email program, you may be able to click on the link in the email. Alternatively, you may have to open a web browser, such as Firefox or Internet Explorer, and copy the link over into the address bar.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xm l=/opinion/2007/10/24/do2408.xml
For the best content online, visit www.telegraph.co.uk


Fatih wrote: 1d 2h ago
Dear Ralph Peters,

There is no idendity crisis or whatsoever in Turkey. Because Turkey is a democratic country, free people and no discirimination.

In actual case, there is no word in Turkish language for "discrimination" We learnt this concept from western languages and adopted as "ayirimcilik" which does not really reflect the terrible meaning of discrimination.

The population of Kurd origin Turkish citizens are around 8 millions. In the last elections kurdish separatist political party received around %4 which is around 1.5 millions votes.

The Kurds Today are spread around the country and more population even live in the west. There are more Kurds in ?stanbul than any town in the east. and There are more Turks in the east actually than Kurds.

Kurdish origin Turkish citizens can select any job and can earn money and live happy as the other citizens.

One of the Foreign ministers was Kurdish origin.
Several generals were Kurdihs origin in Turkish Army.
At least one president was half Kurd.
Famous singers and artists are Kurds.
Turks and Kurds were together when this country was established.

There is no bann for Kurdish language today. (In the past there was some pressure over the language)

Kurdsih origin Turkish citizens are mixed throughout the country, with Turkish origins by marriages, and it is not possible to separate those people from each other. There is no such a place that you can denote a Kurdish region. Please do not believe the fake maps on some media.

republic of Turkey was founded in 1923. Whatever the past history is, today's reality is there is a democratic, secular, and modern country here in Turkey.

In Turkey the death penalty is stopped legally like in many European countries. Free elections are jeld every few years. Legal situation is as exactly the similar any european country, maybe it needs a little more progress for the infratruscture.

You seem to not know anything about Turkey but unfortunately writing too many issues.

I strongly suggest don't rely on your knowledge based on popular news channels, because they receive the news from each other and keep repeating the same phrases without knowing the facts. They do not have time to fact proof.

Read history books look at the map, read social books, different books ... not only from one side or one source.

As you can see, even there is a vry strong terrorist actions by separatist organizaitons and even supported by some political parties in different counteris; Turks and Kurds will never be enemies in This country. Kurds and Turks are brothers, because they are the citizens of an honorable country who won the independence war against western countries after the fall of Ottoman Empire.

Turks are an honorable nation.

Please be ethical when you write articles like yours above here, get to know better what you are commenting on. Learn. Thenw write.

here we have an expression: "You cannot have idea without knowledge"

You will see Turks and Kurds will not be enemies as opposed to the hatress feeding parties in the world.

In Germany we can see "Turken Raus"
In the USA Blacks were discriminated.

But against all poverty the citizens of Turkey have never been enemies to each other. I have not seen anybody around me speaking bad denoting Kurds, but everbdoy hates PKK Terrorist organization here.

I wish you all the success in your carrier and in your private life...

Regards

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