3191) Disclaimer Letters from Prof Cemil Koçak: Ref: Ataturk

Disclaimer Letter No: 1 from Cemil Koçak

The news article written by Kemal Baytaş as published on Nov 14, 2010 of Sözcü Newspaper which claims to reflect my statements given at a conference in Sabancı University is completely untrue. Those statements or similar expressions were not used, during the two and a half hour long conference that I held regarding the causes of World War-I, the war itself and the Ottoman battlefields while also touching upon the Çanakkale and Gelibolu battles. It is unfortunate that one of the spectators interpreted the things spoken the way he wished to hear them and attributed his interpretation to me. What is more saddening is that the media sometimes takes such slanderous interpretations which are untrue and publishes them without the necessary investigation. Unfortunately my speech has been distorted and shaped into a violent assault to my personality.

During my long conference I . . . had mentioned the following:

During the last section of my long speech where I was touching upon the Gelibolu land battles, I spoke of Yarbay Mustafa Kemal Bey which was his official title at the time. Do I need to explain that historians need to use the official titles of the spoken time?

While describing the story of Atatürk’s re-assignment to Gelibolu, I also mentioned how much effort he had to exert to get back to active military duty, because Enver Paşa politically opposed such assignments as the Commander in Chief and a leading figure in the İttihad and Terakki Organization. At the end of my speech, I mentioned how he arrived there eventually and described how he was “rewarded” with a small token of commander title.

Following these, I also mentioned, how he won the admiration of German Army Commander Sanders as a result of his performance during the April 24 battles, how he was promoted from the rear field commanding position following the first battles and that it was Sanders who watched over and protected him. I also mentioned that if it was left to Enver Paşa’s decision, he could have been forced to retire from the army and possibly spend the rest of his life as a civilian. During my speech, I had sufficed to convey the evaluation of Enver Paşa at the time. I had expressed the importance of these facts while evaluating the political competition between the two, during the political phase ehich ensued the battles and drew attention to how an unfortunate situation this has been, politically and militarily. So, the expression of (un)qualified does not belong to me, but to Enver Paşa.

I also explained, how we started to commemorate the anniversary of Çanakkale battles during the 1930’s, following the diplomatic crisis which broke out between the two countries when the Germans started to assume credit for the Çanakkale Victory. I also mentioned that this was not the only battlefront for the Turks, during World War-I and many losses occurred in various battlefronts, and that we even started to commemorate Sarıkamış losses in recent years, as well as my desire that other losses should also be mentioned in commemoration ceremonies.

I consider it a duty and ethical responsibility to inform the readers.

Respectfully,

Prof. Dr. Cemil Koçak
Sabancı University
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

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Disclaimer Letter No: 2 from Cemil Koçak
ckocak at sabanciuniv dot edu wrote on December 17, 2010

I used my right for reply and declared that none of the items attributed to me in the internet sites belong to me.

I sent my official declaration signed in front of a notary public to these web sites.
My first denial came on Wednesday night during live televised interview with Habertürk TV Program.

My denial letter will be published in the Radikal newspaper this Sunday.
I will continue to deny the news in all TV channels that I am invited.

In the meantime, I am including below a note that I received from Dear Ms. Muazzez İlmiye Çığ:

“Thanks for your denial. I think, it should also be sent to the newspaper as well. It is too late to undo the damage, but it is still better than none. From what you describe, you went into great details of the war while addressing the parents of the student as if you are talking to historians. For this reason you must have been forced to skip the basics or they were lost among these minute details. A two and a haşf hour conference must be difficult on listeners as well as the lecturer.

Congratulations.

Muazzez”

I wrote a special e-mail to her thanking for her nice thoughts. Upon my request she accepted a gift of my books to her.

I hope that Muazzez Hanım’s polite manners, kind thoughtfulness will be an inspiration to all who sent me messages of insult and threat.

I thank all of those who called or e-mailed me to check the veracity of the news for their inquisitive life philosophy.

Those who are ready to believe rumors and make believe stories at all times, and sent me ill mannered e-mails addressing with slanders should know that such words belong to those who utter them. I wish a long life to those who sent me threat letters. Just like the poet said; I am not saying that I wish you turn blind; on the contrary do not turn blind, so that you can see me…

As an academician who has been publishing for over 30 years, my personal feelings about the Gelibolu battles are contained in the article of Toplumsal Tarih Journal, June 2005 which can be obtained from libraries, the internet or Tarih Vakfı. It is obvious that 5 years ago I had dispelled such false news reports written about me.

For those who are curious, let me mention that I organized this trip(?) 10 times.

I am giving a partial list of my publications.

This list displays my honor of my scholarly view as an academician. No false news report can take them away from me!

I wish to live in a world cleansed of ill attitude.

You would greatly, contribute to dispelling of the bad news regarding me, if you would distribute this message of mine to the mail groups which contain the slanderous news about me.

Respectfully,
Prof. Dr. Cemil Koçak

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