No, I’m not singing a line from that song about limbo. You know, the game where you bend backwards and walk under a bar. The topic is Christine Essel and her contortions.
You’ll remember that Essel is Paul Krekorian’s opponent in the Dec. 8 Special Election to fill the vacant 2nd Council District seat in the City of Los Angeles. You’ll also recall that on Oct. 17, she attended an event hosted by genocide deniers. As if this wasn’t bad enough, now our intelligence is being insulted by her “explanations” of that event. I hope some of her Armenian supporters read this and give her an earful. Some of them are significant names. They are media folks, so their early financial support of Essel is not particularly surprising. She too comes from that background. Some other Armenians’ support, though, is more puzzling. These comments are based on the list of her contributors available online at http://ethics.lacity.org/disclosure/campaign/search/public_search_results.cfm?showall=yes&requesttimeout=1000&orderby=RPT_DATE&orderbydesc=yes&SCHEDULE=A%2CB%2CC&rept_type=AllCon&election_id=41&cand_per_id=7593&viewtype=pf.
But far more interesting and relevant to this article is the presence of one key name— Ergun Kirlikovali —on her contributors list. You may recognize this guy’s name. He’s probably the preeminent, non-academic genocide denier in the LA area and California, if not the U.S. He’s been at it at least since the days when California was working on adopting legislation to integrate Armenian Genocide instruction in its curriculum, back in the 1980’s. He’s also had letters published repeatedly in the LATimes over the years. He’s also the president-elect of the ATAA (Assembly of Turkish American Associations), not an organization noted for its genocide recognition advocacy. One of its Board members was a sponsor of the event, according to the LAWeekly, in its piece about this situation.
Since the event, and probably in response to the play it got in the Armenian and non-Armenian media, Essel has released a statement. In it, she states that she’s always supported genocide recognition. She also professes “deep respect” for us. More’s the irony, you’ll see why. Asbarez reported that Tom Berman, her campaign manager, emphasized that the infamous event was only a “meet and greet,” not a fundraiser. So how does he explain the Kirlikovali contribution, reported by the Essel campaign as deposited on Oct. 22? That’s suspiciously close to the amount of time it would take for the mails to deliver a check or an event host to deliver to the campaign what s/he received. Also, I was told that last week, one of the Armenian newspapers in Constantinople, Marmara, re-reported from Yeni Shafak, one of the Turkish papers, that the Essel campaign, bowing to the Armenian lobby’s pressure, had returned all the contributions from the event. We all know how unreliable the Turkish media can be, so this has to be taken with a grain of salt. But if it’s true, it sure calls into question Tom Berman’s assertion.
Not only are we supposed to disregard these last pesky financial facts, but we’re also supposed to be so dumb as to not figure out what she tried to pull. Essel knew she stood to get few Armenian votes, for obvious reasons, in a district with a fairly large Armenian population that will vote overwhelmingly for Krekorian. This is as much as a Jewish or Black candidate would draw from his/her fellows in an election against a candidate from another group. So, Essel tried to pull a fast one and got busted. She figured, “No votes, but I can probably get some bucks from the Turkish side” and chose to go to the deniers’ sponsored event. This would be akin to, in the other two examples I give, going to a neo-Nazi or KKK hosted event.
Essel’s sincerity is brought into further question in light of this obviously sarcastic remark, reported in the LAWeekly: “The Essel campaign does not refuse to meet with people on the basis of their ethnicity.” Gee whiz, golly, wow, I wonder who was advocating that approach? It’s a nice ploy, diversionary tactic, but one which speaks to the cynicism of this whole project. Condemning neo-Nazis and KKK members is significantly different from proposing to not meet with all Germans or people from the former Confederacy.
It’s time Christine Essel comes clean, apologizes to the Armenian for the sequence of affronts, and denounces the deniers by returning any funds she’s received and publicly calling them out for what they are and do.
Garen Yegparian
Latest posts by Garen Yegparian (see all)
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PROMOTING A BOGUS GENOCIDE IS AKIN TO COMMITTING THE CRIME OF ETHOCIDE*
(*) Ethocide: Systematic extermination of ethics via mass deception for political and other gain
Recent protocols signed by Turkey and Armenia stipulates the formation of a joints historians committee to study the events of 1915. The mere existence of such a suggestion, let alone its formations, and its acceptance by Armenia clearly shows that this issue is far from being settled history. Genocide is a claim, an unproven political claim violently promoted by the AFATH community (Armenian-Falsifiers-And-Turk-Haters). The effects of AFATH propaganda and intimidation can be seen in locations where Armenians are concentrated: Glendale, Fresno, Beirut, Lyon, Marseille… These locations also happen to be where Armenian terrorism has flourished (see a partial list of Armenian acts of terror at http://www.turkla.com )
Genocide verdict cannot be passed by activists, lobbyists, agents, fanatics, editorials, academics, politicians, clergy, or others. There is one and only one venue for that: a competent tribunal. That is what the 1948 U.N. Genocide Convention demands in articles 3 and 6. Why? Because this court (ICJ) is equipped weed fact from fiction and allow a fair chance for the accused to cross examine claims, evidence, witnesses and produce their own in their defense. (www.ethocide.com)
Jewish Holocaust is a proven at Nuremberg , but Armenian claims were never tested at a court of law. Armenian claims are mostly based on hearsay and forgeries and, therefore, do not even the slimmest chance of withstanding the scrutiny of a courtroom. Armenians know this well which is why they avoid courts on this issue like a plague (they will sue the insurance companies for money but not Turkey at ICJ for genocide claims. http://www.tallarmeniantale.com )
Armenians find it easy to distort and misrepresent a true suffering of all peoples of Anatolia (not just Armenians) via media, academia, politics, religion, and other avenues where both information and opinions can be manipulated, molded, bought, or sold. Armenians deliberately exaggerate and falsify stories of human suffering and use it interchangeably with the term genocide, ignoring the fact that not all suffering is genocide. For a war crime to be genocide, the intent must be proven at a court of law. To date, not a single document has been unearthed in the Ottoman archives which substantiate Armenian claims. This led the Armenians to fabricate some, like the infamously fake telegrams of Talat forged by Andonian, the tall tales and bogus stories in Toynbee’s wartime propaganda book, the Blue Book, and more . All of this tainted propaganda material which the Armenians still use today were flatly and categorically rejected by the British crown prosecutors who refused to use them as evidence in the stillborn Malta Tribunal (1919-1921.)
While some in unsuspecting public may be forgiven for taking the blatant and ceaseless Armenian propaganda at face value and believing Armenian falsifications merely because they are repeated so often, it is difficult and painful for us Turkish-Americans, the children of Turkish survivors on four wars between 1911-1922, Armenian revolts, treason and terrorism being present on most of those years, if not all. Those endless “War years” brought wide-spread death and destruction on to all Ottoman citizens. No Turkish family was left untouched. Those nameless, faceless Turkish victims are killed for a second time today with politically motivated and baseless charges of Armenian genocide today.
Allegations of Armenian genocide are racist and dishonest history. They are racist because they ignore the Turkish dead: about 3 million during WWI; more than half a million of them at the hands of Armenian nationalists. And the allegations of Armenian genocide are dishonest because they simply dismiss the six T’s of the Turkish-Armenian conflict:
1) TUMULT (as in numerous Armenian armed uprisings between 1877 and 1921)
2) TERRORISM (by well-armed Armenian nationalists and militias victimizing Ottoman-Muslims between 1882-1920 and then again 1973 to current)
3) TREASON (Armenians joining the invading enemy armies as early as 1914 and lasting until 1921)
4) TERRITORIAL DEMANDS (where Armenians were a minority, not a majority, attempting to establish Greater Armenia, the would-be first apartheid of the 20th Century with a Christian minority ruling over a Muslim majority )
5) TURKISH SUFFERING AND LOSSES (i.e. those caused by the Armenian nationalists: 524,000 Muslims, mostly Turks, met their tragic end at the hands of Armenian revolutionaries during WWI, per Turkish Historical Society. This figure is not to be confused with about 2.5 million Muslim dead who lost their lives due to non-Armenian causes during WWI. Grand total: more than 3 million, according to Prof. Justin McCarthy.)
6) TERESET (temporary resettlement) triggered by the first five T’s above and amply documented as such; not to be equated to the Armenian misrepresentations as genocide.)
If one cherishes values like fairness, objectivity, truth, and honesty, therefore, one should ruse the term “Turkish-Armenian conflict”. Asking one “Do you accept or deny Armenian Genocide” simply shows anti-Turkish bias. The question should be re-phrased “What is your stand on the Turkish-Armenian conflict?” Turks believe it was an inter communal warfare mostly fought by Turkish and Armenian irregulars, a civil war which is engineered, provoked, and waged by the Armenian revolutionaries, with active support from Russia, England, France, and others, all eyeing the vast territories of the collapsing Ottoman Empire, against a backdrop of a raging world war. Armenians, on the other hand, totally ignoring Armenian agitation, raids, rebellions, treason, territorial demands, and Turkish victims killed by Armenians, unfairly and deceptively claim that it was a one way genocide.
Those who take the Armenian “allegations” of genocide at face value seem to also ignore the following:
1- Genocide is a legal, technical term precisely defined by the U.N. 1948 convention (Like all proper laws, it is not retroactive to 1915.)
2- Genocide verdict can only be given by a “competent court” after “due process” where both sides are properly represented and evidence mutually cross examined.
3- For a genocide verdict, the accusers must prove “intent” at a competent court and after due process. This could never be done by the Armenians whose evidence mostly fall into five major categories: hearsay, mis-representations, exaggerations, forgeries, and “other”.
4- Such a “competent court” was never convened in the case of Turkish-Armenian conflict and a genocide verdict does not exist (save a Kangaroo court in occupied Istanbul in 1920 where partisanship, vendettas, and revenge motives left no room for due process.)
5- Genocide claim is political, not historical or factual. It reflects bias against Turks. Therefore, the term genocide must be used with the qualifier “alleged”, for scholarly objectivity and truth.
History is not a matter of “conviction, consensus, political resolutions, political correctness, or propaganda.” History is a matter of research, peer review, thoughtful debate, and honest scholarship. Even historians, by definition, cannot decide on a genocide verdict, which is reserved for a “competent court” with its legal expertise and due process.
What we witness today amounts to lynching of the Turks by Armenians to satisfy the age old Armenian hate, bias, and bigotry. Values like fairness, presumption of innocence until proven guilty, objectivity, balance, honesty, and freedom of speech are stumped under the fanatic Armenian feet. Unprovoked , unjustified, and unfair defamation of Turkey, one of America’s closest allies in the troubled Middle East, in order to appease some nagging Armenian activists runs counter to American interests.
Those who claim genocide verdict today, based on the much discredited Armenian evidence, are actually engaging in “conviction and execution without due process”, dictionary definition of “lynching”.
Isn’t it time to stop fighting the First World War and give peace a real chance?
That said, Yegparian’s racist remarks about comparing Turkish-Americans to Nazis and KKK may have crossed the line into ethnic and religious discrimination and hate crimes. Turkish-Americans are law-abiding, tax-paying, proud American citiziens who are exercising their legals and democratic rights by partcipating in the election process. Yegparian’s remarks about Turkish-American involvement in the election process, as if it is some sort of illegal or undesired activity, flies in the face of civil rights and freedom of speech of Turkish-Americans. After all, those very rights and freedoms are enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, not to be taken away by some Armenian fanatic promoting some bogus genocide.
The above comments of Ergun Kirlikovali are yet another example of the lies perpetrated by the Turkish lobby to deny the facts about the Armenian Genocide that are well known and accepted by Genocide scholars around the world. Mr. Kirlikovali pops up all over the Internet posting his denialist drivel and he has the shameless audacity to publish a Web site called “The History of Truth” which is filled with lies. My ancestors are Anatolian and Thracian Greeks who were forced into exile by the Turks. The Armenian people suffered the most but the Turks killed many Greeks and Assyrians also. My ancestral village of Phocaea was a famous Ionian Greek city-state. The Turks committed a massacre there in 1914. Remember – Anatolia is a Greek word. Anatolia was a Christian land. The martyrs of Anatolia will haunt the Turkish nation founded upon Genocide until justice is done. Mr. Kirlikovali – how do you sleep at night denying the evil perpetrated by the Turkish nation?
« The above comments of Ergun Kirlikovali are yet another example of the lies »
In this case, it would be very easy to respond to Mr. Kirlikovali by facts and arguments, not only by assertions and insults like you do, isn’t it?
Here are some facts –
http://www.genocidescholars.org/images/IAGS_Obama_Letter.pdf
The Cost of Denial
By Dr. Gregory Stanton
President, International Association of Genocide Scholars
President, Genocide Watch
Congressman Pallone, Congressman Knollenberg, Archbishop Aykazian, Archbishop Choloyan, Ambassador Markarian, Senator Menendez, Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, Members of Congress, and Honored Guests:
Today, we honor the memory of Congressman Tom Lantos, who left us this year. One of his final acts in Congress was to support House Resolution 106, commemorating the Armenian genocide, and to send it for a vote in the House. But this past year, as every year, it never reached a vote in the full House.
Again the United States surrendered to the ninety year campaign of denial by the government of Turkey. The State Department and the White House have continued the cowardly policies of every Secretary of State since Lansing, who have considered it more important to placate the Turkish government than to be truthful about history.
The tactics of genocide denial are predictable, and the Turkish government has used them all. Question and minimize the statistics. Attack the motivations of the truth-tellers. Blame “out of control” forces for committing the killings. Claim that the massacres don’t fit the legal definition of genocide, even though over a million Armenians were killed!
Today, the Turkish government has three favorites:
Blame the victims. Claim that the killings were in self-defense against people who were disloyal to the Ottoman Empire during World War I. In fact, very few Armenians joined the Ottoman Empire’s enemies, and certainly none of the women and children could have. But they were murdered nevertheless.
Claim that Muslim Turks also suffered many deaths. The problem with this argument is that the deaths were in battles with European troops, not at the hands of the Armenians, who were deported like sheep into the desert.
Finally, claim that the deaths were inadvertent, due to lack of food and water, not due to intentional destruction. The falsehood of this claim is amply proven by the thousands of pages of eye-witness reports from Armenian survivors (three of whom are with us in this room), American consular officers, missionaries, and even by the archives of the Ottoman Empire’s allies, Germany and Austria-Hungary, as well as by the records of the Ottoman Courts-Martial of 1918-1920. This was intentional mass murder by starvation. It wasn’t an unfortunate by-product of a “deportation.”
So why can’t a resolution telling the truth about the Armenian genocide pass Congress?
Here we run into two more tactics of denial that include our own:
Claim that current peace and reconciliation are more important than blaming past perpetrators for genocide. The latest version of this tactic is the Turkish government’s proposal to set up an “historian’s commission” with half of the members appointed by the Turkish government and half by the government of the Republic of Armenia to “study” the facts of what happened in 1915 – 1923. The problem with this proposal is that the Armenian genocide has been thoroughly documented and studied by genocide scholars, many of whom are not Armenian, and the historical record is unambiguous. In 1997, The International Association of Genocide Scholars declared unanimously that the Turkish massacres of over one million Armenians constituted a crime of genocide. A “commission of historians” would only serve the interests of Turkish genocide deniers. There is no more “other side” to the truth about the Armenian genocide than there is about the Holocaust.
Most importantly for the US, don’t tell the truth because to do so would not be in current US political, economic, and military interests. The US has a huge airbase in Turkey that we need for our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Turks have threatened to close that base, cancel purchases of American military equipment, boycott American goods, and even pass their own resolution condemning nineteenth century US government massacres of Native Americans. (A number of US Congressmen and Senators have beaten them to it and already introduced such resolutions, and those resolutions should also be passed.)
The Cost of Denial
In my studies of genocide, I have discovered that the process of every genocide has predictable stages. They aren’t linear, because they usually operate simultaneously. But there is a logical order to them, because a “later” stage cannot occur without a logically “prior” stage. It is also useful to distinguish them, because they can help us see when genocide is coming and what governments can do to prevent it.
The first is Classification, when we classify the world into us versus them. The second is Symbolization, when we give names to those classifications like Jew and Aryan, Hutu and Tutsi, Turk and Armenian. Sometimes the symbols are physical, like the Nazi yellow star.
The third is Dehumanization, when perpetrators call their victims rats, or cockroaches, cancer, or disease; so eliminating them is actually seen as “cleansing” the society, rather than murder.
The fourth is Organization, when hate groups, armies, and militias organize.
The fifth is Polarization, when moderates are targeted who could stop the process, especially moderates from the perpetrators’ group.
The sixth stage is Preparation, when the perpetrators are trained and armed, victims are identified, transported and concentrated.
The seventh stage is Extermination, what we legally define as genocide, the intentional destruction, in whole or in part, of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.
When I first outlined these stages in a memo I wrote in the State Department in 1996, I thought these seven stages are the entire process.
Then I realized there is an eighth stage in every genocide: Denial. It is actually a continuation of the genocide, because it is a continuing attempt to destroy the victim group psychologically and culturally, to deny its members even the memory of the murders of their relatives.
Denial has a profoundly negative impact on everyone concerned.
Denial harms the victims and their survivors.
That is what the Turkish government today is doing to Armenians around the world. Elie Wiesel has repeatedly called Turkey’s denial a double killing, as it strives to kill the memory of the event. We believe the US government should not be party to efforts to kill the memory of a historical fact as profound and important as the genocide of the Armenians, which Hitler used as an example in his plan for the Holocaust.
Around the world, victims of genocide ask first for recognition of the crime committed against them. It is as essential to healing as closing an open wound. Without such healing, scars harden into hatred that cripples the victim and cries out for revenge.
Denial harms the perpetrators and their successors.
After the Ottoman Courts-Martial of 1918-1920, there were no further trials. The killers literally got away with mass murder. With blood on their hands, they returned to their jobs. But out of that denial grew a Turkish state that denied the existence of all non-Turks within Turkey. Kurds became “mountain Turks,” Kurdish schools were closed, and people speaking Kurdish had their tongues cut out.
Studies by genocide scholars prove that the single best predictor of future genocide is denial of a past genocide coupled with impunity for its perpetrators. Genocide Deniers are three times more likely to commit genocide again than other governments. We should be on guard for Turkish attempts to suppress Kurds, which continue to this day, and recently resulted in an invasion of Iraq.
Turkish school children are taught that the Armenian genocide is a myth. Turkish writers who write the truth are prosecuted for “insulting Turkishness,” even if they have won the Nobel Prize. Publishers like Hrant Dink who dare publish the truth are murdered, and their murderers are celebrated as national heroes. These are the remnants of racist ultra-nationalism, of fascism, and do not belong in a member of NATO that hopes to join the European community.
The next step that Turkey must take to become a real democracy is to acknowledge its own past. Like an alcoholic, drunk on the liquor of ultra-nationalism, it must first overcome its denial before it can defeat its addiction.
Why should this be so hard? Germany has done it, and has become one of the strongest democracies on earth. The current Turkish government did not commit the Armenian genocide. Why should it not face the truth about the crimes the Ottoman Empire committed over ninety years ago?
Denial harms the bystanders
Countries that recognize the truth about the Armenian Genocide are considered enemies by Turkish successor regimes. The parliaments of many countries have affirmed the fact of the Armenian Genocide in unequivocal terms, and proposed congressional resolutions like H. Res. 106 are commemorative and non-binding. Yet the resolution faced opposition from those who fear it would undermine US relations with Turkey. It is worth noting that, notwithstanding France’s Armenian Genocide legislation, France and Turkey are engaged in more bilateral trade than ever before.
We would not expect the US government to be intimidated by an unreliable ally with a deeply disturbing human rights record, graphically documented in the State Department’s 2007 International Religious Freedom Report on Turkey. We would expect the United States to express its moral and intellectual views, not to compromise its own principles.
In fact, telling the truth would ultimately be good for US-Turkish relations, because they would no longer be based on diplomatic lies.
Denial harms those who have stood up for truth.
The Joint Congressional Resolution recognizing and commemorating the Armenian Genocide will honor America’s extraordinary Foreign Service Officers (among them Leslie A. Davis, Jesse B. Jackson, and Oscar Heizer) who often risked their lives rescuing Armenian citizens in 1915. They and others left behind some forty thousand pages of reports, now in the National Archives, that document that what happened to the Armenian people was government-planned, systematic extermination—what Raphael Lemkin (the man who coined the word genocide) used in creating the definition.
Denial harmed Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, who never got another diplomatic assignment after he returned to the U.S. from the Ottoman Empire. It continues to harm the careers of Foreign Service Officers like America’s Ambassador to Armenia, John Evans, who simply told the truth when he called the Armenian massacres by their proper name, genocide. He was ordered to retract his statement. He, too, never received another diplomatic assignment. And even the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA,) which honors diplomatic courage with three awards each year, in 2005 withdrew its Christian Herter award to Ambassador Evans under State Department pressure. No wonder that since then, AFSA has trouble getting any nominees for its awards, having displayed such cowardice itself.
Denial harms the rights of every human being.
By passing the resolution, the U.S. Congress would pay tribute to America’s first international human rights movement. The Foreign Service Officers and prominent individuals such as Theodore Roosevelt, Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, and Cleveland Dodge, who did so much to help the Armenians, exemplify America’s legacy of moral leadership.
Ambassador Morgenthau’s career with the State Department was over. But he inspired his son, Henry Morgenthau, Junior, who became FDR’s Secretary of the Treasury and was a tireless advocate for rescuing Jews during the Holocaust and helped found the War Refugees Board that saved thousands of lives. The spirit of the Morgenthau’s lives on.
Let us today commemorate those who died in the Armenian Genocide, but also Ambassador Henry Morgenthau and others who had the courage to tell the truth about it.
Let us remember Ambassador Morgenthau’s words when he met with Talaat Pasha, who asked him:
“Why are you so interested in the Armenians anyway? You are a Jew, these people are Christians.”
Morgenthau replied:
“You don’t seem to realize that I am not here as a Jew but as the American Ambassador….I do not appeal to you in the name of any race or religion, but merely as a human being.”1
1 Morgenthau, Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story, Taderon Press, 2000, p. 222.
Resolution
That this assembly of the Association of Genocide Scholars in its conference
held in Montreal, June 11-13, 1997, reaffirms that the mass murder of over a
million Armenians in Turkey in 1915 is a case of genocide which conforms to
the statutes of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of Genocide. It further condemns the denial of the Armenian
Genocide by the Turkish government and its official and unofficial agents
and supporters.
http://www.genocidescholars.org/images/IAGS_Resolution_1997_on_the_Armenian_Genocide.pdf
Ergun Kirlikoval is correct, when he writes: “Turkish-Americans are law-abiding, tax-paying, proud American citiziens who are exercising their legals and democratic rights by partcipating in the election process.”
Unfortunately for Ergun & his friends, they are also Genocide Deniers. They are similar to law-abiding Jew haters, law-abiding Holocaust Deniers, and law-abiding White Trash, who hold KKK rallies around America.
Ergun should not confuse the fact that he & his friends are not in jail, with the vile nature of their existence, at least in his case…which is to spend every waking hour denying the Armenian Genocide.
Presented are documents from non Ottoman /non Turkish Archives about the Armenian atrocities inflicted on the Turks and Muslims by the Armenians before, in and after the WWI. The Armenians do not want the world opinion whom they made believe that they were purely innocent victims, see their crimes. They fear the disclosure of that the real deniers are their own ancestors.
*) “… We sent armies, we burnt and destroyed places and we carried out massacres.” (From H. Katchhaznouni, the first Prime Minister of Armenia, 1923)
*) “The Dashnaks and Hunchaks have terrorised their own countrymen, stirred up Muslim people with their thefts and insanities, and paralysed all efforts made to carry out reforms; all the events taken place in Anatolia are the responsibility of the crimes committed by the Armenian revolutionary committees”
(From The British Vice Consul Williams wrote from Van on 4 March 1896)
*) “I killed Muslims by every means possible. Yet it is sometimes a pity to waste bullets for this. The best way is to gather all of these dogs and throw them into wells and then fill the wells with big and heavy stones, as I did.”
(From Lalayan, Revolutsionniy Vostok (Revolutionary East) No: 2-3, Moscow, 1936)
*) “All Turkish children also should be killed as they form a danger to the Armenian nation”
(From
Hamparsum Boyaciyan, a former Ottoman parliamentarian who led Armenian guerilla forces, ravaging Turkish villages behind the lines, 1914. Cited from Mikael Varandean, “History of the Dashnaktsutiun.” (Alternately known as “History of the A.R.Federation” (“H. H. Dashnaktsutyan Patmutiwn,” Paris,1932 and Cairo,1950)
*) “It is the armed bands led by Dro, Hamazasp and Kulkhandanian who during the past months have raided and destroyed many Muslim villages in the regions of Surmali, Etchmiadzin, Zangezour, and Zangibasar. There are official charges of massacres by the Armenians.”
(From Avetis Aharonian, From Sardarapat to Sevres and Lausanne; Armenian Review, Vol. 16, No. 3-63, Autumn, Sep. 1963, p. 54, cont’ed)
*)”While the Dashnaks [x-Russian Armenian Government] were in power they did everything in the world to keep the pot boiling by attacking Kurds, Turks and Tartars; by committing outrages against the Moslems; by massacring the Moslems; and robbing and destroying their homes.”
(From U.S. Library of Congress – Bristol Papers – General Correspondence Container #34.
*)”I have been on the scenes of massacres where the dead lay on the ground, in numbers, like the fallen leaves in a forest. Muslims had been as helpless and as defenseless as sheep…”
(From Leonard R Hartill, Men Are Like That The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis(1926)Memoirs of Ohanus Appressian, pge 218
*) ” In the courtyard of the mosque the corpses lay heaped to a depth of two lance-lengths. There were bodies of men, women, children, old people, people of every age.
…” On the 27th February the Armenians crucified a Turkish woman-still alive -on a wall after tearing out her heart; she was hung head downwards.”
“”the Armenians slew more than 800 Turks in Erzindjan, and so avenged one of their miserable accomplices who had been killed by a Turk in justified self-defense. Furthermore, the Armenians massacred the unhappy Mohammedan population of Ilidja, in the neighborhood of Erzerum, without sparing the women and children.”
“…In the night of the 26th-27th the Armenians eluded the vigilance of the Russian officers and perpetrated another massacre, but at once took to their heels at the first approach of the Turks. This massacre was no impromptu affair-it had been planned beforehand; all captured Turks were collected and put to death one by one. The Armenians reported with pride that the night’s toll reached a total of 3,000”
(From Second Russian Garrison Artillery…Lieutenant-Colonel Griaznoff)
*) “Europe wanted blood from us, we gave; they wanted soldiers, we gave warriors and volunteers. So that they wanted us to bathe with freedom blood…… dangerous future is forward…….. but we have hopes. Victorious Armenians.”
(From İstanbul 01.01.1914 Aspares num 350 Aktoni Malumyan. Armenian Tashnak Terrorist.
*) “It is time that Americans ceased to be deceived by Armenian propaganda in behalf of policies which are nauseating…” (From John Dewey, Columbia University professor, (From “The Turkish Tragedy,” The New Republic, Nov. 1 1928).
*) The village of Deurtyol – about 5000 Armenians- Armenians of Deurtyol are now well armed with modern rifles, every male adult having one in his possession. (Deurtyol is a town very close to Alexandretta) (From: 1913, October 21 FO, 371/1773. No. 52128 In Sir P. Mallet’s Despatch No 925 of Kov. 12 Consul Fontana to His Majesty’s Charge de Affairs Aleppo)
*) …..Armenians in Russia and Turkey were extremely anxious that war would break out between Russia and Turkey, as in that event the Armenians both in Russia and Turkey would endeavor to avenge themselves on the Turks. He also stated that 60,000 Armenians had already volunteered to fight the Turks in the event of war breaking out. (From: 1914, Nov 6 FO, 371/2146, No. 68443 7 November 1914 (Sent November 6th,1914) Signed by Francis Blyth Kinby)
*) ….Boghos Nubar Pasha has represented to me that the Armenian population of Cilicia would be ready to enroll themselves as volunteers in support of a possible disembarkation at Alexandretta, Mersina, or Adana on the part of the allied forces. (1914, Nov 12 FO, 371/2146, No. 70404 Cairo, November 12, 1914. No. 257 (Telegraphic) Mr. Chcetham to Sir Edward Grey.(Received November 12)
*) In reply to your letter, the arming of these Armenians was part of a scheme for the occupation of Alexandretta, which is not in contemplation at the present moment. (From: 1915, March 1 FO, 371/2484, No. 25073 1st March, 1915 Signed by D.D. Culite/ The Under Secretary of State For Foreign Affairs Foreign Office S. W., London)
*) Sir, In conformity with your Excellency’s telegraphic instructions. …. The population of Ourfa before the 28th December, 1895, was close to 65,000, of whom about 20,000 were Armenians, 3000-4000 (other Christians and Jews), and the remaining -40,000 are Turkish, Kurdish and Arab Muslumans… .(From: ………….1896, March 16 Ourfa FO, 424/187, No.66, p.66-82 Inclosure 2 in No. 53 Vice -consul Fitzmaurice to Sir P. Currie)
*) Sir, I have the honour to submit some general observations on Armenians and other races of this consular district….Erzeroum town….First, as to Erzeroum town. This is an important, fairly prosperous, distributing trade center with a population of perhaps 50,000, perhaps a third of whom are Armenians………..
The Turkish villagers, who form the majority of the population of the Erzurum Vilayet…….the population of the Vilayet may be very roughly estimated at 600,000, of whom perhaps 150,000 to 200,000 are Armenians, 100-150,000 Kurds, and the rest Turks..
…………….The Armenian inhabitants of what is called the great Armenian tableland in Turkey (the vilayets of Van, Bitlis, and Erzeroum, and parts of the vilayets of Kharput and Diarbekir) are perhaps half a million, and are in the region as a whole and in almost every subdistrict in the minority. The Armenians of the adjacent Russian territory of Trans-Caucasia are about 2,000,000, and in that territory are again in the minority. …………(From: 1912, November FO, 424/233, No 126, p.51-53 Inclosure in No.354 Consul Monahan to Sir G. Lowther (No.84) Erzeroum, telegraph)
Turks were massacred everywhere in the 19th century…. 1913, October 31 FO,195/2450, p83-87 Inclosure in Mr. Consul Monahan’s No 69 A summary translation from an Armenian newspaper Haratch: …The Turkish Government after being defeated by the four Balkan Powers, and lost seven million of population…”
The Turks who had been slaughtered like animals were buried in large holes in the Eastern Anatolia (Lieutenant Colonel Twerdo-Khlebof. I wittnessed and I Lived Through Erzurum, 1917-1918. http://www.tsk.mil.tr/ermeni_sorunu/arsiv_belgeleriyle_ermeni_faaliyetleri/pdf/yarbay_tverdohlebov.pdf
Turks and Armenian lived in peaceful co-existence under Turkish rule for almost a millennium. If the Armenians did not take up arms against their own government, attack their neighbors, and join the invading enemy armies, during a war of survival, nothing less, then that harmonious co-habitation would still continue at a “larger” scale today. Armenian claims of genocide cannot be substantiated by historical evidence which is why Armenians resort to falsifications, insults, defamations, political pressure, intimidation, and even terrorism. Armenian claims of ownership to lands where they once lived fly in the face of self-determination as there Armenians have always been a minority where they lived. Giving credence to a minority, at the expense of rights, thought, feelings, traditions, and beliefs of a majority, would be to openly support apartheid, ethnic intolerance, and religious discrimination.
The “kiss of life” offered by Turkey in the last protocol—totally undeserved by Armenia in my opinion– may well be the very last chance for Armenia to exist as a sovereign state. If Armenia insists on business as usual on the bogus genocide issue, ignores the above, and refuses to abandon military occupation of Azerbaijan, Armenia may well be relegated to a distant, obscure province of Russia simply by default. Turkey finds it much easier to deal with Russia as both Turkey and Russia enjoy vast reservoirs of knowledge, deep-rooted traditions of compromise, and centuries of experience in building nations, states, and empires.
I am noting with a heavy heart, though, that the Turkish-Armenian conflict is unfortunately turning into a matter of perception and prejudice, rather than fact and fairness, thanks in no part to the racist Armenian diaspora propaganda vilifying all things Turkish . Even the most educated writers and journalists, honest truth-seekers, and others, unable to appreciate the above nuances, seem to fall prey to the passion of partisan narratives
You clearly have no idea what you are talking about Ergun, the thought of responding to a Turk makes me ill, but I had to.
“I know some of the instances “tunahan” mentions. Most describe events occurring and situations arising AFTER government led murder, deportations, and theft of/from Armenians had begun.
In particular, based on my ex’s family history, the Doertyol (properly Chork Marzban) situation is very telling. The citation is from 1913. That’s four years after the 1909 massacres of Cilicia, during which Chork Marzban was surrounded by Turkish forces and its water supply cut off. My ex’s greatgrandfather, Misak Der Boghossian, and another were able to sneak past Turkish fire to restore the flow of the stream, and he suffered a gunshot injury to his leg while returning from his mission.
Under such circumstances, when you know your own government is out to kill you, wouldn’t you arm yourself?
I suspect most of the incidents on tunahan’s list play similarly fast and loose with cause and effect, chronology, and even relevance to the question at hand. Besides, what justification can their possibly be for Genocide?”
Looking past Avakian’s racist anti-Tyrkish remarks for a minute, we can see the problemof Armenian historiology: Armenian put the cart before the horse. Here is one little proof, right out of Avakian’s scribble:
“…Under such circumstances, when you know your own government is out to kill you, wouldn’t you arm yourself?..”
The truth is, Armenians armed themselves to stage uprisings and put those arms to “good use” by killing many Turks. Murderers, whether Avakian’s granparents or not, faced then what they would face in this country if they took up arms against the US government. No more, no less. The Adana incidents were fermented, started, and waged by Armenian fanatics (one of them an Armenian priest). Turks and other Muslims retaliated, as Armenians planned. Armenians hoped this would triger an intervention and invasion by the European powers who then would slice up Cilicia and turn it over to “their beloved Armenians”. ( Dream on! )
Salahi Sonyel’s book “The Great War and the Tragedy of Anatolia”, TTK, Ankara, 2001, has an entire chapter on Adana; “Chapter 3: The Counter-Revolution” whose four sub-chapters are:
“The Events of 13 April 1909 (31 Mart Val’asi), pages 48-52
“The Adana Incidents”, pages 52-60
“Who was responsible for the Adana Incidents”, pages 61-64
“The Commission of Inquiry into the Adana Incidents”, pages 65-70.
All of these findings squarely refute Avakian’s claims. Here is one excerpt from page 66 where one of the most experienced American missionaries in Anatolia, Rev. Dr. Christie, gives an account to of the very origin of the Adana incident to the American diplomatic representative who, in turn, furnishes it to British ambassador in Istanbul (Lowther):
“… that the young Armenians of Adana were nearly all revolutionaries, that arms and ammunition were on sale for months, and that both sides had been laying in store of them. He also attributed a large share in the (Adana) events to the ‘evil counsels’ of the Armenian bishop, whom (Dr. Christie) described as ‘a very bad man’…”
These comments of Dr. Christie refute Avakian’s claims and show that the idea of a revolutionary plot did in fact exist among many Armenians headed by their ‘evil’ bishop. The Armenians were well armed and supplied, motivated, even arrogant, and quite aggressive; attributes in stark contradiction with the Sarafian misrepresentation of innocent, unarmed Armenians.
There is much more in this book and elsewhere to clearly demonstrate to truth-seekers that one-sided accounts of historic controversies, such as that by Avakian of Adana incidents, do not help promote scholarship, truth, peace, or closure.
We shall continue to expose the truth in spite of Armenian fanaticism, intimidation, harassment, and terrorism. Dr. Gwynne Dyer, a London-based independent journalist, may have put it best in1976 after all:
“… The deafening drumbeat of the propaganda, and the sheer lack of sophistication in argument which comes from preaching decade after decade to a convinced and emotionally committed audience, are the major handicaps of Armenian historiography of the Diaspora today…”
First of all, interesting read Mr. Yeghparyan. You have a knack for writing and it seems to be picking up readers from all walks of life…
Ergun, you are a sad specimen of the Turkish nation and I am ashamed of your writings. As a Turkish citizen I too had those same vile views like you when I first arrived in America. But, I had the courage and wisdom to see through our country’s nationalistic history books. Your words remind me of what Ogun Samast must have been brainwashed with all his life before he murdered Hrant Dink. I can only hope that same zealous fundamentalism that you recite here never reaches the ears of other Turkish youth. Please read a book by Taner Ackcam, a fellow compatriot and true Turkish scholar that will broaden your understanding and help you come to terms with Armenians and the Armenian genocide.
Cok ayip. (shame on you)
Thank you for the support Mecnun. It’s greatly appreciated. It’s people like Ergun that are separating us all from each other. Without them around, I’m sure this issue would be cleared decades ago and we wouldn’t all be facing all this BS today. Sagol kardesh and keep up the good work Garen jan btw.
Regarding facts lol. Here are some facts I’d love to see Ergun or any other monkey deny…
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~Talaat Pasha’s Official Orders Regarding the Armenian Massacres, March 1915-January 1916~
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March 25th, 1915
To Djemal Bey, Delegate at Adana:
The duty of everyone is to effect on the broadest lines possible the realization of the noble project of wiping out of existence the well-known elements who for centuries have been the barrier to the empire’s progress in civilization.
We must, therefore, take upon ourselves the entire responsibility, pledging ourselves to this action no matter what happens, and always remembering how great is the sacrifice which the Government has made in entering the World War. We must work so that the means used may lead to the desired end.
In our dispatch dated February 18th, we announced that the Djemiet has decided to uproot and annihilate the different forces which for centuries have been a hindrance; for this purpose it is forced to resort to very bloody methods. Certainly the contemplation of these methods horrified us, but the Djemiet saw no other way of insuring the stability of its work.
Ali Riza [Note: the committee delegate at Aleppo] harshly criticised us and urged that we be merciful; such simplicity is nothing short of stupidity. We will find a place for all those who will not cooperate with us, a place that will wring their delicate heartstrings.
Again let me remind you of the question of property left. This is very important. Watch its distribution with vigilance; always examine the accounts and the use made of the proceeds.
THE DJEMIET
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September 3rd, 1915
To the Prefecture of Aleppo:
We advise that you include the woman and children also in the orders which have been previously prescribed as to be applied to the males of the intended persons. Select employees of confidence for these duties.
Minister of the Interior, TALAAT.
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September 16th
To the Prefecture of Aleppo:
You have already been advised that the Government, by order of the Djemiet, has decided to destroy completely all the indicated persons [Armenians] living in Turkey.
All who oppose this decision and command cannot remain on the official staff of the empire.
Their existence must come to an end, however tragic the means may be; and no regard must be paid to either age or sex, or to conscientious scruples.
Minister of the Interior, TALAAT.
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November 18th, 1915
To the Prefecture of Aleppo:
It appears, from the interventions which have recently been made by the American Ambassador [Note: Mr. Morgenthau] at Constantinople on behalf of his Government, that the American Consuls are obtaining information by some secret means. They remain unconvinced, despite our assurance that the deportations will be accomplished in safety and comfort.
Be careful that events which attract attention shall not occur in connection with those who are near cities and other centres. In view of our present policy, it is most important that foreigners who are in those parts shall be convinced that the expulsion of the Armenians is in reality only deportation.
Therefore it is necessary that a show of gentle dealing shall be made for a while, and the usual measures be taken in suitable places.
All persons who have given information to the contrary shall be arrested and handed over to the military authorities for trial by court-martial. This order is recommended as very important.
Minister of the Interior, TALAAT.
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December 11th, 1915
To the Prefecture of Aleppo:
We are informed that some correspondents of Armenian journals are acquiring photographs and letters which depict tragic events, and these they give to the American Consul at Aleppo.
Dangerous people of this kind must be arrested and suppressed.
Minister of the Interior, TALAAT.
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December 29th, 1915
To the Prefecture of Aleppo:
We are informed that foreign officers are finding along the roads the corpses of the indicated persons, and are photographing them.
Have these corpses buried at once and do not allow them to be left near the roads.
This order is recommended as very important.
Minister of the Interior, TALAAT.
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January 15th, 1916
To the Government of Aleppo:
We are informed that certain orphanages which have opened also admitted the children of the Armenians.
Should this be done through ignorance of our real purpose, or because of contempt of it, the Government will view the feeding of such children or any effort to prolong their lives as an act completely opposite to its purpose, since it regards the survival of these children as detrimental.
I recommend the orphanages not to receive such children; and no attempts are to be made to establish special orphanages for them.
Minister of the Interior, TALAAT.
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From the Ministry of the Interior to the Governor of Aleppo:
Only those orphans who cannot remember the terrors to which their parents have been subjected must be collected and kept.
Send the rest away with the caravans.
Minister of the Interior, TALAAT.
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Source: Source Records of the Great War, Vol. III, ed. Charles F. Horne, National Alumni 1923
If it still doesn’t fit in between the ears, let me know. I love facts!