Hakan Tekin, the young and inexperienced Turkish consul general in Los Angeles, is trying hard to earn brownie points with his bosses in Ankara by countering any reference to Armenians in the U.S. media. He went overboard last week by sending an offensive letter to the Los Angeles Times.
Tekin was displeased with Patt Morrison’s interview with me published by the Times in its op-ed page on April 24. The article was titled, “Harut Sassounian: True to the Past.”
In his brief letter, Consul General Tekin made several misjudgments. The first was to criticize the LA Times’ Pulitzer Prize-winning veteran journalist Patt Morrison, alleging that there were “many misleading elements” in her interview, without naming a single one.
Judging from the text of the consul general’s letter, it was probably drafted by one of the many American public relations firms hired by the Turkish government at great cost. While the words may have been written by Americans, the thoughts are definitely those of a Turkish denialist. PR firms don’t really care how silly their letters sound, as long as their employer is satisfied and compensates them handsomely. Here is a piece of free advice that the Turkish government and the consul general should keep in mind before again taking on the free press in a free country: “Never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel.”
Tekin is behaving as if he is still in Turkey, where the media is routinely suppressed by such fascist tactics as throwing journalists in jail or physically eliminating them. He is vainly trying to import Turkey’s undemocratic “gag rule” into the United States by trying to silence the LA Times!
The consul general goes on to attack me for the photograph that accompanies the LA Times article, in which I am holding the picture of my grandmother “garlanded with a bandolier of bullets.” I am very proud of grandma Gadar, because at a time when more than a million Armenians were being marched to their deaths by the genocidal rulers of Tekin’s ancestors, she and her fellow Zeitountsis—men, women, and children—defended themselves valiantly and refused to be slaughtered like sheep. Had she not fought to save her life, I would not exist today, which may have made the consul general happier! Is Tekin upset that the Turkish government was unable to finish the job of exterminating every last Armenian?
Tekin then criticizes me for my “relentless opposition” to the infamous Armenia-Turkey protocols. He has no one else to blame than his own government for not ratifying these protocols, which have been collecting dust in the Turkish Parliament for more than six months. Armenians are indeed fortunate that Turkey’s leaders have inadvertently protected Armenia’s national interests by not ratifying the protocols, so that they could extract more concessions from the Armenian government.
Incredibly, Tekin ends his pathetic letter by admonishing me to be more like William Saroyan, who he claims was “compassionate” toward Turks. May I remind the Turkish consul of Saroyan’s well-known statement castigating the Turks for having destroyed Armenia and its people. Here is the original version of that quotation, as it was published in Inhale & Exhale, New York: Random House, 1936:
“Go ahead, destroy this race. Let us say that it is again 1915. There is war in the world. Destroy Armenia. See if you can do it. Send them from their homes into the desert. Let them have neither bread nor water. Burn their houses and their churches. See if they will not live again. See if they will not laugh again. See if the race will not live again when two of them meet in a beer parlor, 20 years after, and laugh, and speak in their tongue. Go ahead, see if you can do anything about it. See if you can stop them from mocking the big ideas of the world, you sons of bitches, a couple of Armenians talking in the world, go ahead and try to destroy them.”
Could it be that the Turkish consul general is trying to denigrate me because I have rejected his repeated invitations to get together, and his persistent attempts to co-opt me? If it is any consolation for this novice diplomat, I have not been tricked by his superiors either, who are far more experienced than him in the art of fishing for Armenian collaborators!
Harut Sassounian
Since now it seems obvious that in Turkey there is a deep need to deal with genocide recognition around the world, I am certain we are seeing diplomacy efforts on every front and in every venue to make this issue go away as quickly as it can – and seeking to avoid the consequences of what seems by now inevitable recognition around the world.
I would like to hear more about the collaborationist efforts and what they look like. I feel we are going to be seeing a lot of them. This is the new front once we reach this stage (and we have just barely reached it). This will be the new front, softening the blow, avoiding consequences as much as possible. I do not wish to espouse any vengeful or hateful perspective. But it seems clear that there are questions now that need to be answered, and that are opening up for us — questions on the monuments and cultural artifacts left behind, and ways in which other genocidal acts have been addressed through world courts and international law, stolen properties, etc.
I address this issue because I would like to be more thoroughly informed about it, and have a more clear understanding of all of its facets as we move forward from here. I hope this new phase will last and we don’t just go back to total denial, which is always possible given what we have already experienced.
Thank goodness Harut cleared up a misconception that I had. I always thought it was Armenia that threw journalists in jail.
I THINK he means that his unhappy that Christians AMERICANS ARE not taking out all muslims in the middle east now. God is just, he must agree.
Dear Mr. Sassounian;
I don’t necessarily disagree with you, in general terms… However, I think you should publish the entire letter in question, to make your argument more effective.
Turks have been very fortunate that Mr. Sassounian has not been using all his God given potential against them so far. I and my all Armenian fellows are fortunate having An Armenian Armenian like Harut.
Thank you Harut.
Papken Hartunian
Turkish officials can do whatever comes to their mind.. The world knows how sneaky they are.. They will try every venue to get this matter brushed under the rug.
Just like my kuyrik Janine said… when they are on the verdge of either accepting it or forever lose their face, they need to find other ways to stir this matter.. and collaborating is the last option.. I personally will never succumb to their offers.. ..knowing very well what their intentions behind this friendly, willing to work things out, ect.. is for much sneakier reasons…what a joke..
If it is going to be like how Mr. Sassounian described above.. where there is still hate and denial in the Turkish Govt officials mind and heart, what is the point of having a discussion or organizing meetings….
I hope LA Times send a strong response telling Hakan to SHUT UP.. because America is the land of free.. here we have freedom of speech.. Media and newspaper in this country is free to voice what they believe needs to be voiced…he thinks he can shut a newspaper mogul like LA Times??..
Gayane
Sassounian wrote:
“Armenians are indeed fortunate that Turkey’s leaders have inadvertently protected Armenia’s national interests by not ratifying the Protocols, so that they could extract more concessions from the Armenian government!”
Regardless of what one thinks of the Protocols, Sargsyan played it quite well. Armenian diplomacy has come a long way since the games typical of the LTP era.
Armenians need not claim fortuity for Turkish intransigence. It’s not luck, but rather the Armenians out-smarted the Turks. There is no need to engage in self-depreciation. The reasons why the Turks were unable to engage the Armenians are now history.
Faced with a diplomatic victory, Armenia is in a stronger position than it was just a year ago, a fact that still eludes some of the wise.
David Davidian
http://www.regionalkinetics.com
Go Harut! Great article. I think some of these Turks don’t see past their anti-Armenian propoganda. They haven’t realized that we are one together and that we will forever be there. They have nowhere to hide and their only solution is coming to terms about their past. Yet they continue their backwards ways and still show their uncivilized methods. They have nowhere to go.
Sereli Unger Harut,
All the Armenian must bee proud of you, having a great Armenian Journalist, no one has any right to attack you or Criticizies you, you are one of the bast and just keep up the good work that you have been duing for a long time now as a journalist, we all thank you for that and God blas you and your family,
Mr. Hakan Tekin, the Turkey Ambassador to the U.S. will be badly beaten in the ideological battle against Harut Sassounian, the publisher of The California Courier, because what Mr. Sassounian is doing is doing according to his heart and his soul, whereas Mr. Hakan Tekin is doing is an obligation coming from the Turkish diplomacy.
I am pitiful to those intellectuals who still accept as true that it was Serge who played the protocols game. Apparently, these people play ostrich by disregarding, intentionally or at folly, the fact that the game was imposed on Serge, and that by no means was he one of the players. The players with capital letter ‘p’ were others, some were seen standing behind Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers at the signing ceremony, whereas Serge and his ‘diplomacy’ was just a tool in advancing their interests. It is not self-depreciation, but rather a clear-headed, pragmatic evaluation of the situation in the broader region and the interests that may be at play. A pragmatic, national interest-based diplomacy would never allow for such, at best, unsubstantiated and controversial and, at worst, defeatist and humiliating protocols, to ever be considered, let alone be signed and submitted for parliamentary ratification.
I am also puzzled as to the motives of those who call this ‘a diplomatic victory.’ What essentially has been achieved? The Turkish-Armenian border was re-opened? Turkey ceased their efforts at linking the rapprochement issue with that of Nagorno-Karabakh? Turkish government has expressed readiness to stop the denialist campaign and acknowledge the Armenian genocide? The only positive development that I see in connection to the protocols is that the ill-fated documents stirred up some commotion in Turkey in regard to the genocide recognition. Was it the overarching objective of Serge’s ‘diplomacy’? And exactly in what way this ‘victory’ has put Armenia in ‘stronger position?’ Civil society started functioning? National economy is now based on efficient infrastructures, not on nepotism-driven system? Public-spirited government has come to power? Transparent elections are now being held? Independent judiciary defending people’s rights has been introduced? Lastly, if stirring commotion in Turkey was Serge’s objective, can he now withdraw signature from the protocols?
Armenian diplomacy during the LTP era was constrained by an ongoing war in Artsakh, fragile post-truce developments, and LTP’s deteriorating rating. Given these circumstances, any explicit move, similar to the one that Serge was forced to make (read: signing the protocols) by LTP was unimaginable and suicidal. Had LTP been the president under the current circumstances, his ‘diplomacy’ would have been conducted in similar way.
I feel sorry for some of the wise in these pages who make superficial, mechanical evaluations of events.
David z
The signing of the protocols were simply a manisfestation of the keepers’ actions to show that they will continue to throw food into the cage.
Mr. Sassounian, you are a through and through Armenian, and you are fighting for our cause with your pen and intellect. You are making your grandmother very proud up there. Although…..
When all the details settle, “History” will judge how Serge Sarkissian played his hand in the Protocols’ political game. Yes, nothing came out of it, however, we came very close to a disastrous treaty between the two countries, had the Diaspora and the Armenian Constitutional Court not interceded. Now was this precalculated by Serge Sarkissian? Hard to tell. His visiting of Der Zor and President Woodraw Wilson’s shrine however were powerful messages to Turkey and the world.
We need to move forward on a much clearer and aggressive stance.
Mr. Sassounian, the dance of words is fun, but don’t you think it is time to move on to outright legal measures? Isn’t it high time, we sue the government of Turkey for all of our lands, properties and lives lost? What are we waiting for? For the last survivor to perish, and the last property deed to get lost? If justice is on our side, why are we hiding behind beautifully written articles? THIS is what’s giving Turkey the time and the luxury to linger.
We have come a long way. Many countries and states have acknowledged the Armenian Genocide thanks to the efforts of individuals such as yourself, and in recent years with the general involvement of the Armenian people through Internet sites, books etc. We need to show it to ourselves and to the world that the wrong has to be legally punished. Legal proceedings should not depend on countries who are not accepting the “Genocide” because it does not suit their own political interests. Waiting for the US to acknowledge the Genocide is undermining our cause, and hurting the credibility of our legal case. Even if the legal proceedings are not well prepared/funded and fail, they will at least put the details of this crime on the international stage and make Turkey really sweat. It will also be at least recorded that “the legal claims/proceedings have started in the 95th year after the Genocide”… Let’s not hit the 100th mark, waiting for others to give us the green light to seek legal justice. Why do you think the Turks have left our lands in Eastern Turkey underdeveloped and in many areas in the same state as we have left them? They have been waiting to be asked to return them. When are we going to attempt to ask for reparations for them? I am hopeful that the legal map for the Legal leg of the Genocide crime is being worked on seriously. Now that would really be a Zeituntsi stance, wouldn’t it?
Bravo, Katia K.
VAY KATIA JANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN.. I am so glad you are back..
Mernem yes qo srtin u xelqin…:) Again how my grandma would have said when she was alive..
I am 100000000000000000000000000000% behind you .. It is time for the Armenian people go after Turkey LEGALLY…. Being nice, understanding, shy, passive and polite definintely will not take us anywhere.. Enough feeding Turkey’s ego… Lets throw our gloves down and sui THEIR u know what…..
Gayane
The idea of taking a legal action has been floating in the air for some time already. However, a set of prerequisites is necessary.
First, there needs to be a government in Armenia that would be relatively independent, popular, and non-susceptible to an optimal extent to the foreign political control and influence so it, as a subject of international law, can initiate the legal process. Obviously, the diaspora organizations are not legally authorized to make a bid, unless a unified body is created in the form of an international NGO or an NPO that would take up the matter to international legal hierarchy.
Second, it’s a ‘chicken-or-the-egg’ question whether the legal action should precede recognition by Turkey or should be based on Turkey’s acceptance of guilt.
Third, in any case, the revitalization of the Wilsonian Mandate that was never materialized seems to be a point to start, because legally the Republic of Armenia is bound only by the Treaty of Sevres. All other treaties have been signed either by illegitimate regimes or in the absence of the Republic of Armenia as a subject of international law.
Fourth, the support of the leading world powers will be essential because from their perspective it is not strictly a bilateral Turkish-Armenian issue, but rather represents a concern for a grandiose shift in the balance of power for the broader region.
MR. HAKAN TEKIN TURKISH CONSUL GENERAL IN LOS ANGELES
PLEASE DON’T TRY TO BE DISRESPECTFUL OR COMPARE YOURSELF WITH POPULAR MR. SASSOUNIAN MR. SASSOUNIAN IS A RESPECTFUL , HONEST AND SELFLESS SERVANT AMERICAN -ARMENIAN WHO TALKES NOT ONLY FOR HIMSELF BUT FOR MILLIONS OF MILLIONS ARMENIANS AND THE OTHERS ON THE CONTRARY AS WE KNOW , YOU ARE A BRAIN -WASHED, INEXPERIENCED YOUNG MAN, WHO HAD BEEN PAID AND SENT TO LOS ANGELES TO TO DO WHAT EVER IT TAKES AS (DISRESPECTFUL , DENIAL, ACCUSATION EVEN LIE ) TO TURNED UPSIDE DOWN THE TRUTH ABOUT YOUR ANCESTORS HORRIBLE CRIME THE FIRST TWENTIETH CENTURY ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
SIR BY A CHANCE ARE YOU PEOPLE HAVE ANY CONS CIENCE ? OR MERELY YOU WORKING FOR A SALARY ?
AT THE END I SHOULD ADD THAT TURKEY IS VERY LUCKY THAT PEOPLE LIKE SASSOUNIAN ARE NOT INCLUDED IN ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT , OTHERWISE THERE WAS NOT ARGUE MENT WITH YOU?
Very well said Mr. Sassounian. I think everyone, Armenian or not, has had enough of Turkey’s continuous and failed attempts to try and silence people from the truth. They can bribe America all they’d like but it will never change the past of how they systematically massacred more than one a half million Armenians. One fine day, Turkey will pay full responsibility for their malicious acts and soon enough what they did will come back to haunt them. Armenia will have its justice.
Turkish diplomats
They act every where
The same way
From West to East
They pay for people to read every bit
In every newspaper
And invite the person who wrote
And threaten thy not to write again.
They did the same with me
But I never responded
My keen family
Have relative who is a diplomat.
They did with every Armenian writer
Till every one was afraid on their lives to write.
But every one knows them
Especially in the East
Where Armenian skulls are
Still breathing under Der-Zor rays.
Every one understood their shafting tricks
More than they can think.
No body can vanish anything
As far as it is written
Without Blue-Ink
In the Internets.
Gayane Jannnnn! I missed you too!!!
David Z, all of your points are valid. The only problem is that Turkey and the US know all too well the legal hurdles that we need to maneuver to get to justice. They are making sure that the hurdles are there to stay, ex: the US not mentioning the word Genocide or recognizing it officially. Our fight to get them to do so sould definitely continue. However in the mean time, we have offered the Turks plenty of time to sift through their archives and take out anything incriminating, and we are taking a big risk waiting for the US. The US is using the Armenian Genocide as its “stick” in its “carrots and sticks” policy with Turkey, and it may not to let go of that stick anytime soon by acknowledging the Genocide. In the mean time, we should put “individual” and specific lawsuits together, just to give the message that the main legal proceedings will be coming down the road.
Abris, Katia K !
ARF, where are you?
Mr. Sassounian you write on behalf of our voiceless martyrs and empower Armenians worldwide to continue our fight for justice. We cherish your devotion and continue to build on our communities accomplishments.
Like many genocide deniers before him, Mr. Tekin’s baseless accusations are futile attempts to undermine Armenian American writers and silence them from revealing the truth. It is exactly this sort of unsubstantiated personal attacks that are still sadly used in Turkey today to silence and ultimately extinguish the voices of truth telling citizens. Mr. Tekin will learn very quickly that objective facts and evidence based argumentation trump hate propaganda and ad hominem attacks.
Obama and his ilk of genocide denying sympathizers know very well the consequences of uttering the legal truth about the Armenian Genocide. They know that with truth comes the swath of Western Armenian lands that rightfully belong to us under international law signed and sealed by good ol President Wilson. Katia, I agree with your sentiments entirely. Restoration of land and property should be the beginning of Turkey’s atonement process. This process must begin through legal channels and cannot be held hostage by the republic that amassed our countryman’s stolen wealth through rape and murder.
If our goverment was formed by including my Katia K jan, Boyajian, ARM, Karo, Darwin, Papken, Gary M and my Janine jan… among other strong and intelligent individuals who posts on these sites, we would have been a much better place now…
Astvats jan… inch klini.. bless these individuals for their wit, passion and patriotism…
Gayane
DAVID Z AND KATIA NO DOUBT STAND OUT AS VERY CAUTIOUS PERSONS.
NO DOUBT HARUT IS DOING A GOOD JOB.MY THIS POST IS NOT TO AGAIN UPHOLD HIM AS OUR EX-OFFICIO SPOKESMAN,BUT TO DEAL WITH THE SUBJECT MATTER.
THE PROTOCLS TO BEGIN WITH-AND I AM NON-PARTISAN,MORE CLEARLY AM NOT A N ARF MEMBER…BUT LATTER WHEN THE PROTOCOLS WERE JUST BEGINNING MENTIONED,THE 3 RA MINSTRES(ALL arf) RESIGNED.they understood what wasthoroughly an erroneous actON OUR BEHALF…
FOR ,ACTUALLY WE ARMENIANS ARMENIA DIASPORA SHOULD HAVE SET FORTH T H E PRECONDITIONS TO GREAT TURKEY…
ACCEPT GENOCIDE-TO BEGIN WITH-THEN LET US BEGIN DIALOGUE!!! AS SIMPLE AS THAT.we did the opposite-here also mark my “we”.AS I RESPECT AND WILL STICK WITH ANY RA GOVERNMENT THAT IS GOVERNING…WHETHER MAOIST, DASHNAK OR YOU NAME IT …WE MUST ADHERE TO THAT.WE HAVE SOMEHOW ACHIEVED A STATE/nation.BEFORE WE WERE ONLY P E O P L E …WE MUST STICK TO SERGH, TO BOGHOS OR ANY ONE THAT IS THEIR ON TOP OF SAID GOV.UNFORTUNATELY IT WAS TO BE OTHERWISE..NOW THE BALL -ACTUALLY IS ON OUR SIDE.LET US HOPE AND WISH THAT GREAT TURKEY DOES NOT RATIFY IT…OTHERWISE WE WILL BE THE LOOSERS…
HASGCOGHIN BAREV..MEANS TO THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND I SALUTE…
HAMAHAIGAGANI SIRO,G-P
Gayane Jan: As you call each one of us
I like your support,
Lucky who cuddles you
Through Clouds, Rains, Sunrays
You’re real Armenian human
Seeing every beautiful thing in life.
Accept the genocide…
I feel like that unfairness is killing
Yours, mine and all Armenians
Truthful cells of minded-hearts.
I add my voice to Gyanae
Repeating her soulful phrases
and every Armenian on this site.
Prayers to meet all the writers one day.
My voice comes from far deserts
I hope through clearing grays
Will reach to sing with You
Songs of Gomidas.
If our government was formed by including my Katia K jan, Boyajian, ARM, Karo, Darwin, Papken, Gary M and my Janine jan… among other strong and intelligent individuals who posts on these sites, we would have been a much better place now…
Dear Gayane, I must add
Pray the way you like
and say,
“We will reach one day! “
Shat Mersi Silva jan… I got goosebumps when I read your poem.. Thank you so much… :) I am definintely proud to be an Armenian and got to know friends like you and the list of people I provided in my previous post…
Gayane
Sorry Sylva jan.. I did not mean to misspell your name..
Gayane