The same day, a prolific Turkish Researcher from Istanbul, Sukru Server Aya—the writer of the books “Genocide Truth” in 2008 and its Turkish translation “Soykirim Tacirleri ve Gerçekler” in 2009—responded to Sassoonian’s misrepresentations, simply because Aya was irked by Sassoonian’s blatant failure, while commenting on Katcaznouni’s thoughts and feelings, to refer to Katachaznouni’s well-known confessions in the Bucharest manifest of 1923 during a Dashnak convention. I requested that Dr. Buyukataman circulate Aya’s response to all the recipients of the Sassonian article so that the unsuspecting readers would realize how selective and deceptive the use of data sources by Sassoonian really was. Thanks to Dr. Buyukataman, S.S. Aya’s response was circulated to all original recipients. But it did not end there.
On January 6, 2010, both Sassoonian’s artcile and S.S. Aya’s responses to it on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis implanted into Sassionian’s text, were published at : Armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2010/01/2989-prime-ministers-1919-letter.html.
On January 07, 2010, Sassounian circulated an email to the same addresses lambasting my request to Dr. Buyukataman. Here are Sassoonian’s seething words (poor construction of his second sentence left untouched):
“ I usually don't respond to genocide denialists. The comments written by S.S. Aya are complete distortions of established historical facts that are well known to the whole world, not just Armenians, but apparently unknown to denialists who want to hide their heads in the sand and ignore those realities. Those comments convince nobody else outside a limited circle of Turks.”
At this point, I was left with no choice but respond to this Armenian propagandist, although I usually ignore such ethocidal writers because they are what they are. Below, please find my response to Sassoonian’s falsifications, misrepresentations, and lies.
Ergun Kirlikovali
*** . . .
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY CANNOT BE SILENCED
Armenian activists seem so obsessed with their version of history that they cannot even see why we, the Turkish-Americans, would like to respond the Armenian allegations. The Armenians routinely misrepresent to unsuspecting public the Turkish-Armenian conflict as settled history of genocide, whereas the truth is far from being settled, let alone called genocide. When we ask for equal time, Armenians come back with “What is there to respond? There is nothing to debate.”
EVERYTHING IS OPEN TO DEBATE
Only those who are not confident about their facts and figures are terrified by open debate, as they know their falsifications and fabrications will be exposed. Only fanatics will argue that their case has only one side, their side, and only their stories are the truth, the whole truth. We heard it all too many times in other controversies, too: abortion, gun control, immigration, gay rights, Iraq War, Guantanamo, taxes, stimulus package, and many others.
It is up to decent people to stand up to the “opinion thugs” and demand the opening of the field to responsible opposing views so that both sides of any controversy may be heard. After that, let the public come to its own decision. Propaganda and political pressure are not meant to replace scholarship, as Armenian falsifiers and their fellow Turk haters attempt to do so frequently.
BIAS & BIGOTRY IN THE TERM “ARMENIAN GENOCIDE”
If one cherishes values like fairness, objectivity, truth, and honesty, then one should really use the term “Turkish-Armenian conflict”. Asking one “Do you accept or deny Armenian Genocide” 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 claim that it was a one way genocide.
GENOCIDE ALLEGATIONS IGNORE “THE SIX T’S OF THE TURKISH-ARMENIAN CONFLICT”
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 someone like me, the son of Turkish survivors on both maternal and paternal sides.
Those seemingly endless “War years” of 1912-1922 brought wide-spread death and destruction on to all Ottoman citizens. No Turkish family was left touched, mine included. Those nameless, faceless Turkish victims are killed for a second time today with politically motivated and baseless charges of Armenian genocide.
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 1882 and 1920)
2) TERRORISM (by well-armed Armenian nationalists and militias victimizing Ottoman-Muslims between 1882-1920)
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.)
VERDICT WITHOUT DUE PROCESS AMOUNTS TO LYNCHING
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 A MATTER OF SCHOLARSHIP, NOT CONVICTION, CONSENSUS, OR (POLITICAL) CORRECTNESS
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. Ability to explore heretofore unknown or ignored sources and freely debate in civilized discourse is what sets reasoned truth-seekers apart from the ethocidal behavior of political-bulllies, media-fanatics, and cyber-thugs who insist there is nothing more to be learned.
POLITICAL LYNCHING OF THE TURKS BY ARMENIANS TODAY
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", the dictionary definition of “lynching”.
Isn’t it time to stop fighting the First World War and give peace a chance?
ERGUN KIRLIKOVALI
Son of Turkish Survivors from Both Maternal & Paternal Sides
www.turkla.com
www.ethocide.com
www.tallarmeniantale.com
Armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2008/10/2635-genocide-lies-need-no-archives.html (Part 1 & 2)
Armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2008/10/2635-genocide-lies-need-no-archives.html (Part 3)
Armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2009/04/2813-conditions-in-near-east-report-of.html (General Harbord Report)
Armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2008/06/2512-free-e-book-armenian-question.html
Armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2007/11/2187-book-excerpts-pastermadjians-why.html
Armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2008/04/2429-new-e-book-genocide-of-truth-based.html
Armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2008/04/2444-sukru-ayas-reply-to-book-review-by.html
Armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2008/08/2567-book-review-by-prof-sam-s-baskett.html
Armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2009/01/2703-presentation-of-turkish-version-of.html
Armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2008/07/2539-book-review-genocide-of-truth-by.html
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