Dr Pat Walsh: Morgenthau’s Book Is A Propagandist Construct Around Actual Events, For A Political Purpose Dr. Pat Walsh’ Speech, Istanbul, March 30, 2013, “Rahmi M. Koc. Museum”
It gives me great pleasure to launch ‘Preposterous Paradoxes of Ambassador Morgenthau’ by Şükrü Server Aya on behalf of Athol Books. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for coming to this significant event and hope you will take something away from it.
Athol Books sees this event as part of a project to re-establish Ireland’s and Turkey’s common links in History going back to the time when the Ottoman Sultan Abdulmajid I provided much needed relief to the Irish people during the Great Famine of 1847. It encompasses the links between the countries’ independence struggles at the close of World War I. The founding document of Irish independence, ‘The 1916 Proclamation’ addresses “our gallant allies in Europe” and Dáil’s Éireann’s first venture into foreign affairs, ‘Message to the Free Nations of the World’ was delivered to the Grand National Assembly at Ankara, in late 1921.
Both Turkey and Ireland had treaties imposed upon them in 1920/1 by the same Great Power. Ataturk was written about in Ireland as a great inspiration to those struggling against Imperialism, showing how foreign imposed treaties could be broken and an independent nation emerge.
This will be the fourth book by Şükrü Aya published in English on the tragic events of 1915 in Eastern Anatolia. Aya’s method is straightforward and involves finding the “documented facts” and laying them down to the “judgment of the reader”. His work is an important addition to the effort to find the truth behind events that are being increasingly rendered historically false and presented in the realm of political propaganda. . .
I would like to start with a story that will show you the importance of the issue that Şükrü Aya writes about in his new book.
About a year ago I attended a residential course for History teachers. This course was in Northern Ireland, where I come from, and which, you will all be aware, has experienced many years of conflict.
In recent years many organizations have had an interest in promoting ‘conflict resolution’ and the one that held this conference is from Massachusetts in the United States and is called ‘Facing History and Ourselves.’
The conference was mainly about teaching children the lessons of the Jewish Holocaust - presumably so that things like this would not be repeated. A 600 page book was given to the teachers in attendance with readings to use in the classroom. It is called ‘Facing History and Ourselves – Holocaust and Human Behavior’
Although this book has over 500 pages of readings and commentaries on the Jewish Holocaust it also has a section on the Armenians and the events of 1915.
It says “In 1915, soon after the war began, Turkey, which then ruled the Ottoman Empire, turned against the Armenians, a Christian minority that had lived for generations within the Muslim Ottoman Empire. The Armenians were accused of divided loyalties, because there were Armenians in Russia as well as in the Ottoman Empire and Russia was now the enemy.” (p.103)
There was no background about how the Armenians had lived as the ‘loyal community’ for centuries in the great collaboration of the Ottoman Empire, no mention of the 1907 agreement between Britain and Russia that effectively promised Constantinople to the Czar in return for his help in destroying Germany in a coming war; no explanation about how the Great War had come to the Ottoman Empire, no hint of why Russia had suddenly become ‘the enemy,’ and nothing at all about the activities of Armenian nationalists that might have encouraged the belief that they then had ‘divided loyalties.’
The next section of the book contains a long reading from ‘Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story’ which is presented as entirely factual and is used as evidence of what is termed “the greatest crime of the ages.”
At the end of this reading the book says; “The word genocide was coined during World War II to describe the murder of an entire people. Although the word did not yet exist in 1915, the crime took place nonetheless.” (p.106)
This is completely inaccurate. The word ‘genocide’ existed in 1915. However, the word ‘extirpate’ was used much more widely in the English-speaking world at that time. Charles Dilke used it to say in his best-selling book ‘Greater Britain’ that the Anglo-Saxons were the greatest genocidal force in history. He said this in praise of genocide as a law of nature and being part of ‘progress’.
Nothing like the ‘extirpation’ practiced by European colonialism is applicable to the Ottoman State in relation to the Armenians or any other minority within the territory of the Empire. In fact, the Ottomans were criticized by British writers for their easy-going tolerance of races which, it was suggested, was leading to the demise of their empire. The British Social Darwinists were, in particular, appalled at the way the Ottomans had inter-married and incorporated other races into the governing of their empire and had blended aspects of their cultures into the Ottoman mix.
The book I was given connects its main subject of the Jewish Holocaust with the events of 1915 with the following sentence: “In 1939, as Hitler planned the murder of the Jews, he asked, “Who after all speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”
This is despite the fact that the document that contains the notorious Hitler quote was rejected by the Nuremburg Court as an obvious forgery.
There is another reading in the book called ‘Truth: The Last Victim of Genocide’ and one called ‘The Politics of Denial.’ It contains the text from a debate held in the U.S. Senate in February 1990 and offers “copies of articles and documents to refute Senator Byrd and his supporters.” i.e. those who questioned the allegation of denial (p.505).
The message is clear: to deny the allegations of an Armenian ‘genocide’ is to be a ‘Holocaust denier’ – so beware!
Not surprisingly, none of the young teachers questioned anything said at this conference. It is easy to be overawed by the material on the Nazis and the Holocaust and the tendency is to keep quiet, even when it is being linked to events in Ottoman Turkey or Ireland. I think everyone present doubted the relevance of it to Ireland but no one knew much about the Armenians or the Ottomans so there would have been a general unquestioning acceptance of this material. And if anyone had any thoughts they were surely deterred by the warning that they would be lining up with the ‘Holocaust deniers.’
I questioned what I was hearing at this conference and was immediately treated as if I had offended some scripture in a sacred religious book. I tried to explain that I knew something of these events and their context, having researched and written a book about Britain’s Great War on Turkey and that the depiction of the Ottoman Empire was a travesty of the truth and its explanation of the why the Ottomans relocated the Armenians was a simplistic distortion.
I could also not see why teachers needed ‘free resources’ to refute the case against an Armenian ‘genocide.’ What had that to do with the teaching of history? It was sheer political propaganda and brainwashing!
I think it must have been the first time someone had argued against what these people were saying and requiring us to believe and teach. They seemed to be shocked that anyone would even question them. But they chose not to argue. Debate was closed!
This reminded me of Geoffrey Robertson QC.
I presume that you will be aware of Geoffrey Robertson QC as being one of the prime movers in wishing to charge Turkey with genocide over the events that happened in Anatolia in 1915.
Mr. Robertson has put it on record that he wishes for historians to stop discussing the events of 1915 altogether. He declared in Yerevan last year that: “The historians have completed their mission, now it is the time for judges, who will demand proper punishment for guilt and compensation for the Genocide victims. It is no longer a subject of historians but judges.”
Whatever about the historians, Şükrü Aya has not completed his mission…
In the ‘New Statesman’ of 10th December 2009 Robertson made it clear that the case, for him, is already closed. He stated: “… genocide is a matter for legal judgment, not a matter for historians, and there is no dispute about the Armenian genocide among legal scholars.”
It is clear from this statement that Robertson does not want books like Şükrü Server Aya’s to be written and he wants historians to be silenced about history. He wishes International Law to be the supreme arbiter on history and its decision to be final and binding.
By reducing the event of ‘genocide’ to a legal decision one is making it into a subjective judgment and a weapon of foreign policy for the purposes of gaining leverage on other states.
I do not share Robertson’s faith in International Law. It seems to me to be applied only when it suits the great powers in the world and forgotten about when it does not. It is overwhelmingly applied to the ‘lesser states’ by the ‘superior’ states who appear to be above it themselves. In many ways it is the old ‘civilizing’ mission of Imperialism in a new guise of ‘ethical foreign policy’.
So I prefer to trust in the historians who look for the truth, like Şükrü Aya.
When you know that historically inaccurate propaganda material is being presented across the English-speaking world to teachers in order to inform impressionable children and jurists like Geoffrey Robertson are urging an ‘end of history’ and ‘case closed’ you can see the importance of Sükrü Aya’s book.
The important point in my story is how central the book of Ambassador Morgenthau remains. It is the corner-stone of the case against the Ottomans about the events of 1915.
As Professor Justin McCarthy says:
“Morgenthau has long held a prominent place in what has become the popularly accepted history of the events of World War I. His descriptions of Armenian suffering feature prominently in accusations that the Ottomans committed genocide. The difficulty, as demonstrated by Aya, is that Morgenthau readily accepted fabricated evidence and himself falsified the record.”
Morgenthau spent 26 months as U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from November 1913 to February 1916. During this time he composed a lengthy diary and many letters which formed the basis of his book, ‘Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story.’ The book contains narrations of long conversations with, and statements of, various German and Ottoman officials which are placed in quotation marks. This device adds credibility to the account - as if the statements are taken down verbatim. And yet they cannot be found in the diary or letters, the original sources of the book.
The book seems to have been the concoction of a team of propagandists. The journalist, Burton J. Hendrick was the sensationalist ghost-writer. Morgenthau’s Armenian Secretary, Hagop S. Andonian, on whom the Ambassador relied for translations, was heavily involved after being allowed to ‘elaborate’ himself in writing up the original diary. The Ambassador’s interpreter, Arshag K. Schmavonian was another key constructor. And Morgenthau had no direct experience of the events he was writing about in Eastern Anatolia, having never left Istanbul in his tenure as Ambassador.
It is perhaps not fully understood that Morgenthau’s work had serious implications for the future peace of the world. Its intention was to foster an American intervention in what was fundamentally an Imperialist war on Germany and the Ottoman Empire. The U.S., acting on the principles of George Washington, was disinclined to join this foreign war of conquest but it did so with the help of Morgenthau’s propaganda and the British Wellington House publications it fed into.
Only with U.S. assistance were Britain and France able to crush Germany and seize the territories of the Ottoman Empire they desired to control. The result was a punitive peace treaty and economic ruin in Europe that produced Hitler and the Nazis and another World War two decades later. And the results of the Imperialist conquests of Britain and France that Morgenthau’s propaganda facilitated and the states they constructed are still to be seen in the Middle East today.
Professor McCarthy explains how Şükrü Aya demolishes Morgenthau’s published account:
“Aya’s method is simple. He takes Morgenthau’s statements and identifies the false, the prejudiced, and the impossible. He compares Morgenthau’s written accounts with his diaries, showing that much of what Morgenthau allegedly heard from Ottoman officials on plans to exterminate Armenians was complete invention. He analyzes the prejudices and political calculations that led to Morgenthau’s deception.”
Sükrü Aya was no scholar but he became a historian because of the sloppy work produced by those who are paid and honoured with titles to do better. Perhaps his experiences of commercial life has made him prepared to do the hard work of research that the academics avoided. Many professional historians seem to have contented themselves with relying on material like Morgenthau’s book as if it were the ‘truth’ rather than what it actually is – a propagandist construct around actual events, for a political purpose.
They really should have done the job Sükrü has done. But perhaps it would not have advanced their careers! Şükrü Aya has no concern for such things - his only interests are the facts and the truth!
Video distributed to guests as souvenir during the book presentation:
Direct Link To The Video
Ṣükrü Server Aya refutes the Armenian genocide allegations in his book authored in English.
The letter of the AP correspondent exposed
The following is a translation of a news piece that appeared at the AYDINLIK Daily Newspaper, Istanbul, on April 1, 2013, written by Irmak Mete.
Ṣükrü Server Aya who in the past has unearthed and exposed all the false claims and fabrications about the alleged Armenian Genocide has introduced his new book, titled “The Preposterous Paradoxes of Ambassador Morgenthau “. The book refutes, without any doubt, all the genocide claims made in the book “ The Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story”, written by the then U.S. Ambassador to Istanbul, Henry Morgenthau. Mr. Aya’s book explains and discloses the letter written to Ambassador Morgenthau by the AP (Associated Press) correspondent George A. Schreiner who was actually in Anatolia in 1915 who witnessed all the events of that time, objecting and disproving Morgenthau’s genocide claims contained in his book. Schreiner’s book also describes how the Armenians have been duped and promised by the Imperial Powers for granting them their independence and their own land if they fought against Turks with the Allies.
The introduction to the scholars, historians and general public of the book written by Mr. Aya in English under the name “ The Preposterous Paradoxes of Ambassador Morgenthau” was made two days ago at the Rahmi Koc Museum, Istanbul. The introduction was attended by the author, publisher Dr. Pat Walsh of Athol Books, Ireland, a writer in our editorial board Mr. Turker Erturk as well as numerous other writers, editors and historians.
During his talk to the audience, Mr. Aya explained the documents contained in his book that fully refutes all the allegations made by Morgenthau, also talked about another book, “ From Berlin to Bagdad “ written by George Abel Schreiner. The book contains a letter sternly written by Schreiner to Morgenthau on December 19, 1918, in which he said “Made some inquiries relative to massacres alleged to have happened in Pera. Everybody smiled. Then, they told me the name of the American correspondent who had disseminated these rumors from Salonica and Athens in the form of honest-to-goodness news dispatches. Also, the fact was mentioned that since then the Ottoman Government had been rather severe toward all foreign newspapermen. As to massacres – there have been no such things – of course.”
Aya also explained an important and a critical speech made by Fridthjof Nansen, the Secretary-General of The League of nations, the predecessor of today’s United Nations, on September 21, 1929, to the General Assembly, which is still kept in the UN Archives. The speech includes a statement where Nansen admits that the Armenians were promised their own land if they fought with the allies, but after the war has ended this promise was not kept eventhough the Armenians have suffered 200,000 deaths.
Aya said that he worked and researched all alone and tirelessly for years to find the truth. He continued, “ My work may not be finished before my death, but, I hope, me and my efforts will be quoted in the future as being at the right side of the fence.”
The editor of the publishing house Athol Books, Dr. Pat Walsh, who spoke after Mr. Aya, stated that some scholars have attained their positions by not studying and analyzing books like the one Mr. Aya just authored. “ However “ he continued, “ Mr. Aya has no such problems. All he is interested in are the legal and reliable documents and proofs”.
ONE MAN ARMY….
By Mr. Türker Ertürk, published in İlk Kurṣun, a Turkish language news portal and AYDINLIK Newspaper, on April 5th, 2013.
The introduction of Ṣükrü Server Aya’s new book, titled “ Preposterous Paradoxes of Ambassador Morgenthau” was made last Saturday to the national and international public at large and to the foreign and local press at the Koç Museum located in the Hasköy District of Istanbul.
I personally witnessed this historical event. In fact, my dear friend Ṣükrü honored me by giving me a chance to speak at the event. I am grateful and thankful.
Aya, in his book, exposes and disproves the so called “ Armenian Genocide” claims as lies and allegetions perpetrated by the imperialistic powers. Aya’s book displays , line by line, page by page, the mistakes and lies contained in the book, titled “ Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story “ who was in İstanbul between November 1913 and February 1916 as the U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Government.
Trashes the allegations using only the foreign documents and references
Ambassador’s own book, “ Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story” was very important. Simply because it was the . .
The interview with Ṣükrü Server Aya has been conducted by Sezin Özadalı of AYDINLIK Daily Newspaper
The author and researcher Mr. Ṣükrü Server Aya will announce and prove today to the whole world, through his book he recently authored in the English language, that the ‘genocide’ claims and allegations made by the Armenians are false and fabricated.
I have sat down and chatted with Mr. Aya regarding the Armenian allegations of genocide which is subject of his book titled “ Preposterous Paradoxes of Ambassador Morgenthau “ which will be introduced to the market for sale today.
Those who accuse us are the charlatans in the U.S.
Aydınlık : Have you received any negative response in this suject from the Armenian citizens of Turkey ?
Aya : I am a friend of Armenians. Our struggle is not with Armenians or any other nation. We perceive and regard man as human being. We do not evaluate or consider at all the man’s skin color, his race or nationality. Our opponents are those charlatans who have gone to the U.S. lately and finding no suitable work to make a living and thus re-kindling or re-creating this issue. My biggest supporters are the young Armenians. But they conceal their identity due to their fear for their safety.
How have the Armenian allegations surfaced ? . . .
Aya : They have been making a living by extorting money since 1890. And most of that money has been taken from their own people, the Armenians. They have killed those who have not submitted to their demands. This scheme has come to a point during the Ottomans period that they even have killed their own mayor who had not yielded to their demands for money. The grand father of the terrorist organization PKK today in Turkey is the Armenian Dashnak terrorists. After their establishment, they started extorting money from people by saying “ We need money for this national struggle. We will make a list of names who are expected to pay and will kill those who would not come up with money “. At times, the names of those people who are expected to pay have been printed in the newspapers. And the killings have been displayed to the public at large to teach them a lesson and to create terror atmosphere. As a result, everyone has paid up. The money was the only thing that mattered. The estimated budget of this extortion business was about $ 1 Billion. The money collected using the ‘genocide’ as a tool did not at all go to the poor people but to the rich only to make them richer. It was a large commercial business. Everyone sells something, i.e., some sell ‘hope’, others sell ‘love’. They sold ‘hate’.
How is ‘hate’ sold ?
Aya: In the Armenian Youth Camps in the U.S. they inject ‘hate’ to the hearts and minds of 10-11 years old children. The same age children in Armenia in military fatigues are trained in how to use gun and kill human beings. The ‘hate’ injetion starts at the cradle.
What did U.S. Ambassador’s Diary contain ?
Aya : The Ambassador has received a warm welcome and shown a lot of respect in the Ottoman Empire although he had no diplomatic experience and credentials. He made a lot of money in his real estate investments and donated sizeable amount of this money to election campaign funds of President Wilson who in turn had appointed him to the ambassadorial position in Istanbul which was the capital city of the Ottoman Empire. In Istanbul, he was very much involved in the money transactions for the Jewish people. He remained in Istanbul for 780 days and I counted 240 days were spent in Jewish business matters and dealings. Both of his two secretaries were Armenians. He was told most of the things in his diary by these two people. All the documents he used in his book was delivered to him by them. But since he was an ambassador, everyone including even today’s politicians, have taken his book without any reservation and questioning. He wrote his book or had it written under his name by others, 3 years after his return to the U.S. The main reason for him to write this book ( or have it written for him ) was to create or demonstrate to President Wilson a credible reason for the U.S. to enter the World War I.
Does his book tell the truth ?
Aya : Not at all, it is totally false and fabricated. The origin of all these lies were the two Armenian secretaries mentioned earlier whom he brought with him to the U.S. Since the statements appeared to be told by the US Ambassador, the book has been taken as a respectable and believeable resource for the Armenian allegations of genocide. We proved in my book that even the one and only respected resource Armenians had was totally unreliable and not trustworthy.
There is a reference in your book to the works of Mr. Mehmet Perinçek who is a Research Associate in the Istanbul University and who is also a suspect these days in the Ergenokon trials.
Aya : I have included in my book a chapter written by Mr. Perinçek about Talat Pasha based on his extensive research of the Russian State archives. I appreciate him a lot as a scholar. He is an excellent academician. He studied the Russian archives as related to the Armenian issue which was something not done by anyone else. I personally studied the British and American archives. So, our studies complemented each other.
Thank you very much Mr. Aya.
AYDINLIK 30.3.2013
PREPOSTEROUS PARADOXES OF U.S. AMBASSADORS by Türker Ertürk
He was born in 1930 in the City of Galati, Romania. The name of the city which means ‘ bastion, castle, ‘ is actually derived from the Turkish Kuman dialect. His family has arrived from Trabzon, Turkey in the 19th centuery and settled in the City of Sulina which is located at the point of discharge of Danube River into the Black Sea. Sulina, at that time, was known for its relatively large settlement of people of Turkic origin.
After Soviet invasion in August 1939 of Moldovia ( then called Bassarebia ), his family picks up the roots and moves back to Istanbul, Turkey, the homeland, in a cargo ship displaying a Turkish flag.
He was accepted to Robert College – now called Bosphorous University, after finishing his elementary, middle and high school education. He interrupts his education in order to work and support his family after the death of his father in an accident at the sea in 1951. He later returns back to school and completes his college education in 1953.
He establishes his own business after the school, involved in international trade, earning a living while travelling the world during the following 50 years. As his age advances, he finally retires from the active business life. Instead of going fishing and exchanging hunting stories with his friends in the years following his retirement, he chooses the hard way.
During his childhood in Arnavutköy, İstanbul, he makes a lot of friends, Armenian children among them. However, he has been confused and worried by the allegations made later by the Armenians. He is interested in history and at the end, he decides; he would look deep into the events of 1915. Did his ancesters really committ “ genocide “ or were all those claims judgement without trial ?
The claims were all baseless.
He rolls up his sleeves to find out the truth. He screens and reviews all the books, magazines and articles claiming the ‘Armenian Genocide’. He finally reaches the truth that all these claims are false and fabricated as part of a larger project. He has authored five books until today, three in English and two in Turkish, about the so called genocide claims along with hundreds of articles and essays.
This dear person is Ṣükrü Server Aya. I have had the honor of meeting him in a TV show where we were both invited. We have been very good friends since that day. I am priviledged to call him “ Dear Brother Ṣükrü”.
Tomorrow, March 30th, 2013, at 3.30 pm, there will be the introduction, to the press and the group of national and international scholars, writers and historians, of his most recent book, titled “ Preposterous Paradoxes of Ambassador Morgenthau “ at the Rahmi Koç Museum in Hasköy, İstanbul.
Ambassador Morgenthau has served as the US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, located in İstanbul, between November 1913 and February 1916. The Ambassador has a book he has written later, about his relationship with and the conversations and opinions of the leaders of the Committee of Union and Progress ( CUP), and about what he has heard regarding the Forced Deportation of the Armenians in 1915, titled “ The Story of Ambassador Morgenthau”.
This book is considered by the Armenians as an ‘invaluable’ source for their genocide claims. A quite a large portion of their claims are based on this book. But this book is based on lies, false accusations and fabrications. Even the real author of this book is quite suspicious and debatable.
Morgenthau has not traveled even 6 miles away from his office in İstanbul during his tenure there. The book heavily relies on the statements of his two Armenian interpreters and office workers; Arshag Schimavonian and Agop Andonian. The Ambassador, after returning to the U.S., asks and receives a permission from President Wilson to write a book accusing the Ottomans regarding the Armenians. He is not the ‘true’ writer of the book; the book actually has been written by the Pulitzer Prize winner writer Burton J. Hendrick, at a cost of 1.3 Million US Dollars ( at today’s rate).
And that is what Aya’s new book describes in detail, based on non-Turkish references and documents. The book contains irrefutable and non-negoitable documents and proof, not just a story or memoires. Please read this book and leave it to your grandchildren in your library as a valuable endowment.
They are getting ready for a final blow.
Two years later, it will be the 100th anniversary of the Armenians’ 1915 Genocide Claims. The Imperial Powers and, under their guidance, the Armenian Diaspora, are working very hard for that day. What has our own Government done regarding this issue during the recent 10 years they have been in power ? And what are they planning to do in the future ?
I am very proud of Ṣükrü Server Aya who, despite his advanced age, has been tirelessly working, using his own financial resources when required, serving his own Turkish Nation of which he has been a part. The societies feel proud by those serving them.
There is no doubt in my mind that the “ Armenian Genocide ” claims are imperialist lies and falsifications. And these lies have been created to clear the road for a much larger imperialistic plans and targets to be achieved. Just like Ergenekon and Balyoz lies….Therefore, it is quite normal to have contradictions within lies. The purpose of these two big lies are the realization of the bigger imperialistic plans directed or aimed towards our country and the region.
The lies may be contrversial within themselves but the imperial powers are right on target and quite within their plans, even 100 years after these lies have been created. The target was the Ottomans yesterday and is Turkey today.
The target is the destabilization of the region, the contraction of Turkish economical and political growth under the disguise of the false growth, being used as a subcontractor to export terror to its neighbours and finally the change of the regime in the country.
Don’t please get personally angry with the US Ambassadors, they are only civil servants receiving orders, coordinating the efforts and plans directed at our country and our region
Respectfully,
İLK KURṢUN
AYDINLIK 29.3.13 Column of Turker Erturk in English
The First Thing Our Teacher Of Philosophy Taught Us Was To Admit And Confess If You Do Not Know . .
Şükrü Server Aya – Book Launching Speech İstanbul, 30.3.2013
Esteemed Ladies and Gentlemen,
I had prepared a speech, starting with my thanks to almost a quarter of the guests and friends going back to my 60-70 years, newer friends with whom I share my life and express my appreciation o all. Then, I realized that only the “thanking part”, to include like the book printer Cengiz who sees me only now, my selected supporters, Ahmet Tekin, or several other names, Berk, Yildirim, Okur families and others, here and overseas who helped me in the preparation of this “imece” or communal work. So, please excuse my I treat time as first priority. I depend on the usual trust and tolerance of those few but selected buddies, some of which are here today to see the result of their fatigue.
My class mate world respected Mr. Rahmi Koc, is a friend to any one in need, be at time of sickness and even at funerals. He says that “anything older than half a century is considered to be antique”. Well, may be this is one good reason he extended this historical place to an event on history and he did it rather than visiting me at his hospital. I wish to express my open thanks not only to him, but the director and the young ladies who have been very great help. Now, speaking of ladies, antiquity and great help, I must say that all of us feel honored with the presence of a century old couple or Romeo and Juliet of Turkey, Muazzez abla who is 99 and his Romeo Hayrettin Karaca, world reputed for his preservation of nature, ethics, intelligence and his love the whole Turkey knows from TV screens. Seems they prefer to stay engaged rather than ending their love by the marriage event. I think we should all thank them for their being younger in action and soul compared to many others.
It is the first time that Dr. Pat Walsh and I meet, and he accepted to be the editor of my book. I hope he does not regret this togetherness, but he already read me inside out and may be this is will lead our becoming more productive before I am pulled out from the life stage in the remaining few years. I have a book titled by a person in his eighties titled “The Rest of Your Life is the Best of your Life”. True statement, but how can you be happy when you have your values as a “human” which you must share with the rest of all “other humans” but their aims and means differ. Let me clarify that I was and I am still fortunate to have many much decent and loveable Armenian friends from Turkey. We have no animosity against any race, nation, color, faith or tribe or Aborigines or Masais from Kenya. It is not the outside appearance and faith or traditions we inherit beyond our preference, but it is the values of honor, decency, equality and defending truth which we chose ourselves as we grow up. Have a look at the Note-cards distributed to you for your notes or written questions. You will see the blog of “Armenians-1915.blogspot.com” called also the “Genocide Resource Center”. Too many Turks go shortcut, and they do not click on this treasure chest with over 3400 postings (370s are mine) and over 100.000 pages of authentic articles, essays, review and news starting in 2005 and still going strong. Don’t look for my name in Turkish blogs or news, they do not care about me and I do not care about them. There are over 400 E-books over 100 Documentary videos, essays of various reputed names; It is all there in the refrigerator, all you have to is to go there, click and learn for your satisfaction. If you start today, it may take at least ten years to read or surf everything. The scholars, Dr. Walsh just mentioned, do not go there, they cherry pick and use only the few hundred pages of the books put in their front and they jump into decisions. The first thing our teacher of Philosophy taught us was to admit and confess if you do not know. Some of my friends here will remember Dr. Seelye, and his teaching us “I know that I don’t know”. Yes, some lesson that proves to be true and remembered 70 years later. Our biggest problem is that we have to deal with “scholars or writers or authorities, who do not know, but they think they know all, and hence feel happy with their level of ignorance or knowledge. This is what Walsh tried to tell you, of course much nicer than I can ever do.
Good speakers, usually start with a funny joke. Below quotes are taken verbatim from the blog of Armenians and reflect what their readers think about the essay or subject.
Date: 18/9/09: From Netherlands: - You cannot build a house without foundation. Armenian try. And will fail. Mr. Aya, again good work from you! You should get the medal of honor for your efforts defending Turks against these vilifiers -
Date: 21/8/10: Observer 2009 said: - Sukru Server Aya, one of the most prolific researchers on the issue of Turkish-Armenian conflicts, has doe it again. His analysis is balanced, sources of data respectable, message poignant, fair and clear. Those who believe the myth of “poor, starving Armenian victims” should read Aya’s review, of Sam Weem’s book. For visual aid to enhance Aya’s message, one is referred to the photos at www.ethocide.com. Congratulations, Mr. Aya, you have achieved what most scholars have not been able to: you have raised global awareness of one of the most persistent myths of the 20th Century: the bogus genocide claims of Armenian falsifiers and Turk haters.-
Date: March 2, 2013: Comment on Post 3298: …- Sukru is either working fort he Turkish government or is severely insane. He made me laugh, though. Peace to all.
Date: March 27, 2013: Observer has left a new comment on your Book Review 3379, Preposterous Paradoxes of Ambassador Morgenthau (by Prof. Ata Atun)
-I congratulate researcher and productive writer Sukru Server Aya for a careful study of the Morgenthau misrepresentations and fabrications that, unfortunately, some Armenian lobbyists are still promoting today. Morgenthau was a real estate developer who raised most funds for Wilson in 1912 presidential campaign and was rewarded with an ambassadorial post. He is neither a diplomat, nor a historian. He relied on whatever his male Armenian secretaries placed on his desk. His sources are all problematic: Armenian revolutionaries, Christian missionaries, foreign diplomats, soldiers and journalists. In spite of all this biased approach by this real estate agent Morgenthau, anti-Turkish circles continue to present him as a reliable diplomat-historian. Sukru Server Aya exposes Morgenthau for what Morgenthau is: practically an imposter… -
Dear guests, I gave you three examples of opinions on some of my over 370 articles which you can click on the menu of the blog. This is the part of what is happening on the unbiased Armenian forum. Did you note any Turks read or write there? The Armenian man who said that “I am either working for he Turkish Government or I am severely insane” has proven that he did not even click on my name on the internet and see if any one would give even a janitor’s job to a man 83 years of age. Never mind the Turkish government, is there any one to offer any job? And my unknown Armenian friend does not know that “NO ONE IS EVER PAID FOR TELLING THE TRUTH, it is the LIE that sells for good prices, continued jobs in USA or even some may get jackpots such as Nobel for books edited by an American professor of literature. In one of my interviews on a local Queens TV in New York, when asked, I had made it loud and clear that I was never approached by any one, I have received no offers, no sponsors, no backup and that these books have been financed and printed by me and the income from sales does not even cover my postage and investment costs. So, this “working matter is settled”.
As regards words of appreciation, congratulations and Medal of Honor (?), these I hear from foreigners I never see. On our side in Turkey, I do not wish to speak of the vain efforts to wake up persons or positions which produced no result other than silence and distance. In one particular case an important advisor who told me that he knew the subject quite well because of his previous posts, recommended me that when I write a book, I should follow Morgenthau and use the first hand source. My second book was on his desk and I asked him if he read the sixty pages I could spare on Morgenthau and added that I am prepared to write three hundred pages if any one places an order. Well, this is the type of ice sheets or closed mentalities I am trying to break through instead of being consulted and supported.
And now, let me add a few clarification remarks to few of the important subjects raised by Mr. Walsh. I thought that instead of speaking on another subject, it is better to show the dark half of the moon or the topic.
Walsh gave live examples of what happens in biased conferences, lectures and how the Armenian or Christian or political lobbies believe and support whatever is put in their front without questioning. In such cases, only a small portion of the argument is given in a biased way. Never mind the truth, not even the full picture and details which may create suspicion are ever shown.
For example no one says that Turks and Russians signed an agreement assuring full autonomy in the Six vilayets in the East and that even the Inspector Governors, Norwegian Colonel Hoff, and Dutch ex-governor Westenek arrived in spring 1914 to go to their capital cities, Erzurum and Van. But after the Sarajevo assassination it was sure that a war was to break for sure, so the project was suspended and governors paid and sent back. When the war was eminent the CUP government sent a delegation of 28 persons to Erzurum to the 8th Dashnak Congress in August to convince them to fight for Turks whilst the Armenians in Russia were to cause incidents that will busy Russian forces.
The reward offer “Autonomy” was guaranteed by Germany as well. But the Dashnaks consulted Russians British and French, who offered two more Vilayets to Armenians and so the Armenians turned down this golden offer of autonomy which was reoffered for their loyalty to fight.
When war started some Armenian soldiers in the Turkish army went to Russia with their arms to fight against Turks and back lines of supply were sabotaged. Armenians did the exact opposite of what they were hoped to do, in which case the whole Russian army in the Caucasus would have been taken prisoners and Turks reach the Baku oilfields.
In a counter attack by Turks at Christmas time through the high mountains, the Turkish troops lost in snow and -30*C temperature, were delayed at passes by Armenian volunteers, which enabled Russians to regroup and came back to the front. Records say that a 90.000 soldier’s army was wiped away in less than ten days, because of poor gear, lack of food, disease, frozen like statues in the open air or caves. Why don’t they mention the greatest loss in military history of Turks just because Armenians who knew the terrain well, fought and stopped the Turkish troops in ice covered mountain passes?
In February 1915 Armenians in Van revolted, in April the city fell to them. We have books and photos by Armenian heroes. It was evident that allies were to land at Gallipoli and Armenian troops engaged Turkish troops in the rear when they were needed up front. German commanders asked that all front lines be cleared of all living people and animals hindering activities. The normal reaction (see some documentary films of British and Americans) would have been firing and killing immediately on spot or push towards the front to be wiped off between two fires and war deprivations.
The relocation of Armenians in Anatolia (those in the Western cities, families of those working for the State were excluded) started in mid June 1915. In late August Catholics and Protestants as well were excluded and those who were relocated were permitted to return. Certainly there was insufficiency of everything, food, guards, medicine… But transfer camps were set up to feed and rest the columns but nevertheless some acts of banditry happened on some columns which could not be protected when crossing Kurdish villages that had a grudge of revenge for atrocities committed by Armenian bands and revolutionaries.
Well, it is this incident which is claimed to be genocide. Records show that only ten percent of the people which were relocated (estimated 600 to 700.000) died in transit, epidemics, and hardships etc. 42 Gendarmes died trying to protect their groups. To prove that there was never any genocide (no intention, or place, no time, no graves, no time, and no written evidence, not even neutral eye witnesses) let us submit our written evidence that no act which may be called massacre or genocide ever happened.
*Copy of “Note Verbal” by Secretary-General Sir Eric Drummond, dated March 1st, 1920.
League of Nations, Sunderland House, Curzon Street, London, SW.1 20/4/34 Doc. ?41/2422/607
Page 2: “Further, in Turkey, minorities were often oppressed and massacres carried out by irregular bands who were entirely outside the control of the central Turkish Government.
Now, let us see what the Associated Press correspondent George Abel Schreiner, who sent the bitter letter dated December 11, 1918 to Ambassador Morgenthau, and which was found by Professor Heath Lowry, now with us, wrote in his later book “From Berlin to Bagdad”. May I express my thanks to Prof. Lowry for being the discoverer in 1990s, of this letter which exposed Morgenthaus duplicities for the first time. Morgenthau’s Diary was known at that time, but it has only been made public by Gomidas Institute in London in the recent years which enabled me to make this “hair counting comparison”.
Mr. Lowry, is free to say a few words now for this book, which owes much to him. (*)
P. 10: -Made some inquiries relative to massacres alleged to have happened in Pera. Everybody smiled. Then they told me the name of the American correspondent who had disseminated these rumors from Salonica and Athens in the form of “honest-to-goodness news dispatches. Also the he fact was mentioned that since then the Ottoman government had been rather severe toward all foreign news-paper-men. As to the massacres – there has been no such thing, of course.-
Those who surf posting No. 3099, on the “armenians” blog site, can see with their own eyes the speech of the General Secretary Fridhjof Nansen and printed in the League of Nations Official Gazette relative to the meeting held on September 21, 1929, in which this highest authority confirms that the western powers promised to give Armenians a national home, if they were to fight for them! They fought, 200.000 of them died in several fights but that the promises were never kept. Gentlemen, what better and stronger evidence can be ever produced by anyone to refute this international declaration? Those who would refer to page 105 of my second book can see the full text of the report dated August 1919 by Captain Emory Niles and Arthur Sutherland, in which they clearly confirm that it was the Armenians who killed Moslems, raped and murdered Moslems. This one was discovered by Prof. Justin McCarthy. It is all there gentlemen in the official U.S. state records, waiting to be picked up and noticed.
Now, let me add a few remarks about, Geoffrey Robertson, Q.C. which means that he is Consul of the Queen, a great reputation. Mr. Robertson wrote a book on the Armenian affair, trying to pass a resolution through the British Parliament, which failed because the Government said that there was no “international legal verdict” on this matter. When we read the book, we learn that he was given this job by a member of the Oil billionaires the Gulbenkian family in London. He was so careless that he did not even made use of the “Gomidas Institute” material, which published the Morgenthau Diary. Ara Sarafian the director of Gomidas has been in the Ottoman archives speaks Turkish and he frequently visits Turkey on errands to publicize genocide. Q.C. Robertson made a series of mistakes, because he read what was given to him and had no idea about other sources which would scrap everything he wrote ambitiously, in seconds. He speaks that the matter now is for judges. But in doing so he is not even aware of the European Court of Justice Verdict No. T-346/03, dated 17.12.2003 and refusing a court case opened by an Armenian Family which depended on a decision of the European Parliament. He is neither aware of the 60th Genocide Convention in Rome and that a special rapporteur has been assigned to the General Secretary in 2004 (?) to deal with genocide claims which must depend on authorized international court’s decision, under several restrictions. Mr. Robertson is a much reputed lawyer, but he poke his well paid hand in a subject he never knew anything about it. It is not any matter of “legal scholars”, it is matter of International Authorized Court, where no one has the courage to apply and lose.
Let me add a few remarks on the famous Hitler quote, which is known to be fake and rejected by the Nuremberg Court. Any one that will refer to my second book Chapters 13, 14/1 and 14/2 will find comprehensive pictures and data, showing the paper supposed to be the Hitler speech. This is a book named “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” by William A. Shirer, dated 1959, about 1600 pages. Here you have details of Nuremberg court, who said what, which documents were found and used, from military to all political contacts. Sir, if you do not research even this much, please do not shade the title given to you. Again in my second book there is about 60 or more pages, some excerpted from Sam Weem’s book, “Secrets of a Christian Terrorist State Armenia”. You are given plenty photos, picture of the Dashnakist Hayastan newspaper dated February 1945, praising Hitler and victory.
Gentlemen, we have irrefutable several evidences of the Armenians in the Nazi Army under General butcher Dro, Drastamat Kanajan who did most of the killings in the Caucasus together with General Antranik. They had 22.000 soldiers, special Armenian Legion with tags, medals and everything. 4.800 were special S.S. troops. Jewish people are so naïve that they believe in a lie but cannot read their own historians, such as Stamford Shaw, may be teacher of our friend Professor Lowry here, who certainly knows everything better than me. General Dro, which was searched by Russians, was accepted in USA and so the 22.000 soldiers who suddenly became “D.P.” displaced persons, war victims, and they too were nearly all accepted to USA against a quota of only 2.000 persons. How? It is all written in this book again from Armenian writer, Arthur Derunian who went to Berlin in 1949 and saw the black market operated by the Dashnakist Armenian ex-soldiers. I have given all details, even the money each had to pay to obtain affidavits to enter USA. Dashnaks do nothing for free. Money is the blood of the whole system, including today’s claims. The “Armenian Terror and Genocide claims” were produced after 1960s, when all gang leaders were accepted into USA, but had o invent an industry to “collect money for training in the Bekaa Valley” etc..
This book has been in the internet since 2008, anyone can download and take PDF prints, I still have a few copies left of this first book. It has over 2000 verbatim excerpts, which has been picked up may be from 20.000 pages reading and surfing. You may see it in many Embassies, but who ever opens the cover and looks in the contents or sources? So, I am wrong for counting the hairs in a research and find facts, and those who do not read much and do not care to learn or defend truth, they have the position and power. So, lies win over truth. Lies are paid well; truths, never!
I urge you to watch the DVD gifted by Melih Berk as “diş kirası”. It has many videos, speeches of Tayyip Erdogan in 2005 in Munich silencing everyone, words of Artin Penik who set himself on fire protesting the Esenboga attack of Armenians, and many others. But my favorite documentary is the one about the Galipoli War, with the beautiful ballad “Waltzing Mathilda”. In this documentary you see how youngsters are deceived to become heroes, and how sad they return home crippled stage that they no long can sing Waltzing Mathilda and that the ones who bid farewell to them going to war, this time turned their heads and do not want to see…
Yes, you will see Armenian children aged 10-11 being taught in camps or schools how to kill Turks. Will you all surrender to these bandits of human ethics and killers?
So far I did not, and fought against the windmills alone. I may not win, thanks to so much indifference by people who should be the ones concerned but at least I will be remembered in which side of the fence I stood. Thank you all for coming, thank you Pat, so many of you filling this room with your feelings.
Comment by Ferruh Demirmen
Ambassador Henry Morgenthau was the U.S. envoy to Ottoman Turkey during November 1913-February 1916. His book, Ambassador Morgenthau's Story, written in 1918 and based on his personal diaries, has been used by Armenian propagandists as the main source of “Armenian genocide” allegations. Because of his diplomatic post, Morgenthau’s book had an aura of credibility with the American public and greatly shaped the public perception of the Turco-Armenian conflict. To this day this perception continues almost unabated, with Morgenthau’s book cited as a prima facie evidence for Armenian claims. The book was ghostwritten by Mr. Burton J. Hendrick, a Pulitzer Prize winner, at substantial financial gain.
But Morgenthau, a key player in President Woodrow Wilson’s 1912 election campaign and rewarded with a plum diplomatic appointment in return, was unconscionably bigoted and untruthful in his book. His book is infused with blatant racism against Turks, and his claims of premeditated massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman government were outright lies. During his 26 months of service as an ambassador to Ottoman Turkey, he barely set foot outside Istanbul, and he relied on his two Armenian secretaries (whom he had brought from the U.S.) as the source of alleged Turkish atrocities in the eastern territories. His motive for demonizing and vilifying Turks (and to some extent the Germans) was to induce the U.S. to enter the war on the side of the Allied Powers – an aim apparently supported by President Wilson.
Mr. Sukru Server Aya deserves much praise for writing the book, Preposterous Paradoxes of Ambassador Morgenthau: A Factual Story About Politics, Propaganda and Distortions. This is Mr. Aya’s third book on the Armenian question. The book follows Prof. Heath W. Lowry’s seminal work, The Story Behind Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story, published in 1990, revealing the untrustworthiness of Morgenthau’s book. Mr. Aya’s book, comparing meticulously Morgenthau’s personal diaries with his subsequent book, further exposes the duplicity, dishonesty and unreliability of the ambassador’s book. The comparison brings new perspectives as to why Ambassador Morgenthau's Story was a wartime propaganda tool lacking objectivity. Mr. Aya also explains in his book how the Armenians were duped and promised their own land if they fought alongside the allies, but ended empty-handed afterwards.
The true, self-serving character of Morgenthau’s book should be disseminated widely, and Mr. Aya’s book is a valuable contribution toward that end.
Apart from his books, Mr. Aya has given conferences and authored some 370 articles on the Armenian question since 2005. It is remarkable that he does his research at great personal sacrifice. As he stated during the inauguration of his latest book in Istanbul on March 30, 2013, he is a friend of Armenians, and holds no personal hostility toward any ethnic or religious group. But he stands for truth and justice, and that is what motivates him to write and expose. Contrast that with the racist mindset of the likes of Peter Balakian from the “genocide” camp.
F. Demirmen
April 7, 2013
Direct Link To The Document
The following article has been written by Mr. Melih Aṣık, an opinion editor of the Turkish Daily “Milliyet” on April 14th, 2013
Direct Link
Book Review : Preposterous Paradoxes: Ambassador Morgenthau
Preposterous Paradoxes: Ambassador Morgenthau …the title of Sukru Server Aya’s latest book could not be more appropriate in lieu of the information presented in a “reader friendly” format. Thankfully not an academic treatise, Mr. Aya thoroughly documents the many discrepancies in the ongoing saga that the media labels the Armenian Genocide. Using archival documents from the era, Ambassador Morgenthau’s book as well as his diary, and previously published works of other authors, Aya’s book presents information which has been in the public domain for years but ignored by the majority of historians.
Part I, comprising the majority of the book, juxtaposes Ambassador Morgenthau’s published and public views with those in his diary and the blatant inconsistencies are shocking, challenging a belief that has permeated western thought for 100 years and counting. It is impossible to read this section and not doubt the commonly accepted mantra still touted.
Parts 2-5, presented in the same format, expose the deception and manipulation used by the media, government officials, and philanthropists of that era to achieve their various goals and support their own agendas. Part 3 raises the issue of “numbers”….how many Armenians were killed and this is where archival documents are important. There are so many different numbers given by various sources that one has to either pick a side to believe or decide to believe neither side. Since all the sources of the day had an agenda, even those who claimed to be neutral, and the number of dead varied from source to source, one wonders if the exact count, which is impossible to determine, is important. There are more significant issues presented that ought to have a greater impact: the speech that Hitler supposedly said about the Armenians was considered to be fabricated by the Nuremberg Tribunal who would not accept it as evidence; do the events fit the definition of genocide.
A familiar phrase often used in academia is: Statistics never lie but statisticians do! While challenging the credibility of Ambassador Morgenthau and debunking the myth of genocide, Mr. Aya exposes the vast differences in sources that purport to hold the truth. There are many lessons to be learned from this book, the impact of which goes beyond the topic by challenging our beliefs. If one “truth” can be doubted, so can many others. In this technological age when information comes at us fast and furiously via the internet, it behooves us to become more critical in our thinking knowing that there is more than one side to a story. Popular wisdom may not be so wise.
Ellen Reisman
Shaker Heights, Ohio, USA
7 June 2013
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