An echannel.am column in Armenian by Harut Kbeyan gives some tragic-comedy-style insights to the May 2007 parliamentary elections in Armenia.

A cartoon from another column at echannel.am

Talking about the platform of all participating political parties, Kbeyan writes:

It seems all of the parties have downloaded their campaign platforms from the same website and translated [into Armenian].  The translation has worked ok for some, not so much for others and not at all for other ones.

The columnist is surprised with the fact that the never-ending identical justice platforms of all political parties – social equality, employment, free or affordable health care, improved education, military reforms, fantastic retirement funds – do not include environmental problems.

Although the rest of the promises will most likely stay promises in any case, not talking about the environment means Armenia’s voters are not concerned about the issue.

Ironically, environment was one of the major issues for Armenia’s independent movement in the late 1980s and the early 90s.  And environment may as well become the TOP issue in 2024 – a little too late though – when Armenia will be totally forestless.

This is not 1915 when official orders can be destroyed after “the work is done.” This is 2007 when confidential orders are often e-mailed and sometimes to unintended recipients.

On March 7, 2007, Turkey’s cabinet Ministry of National Education sent this confidential letter to the Istanbul Governorate requesting “information and action so that the above mentioned arguments [that detail how to deny the Genocide] are taken into consideration in the organization of educational, cultural and social activities.” Source: e-mail.

REPUBLIC OF TURKEY

MINISTRY OF NATIONAL EDUCATION

DG Private Education Institutions

No : B.08.0.0.ÖÖG.0.0I.19.01.01/420.1

Subject: Fight against So-called Genocide Claims 07 MARCH 2007

TO ISTANBUL GOVERNORATE

(Provincial Education Directorate)

     In the 16^th meeting of the Coordination Board for Fighting against so-called Genocide Claims, the following principles have been adopted:

     It should be voiced that:

     Turks respected and showed tolerance to the religions and cultures of the minorities living among the states that they had established,

     In the history of Turks, in their state tradition and culture, there has been no racism or hatred causing genocide and assimilation like it was in the western world,

     In order to protect the respectability of their professions, it is necessary for the colleagues to show reactions with the scientists and media that do not act on an unbiased basis vis-à-vis genocide claims,

     Armenia has destroyed Turkish cultural products; Turkish population was exiled from Armenia or annihilated.

     In this scope and in the framework of the general objectives and fundamental principles of our National Education System, I request your information and action so that the above mentioned arguments are taken into consideration in the organization of educational, cultural and social activities. 

İstanbul GovernorateOffice of the Clerical OfficerKozmik Büro

                                    Provincial Education Director

                  pp the Governor  Ömer Güney

                  pp the Minister   Director General

Beşevler Kampüsü E. Blok 06500 / ANKARA

Tel:213 47 25 Faks: 223 99 26         CONFIDENTIAL

E.Posta: [email protected]

İnt.adresi:http//ookam.meb.gov.tr 

Newly found mass grave believed to be from the Armenian genocide manipulated in Turkey

While for an American diplomat a simple word like genocide can mean end of a career, it doesn’t seem Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide is simply a refusal to label the mass murder of 1.5 Armenians a “genocide.” There is much more than that.

Photographs by Ülkede Özgür Gündem (a Kurdish newspaper in Turkey that was closed down after reporting the discovery of the mass grave) of a possible Armenian mass grave before manipulated by the Turkish Historical Society

Turkey is not simply rejecting the word genocide; the denial is on micro level as seen in recent developments. The skeletons of a newly discovered mass grave thought to be from the Genocide, for example, have been reportedly changed and displaced by the Turkish Historical Society.

The Zaman newspaper from Turkey reports on April 24, 2007 that David Gaunt – a historian from Sweden – had traveled to Turkey this week to participate in a joint investigation of the mass grave. After seeing the site, Prof. Gaunt refused to continue his participation because the initial photographs of the mass grave (taken by a Turkish-language Kurdish newspaper) from October of 2006 – when it was discovered – were quite different from the site he was taken to. He told Zaman, “My impression is that this grave is one in which no scientific research can be carried out. The grave has undergone numerous changes so it is not recognizable.”

As our blogging-made-news article reported last year, the site was discovered in October of 2006 by local Kurds in the Xirabebaba (Kuru) village of Nusaybin district in southeastern Turkey’s Mardin region. Several villagers were digging graves for a relative to be buried in, when they found a cave of approximately 200 skeletons. The villagers thought they had uncovered a mass burial of massacred Armenians.

There were several reports (received via private communication) that the mass grave was dumped with soil by the Turkish military. But soon I learned that the Turkish Historical Society had proclaimed the mass graves was from Roman times.

Before traveling to Turkey for the investigation, Prof. Gaunt had sent the following e-mail to a group of colleagues and students on February 27, 2007.

As you will remember Yusuf Halacoglu went out very aggressively and challenged me in the Turkish press and TV to come to the grave. I answered and said that I could come during 23-25 April and I canceled some lectures during that week.

Since the time that he challenged me in the media – two weeks ago – I have not heard a word from Halacoglu – although I have previously received faxes, regular mail and even telephone calls from the staff of the Turkish Historical Society. So they know where I work. I have repeatedly written to Halacoglu during the past weeks. No result. Given his grandstand performance previously, this silence is unnatural. It leads to the conclusion that he is no longer interested in making a truly scientific investigation of the mass-grave find. What could be the reason?

In order to give this investigation some scientific legitimacy, I had suggested that we agree to some “rules of the game” in case of disagreement. Among the things I suggested was that an international group of crime scene investigators (or the like) from for instance South America would be the first persons to enter the site. Their role would be to ascertain if the site had been manipulated in any serious way, if the bodies were intact, if there were signs of tampering with the evidence or planting of other evidence. Only if and when this team gave a clear OK signal, would any of the other investigators enter the site. I think it is a very reasonable request that we have guarantees that the site is worth investigating, and I don’t think that the Turkish side could argue against this procedure.

Are we forced to conclude, by Halacoglu’s silence that the site has indeed already been prepared, but that there is now fear that properly trained experts would easily discover the manipulation? In that case, of course, it would be reasonable for the Turkish Historical Society to want to forget all about having made an invitation and making a fuss over my participation. At present there are few alternative interpretations to Halacoglu’s silence other than that he regrets the publicity that he has given this matter.

Apparently Prof. Gaunt’s fear turned to be true: the Turkish Historical Society had manipulated the mass grave.

The Turkish cover up of the Armenian Genocide is not simply a war of a term, but a refusal by the ultra-nationalist Turkish foundation to admit that their government, in the words of Turkish historian Taner Akcam, has committed a crime against Turkey’s native Armenian population. No wonder why, as the founder of Boulder’s Alternative Radio David Barsamian said past Sunday, Turkish Ambassadors use passive voice when justifying the genocide, “something terrible happened.”

Marwan Naamani, AFP / Getty Images

A girl puts roses near skulls of Armenian nationals, victims of a 1915 genocide under the Ottoman Empire, inside a church in Antelias, Lebanon. (this photo is on the main page of AOL’s news website: http://news.aol.com/ under Top News Photos)

AP – Mon Apr 23, 3:44 PM ET

Armenians hold torches and a giant national flag in downtown Yerevan, Monday, 23 April, 2007, during a rally commemorating the World War I Armenian Genocide.  (AP Photo/ Photolure, Hayk Badalyan)

AP – Tue Apr 24, 9:07 AM ET

Armenian Archbishop for Romania and Bulgaria Dirayr Mardichian, center, gestures during a religious service to commemorate the 1915 Armenian genocide, in Bucharest, Romania, at the Armenian Cathedral, Tuesday April 24 2007. The service was attended by members of the Armenian community of Romania.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

AP – Tue Apr 24, 9:45 AM ET

A woman of the Armenian community of Romania reacts following a ceremony to pay tribute to the victims of the 1915 Armenian genocide, in Bucharest Romania, at the Armenian Cathedral, Tuesday April 24, 2007.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

AP – Tue Apr 24, 8:51 AM ET

Lebanese Armenian children sit next to a shrine where skulls of Armenian people are displayed in a church in Antelias north of Beirut, Lebanon Tuesday, April 24, 2007. Marking the 92nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in Turkey that began in April 1915 and in which hundreds of thousands of Armenians died, Armenian communities around the world mark the killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians, on April 24 each year with marches, vigils and rallies to demand recognition from the world community, and reparations from Turkey. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Tawil)

Colorado is perhaps the only State that has designated a large portion of its Capitol building grounds as “Armenian Garden.” 

The Armenian Garden and the Genocide memorial plaque are quarter century old.  They were placed here in April of 1982.

On Saturday, April 21, 2007, members of the Armenian community planted more flowers in the Armenian Garden where a commemoration took place on Sunday, April 22, 2007.

Guess what? The Armenian Genocide never happened, reports Turkey’s ultranationalist Sabah newspaper on April 24 – the day the Armenian Genocide is commemorated.

Guess why? A Swedish commander in Turkey wrote on April 23, 1917, “as an eye witness, I object to genocide claims.”

In case you did not catch the unintended sarcasm… the term “genocide” was first used in 1944 by Raphael Lemkin.

Somebody call The Onion and tell them they have lost to Sabah.

90 years old letter of a witness from the first hand: “genocide did not happen”

The letter written by a Swedish commander witnessing the events in 1915 and published at a newspaper on 23 April 1917 has been revealed: I never saw Turks doing genocide. It is my responsibility to object to these claims. Emigration was a military compulsion for Turks.”

LINK

For those of you who read Armenian… A column I wrote in 2005 about the Genocide.

A story about my family (written for my Turkish friend)

Photo: Genocide survivor Takuhi holding her great-grandchild (me) in 1986

I will start telling the story of my family by saying
that I know very little about it. I know very little,
because my grandparents are now gone, and my father
doesn’t know whole a lot about yeghern because it had
been a taboo in my family for a long time. I know
very little, because there are no written documents
and written accounts about my family. But I know one
thing – I may never be able to trace my family’s
history before 1895. I always tell my girlfriend she is lucky. Her family,
who are Iranian-Armenian, have a tree, and I have a
copy, that dates back to the 1600s. 1600s, because
this was the time when Persia’s Shah Abbas forced
Djulfa’s residents to leave and establish in what is
now New Djulfa, Isfahan. Although I am jealous, she,
too, cannot trace her family’s history before 1604,
and will never be able to do so, especially when the
Azerbaijani authorities flattened to the ground the
ancient Armenian cross stones in Djulfa cemetery in 2005.
The cross stones might have included the key to her
family’s ancient history.

My own paternal family was from Urfa, now Sanliurfa in Turkey. We were known as “Magak Oglonts” (Maghakyan men), and there was a street with that name next to
Urfa’s St. Astvadzadzin (St. Mary) church. I found
the street on the 1915 self-defense map. My father
says our extensive family was very big. When his
grandfather, Hakop Maghakyan, would visit his families
in their street for holidays, it would take him the
entire day. Now, I can’t tell whether it was because
there were hundreds of Maghakyans or because they
would keep my great-grandfather in their homes for
hours.

Hakob’s father, my grandfather’s grandfather, was
Gevork Maghakyan. I know this because Hakop
Maghakyan’s gravestone says so. My father says Gevork
was shot on his head in the Armenian church of
Urfa by the Turkish militia. I suspect Gevork was one of the
3,000 Armenians who were burnt in the church in the
late 1890s.

Gevork had many sons. Some were killed, but my direct
ancestor, Hakop Maghakyan, survived. Hakop had served
in Algeria as a Turkish soldier – perhaps this would
make it easier to find out more about him – and after
participating in the self-defense, had fled to Syria
dressed up as a girl. He lost track most of his
relatives. Some had escaped and disappeared earlier
than him.

In Syria, Hakop met Sarah Ghasapyan – the mother of
his future wife. Sarah told him that she had given her
young daughter, Takuhi, to their Turkish neighbor in
an Urfan suburb village during the massacres. Sarah
thought she would never survive the deportation, and
knew that young Takuhi was safe with their friends.

When the Allies occupied Urfa after WWI, Hakob
returned to look for Takuhi, instead, she found a
Turkish child who did not recognize Sarah or anybody
from her family. The child, I think in her early
teens, did not want to leave her mother and go to
Syria. I don’t know the exact details, but she ended
up remembering her family, and agreed to go to Syria.

In couple of years, Hakop and Takuhi married. Their
first child was Sarkis, I think named after Hakob’s
murdered relative. Gevork (George) was the second one
named after Hakob’s murdered father. I don’t know who
the later brothers, Gaspar and Zaven, were named
after.

In 1948, Hakob, Takuhi and their four sons decided to
immigrate to Soviet Armenia. In the 1970s, they were
among the ones to establish New Yedesia (Yedesia was
one of Urfa’s names) village in Soviet Armenia.

The first son of the emigrated family was Hakop
Maghakyan, my father. Before he was born, the story
says, Hakop Maghakyan Sr. woke her wife up and said,
“A king to Syria is going to be born.” I was Hakop
Jr.’s third child and second son, born in 1986.

In 2005, I went to Canada for the International
Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies
course. The president of the school, Greg
Soghomonian, said his mother was Maghakyan too. “FromUrfa?” I said. “Yes,” shockingly answered Greg. “Do you know Gevork Maghakyan?” I said. “No,” said Greg.

After a long conversation, we could not find the part
of the tree that connected us. Here we were – two
descendants of Urfa’s Maghak oghlonts who could not
connect their families. The warmness went away, and
the Genocide that had torn our stories apart was the
only thing that brought us together again. I was
there to learn genocide, and he was there to organize
genocide education. But we were not relatives any
more.

One can’t get more angry after finding out that a group of Turks were out in New York City streets on the eve of April 24 – Armenian Genocide commemoration day – denying the Armenian Genocide.

A Shameful Act: The Denial of the Armenian Genocide (photo credit)

 iArarat informs:

Little Green Footballs (LGF) the notorious blog that broke the news of the Beirut bombing photography doctoring by a journalist working for the Reuters has an entry on what it calls the “professionally-staged demonstration yesterday by a Turkish group denying the Armenian genocide.”

A video, via ANCA, shows the anti-Armenian denial in NY.  Another interesting video summarizes the Turkish propaganda on YouTube.com.

By the way, this blogger, along with a few other members of the Armenian community, attended a denialist lecture by Justin McCarthy in Denver last on April 14, 2007 organized by the Turkish community.  I was not angry, but I was sad.  Sad – because I couldn’t understand why McCarthy hated Armenians so much, why he would call an entire people “wining,” and why he was there to make the Turks hate us even more.

At the end of the denialist lecture, one Turkish woman told me that I had beautiful eyes.  I warned her she was not going to like my response.  “Armenians say our eyes are big because of the suffering that we have gone through.  It is the Armenian pain that has taken our eyes out.” 

In a few hours – on April 24, 2007, our eyes will be even bigger, and perhaps wet as well.  And yes, even if we forgive one day, we will never forget.