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Erdogan's Refusal to Learn the Lessons of Crimes Against Humanity
http://massispost.com/archives/8193
Updated: March 14, 2013
By Hrayr S. Karagueuzian
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking at the 5th Global Forum
of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) in Vienna on
February 27, 2013 said: `The world should consider Islamophobia just
like Zionism or anti-Semitism or fascism, a crime against humanity.'
The PM had already expressed in the past his anger with Israeli
policies in blunt terms at World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland
in 2009, when he suddenly stormed off the stage at the mid of a heated
discussion of Israel's Gaza offensive and after telling President
Shimon Peres: `When it comes to killing, you know well how to kill.'
The irony behind these two dark and irresponsible condemnations is
that Mr. Erdogan's own government continues to uphold a policy in
today's Turkey that is precisely based not only on crimes against
humanity but also on the legacy of the art of mass killings. Indeed,
`crime against humanity' was first used in history on May 24, 1915
when the British, French and Russian Allies in a joint declaration
condemned the Turkish authorities for the planning and the
implementation of the wholesale massacres of Armenians in Turkey. The
declaration reads in part: `In view of these new crimes of Turkey
against humanity and civilization... the Allied governments announce
publicly ...that they will hold personally responsible all members of
the Ottoman government and those of their agents who are implicated in
such massacres. The adjective `new' appended to the words `crimes of
Turkey' goes beyond the present and establishes a legacy of mass
murders in the past. That legacy seems to well and alive in Turkey
today. The Turkish PM may well know that the International Criminal
Court on March 2009 ordered the arrest of President Omar Hassan
al-Bashir of Sudan, a good friend and ally of Erdogan (see attached
photo), charging him with war crimes and crimes against humanity for a
concerted government campaign against civilians in the Darfur region
of Sudan. More than 2.5 million people have been chased from their
homes and 300,000 have died in a conflict pitting non-Arab rebel
groups against the Arab-dominated Islamic government and militias of
President al Bashir. It seems for the PM that when a crime against
humanity is committed by a Muslim country it is not a crime, however,
it becomes a crime only in the case of the non-Muslims.
As for the art of mass killings, history has consistently shown that
the Ittihadist regime (the party that controlled the Turkish Empire
during WWI) continued what the Ottoman Sultanate did previously and
the Kemalist's `Death Squads' thereafter which became known as
`finishing the genocide.' Starting 1930s and up to now the
Armenophobia, and the systematic massacres of the Kurds continued of
which the Dersim tragedy is just now being articulated. The legacy of
brutality with which these acts of mass killings were committed during
the Kemalist phase captured the attention of the post-WWI British High
Commissioner in Constantinople, who included in his London report the
following:
`The Turks have an expression, `yavash-yavash,' which means to go
slowly. That is how clearing Trebizond of its remaining Christian
population is being managed.... Now they are going after the little
boys. It used to be conscription that was invoked as an excuse to take
the men. When they got down to deporting the boys from 15-18, the
Turks said it was to give them preliminary training. Now - as I write -
they are making a new visitation of the angel of death in Greek homes,
and seizing boys from 11 to 14. The poor little kiddies are gathered
together like cattle, and driven through the streets to the Government
House, where they are put in filthy dungeons half underground. One
could not believe this was possible.'1
More so, one can not believe the audacity of the Turkish PM to preach
civility and condemnation of crimes against humanity at international
forums at a time when his own government continues to enforce the
infamous Article 301 that bans Turkish citizens' to expose their
Armenian ancestry. Violators of Article 301 are charged with
`insulting Turkishness' and become liable for prosecution, forced
exile, jail terms, and even assassination as in the case of the
Turkish-Armenian editor and journalist Hrant Dink in front of his
office on January 19, 2007. Turkish and international news media did
not dismiss the planning of the assassination by the Turkish security
forces, dubbed as the `Deep State.' The motivation in the murder of
Dink was to prevent him to unravel the names of millions of Turks who
have Armenian ancestry but were afraid of publicly acknowledgment. In
the words of the Turkish Foreign Minister Daoud Oglo, a close protégé
of the PM, `he was talking too much.'
It would be thoughtful for the Grand Vizier to give a hard look at his
own governments', past and present policies of committing and covering
up crimes against humanity before preaching civility at international
forums.
1 Hrayr S. Karagueuzian & Yair Auron; A Perfect Injustice: Genocide &
Theft of the Armenian Wealth. Transaction Publishers, Rutgers
University, NJ 2009
From: A. Papazian
http://massispost.com/archives/8193
Updated: March 14, 2013
By Hrayr S. Karagueuzian
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking at the 5th Global Forum
of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) in Vienna on
February 27, 2013 said: `The world should consider Islamophobia just
like Zionism or anti-Semitism or fascism, a crime against humanity.'
The PM had already expressed in the past his anger with Israeli
policies in blunt terms at World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland
in 2009, when he suddenly stormed off the stage at the mid of a heated
discussion of Israel's Gaza offensive and after telling President
Shimon Peres: `When it comes to killing, you know well how to kill.'
The irony behind these two dark and irresponsible condemnations is
that Mr. Erdogan's own government continues to uphold a policy in
today's Turkey that is precisely based not only on crimes against
humanity but also on the legacy of the art of mass killings. Indeed,
`crime against humanity' was first used in history on May 24, 1915
when the British, French and Russian Allies in a joint declaration
condemned the Turkish authorities for the planning and the
implementation of the wholesale massacres of Armenians in Turkey. The
declaration reads in part: `In view of these new crimes of Turkey
against humanity and civilization... the Allied governments announce
publicly ...that they will hold personally responsible all members of
the Ottoman government and those of their agents who are implicated in
such massacres. The adjective `new' appended to the words `crimes of
Turkey' goes beyond the present and establishes a legacy of mass
murders in the past. That legacy seems to well and alive in Turkey
today. The Turkish PM may well know that the International Criminal
Court on March 2009 ordered the arrest of President Omar Hassan
al-Bashir of Sudan, a good friend and ally of Erdogan (see attached
photo), charging him with war crimes and crimes against humanity for a
concerted government campaign against civilians in the Darfur region
of Sudan. More than 2.5 million people have been chased from their
homes and 300,000 have died in a conflict pitting non-Arab rebel
groups against the Arab-dominated Islamic government and militias of
President al Bashir. It seems for the PM that when a crime against
humanity is committed by a Muslim country it is not a crime, however,
it becomes a crime only in the case of the non-Muslims.
As for the art of mass killings, history has consistently shown that
the Ittihadist regime (the party that controlled the Turkish Empire
during WWI) continued what the Ottoman Sultanate did previously and
the Kemalist's `Death Squads' thereafter which became known as
`finishing the genocide.' Starting 1930s and up to now the
Armenophobia, and the systematic massacres of the Kurds continued of
which the Dersim tragedy is just now being articulated. The legacy of
brutality with which these acts of mass killings were committed during
the Kemalist phase captured the attention of the post-WWI British High
Commissioner in Constantinople, who included in his London report the
following:
`The Turks have an expression, `yavash-yavash,' which means to go
slowly. That is how clearing Trebizond of its remaining Christian
population is being managed.... Now they are going after the little
boys. It used to be conscription that was invoked as an excuse to take
the men. When they got down to deporting the boys from 15-18, the
Turks said it was to give them preliminary training. Now - as I write -
they are making a new visitation of the angel of death in Greek homes,
and seizing boys from 11 to 14. The poor little kiddies are gathered
together like cattle, and driven through the streets to the Government
House, where they are put in filthy dungeons half underground. One
could not believe this was possible.'1
More so, one can not believe the audacity of the Turkish PM to preach
civility and condemnation of crimes against humanity at international
forums at a time when his own government continues to enforce the
infamous Article 301 that bans Turkish citizens' to expose their
Armenian ancestry. Violators of Article 301 are charged with
`insulting Turkishness' and become liable for prosecution, forced
exile, jail terms, and even assassination as in the case of the
Turkish-Armenian editor and journalist Hrant Dink in front of his
office on January 19, 2007. Turkish and international news media did
not dismiss the planning of the assassination by the Turkish security
forces, dubbed as the `Deep State.' The motivation in the murder of
Dink was to prevent him to unravel the names of millions of Turks who
have Armenian ancestry but were afraid of publicly acknowledgment. In
the words of the Turkish Foreign Minister Daoud Oglo, a close protégé
of the PM, `he was talking too much.'
It would be thoughtful for the Grand Vizier to give a hard look at his
own governments', past and present policies of committing and covering
up crimes against humanity before preaching civility at international
forums.
1 Hrayr S. Karagueuzian & Yair Auron; A Perfect Injustice: Genocide &
Theft of the Armenian Wealth. Transaction Publishers, Rutgers
University, NJ 2009
From: A. Papazian