Dear Madam,
Yours faithfully
Selma Aslan
A Turkish woman of 64 years age
"Relocation which was nothing but only a military measure in essence turned to a tragedy in hands of remorseless and dishonest people. I have no intention to conceal disgracefulness of this conduct."
"... No, it is not enough not to forget. It is a conscientious responsibility for you to announce to the whole world and to the humanity, as loud as possible, that all those events were murders of some villainous traitors and Turkish citizens turned away from them. Yes, do announce together with us that Armenians are victims and excusable as much as Turks, and Turks are victims and excusable as much as Armenians. Attributing the sin of this war and atrocities to the history of all humankind by removing them from the registry of deeds of those who actually caused them will not only be violating the spirit of truth and integrity, and if millions of innocent individuals of a society are to be held responsible and reproached for the Armenian case which is a part of the calamity of war and was perpetrated by a few or maybe several hundred people, this will be overwhelmingly offensive to divine retribution and sense of justice, which we all seek in great destitute and await forlornly."
Source for 30 percent population ratio:
"Armenia and the Armenians," The Presbyterian, Dec.22, pp.824-825, Dec.29, pp. 841-842,1893, Jan. 5, 1894 pp. 10-12. [The author who used "The Correspondent" pseudonym is thought to be the Director of Marsovan (Merzifon) American College.] (Ms Arzu Gedikozer,a dear friend living in London kindly got a copy going to Colindale Newspaper Library for me. I can forward the scanned version to you if you wish.)
Source for one fifth ratio:
Korsun, N. G. Turtsiya/Kurs Lektsii Po Voyenney Geografii, Çitannıh V Voyennoy Akademi RKKA, p. 37. Vıssiy Voyennıy Redaktsionny Sovyet, Moscow,1923 [Coursebook used by Red Army Military Academy] as translated by Mehmet Perinçek into Turkish in Rus Devlet Arşivlerinden 150 Belgede Ermeni Meselesi [Armenian Question in 150 Documents from Russian State Archives]. Ankara: Kirmizikedi, 2012. ( I hope you have friends from Russia who can verify this source for you)
European Court of Human Rights. "Criminal conviction for denial that the atrocities perpetrated against the Armenian people in 1915 and years after constituted genocide was unjustified" press release dated Dec.17, 2013 (hudoc.echr.coe.int/webservices/content/pdf/003-4613832-5581451)
Dept. Immigration and Citizenship. Community Information Summary ; Turkey-born. http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/statistics/comm-summ/_pdf/turkey.pdf)
______________________________________
Thanks to new technologies anyone who care to know about the other side of the coin can listen to Professor McCarthy any time they wish. (I wish the camera had shot the slides rather than Professor McCarthy in the first two videos! Perhaps he can share the slides on Slideshare.)
Prof Justin McCarthy, Melbourne Symposium: "What Happened During 1915-1919 presented by Australian Turkish Advocacy Alliance, November 2013.
I watched the five minutes adjournment address you made on November 21st, at the House of Representatives concerning sensitivities of Australian Armenians on Professor Justin McCarthy's visit to Australia from the States in late November 2013, to give lectures upon invitation of Australian Turkish Advocacy Alliance.
In your second term in the parliament as a lawyer and a woman you advocate what you believe to be true. I appreciate this since I worked at the Turkish parliament as adviser to a woman MP for a while. Bringing women’s perspective into all areas of political life in the parliament is important, and I see that luckily you are almost twice as powerful in this respect when compared with our country by 26 percent to 14.4 percent.
When you talk about your close friends of Armenian descent, one can sense the women's perspective which entails affection, empathy and you genuinely seek justice. This is valuable. However, such feelings can blur our sight and it may not be possible to see the other side of the coin.
You are so sure that Armenian genocide is a fact and therefore anyone who stands against this view is not worth listening to. You don't give a chance to the idea that it might be otherwise. Unless you were not so sure, you surely would not be so uncaring about the feelings of the Turkish constituency and their guest choosing to talk on the same day, though you are such a considerate woman respecting freedom of speech.
Our Armenian friends, who allege that there was a genocide, concentrate on relocation starting on 24 April 1915 as if life started all of a sudden on that day and try to conceal the big picture from the eyes. Reverberation of the extensive and far reaching propaganda used during the WWI, including disinformation and obscuring of facts, allowing only biased information to be released has helped them greatly. How many people know about the heavily increased weapon sales in Russia, petitions pouring to Russian authorities from Armenians who wanted to join voluntary units, uprising in Van in early April and other uprisings, hundreds and hundreds of exterminated Muslim villages?Documents can be found in Russian Archives and of course Armenian Archives which is still not open.
You probably do not feel like reading a "denier's" lines. I will just suggest a document of 78 pages as detailed below which I hope you care to have a glance through:
Kachaznuni, Hovhannes. Dashnaktsutiun Has
Nothing To Do Anymore. Bucharest, 1923. http://www.turkishpac.org/pdfs/KachaznuniEnglish.pdf
(Kachaznuni was the first Prime Minister of Democratic Armenian Republic, 1918-1920.)
(Kachaznuni was the first Prime Minister of Democratic Armenian Republic, 1918-1920.)
Can I request that you ask your friends what "cause" is if they know? If they genuinely explain that it is taking back historical Armenia, please remember that at that time they formed only one fifth of the population in the place called Armenia --which is just as a geographical name--, according to Russian sources and 30 percent according to missionaries. I don't know if they will be explicit enough to express that this end would be reached through expelling and exterminating Muslim population in the region, --doing an ethnic cleansing in other words--, as was the case in the Balkans in 1912, though the ratio was more proportionate and contrarily to the advantage of ethnic peoples who were seeking national independence there by 58 to 42.
You mention the disturbance Professor McCarthy's visit has caused among your constituency in NSW. 40 percent of Australian Turkish community of 150.000 people lives in NSW. They must have been disturbed by your speech unfortunately. Summary of 2011 statistical data shows that Turks in Australia form a disadvantaged community with a lower income than country average and higher rate of unemployment. I hope you take care of them as well.
On legal side, Geofrey Robertson's arguments may sound persuasive to you, but please remember that Britain could not find one single legally valid document despite great efforts for four years. In fact, ECHR decision of 12 December 2013 on the case of Perincek vs Switzerland stressed that the notion of "genocide" has a serious legal dimension.
I feel sorry for 5,5 million souls we lost from 1912-1922, and for another 5,5 million people displaced. Anatolia cuddled those millions of Muslims and Turks from Caucasus, Balkans including one million from Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, who encountered forced migration under the same circumstances with Armenians. I feel equally sorry for all who have lost their lives or were displaced during a war or ethnic conflict all around the world all times including Armenians. I feel sorry for 150 Armenian children who died in a camp in Konya because of hunger during relocation, and 150 Muslim children who were taken from an orphanage in Bayburt and killed by Armenian rebels equally (http://qarabag.blogfa.com/post-20.aspx). But I have not come across one line in Armenian web sites where they say they are sorry for what had happened. Why? If they say because what they did was for revenge, actually this is not the case, because there were occurrences prior to relocation. Uprisings date back to 1860s in Zeitun and 1890s elsewhere. On the other hand if revenge is acceptable then they should understand the voluntary Circassians' and others' ferociousness which was out of revenge and beyond control of Ottoman government as was exactly the case with Armenians who couldn't be controlled by Russian officers!
By the way 2014 is 150th anniversary of Circassian Genocide and 21st May is Circassian day of mourning in case you consider sending a message of sympathy to the Australian Adyghe Khassa, the Circassian Association.
This letter is in memory of my grandmother Nazire, who had to flee away from Erzurum in fear of Armenians at the onset of WWI together with 800.000 Eastern Anatolian Muslim who were relocated around Anatolia when Caucasus Front zone was evacuated during WWI.
Selma Aslan
A Turkish woman of 64 years age
"Relocation which was nothing but only a military measure in essence turned to a tragedy in hands of remorseless and dishonest people. I have no intention to conceal disgracefulness of this conduct."
Talat Pasha, Minister of Home Affairs, 1915
(assassinated by an Armenian in Germany)
(assassinated by an Armenian in Germany)
"... I know the Turks will not give in to this pressure. The Turks will
not submit, because they know that to do so would simply be wrong.
How can it be right to become a member of an organization[EU] that
demands you lie as the price of admission? Would any honest man join
an organization that said, "You can only join us if you first
falsely say that your father was a murderer? .... I have faith in the honor of the Turks. What I know of the Turks
tells me that they will never falsely say there was an Armenian
Genocide. I have faith in the honesty of the Turks. I know that the
Turks will resist demands to confess to a crime they did not commit,
no matter the price of honesty. I have faith in the integrity of the
Turks. I know that the Turks will not lie about this history. I know
that the Turks will never say their fathers were murderers. I have
that faith in the Turks."
Justin McCarthy "Armenian-Turkish Conflict," March 24, 2005, Turkish National Grand Assembly, Ankara
(http://wilson.engr.wisc.edu/Armenia/justin.html)
Faik Ali Bey [Ozansoy], Governor, Kütahya
(Protector of 1,000 Armenian families
including Ara Sarafian's grandparents.
Paradoxically Sarafian has established
GOMIDAS and alleges that relocation was a genocide)
http://armenianholocaustmystory.blogspot.com/2013/10/remembering-governor-faik-ali-bey-and.htmlSource for 30 percent population ratio:
"Armenia and the Armenians," The Presbyterian, Dec.22, pp.824-825, Dec.29, pp. 841-842,1893, Jan. 5, 1894 pp. 10-12. [The author who used "The Correspondent" pseudonym is thought to be the Director of Marsovan (Merzifon) American College.] (Ms Arzu Gedikozer,a dear friend living in London kindly got a copy going to Colindale Newspaper Library for me. I can forward the scanned version to you if you wish.)
Source for one fifth ratio:
Korsun, N. G. Turtsiya/Kurs Lektsii Po Voyenney Geografii, Çitannıh V Voyennoy Akademi RKKA, p. 37. Vıssiy Voyennıy Redaktsionny Sovyet, Moscow,1923 [Coursebook used by Red Army Military Academy] as translated by Mehmet Perinçek into Turkish in Rus Devlet Arşivlerinden 150 Belgede Ermeni Meselesi [Armenian Question in 150 Documents from Russian State Archives]. Ankara: Kirmizikedi, 2012. ( I hope you have friends from Russia who can verify this source for you)
European Court of Human Rights. "Criminal conviction for denial that the atrocities perpetrated against the Armenian people in 1915 and years after constituted genocide was unjustified" press release dated Dec.17, 2013 (hudoc.echr.coe.int/webservices/content/pdf/003-4613832-5581451)
Dept. Immigration and Citizenship. Community Information Summary ; Turkey-born. http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/statistics/comm-summ/_pdf/turkey.pdf)
______________________________________
Prof Justin McCarthy, Melbourne Symposium: "What Happened During 1915-1919 presented by Australian Turkish Advocacy Alliance, November 2013.
In case you wish to investigate the topic further:
Eracar, Yılmaz."Armenian Relocation And International Law," Review of Armenian Studies, 62, 2012,pp. 81-126. http://www.eracar.com/Documents/RAS.pdf
The bibliographic list available at my blog: http://armenianholocaustmystory.blogspot.com/p/links.html
References to some US archival documents can be found at : http://armenianholocaustmystory.blogspot.com/2013/06/armenian-genocide-truth-and-justice-act.html
Reports from British Consuls in Trabzon and Erzurum are available in the Public Record Office (National British Archives),
Mehmet Perinçek, son of the leader of Labor Party (Turkey), has found 800 pages of documents in Russian Archives relevant to Armenian issue. 150 of them have been published in Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey. A publication is expected to appear in the UK as well.
Aslan, Selma. Circassian Genocide and Raphael Lemkin. http://armenianholocaustmystory.blogspot.com/2012/05/circassian-genocide-and-raphael-lemkin.html?q=circassian
Eracar, Yılmaz."Armenian Relocation And International Law," Review of Armenian Studies, 62, 2012,pp. 81-126. http://www.eracar.com/Documents/RAS.pdf
The bibliographic list available at my blog: http://armenianholocaustmystory.blogspot.com/p/links.html
References to some US archival documents can be found at : http://armenianholocaustmystory.blogspot.com/2013/06/armenian-genocide-truth-and-justice-act.html
Reports from British Consuls in Trabzon and Erzurum are available in the Public Record Office (National British Archives),
Mehmet Perinçek, son of the leader of Labor Party (Turkey), has found 800 pages of documents in Russian Archives relevant to Armenian issue. 150 of them have been published in Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey. A publication is expected to appear in the UK as well.
Aslan, Selma. Circassian Genocide and Raphael Lemkin. http://armenianholocaustmystory.blogspot.com/2012/05/circassian-genocide-and-raphael-lemkin.html?q=circassian
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