Open Letter to Andy Rooney, the Commentator on CBS 60 Minute Program, on “Battle over History’’, aired by CBS 60 Minute, today, Sunday at 19:00 PM, Feb. 28, 2010
Andy Rooney,
CBS 60 Minute Commentator
New York, NY
Dear Mr. Rooney,
Your commentary at the end of the 60 Minute program tonight was excellent, as usual. You were right in questioning the wisdom of including all those questions in the 2010 Census Form. I don’t know if you watched the entire 60 Minute program, especially the segment called “Battle over History”, the 10 minute segment prepared by E. Goushon and Drew Moughathan, which was full of fabricated stories, distorted facts, and not a good one. In fact, it was a disgrace to TV journalism, in which CBS is usually good at. In fact, probably the best program on TV is the “Sunday Morning” originated by Charles H Kuralt who would have never allow the showing of a one sided story on his program. Just like you questioned the Cencus Form, I would like to question the allegations in the “Battle of History”, if possible, with your help, which was more like “ Battle over History with Fabrications, Forged Documents, and Armenian Distortion of Facts”
For years, 60 Minutes has been presenting excellent segments on many subjects that the public has cherished over and over again. I still remember the segment that was presented some years ago on Ahmet Ertegun, a Turkish-American and a music mogul who made Charles Ray famous along with many African-American musicians over the years. He is now buried in a small grave in Uskudar, Istanbul, but his contributions to the American society will never be forgotten. If he had seen this segment, he would be heart-broken.
The 10 minute segment “Battle of History “, was full of fabrications, forged documents and distorted facts, as a result of which, the truth was lost. In 10 minutes, the entire Turkish nation was convicted of a crime which has never been proven in an International Court. Peter Balakian made a new revelation that 400,000 Armenians died in the Syrian lands which was once part of the Ottoman Empire, which is a fabrication. Many of the re-located Armenians did arrive in Syria and all of them were given homes, land and money. Armenians were given an option to return to Turkey in 1916 and 1917, and many did, in fact some joined the French forces and fought against the Ottoman Empire. The descendants of the re-located Armenians who chose to live in Syria and Lebanon make up a large portion of the 8 million Diaspora Armenians. These facts were not mentioned in the presentation.
Just one site was shown along the Euphrates, claiming that the bones were everywhere, which is questionable after 95 years. Perhaps they were just placed there for the program. The Turkish Ambassador Nabi Sensoy was not given an opportunity to tell the truth, since he appeared for less than a minute, and erroneouslyreferred to the re-settlement as deportations. The Hitler statement that Peter Balakian loves to state at every occasion is a total fabrication which has been proven to be false. The reference to genocide scholars is also distortion of facts since these people are self appointed individuals without any credentials to pass a judgament on what happened 95 years ago. The murder of Hrant Dink was condemned by everyone in Turkey when 100,000 Turks walked behind his coffin, including this writer.
The 10 minute segment was broadcast as a propaganda material to influence the 46 members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee before their vote on the fabricated Armenian genocide resolution on March 4, 2010. I will venture to say that, if they watched this segment, they will not believe all the falsifications and vote “NO” to the Resolution. Below is a letter that I sent to the members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and I hope you too will read it. And I hope you will have a talk with Bob Simon who shamelessly put this segment on 60 Minutes, tarnishing its reputation. It would be wise if CBS 60 Minute airs “Armenian Revolt”, a documentary made by an American, which tells the truth about the Armenian issue.
Respectfully.
Yuksel Oktay
Concerned American with Turkish Heritage and Past President,
Federation of Turkish-American Associations, NY (1973)
Saturday, 27 February 2010
Washington, NJ
Attachments:
Open Letter to the Chairman Howard L. Berman and the 46 Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on, “Battle over History’’, to be aired by CBS 60 Minute, Feb. 28, 2010
which should be referred to as:
“ Battle over History with Fabrications, Forged Documents, and Armenian Distortion of Facts”
Part II
February 27, 2010, Saturday
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— On Sun, 2/28/10, AB <[email protected]> wrote:
I just finished watching 60 Minutes on CBS. Although they tried to appear fair and giving time to both sides, as well as showing both side’s story, it was clearly one-sided and pro-Armenian. There were multiple Armenians interviewed, vs. only one Turk. The only Turk to be interviewed, former Ambassador Nabi Sensoy, was rudely interrupted twice by the CBS presenter.
CBS has shown its complete and total bias, as has PBS before them, and other channels.
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