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  • Aurora’s Sunrise

    Aurora’s Sunrise

    Copy of message sent to [email protected] on Nov. 5, 2023 in connection with the airing of Aurora’s Sunrise, a supposed documentary film, by PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) on October 23, 2023. Recipient confirmed receipt of the message, but provided no commentary.

    …………………

    Oh, Mama mia, here we go again! “Aurora’s Sunrise,” with all those phantasies and fabrications. My dear Aurora Mardiganian, My sweet heart, where are those crucified 16 young girls tormented by Ottoman soldiers? Mama mia, My my, how can I resist you, tell me more lies.

    Aurora’s Sunrise is a 1 hr. 23 min. film re-telling the story of Arshaluys (Aurora) Mardiganian, the Armenian girl who survived “Armenian genocide” at age 14 and moved to America at age 16. Her supposed memories, published in 1917 when she was 17, were turned into a book, Ravished Armenia in 1918, and later into a Hollywood movie Auction of Souls in 1919. Aurora’s Sunrise is a re-making of Auction of Souls in animated form, where she re-tells her original story. The film had its world premiere in France in June 2022, and aired by PBS, a supposedly respectable organization serving as America’s largest public media enterprise, on October 23, 2023. It was made possible – not surprisingly – with the “academic contribution” (notice the word “academic”) of the Zoryan Institute, which, together with other Armenian sources, contributed to the production of the film.

    https://www.pbs.org/pov/films/aurorasunrise

    Shamefully, Aurora’s Sunrise is peddled as a documentary film. In reality, it is a despicable mockery of history and international law, aimed at vilifying Turks as heartless barbarians. The film goes one more step than the original Auction of Souls in throwing dirt and slime on Turks. According to Aurora, crucifixion of the girls depicted in the original movie was inaccurate. The reality was far too grim, she says. “The Armenian girls were actually ordered to bend down, then raped, then they made them sit on the “kazık”(pointed wood), through the vagina. That’s the way they killed.” Crucifixion was “too civilized,” she comments. The movie contains many horrific and sickening scenes of tortured humans splattered across the countryside. The villain is the cruel, heartless Turk. At one point, she brings up the fictitious “Hitler’s Armenian quote” to support the “Armenian genocide” allegation, even though the document bearing this quote was denied as evidence during the Nuremberg trials. She says, “If Turks were punished after WW-I, Jews wouldn’t have been massacred.” Such outrageous comment, and attempting to defraud the audience!

    And at the end of the movie she maligns Kemal Atatürk, the legendary Turkish leader praised by many world leaders and honored by the United Nations and UNESCO. Atatürk is blamed for building a new Türkiye “by massacring his way across Armenian land.” She concludes that “Turks should not be really killed with guns or swords; they must be brought down to the chair,” implying death by hanging!

    Such repulsive language, not to mention grotesque distortion of truth, is almost unheard of in today’s America. The exception, of course, is the hatred-filled campaign directed against Türkiye and Turks coming from the Armenian lobby, e.g., ANCA and ARF. The Armenian lobby is not only contributing to, but also riding high on the enduring prejudice born of history and Islamophobia in America, i.e., the “Terrible Turk” versus the good, Christian Armenians. Certainly echoes of Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, who called Turks “primitive,” possessing “poisonous blood,” and President Woodrow Wilson characterizing them as “Mohammedan Apaches.” The prejudice is the result of distorted missionary reports combined with British propaganda (Wellington House) before and during First World-I. Native Americans and black Africans brough as slaves to America know such bigotry and derision too well.

    And imagine only half of such calumny is brought onto the Jews in America. The Jewish organization ADL (Anti-Defamation League) would scream in protest, and PBS would be in deep trouble. Where are the Turks and the diplomatic representatives of Türkiye to protest such hate speech and character assassination?

    The only shred of truth in Aurora’s Sunrise is that Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were a privileged group, in fact a “loyal nation,” and could afford sending their children abroad for education. Even the Foreign Minister in the Ottoman cabinet in 1913 was an Armenian named Gabriel Noradukian. But such privilege was not enough, and during World War-I the Armenians joined the invading enemy armies and attacked and sabotaged the Ottoman Army from behind, all for the glory of the Allies, chiefly the Russians. It was an armed uprising against their government. The insurrection and attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 was a measly child’s play by comparison. The Ottoman government had no choice but relocate Armenians to the south toward Syria. Only those in Eastern Anatola were subjected to Relocation orders. Armenian militants burned the city of Van, and handed the city to the advancing Russian army. Their aim was to carve out an independent Armenia in Eastern Anatolia, where the Armenian population was at most 22%. Even the Dashnak luminary Hovhannes Katchaznouni called attention to the misjudgment and blunder of the Armenian militants, and Boghos Nubar Pasha of the Paris Peace Conference fame admitted the treasonous act of the Armenian militants.

    The claimed death of 1.5 million of Armenian refugees during Relocation is a preposterous exaggeration; Turkish archives put the Armenian deaths at 56,600, 10,000 of which were killings due to lawlessness. Those that intentionally harmed Armenian refugees were punished by the Ottoman courts. Some of the punishments were death-by-hanging.

    Commander Andranik, recalled in glowing terms by Aurora, was an Ottoman traitor and mass murderer. In 1915 he was named commander of all Armenian volunteer units within the Russian army. Both Andranik and “Dro” Drastamat Kanayan, another Armenian general who later served in Nazi Germany as commander of the Armenian battalion, were war criminals, being responsible for the killing of tens of thousands of helpless and innocent Turkish and Muslim civilians. Both Andranik and “Dro” are considered patriots by Armenia and the Armenian lobby. Between 1914 and 1921 renegade Armenian bands killed 518,000 civilians in cold-blood in Anatolia. There were also 413,000 losses in the Transcaucasian region – not to mention the 1 million that perished during forced migration. Armenian atrocities were witnessed and documented by, among others, Captain E. Niles and A. Sutherland of Near East Relief and Rear Admiral Marc L. Bristol, the successor of Ambassador Henry Morgenthau as the U.S. High Commissioner to Türkiye between 1919 and 1927. The atrocities are also reported in Russian, British and French archives.

    The calamity brought upon Muslims – in particular Turkish civilians – by Armenian militias is a story untold in Europe and America, and certainly not in a fictional story championed by PBS.

    In 1985, 69 U.S. historians and researchers passed a unanimous resolution, addressed to members of the U.S. House of Representatives and published in New York Times and The Washington Post, refuting Armenian allegations. In 2011, 124 Turkish academicians signed a statement supporting the 1985 declaration.

    As for international law, suffice it say that the recognition of “Armenian genocide” clearly violates the 1948 UN Convention on Genocide, ratified or acceded to by 152 states. The U.S. ratified the Convention in 1948, Türkiye acceded, or effectively ratified, in 1950, and likewise Armenia acceded in 1993. The Convention requires (Art. 6) that “Persons charged with genocide”… shall be tried by a competent tribunal … of the State where the act was committed … or by an international penal tribunal that has the proper jurisdiction. The main takeaways from the Convention are: 1: The crime of genocide is committed by persons, not by states. 2: To recognize genocide, determination by a competent court is a must.

    Yet, with respect to the so-called “Armenian genocide,” there exists no such court determination; repeat, NONE. This contrasts with the Rwandan, Bosnian and Cambodian genocides, all of which were established and ratified by ad hoc tribunals.

    There is, of course, the claim from some Armenian sources that the Ottoman courts martial of 1919-20 issued death sentences to the leaders of the “Committee of Unity and Progress” that gave the Relocation orders, and hence responsible for Armenian deaths. But these courts, operating under the leadership of Nemrut Mustafa Pasha, were “kangaroo courts” established at the instigation of the victorious Allied Powers. They issued death sentences also to the leaders of the Nationalist Movement,“ including Mustafa Kemal. With no due process, no witnesses, no cross-examination, etc., the courts lacked credibility, and certainly did not qualify as “competent courts” referred to in the Convention. The Allies considered these courts a travesty of justice, with British High Commissioner Admiral Somerset Arthur Gough-Calthorpe writing to London on August 1, 1919, that these courts were “proving to be a farce and injurious to our own prestige.”

    The “Armenian genocide” narrative, not having the requisite determination by a competent court, raises the obvious question: Given that Türkiye does not recognize “Armenian genocide,” why Armenia, after it gained its sovereignty from the Soviet Russia in 1991, has not to date appealed to the International Court of Justice to prove its “genocide” allegations against its adversary? Same question applies to the Armenian lobby, which could have pursued a similar course by appealing to the UN for establishment of an ad hoc tribunal. Certainly, for both Armenia and the Armenian lobby the day-in, day-out propaganda, riding on the anti-Turk prejudice and Christian sensibilities, and fed by generous political campaign contributions, was far more preferrable.

    In 2003 the European Union’s Court of First Instance ruled that the “Armenian genocide” resolution passed by the European Parliament in 1987 was purely a political act – devoid of any legal validity. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled, in 2013, ratified in 2015, that “Armenian genocide,” apart from the fact that it is a controversial issue among scholars, remains unproven. It also made a distinction between the court-proven Holocaust and the 1915 events in Ottoman Turkey. In 2016 France’s Constitutional Council, while also making a distinction between the 1915 events and Holocaust, underlined that governments and parliaments have no authority to judge genocide. Repeat: parliaments and governments have no authority. All these facts, on top of the fact that the Malta Tribunal held by the British in 1919-21 resulted in the conviction of not a single high Ottoman government official charged with killing of Armenians; all 144 detainees were released. And the UN, on three separate occasions in 2000, 2007 and 2015, stated unequivocally that it has not taken a position on “Armenian genocide,” i.e., it does not recognize such “genocide.” As late as April 22, 2021, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, issued a statement that the crime of genocide must be decided by a relevant court, i.e., determinaton by a relevent (competent) court is a must, not an option.

    So, what do we say about the “Armenian genocide” resolution passed by the U.S. Congress in 2019, plus President Biden’s recognition of the “genocide” since 2021? They are simply worthless declarations, or opinions, but carrying much political garbage against Türkiye. Forget about seeking the views of the opposing Turkish side; the law-abiding Congressmen and women didn’t even bother to question the authenticity of “Armenian genocide” or consider the international legal ramifications of the resolution they voted on. They simply rubber-stamped what was put in fronth of them by the Armenian lobby. The passage of the resolution by both the House and Senate in 2019 was driven by a mob mentality charged with political undercurrents and a sense of recrimination against an unfavored, barely tolerable, NATO ally. In the Senate, the all-time-high Türkiye critic Robert Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, now indicted on a number federal charges, even shed tears when the resolutıon passed. Oh, Mama mia, all these tears, how sad! Likewise, Biden couldn’t resist saying “genocide.” Bigotry comes cheap. There were also generous campaign contributions from the Armenian side to consider.

    As for PBS, this is not the first time it succumbed to Armenian lobby’s pressure to besmirch Türkiye and Turks. There were at least four previous productions aired by PBS that brought up the prejudicial “Armenian genocide” issue. The last one, aired on April 17, in 2006, titled Armenian Genocide, pulled out all the stops to demonize Turks and please Armenians. Playing the religion card, it mocked not only history and international law, at the beginning it showed a macabre image of a pyramid of human skulls, to make the audience think that these were the remains of Armenian victims killed by murderous Turks. In reality, it was “The Apotheosis of War,” a mid-19th century painting by Russian war artist Vasily Vereshchagin. The scheme to fool the audience obviously did not bother the producer. Not surprisingly, the film was bankrolled by more than 30 largely Armenian foundations in America. Despite appeals from the Turkish side, PBS also declined to air, as a balancing act, another film, The Armenian Revolt, that gives a balanced presentation of the Turkish-Armenian conflict. Because it refuted “Armenian genocide,” PBS wouldn’t air it. So much about being “open minded” by America’s largest public media enterprise!

    Mama mia, Mama mia, Aurora Mardiganian, the virtuous Christian girl; tell me more lies, tell me more about those “gavur” (infidel) Turks … History, international law, decency and humanity have gone berserk; hatred and dishonesty have taken over. Ethnic harmony in America is at stake. America, where LAW is the king, and “due process” for the accused is a right. When the Congress and Biden recognized “Armenian genocide,” not a single soul sought the opinion of the accused side. Obviously, politically motivated accusations don’t have to comply with such legal niceties! Armenian fabrications, and Türkiye and-Turk-bashing in America started more than a century ago, and are still continuing today almost unabated. Between 1973 and 1987 the Armenian ASALA and JCAG terrorist groups committed 239 acts of terrorism that resulted in the massacre of at least 70 and the wounding of 524 innocent people. Some of the terrorism took place on U.S. soil. Of the dead, 58 were Turkish, of which 31 were diplomats. These were hate crimes motivated by hate-mongering propaganda from the Armenian side; a propaganda that is disgracefully supported by PBS – a supposedly educational media that “helps prepare children for success in school.” What a hypocrisy!

    Ferruh Demirmen, Ph.D.

    November 5, 2023

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    https://www.turkishnews.com/tr/content/2023/11/23/kin-ve-nefret-iceren-yeni-ermeni-filmi/
  • The Palaiologos family

    The Palaiologos family

    The Palaiologos family was a Byzantine Greek imperial family that ruled the Byzantine Empire from the 11th century until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. They held the throne for over two centuries. The last reigning member of the Palaiologos dynasty was Constantine XI Palaiologos.

    By the 14th century, the Ottoman Turks were rapidly expanding their empire, encroaching upon Byzantine territory. The Byzantines, under the rule of the Palaiologos family, found themselves in a precarious position, struggling to defend their lands against the rising power of the Ottomans.

    One of the pivotal moments came in 1354 when the Byzantine Emperor John V Palaiologos sought Ottoman assistance against rival factions within his own empire. While the Ottomans helped him regain his throne, they gradually gained influence and control over Byzantine affairs.

    Over the years, the Byzantine Empire continued to decline, facing internal divisions and external pressures. The Ottomans exploited these weaknesses, launching military campaigns and gradually capturing Byzantine territories.

    In 1453, the Ottoman Turks, led by Mehmed II, besieged Constantinople. Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last Byzantine Emperor, fought bravely during the defense of the city. However, on May 29, 1453, the Ottomans breached the walls of Constantinople, leading to the fall of the city. According to historical accounts, Constantine XI died in battle, fighting on the front lines. The fate of his body is not entirely clear, and there are different accounts of what happened to it.

    After the fall of Constantinople, members of the Palaiologos family faced various fates. Some were captured by the Ottomans, while others managed to escape and sought refuge in other parts of Europe. The diaspora of Byzantine nobility contributed to the spread of Greek culture and learning during the Renaissance.

    The fall of Constantinople in 1453 marked the end of the Byzantine Empire, and the Ottoman Empire replaced it as the dominant power in the region. The Palaiologos family’s political influence came to an end with the fall of Constantinople, and its surviving members scattered throughout Europe.

    Source: Wikipedi, Patrick S., Britannica

  • Azeri Paper Attacks Sassounian for Saying that Azerbaijan Wastes billions on Lobbying

    Azeri Paper Attacks Sassounian for Saying that Azerbaijan Wastes billions on Lobbying

    Last week, I was asked by Alpha News TV to comment on the U.S. Senate’s decision, by a unanimous vote of 100 to 0, to suspend for two years Pres. Joe Biden’s authority to waive Section 907 of the United States Freedom Support Act which prohibits providing assistance to Azerbaijan. Should the House of Representatives also approve this bill, it would then go to the President for his signature which would make it a law. Since 1992, all U.S. presidents, including Pres. Biden in the last two years, have waived Section 907, thus providing tens of millions of dollars of aid to Azerbaijan.

    The Senate’s decision angered Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry which described it as a blow to Armenia-Azerbaijan relations and cancelled its participation in the planned Washington talks between the foreign ministers of the two countries on Nov. 20.

    During my interview with Alpha News, I stated that not a single U.S. Senator objected to the anti-Azerbaijan bill, despite Azerbaijan hiring multiple large lobbying firms to defend its interests in Washington. This means that Azerbaijan has wasted tens of millions of dollars in the last two decades paying for these useless lobbying firms. I would like to add that the person directly responsible for overseeing the work of these lobbying firms is Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Washington, Khazar Ibrahim. Therefore, any government that becomes aware of the waste of such large amounts of money would immediately fire its Ambassador. If Pres. Aliyev does not dismiss Amb. Ibrahim, then he himself would be just as responsible for the waste of millions of dollars on worthless lobbying firms which have not been able to convince a single Senator out of 100 to vote in favor of Azerbaijan’s interests.

    Within days of my interview with Alpha News, Azerbaijan’s first English language newspaper, AzerNews, published a lengthy article titled, “Bribing congressmen, Armenian lobby poses threat to future of Yerevan,” attacking me personally for saying that Azerbaijan has wasted millions of dollars on lobbying. This is what shameless people do when they accuse others of doing things they are guilty of.

    The whole world knows about Azerbaijan’s notorious Caviar Diplomacy and Azerbaijani Laundromat, bribing politicians throughout Europe with billions of dollars to cast votes in favor of Azerbaijan in order to whitewash Azerbaijan’s severe human rights violations and its fraudulent presidential elections.

    Shamelessly, AzerNews falsely states that “Armenia’s lobby organizations abroad, pour millions or perhaps billions into the pockets of congressmen, of course, baseless and biased opinions against Azerbaijan will be voiced from the West.”

    There are several grave errors in the above sentence. First of all, the Armenian government has not hired a single U.S. lobbying firm simply because it does not have the huge amount of petrodollars that Azerbaijan has which it wastes on lobbying firms in Washington, instead of taking care of its poor people at home. Secondly, Armenian-American organizations do not have millions, let alone billions of dollars to “pour into the pockets of congressmen.” Armenian-Americans do not need to bribe anyone. When your cause is just, you do not need to pay bribes to convince anyone of the truth. Only when you commit massive crimes, as Azerbaijan and Turkey repeatedly do, you need to spend millions and billions of dollars to cover up your crimes.

    AzerNews went on to incriminate Azerbaijan, saying that Baku “is not only interested in participating in this auction of finding partnerships that Armenia is lavishly doing now.” Even though the sentence is not grammatically correct, the Azeri writer seems to admit that Azerbaijan is eager to bribe foreign officials. This is a useless statement since Azerbaijan has been bribing foreign officials for years.

    Azerbaijan should be the last country in the world to cast aspersions on Armenia or any other country, since Baku is led by a dictator who jails journalists and human rights activists, and his soldiers commit the ugliest war crimes, such as rapes and beheadings. Azerbaijan invaded Artsakh and committed genocide against its Armenian population. Furthermore, Ramil Safarov, an Azeri soldier, during a NATO-sponsored training seminar in Hungary, chopped the head of a sleeping Armenian soldier with an axe. After Pres. Aliyev bribed the Hungarian government to release him from prison, he pardoned him and recognized him as a national hero.

    I commend AzerNews for tracking all the way from Baku my interview in Glendale, California, and writing a baseless and false response. The writer of the article, Elnur Enveroglu, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of AzerNews, went to great lengths to find not only my TV interview, but also to translate it from Armenian into English.

  • NYC Mayor Attended 80 Events In 8 Years Related to Turkey

    NYC Mayor Attended 80 Events In 8 Years Related to Turkey

    Three weeks ago, when I first wrote about FBI’s investigation of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ campaign links to Turkey, I did not realize that this will be the opening of Pandora’s box.

    Last week, Adams created a defense fund to raise money to pay the legal expenses for the expanding federal probe into his 2021 election campaign. The law permits Adams to receive donations up to $5,000. However, he must disclose the names and addresses of all donors.

    According to the New York Post, “Federal authorities are investigating whether the Turkish government or Turkish citizens illegally funneled donations to Adams’ campaign by using ‘straw donors’ — a scheme where contributors listed in official records aren’t the actual source of funding — and whether Adams did quid-pro-quo favors.”

    Multiple sources told the New York Post: “the Adams administration staffer who was found to have allegedly ‘acted improperly’ amid the federal corruption probe into his campaign fundraising worked in the city’s Office for International Affairs before abruptly being placed on leave.” The Mayor’s office confirmed the information.

    That person is Rana Abbasova who was the Mayor’s Director of Protocol. Originally from Azerbaijan, she performed advanced planning and logistics for mayoral events and traveled with him. Her annual salary is $80,651. The Post was told that she lied to federal investigators.

    Abbasova previously served as community coordinator and advisor to Adams when he was Brooklyn borough President. Her biography states that: “She was responsible for international relations and maintaining relationships between the Borough President and stakeholders, including the Middle East and Central Asian countries, Muslim and Russian-speaking communities, and Non-profit organizations. She also worked with Embassies and Consulates to build relationships between countries and the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President to help overcome language barriers and cultural differences. She also organized Turkic Heritage events and assisted with Sister Cities agreements. Abbasova was also an administrative assistant for Adams’ One Brooklyn Fund, Inc. when he was still borough President.”

    The City news website reported that in April 2017, Abbasova arranged a meeting between borough President Adams and the Turken Foundation, founded by Pres. Erdogan’s son, Bilal. Three of Turken’s board members contributed a total of $6,000 to the Mayor’s campaign. His schedule shows that he attended four Turken events. Turken is registered as a foreign agent with the Department of Justice.

    Abbasova arranged for Adams at least three “meetings and events related to Turkey when he was borough president, a review of his schedule shows. Among them was a 2015 grand opening celebration for a Turkish restaurant in Brooklyn, which she marked as ‘important.’”

    POLITICO reported that as Brooklyn borough President, Adams “attended nearly 80 events over eight years celebrating Turkey — including a flag-raising in 2015, a charity ball in 2018 and a Zoom meeting with the Turkish consul in 2020.”

    After reviewing thousands of Adams’ public schedules and many social media posts, POLITICO revealed his “unusually strong relationship with Turkey, which has drawn scrutiny from federal investigators.” In 2019, as Adams “was embarking on a run for New York City mayor, he joined Martha Stewart at a gala celebrating Turkish Airlines — a company now caught up in an ongoing FBI probe into Adams’ campaign finances. At the event, Adams was photographed holding hands with two company officials over a sheet cake; after winning the mayor’s race, he appointed one of those officials — Cenk Ocal — to his transition team.” The CNN reported that on Nov. 2, the home of a Turkish Airlines executive was among the locations raided by the FBI.

    POLITICO’s analysis of Adams’ Brooklyn Borough schedules turned up three mentions of the Turkish airlines: Two planned banquets celebrating the carrier in 2019 and 2020, and a cryptic entry on Oct. 2, 2015 that simply read: “Reschedule 4 p.m. Turkish airline. Rana [Abbasova] my gifts.”

    Daniel Nigro, then New York City Fire Commissioner, was pressured by Adams to permit, despite safety concerns, the opening of a high-rise building that housed the Turkish consulate, just in time for the arrival of Pres. Erdogan. Nigro received a grand jury subpoena and spoke to FBI agents.

    After becoming Mayor last year, Adams made virtual remarks at a real estate conference in Istanbul, which was attended by two top city officials. However, the Mayor’s participation was left out of his daily public schedule and not reported.

    In addition to the home of the fundraiser for the Mayor’s campaign, the FBI raided or conducted interviews at a dozen locations as part of its investigations of campaign contributions from Turkish sources, CNN reported.

    In 2022, “Adams took two trips to Turkey — one in August funded by multiple entities including the Turkish consulate, according to a financial disclosure obtained by POLITICO. Local news outlet THE CITY recently reported Turkish Airlines also chipped in for that trip, but that was omitted from the required annual disclosure. Four months later, the financial disclosure shows, an organization called the Association of Young Tourism Leaders funded another trip to Turkey for Adams. The junkets were among a half-dozen trips the mayor has said he made to the country, including a 2017 sojourn with his son, Jordan,” according to POLITICO.

    While visiting Turkey as Brooklyn Borough President, Adams said that he was interested in buying a house in Istanbul, according to the Turkish Sabah newspaper. Adams also said that he is so satisfied with Turkish Airlines that he not only uses that carrier to fly to Turkey, but also to other parts of the world, like India.

  • Is Urartu Armenian in origin?

    Is Urartu Armenian in origin?

    No, the Urartu, probably the source of the biblical placeholder Ararat, despite sharing an anachronistic geographical overlap with the Armenians, are not related to them. The Urartu had a written language in cuneiform script and that language is not Indo-European, the group Armenian is in, or Semitic or Sumerian-related. After long time belief that it is a language isolate or at best had been related to some proto-Caucasian, as a result of coincidence, it has lately been detected as closely resembling the highly complex North Caucasian language Chechen, widely spoken today in Chechnya, Ingushetia and Daghestan.

    Mr. Mehmet Kushman, an ethnic Chechen Turkish national, who convinced the archeological group after seeing them transliterate cuneiform to give it a go at modern Chechen language. After striking similarities detected between the two, the security guard dedicated his life to learning cuneiform, Assyrian and Urartu language and became one of the leading experts in Urartu culture. He is the carbon Rosetta stone of Urartu inscriptions.

    Kutluk Ozguven on Quora

  • After Scrutinizing NYC Mayor’s Campaign, FBI is Delving into his Links to Turkey

    After Scrutinizing NYC Mayor’s Campaign, FBI is Delving into his Links to Turkey

    The FBI has now expanded its investigation of the alleged illegal fundraising links between New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ campaign and Turkish officials and individuals.

    I reported last week that the FBI had raided the home of the Mayor’s campaign fundraiser, seizing three iPhones, two computers and various files. Boyd Johnson, an attorney retained by Adams, said that after the raid, “it was discovered that an individual had recently acted improperly.”

    Since then, the FBI unexpectedly stopped the Mayor in the street and took his two cellphones and iPad, after obtaining a search warrant from the court. The FBI copied the contents of his electronic devices and returned them to the Mayor. Adams cancelled a planned trip to Puerto Rico to attend an important political conference.

    There are three significant aspects to this latest development:

    1)    The Federal Government is getting closer to investigating the personal links between the Mayor and Turkish officials and individuals who may have made illegal contributions to his political campaign.

    2)    In order to obtain a search warrant from the court, the FBI had to present to the judge credible evidence of possible wrongdoing by the Mayor or his campaign. A similar warrant was obtained from court before searching the home of the Mayor’s fundraiser last week.

    3)    The reason the Mayor was unexpectedly stopped in the street to take his electronic devices was to prevent him from having the opportunity to delete or alter information on his devices.

    The New York Times reported on Nov. 12, 2023, that the FBI is “examining whether Adams cleared Red Tape for the Turkish government.” According to the news report, “after winning the 2021 Democratic Mayoral primary, Eric Adams successfully pressed [New York] city officials to allow the opening of a Manhattan high-rise building housing the Turkish Consulate.”

    The New York Times revealed that “the Federal authorities are investigating whether Mayor Eric Adams weeks before his election two years ago, pressured New York Fire Department officials to sign off on the Turkish government’s new high-rise consulate in Manhattan despite safety concerns with the building, three people with knowledge of the matter said.”

    The New York Times added: “After winning the Democratic mayoral primary in July, Adams contacted then-Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro in late summer 2021 and urged him to allow the Turkish government to occupy the building at least on a temporary basis. The building had yet to open because fire officials had cited safety issues and declined to sign off on its occupancy, the people said…. The building is still operating under a temporary certificate of occupancy, records show.”

    The Mayor’s intervention made it possible for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “to preside over the grand opening of the $300 million, 35-story tower on his September 2021 visit to New York for the U.N. General Assembly, despite numerous flaws in its fire safety system, according to the people familiar with the matter and city records,” according to The New York Times.

    “The federal criminal inquiry has focused at least in part on whether Adams’ 2021 campaign conspired with the Turkish government, including its consulate general in New York, to illegally funnel foreign money into its coffers, according to a search warrant obtained by The New York Times for an F.B.I. search this month of the home of the mayor’s chief fund-raiser…. Adams’ ties to the Turkish government and community stretch back years. As Brooklyn borough president, he actively wooed wealthy members of the Turkish community in south Brooklyn. In August 2015, the Turkish consulate in New York paid for Adams’ airfare, hotel and ground transportation for a trip to Turkey, according to financial disclosure records. There, Adams signed a sister-city agreement with Istanbul’s Uskudar municipality, one of several he executed with foreign cities he traveled to as borough president. He also visited Bahcesehir University, founded by the same Turkish philanthropist who founded Bay Atlantic University in Washington, D.C.,” The New York Times reported.

    Furthermore, the FBI is investigating “the role of KSK Construction, a Brooklyn building company owned by Turkish immigrants that organized a fund-raising event for Adams on May 7, 2021. On that day, 48 donors, including the company’s owners, employees and their families, along with others in the construction and real estate industries, donated $43,600, Adams’ campaign reports show. Those contributions enabled him to obtain another $48,000 in public matching funds for a total of nearly $92,000,” according to The New York Times.

    Three American members of the board of the Turken Foundation, which was founded by Bilal Erdogan, the son of President Erdogan, donated $6,000 to Adams’ campaign between 2018 and 2021, according to The City website. The foundation is registered as a foreign agent with the U.S. Department of Justice.

    Oddly, Eric Adams, then-Brooklyn borough president, played himself in a 2017 Turkish romantic comedy film, ‘Fairytale of New York,’ where two Turkish men ask him for political favors but he says he can’t understand them. Adams tells the Turks in the film: “Brooklyn loves Turkey. Brooklyn is the Istanbul of America. We love your food, we love your music, but I don’t understand Turkish, we can take a selfie though.”