{"id":14094,"date":"2009-08-09T04:47:30","date_gmt":"2009-08-09T02:47:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=14094"},"modified":"2023-04-05T10:33:32","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T07:33:32","slug":"ambassador-kamuran-gurun-passed-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2009\/08\/09\/ambassador-kamuran-gurun-passed-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Ambassador Kamuran G\u00fcr\u00fcn passed away"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

ERMENI SORUNUNDA SON DERECE DETAYLI ARASTIRMALARI YAPAN VE PEK COGUMUZUN KULLANDIGI BILGILERI DEVSIREN SAYIN KAMURAN GURUN’UN ONUNDE HURMETLE EGILIR VE MEKANININ CENNET OLMASINI YUCE TANRIDAN DILERIZ<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

DR. KAYAALP BUYUKATAMAN<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

BASKAN, TURKISH FORUM<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n

KAMURAN GURUN<\/h1>\n<\/td>\n

<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
Wednesday, July 21 2004 @ 07:25 AM Central Daylight Time<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
By Gunduz Aktan<\/p>\n

Ambassador Gurun has sadly passed away. With his exemplary career and his abiding influence, undoubtedly he was one of the pillars to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of his generation, and ours.<\/p>\n

He was my first ambassador at my first post abroad, namely, the Turkish delegation to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). He arrived in mid-1970 from Bucharest, his first ambassadorial post. He was then barely 50-years-of-age. We were taking over economic representation from the Ministry of Finance, which had snatched them from us in the heat of the May 27 coup. Naturally, our colleagues from that ministry had been somewhat restless. They were afraid that the new ambassador would seek revenge.<\/p>\n

None of their fears materialized. He was an ambassador of all and for all. He treated everybody equally. Indeed, they were better off than us as they were treated as our guests. His convictions were deeply conservative, yet he was open-minded and liberal towards his staff. The first thing he did was to liberalize working hours. People were free to-come-and-go. They were responsible only for the work they did.<\/p>\n

I served for two years as his assistant at the Council and Executive committee meetings. I used to prepare his file by collecting information sheets from those who were in charge of the committees, together with the documents of the agenda. He used to receive a-half-hour briefing, either from me or a much longer one from others, depending on importance.<\/p>\n

He used to read fast, indeed, there was a rumor that he understood diagonal reading. He quickly grasped the gist of the matter and he hated verbiage. Yet I remember no one whose sermon was interrupted in staff meetings. Instead, our own show of impatience had been the subject of rebuke. For him, one ought to realize one’s own mistakes.<\/p>\n

He was laconic. He used to speak in a low voice with an anxious countenance, yet he was outspoken. He addressed the council the same way as he conversed with individuals. Although his French was very good, he never tried to pronounce like the French. He used to tease those who were infatuated with public address.<\/p>\n

Turkey was the poorest OECD member. It was there mainly due to being a member of NATO, in other words, for geo-strategic reasons. Our contribution to debates and to the work of the organization was constrained by this situation. Soon he felt frustrated and wanted an important bilateral post — and Athens was being vacated.<\/p>\n

While there an unfortunate event occured. While he was with Greek friends on a yacht in the Adriatic Sea, the Turkish military intervention in Cyprus began, he was later blamed for the consequences. Furthermore, he was accused of asking for permission to burn classified correspondence in case of an outbreak of war between Turkey and Greece. Those who were weary with his renowned courage took advantage of the situation and depicted him as a coward.<\/p>\n

Back in Ankara the illustrious part of his career seemed at an end, yet destiny had something new for him. The Sept. 12 administration made him secretary-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As expected, he did not condescend to avenge anybody. He tried hard to save the ministry from possible damage from the personnel reform carried out by the then administration. He was all alone in this enterprise. The traditional title of secretary-general was abolished and replaced by under-secretary, formally undermining the privileged status of the ministry when compared to others. The corresponding level of minister counselor was also lowered from director-general to assistant director-general. Such was the interpretation of the day, the military apparently wanted to have a unique position in the State structure, shunning the rivalry of the ministry.<\/p>\n

Once again frustrated, he was seemingly dispatched as ambassador to our embassy in Bonn, West Germany. However, they committed another mistake by not asking for his prior agreement. He refused and left the government service.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, along with his heavy work-load as secretary-general, he achieved the unachievable; he wrote a book on the Armenian question, prompted by the Armenian murders of Turkish diplomats. A long-awaited response by Turkey to the Armenian allegations, the book entitled “Armenian File” treated the subject fairly and humanely, while shattering the genocide myth.<\/p>\n

Upon retirement, he wrote columns in newspapers. As was his style, they were simple, curt and to the point. I guess he had few readers, but that would not have been his concern in the least. He was one of the few ambassadors who wrote history rather than patchy anecdotes about our strange career. In his magnum opus, a trilogy on Turkish foreign policy, he was scholarly, but never intellectual.<\/p>\n

Above all, he was a man of integrity and honesty; rare commodities of our time.<\/p>\n

Together with Mrs. Gencay Gurun, who was a former diplomat herself, they made a formidable couple representing a misrepresented country.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

July 20, 2004 <\/a><\/p>\n

By Denis Ojalvo<\/h3>\n

The protagonist of Turkish-Jewish ties in the post 1980 military intervention era, former Undersecretary of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Kamuran G\u00fcr\u00fcn passed away.
\nBy Denis Ojalvo
\n<\/strong>
\nIn July 1980, Israel declared Jerusalem as its capital. In August, the Turkish government suspended the activities of its General Consulate in that city.<\/strong>
\nOn the 12th of September 1980, the Turkish army took control of the state in order to prevent an imminent civil war which, was about to be triggered by the daily clashes of left and rightwing militants.
\nThe National Security Council (NSC) consisting of the top military establishment of Turkey, appointed Ambassador Ilter T\u00fcrkmen as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador Kamuran G\u00fcr\u00fcn as his undersecretary.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In his book titled Tumultuous Years – memoirs of an Undersecretary published in 1995, Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn provides his readers with first hand and most authoritative information regarding the debut of Turkey’s ties with the American Jewish Establishment.<\/p>\n

Since the assassination of its diplomats by an Armenian avenger in Los Angeles in 1973, the Turkish foreign policy making has been under the mortgage of genocide allegations by the Armenian Diaspora who has been pressing for the recognition as such, of the mass deportations and killings of Armenians which took place in 1915 in the Ottoman Empire’s Eastern Anatolian provinces. <\/strong><\/p>\n

On the 15th of July 1974, The Greek Cypriot national Guards led by Nikos Sampson, made a coup in order to annex the island to Greece. This prompted an intervention by the Turkish military on the 19th of July, which lasted until the 22nd. Having obtained no tangible result, The Turkish military made a second landing on the 14th of August and took control of the northern part of the island.<\/p>\n

The Greek Americans mobilized their lobbying skills in order to drive the Turkish forces out of the island.<\/strong> By the same token, the Armenians jumped in the wagon and together with the Greek Lobby formed one of the most formidable Anti-Turkish fronts thwarting all American congressional resolutions regarding Turkey.<\/p>\n

Turkey’s efforts to deal with this phenomenon by enlisting the support of the Jewish Lobby date back to 1974 when the Governor of Istanbul Mr. Vefa Poyraz, upon instructions received from the government, established contact with the notables of the Turkish Jewish community and asked them to take part in Turkey’s efforts to explain the reasons of Turkey’s intervention in Cyprus.<\/p>\n

In the mean time on the 17th and 18th of December 1974, the Greek Lobby managed to have both the Congress and Senate vote a resolution on an arms embargo on Turkey. This resolution was effective as per the 5th of February 1975.<\/p>\n

The Armenian Lobby took advantage of the conjuncture and managed to have the Congress and Senate pass joint Resolution No. 148 on the 9th of April, designing April 24, 1975, as “National Day of Remembrance of Man’s Inhumanity to Man”.<\/p>\n

Jak kamhi and Fred Burla, two Jewish industrialists took part in the task force sponsored by the Turkish Industrialists Union which visited the USA on 6-16 September 1975 for lobbying against the arms embargo.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Below is a summary of Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn’s contacts with The Jewish Lobby and the involvement of Turkish Jews in Turkey’s lobbying efforts, as reported in his previously mentioned memoirs.<\/p>\n

When he took office as under-secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn inherited an even bleaker situation owing to the fact that on top of Turkey’s occupation of Northern Cyprus and Armenian Genocide allegations, he had to advocate the legitimacy of the newly established military regime in Turkey.<\/p>\n

Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn was seeking the support of the West against the raging Armenian terrorism which, in a span of 11 years from 1973 to 1984 claimed the lives of 41 Turkish diplomats and consular staff.<\/strong> In that scope, he thought that it was important to organize the Turkish Diaspora, especially the one in the USA, and establish a Turkish lobby which would explain to the world public opinion Turkey’s points of view on the afore mentioned subjects.<\/p>\n

Following the military intervention of September 12th 1980, Mordo Dinar, a Turkish lawyer and member of the Turkish Jewish community, contacted Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn in Ankara on his own initiative and proposed to organize meetings with the press and the audio-visual media.<\/strong> Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn contacted the Turkish Ambassador Adnan Bulak in Paris and asked him to cooperate with Mordo Dinar.<\/p>\n

Mordo Dinar who covered his own expenses, managed to block the broadcasting of certain French Television programs which, were unfavorable to Turkey. He was present during all meetings with the members of the Jewish Lobby, the following year in New York.<\/p>\n

According To Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn, Mordo Dinar and Jak Kamhi have been the first two persons with whom The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs cooperated in order to explain the Turkish point of view especially in France and the USA, in order to forestall the adverse currents regarding Turkey.<\/p>\n

Jak Kamhi was the person who found the lawyer who represented Turkey in the case of the Orly Massacre perpetrated by Armenian terrorists.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn established that the center of the Anti-Turkish activities sponsored by the Armenians was the American Congress in Washington. And that the Armenians were trying to enlist the Jewish Lobby to back their efforts.<\/p>\n

It was again, Jak Kamhi who through the Turkish Jewish and the American Jewish Communities, prevented the Armenians from taking part in the Holocaust Museum and who fulfilled an important role in the establishment of a Task Force of non-governmental prominent figures.<\/p>\n

Few people know the unforgettable services rendered by these two friends of ours.<\/p>\n

Mordo Dinar and Jak Kamhi deserve a great “Thank You”.
\n<\/strong>
\nOn the 12th of February 1982 a delegation of the Jewish Community in Turkey led by the Chief Rabbi David Asseo and whose participants were Jak Kamhi, Jak Veissid and Eliezer Kohen visited the Head of the State General Evren.<\/p>\n

Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn prepared a report for the NSC meeting which, had to take place on the 18th of March 1982. One of the topics on the agenda was whether to allow the Jews of Turkey to participate to international Jewish gatherings.<\/strong> It was judged that the Turkish Jews provided proof they could lobby on behalf of Turkey in those forums. The head of State, General Evren, opened the matter for discussion. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Ilter Turkmen opposed the granting of a permission to Turkish Jews to participate to the meetings of the World Jewish Congress on the grounds that this would harm the relations between Turkey and the Arabs.<\/p>\n

Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn paid a visit to General Evren on the 24th of March 1982, before traveling to the USA where he was to meet with Jewish organizations. It was agreed between the two that his contacts would be kept secret for the time being. In his meetings with Jewish Organizations, Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn emphasized Turkey’s will to cooperate with these against terrorism and informed them on the allegations of Genocide made by the Armenians and their efforts to hide behind Jewish organizations. The Jewish organizations asserted that they would not contest historic events, but that they were ready to back Turkey and cooperate against terrorism.<\/p>\n

Mordo Dinar had a meeting organized by the vice-president of the International Law Society, Mr. Seymour Rubin (a Jew) where columnists from the New York Times, the Washington Post, Newsweek, Foreign Policy as well as commentators of the TV chain CBS participated along with specialists of the Middle east Institute.<\/strong> That meeting provided Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn with the opportunity to answer many questions regarding Turkey and its foreign policy, including the Armenian issue.<\/p>\n

Following Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn’s journey which lasted until the 1st of May, on the 21st, took place a meeting of the NSC where General Evren asked whether it was appropriate to allow Turkish Jews to participate in World Jewry’s meetings. This time the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Mr. Ilter T\u00fcrkmen) did not oppose and General Evren gave the necessary instructions to the office of the Prime Minister who in its turn instructed the Governor of Istanbul accordingly on the 27th of May 1982.<\/p>\n

After the meeting, some participants asked the minister why he denied that permission during the previous meeting. The minister replied that he was opposed to contacts with the Jewish Lobby.<\/p>\n

Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn emphasized that the existential question Turks have to ask themselves is who would take advantage and who would be harmed by the weakening or dismemberment of Turkey? He points that in the setting of those days it would be difficult to assume that Russia, Bulgaria,Greece, Syria and Iraq would care. That Iran, Saudi Arabia and Jordan would be indifferent.<\/p>\n

The ones that would be nervous and unwilling\u00a0to see Turkey weaken would be the USA and as strange as that may seem, Israel.<\/strong> Therefore, Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn suggested a NSC meeting to be convened in order to determine the interests of Turkey and fix the principal guidelines of its foreign policy.<\/p>\n

Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn pointed on two means for handling the Armenian Question, and the Kurdish Question when this one is likely to manifest itself. These are:<\/p>\n

1- To fulfill all of Turkey’s necessary obligations at the national level<\/strong><\/p>\n

2- Given that Turkey is unable to achieve its goals all alone, to seek partners which share the same perspective and goals with Turkey at the conceptual and operational levels.<\/strong>
\nHe concluded that the only natural ally against the powerful Greek and Armenian Lobbies is the (American) Jewish Lobby.<\/strong>
\nUnder the given circumstances, taking advantage of the Jewish Lobby becomes a matter of national interest. Turkey cannot sit and watch, given the danger of dismemberment, just not to offend the Arabs. The interests of Turkey take precedence above any other thing.<\/p>\n

Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn pointed to the fact that the American Congress is abundant of Anti-Turkey propaganda and that if Turkey antagonized with the Jewish Lobby, not one decision favorable to Turkey would pass the Congress.<\/p>\n

He remarked that the Jewish Lobby was able to assert its will on the German Government, provide anxiety to the French, and fight with the Russian. In his opinion, what makes things move is not Israel but the Jewish Lobby<\/strong>. Turkey doesn’t need to contact this lobby officially to enlist its support. This could easily be done by Turkish Citizens (Turkish Jews). That is the reason why Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn has been in favor of allowing the representatives of the Turkish Jewish Community participate to the meetings of the World Jewish Congress.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the Ministry reprimanded Turkish Americans for criticizing with an advertisement a plot against Israeli diplomats drawing parallels to plots perpetrated by Armenian terrorists against Turkish Diplomats. Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn thought that this reprimand by the Turkish Foreign Ministry was misplaced.<\/p>\n

On the 5th of May 1982, Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn submitted the NSC a report of 61 pages regarding his contacts abroad.<\/strong> He was received by the Head of State and told by the Secretary General of the NSC, General Necdet Urug, that all his oral and written suggestions were agreed with. His suggestions would be discussed in a meeting of the NSC to which would participate Ambassadors Sukru Elekdag of Washington, Coskun Kirca of New York and Adnan Bulak of Paris. The NSC meeting took place on the 21st of May 1982 and Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn read the “Reflections and remarks” part of his report. Ambassador Elekdag underlined the importance of the Jewish Lobby and stressed the necessity of establishing contacts with that lobby and the Israeli ambassador. Thus, Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn became aware of existing restrictive instructions on this subject. Ambassador Coskun Kirca mentioned Arab countries’ attitudes vis-\u00e0-vis Turkey at the United Nations and stressed the importance of the Jewish Lobby. In conclusion, the Head of State affirmed that it was in Turkey’s interest to take advantage of the Jewish Lobby.<\/p>\n

In his meeting with General Urug (Secretary General of the NSC), the latter told Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn that nobody until then thought about organizing a Task Force (consisting of non-governmental prominent figures) and lobbying organizations, and that if he could institutionalize this subject, he would have rendered the country a big service. General Urug requested Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn to commit himself to this task meticulously.<\/p>\n

Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn was received by the Head of State on the 8th of September 1982. In that meeting, he informed the latter of his divergences of opinion with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Ilter T\u00fcrkmen, which caused communication problems.<\/p>\n

These were:<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

1-<\/strong> That the Minister of Foreign Affairs opined that the Head of State should take part at the Islamic Conference without the presence of Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2-<\/strong> That the Minister of Foreign Affairs thought that Turkey’s relations with Israel should be suspended, whereas Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn was against such a measure.<\/strong><\/p>\n

3-<\/strong> That the Minister of Foreign Affairs was against a cooperation with the Jewish Lobby, but that Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn was in favor of such relations.<\/strong><\/p>\n

4-<\/strong> That since Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn’s points of view were met favorably (by the NSC), the Minister ceased discussing those points with him.
\nIn conclusion, we know that the points of view of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Ilter T\u00fcrkmen prevailed on those of Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn and that his endeavours did not come to fruition during his tenure as undersecretary of state.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, that policy would change with the accession of Prime Minister Turgut \u00d6zal to power on the 13th of December 1983.<\/p>\n

From 1984 onwards, the relations between Turkey and the Jewish Lobby were nurtured. The culmination of the mutual efforts to enhance cooperation between the parties was the celebration of the Quincentennial (in 1992) of the welcoming of Spanish Jews who were expulsed from their country, in Turkish lands.<\/p>\n

The Turkish Jewish Community contributed its share to those relations with the blessing of consecutive American governments since then.
\n<\/strong>
\nThose relations led to a strategic partnership between Turkey and Israel in 1996.<\/p>\n

Both the Turkish and Israeli governments should not spare their efforts for safeguarding that precious relationship which took so much toil to achieve.
\n<\/strong>
\nWe respectfully bow in front of the memory of this outstanding diplomat with exceptional foresight, H.E. Ambassador G\u00fcr\u00fcn, the protagonist of renewed Turkish-Jewish ties, and send our condolences to his loved ones.<\/strong>
\nDenis Ojalvo<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ERMENI SORUNUNDA SON DERECE DETAYLI ARASTIRMALARI YAPAN VE PEK COGUMUZUN KULLANDIGI BILGILERI DEVSIREN SAYIN KAMURAN GURUN’UN ONUNDE HURMETLE EGILIR VE MEKANININ CENNET OLMASINI YUCE TANRIDAN DILERIZ DR. KAYAALP BUYUKATAMAN BASKAN, TURKISH FORUM KAMURAN GURUN Wednesday, July 21 2004 @ 07:25 AM Central Daylight Time By Gunduz Aktan Ambassador Gurun has sadly passed away. With his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":774855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-armenian-question"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}