Mahmut Esat Ozan<\/p>\n
In the past, when we, as Turkish people, tried to answer the
\nrelentless unfounded salvos of Greeks and Armenians attacking us, we
\nwere invariably confronted with a willful, systematic, but at the same
\ntime a cowardly propaganda. In each and every one of those encounters
\nwe were made uncomfortable by their vociferous claims that our words
\nwere nothing more than meaningless utterances of revisionists, and
\nfalsifiers of historical records, and that they, themselves were the
\ntrue adherents to history and to true facts.
\nIn order to remedy, once and for all, this manipulation of the
\ntruth, something had to be done. Someone had to tell them and all the
\nother detractors of the Turks, in plain language, that their struggle
\nhad always been centered around a bogus indoctrination of people with
\nlittle or no knowledge on the subject at hand: The so-called “genocide”
\nfor the Armenians and the oft-repeated “invasion” of the island of
\nCyuprus. Their efforts in maligning Turkey and Turks had to be refuted
\nin such a way that neither the Greeks nor the Armenians could extricate
\nthemselves from the argument, without losing face. With this point in
\nmind I decided to employ a new method, using only their own words to
\nrefute their unsubstantiated claims. Thus, I would use the statements
\nexpressed by their own kind, with a pertinent commentary or two made by
\nhistorians, anthropologists and statesmen exclusively from the Western
\ncamp<\/p>\n
A NEW APPROACH
\nAND A NEW CASE<\/p>\n
A chance for a trial run on this issue presented itself recently as
\nan answer I had posted on-line, on the Internet, replying to the
\nuncalled-for attacks of Greeks and Armenians about a British movie
\nproducer who had plans for a full length film on the life of Mustafa
\nKemal Ataturk. Those plans had to be postponed because thousands of
\ne-mail letters, faxes, and telegrams accompanied by threatening phone
\ncalls had finally intimidated the movie star who had accepted to portray
\nAtaturk on the silver screen.
\nHaving read my above-mentioned on-line reply, a Greek-American
\nconfronted me with an ugly personal message. The following is a small
\nsample of his diatribe:
\n“You Turks are pathetic. You can’t even accept the fact that our
\nWestern civilization is founded on the pillars of Greek thought and
\nmind. ONE PLATO IS WORTH A THOUSAND ATATURKS. Where are your
\nAristotles, Socrates’, Euripideses, Aristophaneses, Archimideses and the
\nEuclids? Both science and civil administration of the Western world is
\nof Greek origin.”
\nGiven the promise I had made to myself earlier, I brought in the
\nexpertise of a foreigner by relying on the “mongrelization of the
\npresent-day Greeks” theory, espoused by several chroniclers of history
\nin the past, but best interpreted by a German anthropologist and
\nhistorian, Jakob Phillip Fallmerayer, who lived between 1790-1862.
\nFallmerayer, in his book FRAGMENTE AUS DEM ORIENT BYZANS UND DES
\nABENDLANDES, published in 1861, re-printed in 1900 wrote the following:<\/p>\n
“Contrary to the views of the revisionists of ancient Greek history,
\ntoday’s Greeks do not have any continuity with their namesakes, the
\nGreeks of antiquity.”
\nAccording to the records of ancient history of the Balkans, several
\nrespected historians believe similarly, that the inhabitants of Greece
\nof our day have no more connection with the ancient Greeks of the
\nmythological times than the ordinary FELLAHINE who live in Egypt today,
\ncould be related to the descendants of the Pharaohs themselves.
\nIt was King Philip II of Macedonia who had united the Thracian
\nGreeks and the rest of the natives of the areas he had conquered to
\nprepare them for an expedition against the Persians. His son,
\nAlexander, founded, later on, his vast dynasty on the ruins of the old
\nempire built by his father. Historians are unanimous on this one point
\nthat the ancient Macedonians as well as today’s citizens of the
\nindependent country of MACEDONIA are not Greeks at all. In reality, the
\nancient Greeks had a name for them, “Barbarians'” a word which simply
\nmeans an alien, a foreigner.
\nThe great Athenian statesman and orator Demosthenes spoke of King
\nPhilip II of Macedonia in very pejorative terms when he said in part:
\n“…he,(Philip) not only is no Greek, nor related in any shape or
\nform to Greeks, but he is not even a true ‘barbarian’ from any place
\nthat can be named with honors, but a pestilent knave from Macedonia,
\nwhence it was never yet possible to buy a decent slave.”
\nThis very same “Macedonian barbarian” referred to by Demostenes in
\nhis speech, defeated his enemies, the Greeks, at the battle of Chaerones
\nin August 338 BC and appointed himself “Commander of the Greeks.”
\nNonetheless, today’s inhabitants of those lands unabashedly call his
\nson, ALEXANDER THE GREAT, a noble Greek.<\/p>\n
ARMENIANS ON ARMENIANS
\nAND SOME OTHER VIEWS<\/p>\n
One more irate Armenians Turcophobe, who may have seen again
\nsomething I wrote on-line, was lecturing me in length about his
\ndispleasure of my “hatred of everything non-Turkish.” Why was I the
\ntarget of such a harsh indictment?
\n“You deserve all that,” as he put it, “because you are a descendant
\nof that ‘wily and crafty redheaded Turk, born in Salonica of Greek and
\nJewish parents and died of dreadful syphilis.” He went on saying,
\n“ataturk,”(notice how he spelled his name with a lower case letter ‘a’)
\n“He may be a hero to you, but actually he was a Genghiz Khan, who in
\n1920-22 ordered the complete destruction of the port of Smyrna, that
\nannihilated hundreds of thousands of innocent Greeks and Armenians”
\nHis hysterical venom not yet depleted, he continued, “If you could
\nonly get off the hashish for just long enough and stop deluding
\nyourself, you will realize that you are shooting yourself in the foot.”
\nThe rest of his diatribe was as garnished with falsehoods and
\nfabrications as were the previous portions of it.
\n“Ever since” he said “the Turkish hordes with their scimitar – the
\ncurved swords, marched from Central Asia into Asia Minor and Europe,
\nthey have robbed, pillaged and destroyed every pillar of civilized
\nlife. They have stolen Greek and Armenian lands, butchered their people
\nand raped their women. It was sad times for the Armenian people. That
\nwas 900 years ago. But again in 1914-22 Talaat, Enver, and Hamid Pashas
\nfollowed suite with the genocide. Your people today are still at it
\nwith the Kurds of Anatolia. Renounce the hashish-inflicted propaganda
\nof Turkey. Permit your adversaries to exercise their civic rights by
\nspeaking their minds on a stupid movie about a sexual deviant and a
\nmilitary misfit called ataturk. I don’t indulge in hate, but I hate
\nthieves, liars, and butchers of innocent children.
\nP.S. If you want a movie, go make one. And stop complaining.”
\nAgain, in order not to deviate from my earlier plan, I told him, “I
\ndo not wish to waste my time trying to refute each and every one of your
\naccusations. They were all either totally false or slanderous.
\nHowever, I will let you listen to the venerable Armenian historian
\nASOGHIK, who recorded his impressions on the arrival of Seljuk Turks to
\nAnatolia. After that, when you lie again, you may feel a bit of remorse
\nof conscience.”
\nASOGHIK wrote, “The Armenians of Byzantium have welcomed the Seljuk
\nconquest with lengthy celebrations in the streets and thanksgiving to
\nGod for having rescued them from long years of Byzantine oppression.
\nSeljuk Turks gave protection to the Armenian Church, which the
\nByzantines had been trying to destroy. They abolished the oppressive
\ntaxes which the Byzantines had imposed on the Armenian Churches,
\nmonasteries and priests, and in fact exempted such religious
\ninstitutions from all taxes. The Armenian community was left free to
\nconduct its internal affairs in its own way, including religious
\nactivities and education, and there never was any time at which
\nArmenians or other non-Muslims were compelled
\nto convert to Islam. The Armenian spiritual leaders in fact went to
\nSeljuk Sultan Melikshah to thank him for his protection.”
\nAnother respected Armenian historian MATHIAS of Edessa related,
\n“Melikshah’s heart is full of affection and good will for
\nChristians; he has treated the sons of Jesus Christ very well, and he
\nhas given the Armenian people affluence, peace, and happiness.”
\nAfter the death of another Seljuk Sultan Kilic Arslan, the same
\nArmenian historian MATHIAS wrote,
\n“Kilic Arslan’s death has driven Christians into mourning since he
\nwas a charitable person of high character.”
\nMATHIAS also related, “How well the Seljuk Turks treated the
\nArmenians is shown by the fact that some Armenian noble families like
\nthe TASHRIK family accepted Islam on their own free will and joined the
\nTurks in fighting Byzantium.”
\nIt was, however, the world-renowned historian Arnold Toynbee who
\ncenturies later reinforced the words of ASOGHIK and of MATHIAS by saying
\nthe following:
\n“The Ottoman institution came perhaps as near as anything in real
\nlife could to realizing the ideal of Plato’s Republic.”
\n“Edson L. Clark, the British philosopher and historian, had this to
\nassert, “The Turks were far better men and far abler rulers than the
\nwretched tyrants they superseded…” “The Turkish dominions were better
\ngoverned and were more prosperous than most parts of Christian Europe.”
\nAnd the well-known American historian and novelist, Harold Lamb,
\nwrote this, “Few Europeans realized that the Turkish Ottoman Sultan
\nSuleiman was the head of the most democratic government of their time.”
\nAn article which appeared on My 15, 1991 in this very newspaper had
\nanother revelation. This time the person who was doing the revealing
\nwas HOVHANNES KATCHAZNOUNI, the Prime Minister of the Soviet Armenian
\nRepublic during World War I:
\n“At the beginning of the fall of 1914, when Turkey had not yet
\nentered the war, but had already been making preparations, Armenian
\nrevolutionary bands began to be formed in Transcaucasia with great
\nenthusiasm, and especially, with great uproar…they fought against the
\nTurks because they could not refrain themselves from fighting. This was
\nan inevitable result of psychology on which the Armenian people
\nnourished itself during an entire generation that mentally should have
\nfound its expression, and it did so…
\n“We overestimated the ability of Armenian people, its political and
\nmilitary power, and importance of the services our people rendered to
\nthe Russians. And by overestimating our very modest worth and merit, we
\nwere naturally exaggerating our hopes and expectations…”
\nThe Armenian historian VARTANIAN relates that “Ottoman Armenians
\nwere completely free in their traditions, religion, culture and language
\nin comparison to Russian Armenians under the Czars. “The Ottoman Empire
\nwas the Armenians’ only shelter against Russian oppression.”
\nFinally, here are the prophetic words of another Armenian writer
\nBORIAN, who says, “Czarist Russia, at no time, wanted to assure Armenian
\nautonomy: For this reason one must consider the Armenians who were
\nworking for Armenian autonomy as no more than agents and spies of the
\nCzar, to attach Eastern provinces to Russia.”
\nThe Russians thus have deceived the Armenians for years; and as a
\nresult the Armenians have been left with nothing more than an empty
\ndream.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
US ARMENIAN HATE GROUPS AND THEIR UNENDING MALEVOLENCE<\/p>\n
The Livingston amendment, seeking to end a US aid ban on
\nAzerbaijan, Section 907, was defeated yesterday in the US House of
\nRepresentatives. V.Sonentz-Papazian, the executive director of the
\nArmenian National Committee of America, Western Region, began to
\ncelebrate the fruit of their sinister machinations in the House, and
\ngloat over this malevolent deed of theirs, calling it a victory for the
\nArmenian-Americans.
\nBefore going any further on this subject and offering comments on
\nthis dastardly act, I, as an American tax-paying citizen, would like to
\ntake this opportunity to thank first and foremost Cogressman Bob
\nLivingston (R-LA), for his amendment, and Congressmen Dana
\nRohrabacker(R-Calif), Gerald Solomon(R-NY), and Sunny Calahan(R-Ala) for
\ntheir splendid efforts in trying to end the ban against Azerbaijan,
\nSection 907, which prohibited unfairly any aid to that country until it
\nlifts the economic blockade of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
\nI also feel I should send a heart-felt expression of thanks to the
\nmembers sof the US Congress who voted for the ill-fated attempt to lift
\nthe restrictions dictated by Section 907. Their numbers, 20
\nRepublicans, and 10 Democrats, and their names will be etched indelibly
\nin my mind and heart. I thank dearly each and every one of them for
\ntheir heroic effort.
\nOn the other hand, I’d like to convey my feelings to all who want to
\nlisten,that the likes of Frank Pallone(D-NJ), George
\nRadanovich(R-Calif), John Porter(R-IL), Peter Visclosky(D-In), and
\nothers such as Fazio, De Lauro, Palosi, Lowey, Skaggs, Walsh, Wolf,
\nYates from different sections of the country have only one thing
\nmutually common in their make-up. Their knowledge of recent history of
\nthe world is imperfect, to say the least. Their avarice for the
\nfinancial support they need to be elected and re-elected to their
\nhigh-salaried, lucrative posts is legendary. Unfortunately the
\nfinancial backers of theirs which keep them electable, time and again,
\nhave been adamantly hostile to Turkish or Azeri causes.<\/p>\n
FROM A MORAL LEGAL JUNGLE
\nTO AN IMMORAL DESERT<\/p>\n
These political animals, these detractors of Azeris and of Turks,
\nwho associate themselves with the members of the Armenian lobby, is
\ncomprised of a bunch of morally-challenged, pathological
\nTurcophobes,who have little or no idea of what they are up to, and they
\ndon’t seem to care, either. They’ve been offering their souls to the
\nhighest bidders, and in this particular case the highest bidders are the
\nlowest adherents to truth and morality.
\nTheir hate for anything Turkish can only be described as
\nunfortunate. They, like their brothers-in-hatred, the Greeks, have been
\nspending a major portion of their lives in the pursuit of hatred for
\nTurks. What a waste of precious time and human emotions. There is a
\npopular American saying: “You have to be taught to hate.” It was in
\nthis country that I first noticed, with horror, the hate in the eyes and
\nthe voices of some Armenians and Greeks. It was a sad lesson for me to
\nlearn. However, the saddest thing for me to observe even today is the
\nfact that I feel I am devoid of any weapon to defend myself facing
\nthese professional haters of Turks.
\nMany a time in the past,after I arrived to the United States of
\nAmerica from Turkey, I agonized over a curious situation. From birth
\nto adulthood, I felt no one had prepared me there to fight these
\nadversaries who show no mercy or compassion towards me. I was a mere
\ndescendant of Turks, whose ancestors were forced to share a common
\ndestiny and sorrow with them in a time of war,an almost civil war-like
\nhostility period which took place almost a century ago. I often ask
\nmyself “Why can’t I hate these people the way they hate me, openly,
\nincessantly, mercilessly, with the zeal of the most devout religious
\nmissionary around.”
\nThere were even times when I manifested a disgust against my
\nparents, against my relatives, against my teachers, against my
\npreachers, in other words, against all Turks who, from infancy took me
\nin their arms, fed me at their bosoms, taught me in their schools,
\neducated me in their society. I cursed them all!…aplease don’t
\nmisunderstand me, not for them doing all those things to me. No!…I
\ncursed them for not teaching me how to hate my fellow men,(my enemies),
\nrobbing me of my basic weapon to fight back, consequently, leaving me
\nnaked, powerless against the unrelenting salvos of these programmed
\nassassins of the tolerance and culture of the nation of Turks.
\nThese people, who foam at the mouth every time they hear the word
\n‘Turk” are none other than some sub-human characters which never existed
\nin any of the ficticious works of, say, Victor Hugo, Edgar Allen Poe,
\nDante Aleghieri, or Dostoyevski, or for that matter, in Mary Shelly’s
\nDr. Frankenstein. Neither one of those highly gifted writers could have
\npossibly created more evil, and hateful monsters than the enemies of
\nTurks. By the description of a well-known Greek scholar, Alexander
\nPallis, we learn about this centuries-long bias against Turks, which
\nseems to have no end:
\nHe says: :”From the fourteenth to the end of the seventeenth century
\nthe Ottoman Empire was almost continuously at war with the Christian
\nPowers of Western Europe. The terror inspired by the Turkish name
\namong all the European peoples was largely responsible for the widely
\nspread popular belief that the Turks were a race of uncivilized
\nbarbarians who, wherever they went, left nothing but smoking ruins
\nbehind them and stamped out every vestige of civilization. Religious
\nfanaticism, coupled with the fear born of unbroken Turkish military
\nsuccesses, resulted in creating among some detractors of the Turks a
\nstate of mind which rendered them for the most part incapable of viewing
\nTurkey and the Turks with an objective and unbiased eye.”<\/p>\n
Mahmut Esat Ozan
\nPast President, FTAA,
\nFlorida Turkish-American
\nAssociation for Cultural Exchange
\nMiami, Florida<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mahmut Esat Ozan In the past, when we, as Turkish people, tried to answer the relentless unfounded salvos of Greeks and Armenians attacking us, we were invariably confronted with a willful, systematic, but at the same time a cowardly propaganda. In each and every one of those encounters we were made uncomfortable by their vociferous […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":782329,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[794],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-179150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prof-mahmut-esat-ozan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179150","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=179150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}