U.S. Turks aim to change image

[Lakonian]

U.S. Turks aim to change image

The Washington Times
U.S. Turks aim to change image

By Svitlana Korenovska
February 17, 2008

A Washington-based organization is spearheading a drive to correct what it sees as common misconceptions about Turkey, hoping to change how Americans see the massacre of Armenians in World War I and educate them about Turkey's role in rebuilding Iraq.

The Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) already has organized meetings in 11 cities and will continue to tour the United States with meetings and lectures in an additional 19 cities.

The program, inspired by ATAA President Nurten Ural, aims to teach Turkish Americans how to be more active citizens and how to defend and promote themselves in American society.

According to a Turkish Embassy registry, there are about 150,000 Turks living in the United States. ATAA puts the number at 250,000, counting ethnic-Turkish immigrants from countries other than Turkey.

The assembly, representing more than 60 leading Turkish-American organizations across the country, sees its main goals as explaining Turkey's account of the Armenian massacres and overcoming common prejudices against Turks.

The effort by the Turkish-American assembly will have to counter a strong Armenian lobby in the United States. Several U.S. cities — especially in California, Michigan and Massachusetts — have large Armenian populations with considerable political influence. One estimate put the number of Armenian Americans at 1.5 million.

The Armenian lobby won a significant victory in October when, despite an appeal from President Bush, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a resolution describing the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide.

As many as 1 million Armenians died at the hands of the Ottoman Empire during World War I, according to the Armenians, who describe the deaths as genocide. Turks acknowledge that large numbers of people died, but they object to the use of the word genocide.

"We are seeking dialogue with Armenian Americans. Rather than monologue on the Armenian perspective, we want broad and deep debate regarding all the facts and the law," said Gunay Evinch, the president-elect of the ATAA.

"I would like to be clear that in no way does the Turkish-American community or Turkey deny the massacres of Armenians," Mr. Evinch said.

"We also call for sincere attention to the 1.1 million Muslims and Jews who perished during the Armenian Revolt, 1885-1919, in the same area of eastern Ottoman Anatolia and under the same conditions under which Armenians died. The truth we seek is the complete truth."

The organization also wants Americans and their government to better understand what Turkey is doing to help the United States in Iraq.

The ATAA points out that Turkey has made large donations to Iraq for humanitarian purposes and construction work, while helping with military training and in establishing a dialogue among Iraq groups and factions.

Mr. Evinch said he worries that the image of Turkish Americans will be hurt by television shows that depict people of Turkish heritage as Islamic terrorists.

"There wasn't one [event] in American history, let alone European history, when we had Turkish people engaged in Islamic terrorism," he said.

Turks are funny sometimes. Just when you think they have you fooled with there wannabe westernised boasts they go ahead and blwo it all up with inconsidered crap like this.

How the hell are you going to convince the world you didnt slaughter millions of people under genocide actions, when the evidence is all to clear.....

[IMG]U.S. Turks aim to change image[/IMG]

The remains of Armenians massacred at Erzinjan.


Of this photo, the U.S. ambassador writes, "Scenes like this were common all over the Armenian provinces, in the spring and summer months of 1915. Death in its several forms--massacre, starvation, exhaustion--destroyed the larger part of the refugees. The Turkish policy was that of extermination under the guise of deportation."


starved child


Turkish soldiers posing with the decapitated heads of Armenian community leaders, 1915. .



Perhaps the Turks and the Americans including some E.U countries hav a hard time understanding the meaning of Genocide.
The UN Convention of December 18, 1948 clearly defines the term Genocide as cited below:


Article I. The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and punish.

Article II. In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such:

a) Killing members of the group;
b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Article III. The following acts shall be punished:
a) Genocide;
b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
d) Attempt to commit genocide;
e) Complicity in genocide.

Article IV. Persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article III shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals.
[
B]Article V[/b]. The Contracting Parties undertake to enact, in accordance with their respective Constitutions, the necessary legislation to give affect to the provision of the present Convention and, in particular, to provide effective penalties for persons guilty of genocide or of any of the other acts enumerated in Article III.

Article VI. Persons charged with genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article III shall be tried by a competent tribunal of the State in the territory of which the act was committed, or by such international penal tribunal as may have jurisdiction with respect to those Contracting Parties which shall have accepted its jurisdiction.

Article VII. Genocide and the other acts enumerated in Article III shall not be considered as political crimes for the purpose of extradition. The Contracting Parties pledge themselves in such cases to grant extradition in accordance with their laws and treaties in force.

Article VIII. Any Contracting Party may call upon the competent organs of the United Nations to take such action under the Charter of the United Nations as they consider appropriate for the prevention and suppression of acts of genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article III.

Article IX. Disputes between the Contracting Parties relating to the interpretation, application or fulfillment of the present Convention, including those relating to the responsibility of a State for genocide or for any of the other acts enumerated in Article III, shall be submitted to the International Court of Justice at the request of any of the parties to the dispute.

[Lakonian]

Lets all hope the Americans dont forget there promise eh?


The United States contributed a significant amount of aid to the Armenians during the Armenian Genocide. Shown here is a poster for the American Committee for Relief in the Near East vowing that "they [the Armenians] "shall not perish."