Turkish-Armenian Controversy

Levon Marashlian’s column “Face Turkey’s Crime, Then Go Beyond It” (Commentary, April 23) is full of misrepresentations, half-truths and outright falsifications. This commentary is an insult to the silent memory of millions of Turkish people who died during World War I and to the intelligence of any unsuspecting reader. Where shall I begin?

First, the misrepresentations: Armenians would like to draw analogies between their civil war experiences in eastern Anatolia during World War I and the Jewish Holocaust during World War II. What they conveniently ignore are the facts that Jews never established Jewish armies behind German lines in order to back stab Germany and establish a Jewish state on German soil. Armenians did all that and more in eastern Anatolia! How can the two be the same?

Second, the half-truths: The Armenian writer quotes Adm. Mark Bristol, the American envoy to Ankara right after World War I, supposedly acknowledging “the cruelties practiced upon the Armenians by Turks acting under official orders. . . .” The writer, again conveniently, ignores what Bristol said in his letter dated March 28, 1921, addressed to Dr. James L. Barton:

” . . . I see that reports are being freely circulated in the United States that the Turks massacred thousands of Armenians in the Caucasus. Such reports are repeated so many times that it makes my blood boil. The Near East Relief have the reports from Yarrow and our own American people which show absolutely that such Armenian reports are absolutely false. The circulation of such false reports in the United States, without refutation, is an outrage and is certainly doing the Armenians more harm than good. I feel that we should discourage the Armenians in this kind of work, not only because it is wrong, but because they are injuring themselves. . . .”

Third, falsifications: Marashlian says: “Under the guise of national security, in essence, the White House elevated the interests of corporations . . . above moral principles that define America.” Whereas the reality is that the Armenian agenda and the American agenda don’t overlap. Let me be more precise: The Armenian agenda and the American agenda clash and contradict with each other. American interests are simply better served by letting the scholars and historians settle this controversial issue, rather than blindly subscribing to Armenian allegations.

Now that the world is taking a closer look at the Armenian allegations and studying sources other than those dictated by the Armenian fanatics, we are seeing a different picture. That picture is behind the Armenian defeats in the U.S. Congress in 1985, 1987, and then twice in 1990.

This time, truth will bulldoze the Armenian exaggerations. Truth has a way of doing that, you know!

ERGUN KIRLIKOVALI

President

Turkish-American Historical Society

Santa Ana