Turkish policy of violence lies at the root of Armenian Genocide denial – Dogan Akhanli

October 6, 2017 By administrator

Armenian Genocide denial – Dogan Akhanli Turkish regime’s policy of violence as a means of rule lies at the root of its denial of Armenian Genocide, says dissident writer Dogan Akhanli said in an interview with the EU Observer.

He is currently stuck in Madrid after Spanish police arrested him while he was on holiday on the basis of a Turkish Interpol request.

Turkey’s attempt to silence dissident writer Dogan Akhanli has backfired by giving him a bigger platform.

Akhnali was born in Turkey but fled to Germany in 1991 after being persecuted for his views on the Armenian Genocide and on Turkey’s repression of its Kurdish minority.

He also spent four months in a Turkish jail in 2010 after visiting the country.

“Turkish power cannot forgive me because I questioned the basic problems of Turkey,” he told the EU Observer.

The writer said his novels had not made him a celebrity. “I’m not a best-seller,” he said.

But he said that “Turkish persecution makes me more known year by year and makes my words bigger. It is actually a very stupid policy”.

He said Turkey’s latest attempt to deprive him of his freedom had inspired him to write a new book.

“I’m trying to write a report about my political-literary journey into the Turkish past, which is also my own past,” he told this website from Spain.

“I will take a very subjective view of my unfinished persecution, but I will also reflect on how to deal with the history of violence in German, Spanish, and Turkish society,” he said.

Akhanli said the Turkish regime had embraced violence as a means of rule. He said this lay at the root of its denial of the Armenian Genocide in 1915 and of its killings of Kurdish separatists. He also said the regime’s nationalist ideology created a dangerous environment.

He recalled that Turkish generals “publicly threatened” Hrant Dink, a dissident journalist, in 2007 prior to Dink’s murder by a nationalist fanatic.

“Under the Erdogan government, the history of violence is not just a story. It is not passive. It is killing people before our very eyes,” he said, referring to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Akhanli said the EU ought to do more to promote democracy in Turkey.

“He [Erdogan] cannot continue to rule Turkey in the long term with only the support of the rural population. EU countries should side with the secular, democratic forces, not with the despot,” Akhanli said.

Dean Cain and Montel Williams challenge Armenian Genocide denial across Capitol Hill

October 3, 2017 By administrator

Internationally acclaimed celebrity activists Dean Cain and Montel Williams – executive producers of the powerful anti-genocide documentary “Architects of Denial” – joined the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) on Capitol Hill last week in calling on U.S. legislators to reject Turkey’s gag-rule and adopt legislation (H.Res.220 and S.Res.136) applying the lessons of the Armenian Genocide to the prevention of future atrocities.

The meetings with over a dozen senior legislators, Republican and Democrat, took place around the September 26th Washington DC premiere of Architects of Denial, held at the U.S. Naval Memorial before a capacity crowd of policymakers, diplomats, and DC influencers.

“We were honored to be joined on Capitol Hill by Dean Cain and Montel Williams, two of America’s most eloquent and effective human rights advocates, in challenging U.S. legislators to – at long last – reject Turkey’s gag-rule against honest U.S. remembrance of the Armenian Genocide,” said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. “As they made so very clear – in their film and across the Hill – no nation – especially as one as hostile as Turkey – deserves a veto over U.S. human rights policy.”

Cain and Williams reminded legislators that genocide denial leads to it perpetuation, connecting the Armenian Genocide with ongoing official Azerbaijani aggression against Armenia and Artsakh. Among the legislators who took the opportunity to discuss the legacy of the Armenian Genocide and Turkey’s denial on the geopolitical realities of today were, House Assistant Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn (D-SC), House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Democrat Eliot Engel (D-NY), and Representatives from throughout the U.S. including Reps. Kevin Kramer (R-ND), Dan Donovan (R-NY), Trent Franks (R-AZ), Louis Gohmert (R-TX), Jody Hice (R-GA), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Duncan Hunter (R-CA), Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), and Juan Vargas (D-CA), among others.

Cain and Williams also discussed efforts to secure passage of the Armenian Genocide legislation with Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Jackie Speier (D-CA), Dave Trott (R-MI) and David Valadao (R-CA) and Representative Anna Eshoo (D-CA), several of whom recently returned from a trip to Armenia and Artsakh.

With powerful footage from the Armenian Genocide and ongoing attacks against Armenia and Artsakh by Azerbaijan, the “Architects of Denial” includes testimonials from Wikileak’s Julian Assange, historians Dr. Greg Stanton, Dr. Taner Akcam and Dr. Ugur Ungor, Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA), whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, publisher Harut Sassounian, and eye-witness accounts by Aregak Bagirian, Movses Anehyan and Yepraksi Gevorgyan.

The film will be premiering on October 6th and playing through October 12th in the following cities and venues.

Four narratives of Turkey’s denial of Armenian Genocide

September 10, 2017 By administrator

Uzay Bulut is a Turkish journalist and political analyst formerly based in Ankara.

Turkish journalist and political analyst Uzay Bulut has revealed an article about the four main narratives that Turkey uses to deny the Armenian Genocide.

The feature on The Armenian Weekly reads:

Narrative One: We Did Not Slaughter Armenians; Armenians Slaughtered Us

Accusing Armenians of being mass murderers and the actual perpetrators of genocide is a popular myth in Turkey. This narrative is what is now taught to Turkish schoolchildren in middle and high schools.

Professor Taner Akçam wrote a comprehensive article for the Armenian Weekly about how the 1915 genocide is depicted in Turkish history textbooks used during the 2014 and 2015 school years. Those books are either prepared by the Ministry of National Education or approved by the Ministry’s Instruction and Education Board.

Narrative Two: Yes, We Did Slaughter Armenians. If They Do Not Behave, We Will Slaughter Them Again

This narrative is similar to the first one but takes it to a new and even more shameless level: to something to be proud of, and additional threats against the Armenian victims and other minorities. This sentiment is also openly and frequently expressed across Turkey.

This narrative proudly accepts that Turks slaughtered Armenians, but they have an excuse: “Yes, we did exterminate Armenians. But ask us why. Because they misbehaved and became traitors. And, if required, we will do it all over again. One cannot get even an inch of territory from Turkey,” an Aşkale mayor said.

“We will do it all over again,” in fact, seems to indirectly target Kurds, declaring to Kurds that if they don’t behave well and accept Turkish superiority, Turks will exterminate them, too.

Narrative Three: A Tragedy Happened During World War I. Armenians Slaughtered Us, and We Slaughtered Them. It Was Civil War. Let’s Forget About It…

This is the narrative Turkey uses for international observers. On April 24, 2015, for example, a message was sent by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to the religious ceremony held in the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul on the 100th anniversary of the Genocide.

In essence, what this message declares is this: “What happened in 1915 was never genocide. People kill each other in all wars. But we are such noble people we still remember all of the dead with love, so let’s forget about it and move on already.”

This third narrative, which is more “moderate” compared with the first and second ones, is just for show, intended for the outside world and particularly for the West: “Look, Turkey is changing for the better and taking steps to face its history. And this proves that we are a worthwhile NATO member an EU candidate.”

Narrative 4: Yes, Turkey Committed Genocide

This rhetoric is never directly stated by the Turkish government, but it is, at times, tolerated when presented by some intellectuals in the country.

Since 2010, rights activists in Turkey led by the Human Rights Association (IHD) have commemorated the 1915 genocide in cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, and Diyarbakir. The government has not prevented the commemoration events, nor has it arrested the organizers. For the government seems to use these events as a public relations stunt for the world. International media do cover these events, so it is easy marketing for Turkish “democracy.”

Argentine lawmaker submits bill to criminalize Genocide denial

February 15, 2017 By administrator

Deputy Nilda Garre submitted a bill to criminalize denialism in Argentina this week, a project that would include the Armenian Genocide denial, Garre confirmed in an interview with Prensa Armenia.

The project plans to include the criminalization in the Criminal Code, to be applied to anyone who would “publicly deny, minimize, justify and/or approve any form of genocide or crimes against humanity.”

The proposal claims to be compatible with freedom of expression “when justified in protecting the rights of victims, in maintaining public order or national security, or to prohibit the apology of hatred and violence.”

Garre is a Deputy of the Front for Victory party. She was Minister of Defense during the term of late President Nestor Kirchner and was later appointed Minister of Security under President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Garre is currently the Argentine Representative for the Organization of American States.

“The National Congress passed Law 26,199 in 2006 recognizing the genocide of which the Armenian people were victims. Consequently, the Genocide is included in the project we propose,” said Garre in an interview with Prensa Armenia.

When asked about the recent visit of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to Argentina, she said: “I don’t know how Turkey could react. What I do know is that the Argentine Republic is a sovereign nation and the National Congress is the representation of one of its powers.”

Students across US & Canada stage silent protest against Armenian Genocide denial

February 10, 2017 By administrator

On Thursday, February 9th, the All-Armenian Student Association (All-ASA) coordinated the annual “Stain of Denial” silent protest against the continuous denial of the Armenian Genocide. The protests were simultaneously held by ASA chapters and affiliated organizations on their respective college and university campuses. “Stain of Denial” was initiated in 2011 as a silent protest in order to raise awareness of the ongoing denial of the Armenian Genocide and the need for recognition and reparations.

The students, faculty, and community members who participated on Thursday stressed that the Armenian Genocide is not an issue only reserved for the month of April, but it has a profound effect on Armenians every day. Whereas April 24th is traditionally the day that the world commemorates the Armenian Genocide, the memory of the genocide and its ensuing denial continues to be a daily struggle. The All-ASA prioritizes this campaign because Armenian students in college, where the free interchange of ideas and perspectives is encouraged, continuously find that the denial of their history is an injustice that they are blatantly faced with.

The participating ASA’s have continuously increased throughout the years. This year, Armenian students from various schools in the West coast, East coast, and Canada organized on their respective campuses. The participating schools in this years protests were: UC San Diego, UC Riverside, UC Los Angeles, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, Glendale Community College, Pasadena Community College, Occidental College, University of Southern California, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Northridge, Woodbury University, Massachussets College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Emmanel College, Boston University, Northeastern University, Tufts University, Suffolk University, Yale University, and Princeton University. For the first time, the protests reached an international scope, with participation from the following Canadian universities: University of Ottawa, Carleton University, and the University of Montreal. Members from the following organization also participated: ARF Shant Student Association, Armenian Youth Federation, Alpha Gamma Alpha, and Alpha Epsilon Omega.

Thousands of Armenian students, community members, and faculty, both Armenian and non-Armenian, took a stand and reiterated that the Armenian Genocide is not just a “day in April,” but a year-round struggle for justice.

The campaign also included an online component, as those who were not able to attend raised awareness through social media, by incorporating the hashtags #StainofDenial, #ArmenianGenocide, and #DivestTurkey into their online posts. While the protests highlighted the history of the Armenian Genocide and the consequences that still continue, it also raised awareness of the #DivestTurkey initiative. This included education about resolutions that ASAs have passed through their student government councils, including both Armenian Genocide recognition and divestment bills, the latter of which targets over $70 million of University of California funds allocated toward the Turkish government.

Papazian: France constitutional court unlikely to reject law criminalizing denial of Armenian Genocide

July 6, 2016 By administrator

genocide as crime

YEREVAN. – The law criminalizing the denial of genocides will make it impossible to conduct the Turkish policy of denial in France, representative of the Armenian community said.

“This was a pre-election promise of Francois Hollande, and he kept it. This is a bill to criminalize the denial of all genocides and crimes against humanity. The bill will be reviewed in September and will be mst likely adopted. With the adoption of this draft law in France, no one will any longer have the right to say that there was no Armenian Genocide, and this also applies to other genocides as well,” co-chairman of the Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations of France Mourad Papazian told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The National Assembly (NA) of France adopted the amendments proposed to the bill on “Equality and citizenship” on July 1. The amendments propose to establish 45,000 euro penalty for denying the crimes against humanity. In fact, the document specifically mentions about criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial.

Asked whether it is possible that the French Constitutional Council could reject the law as it happened last time, Mr. Papazian said that this time the bill had been studied by lawyers and such an outcome is almost impossible: “We made sure that there were no gaps. We are pretty sure that this time the court will not give up. But, of course, we cannot be 100%”.

Representatives of the Armenian community of France are doing everything to ensure that in September the bill would pass the Senate. Mr. Papazian added that the Turkish side is also active in the opposite.

French parliament adopts bill criminalizing Armenian Genocide denial

July 2, 2016 By administrator

armenia france genocide The National Assembly (NA) of France adopted the amendments proposed to the bill on “Equality and citizenship”, which President François Hollande had also promised to make.

The amendments propose to establish 45,000 euro penalty for denying the crimes against humanity, 20Minutes writes. In fact, the document specifically mentions about criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial.

The bill will now be directed for adoption by Senate.

The previous law criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial in France was blocked by the country’s Constitutional Court, following which François Hollande initiated another bill.

French government tabled Support bill penalizing denial of Genocide

June 29, 2016 By administrator

France table genocide The French government tabled a text penalizing the denial of genocides and crimes against humanity under the bill Equality and Citizenship, whose examination began at the National Assembly.

The government amendment specifies that “will be punished the same way those who have denied, trivialized or minus of outrageous manner by one of the means set forth in article 23, the existence of a genocide (…) another crime against humanity, a crime of enslavement or exploitation of a disabled person in slavery or war crimes (…) “.

The Armenian Organizations Coordination Council of France (CCAF) welcomes and supports this initiative which is consistent with the commitments of the President of the Republic, paid by the government.

Including the text in the bill Equality and Citizenship, denial of genocide is not registered under the memorial laws but in the corporate laws, like the fight against racism and antisemitism.

The CFC also welcomes the willingness of the government to include the defense of the truth of the Armenian Genocide in the frame, more global, the values of the French Republic. As we hope that such legislation is finally adopted this year, we welcome the commitment of all members who have accompanied us during all these years.

Today, for the first time, we have a government initiative.

We call on all parliamentary forces to rally behind this consensus text.

The text on the link below.

AMENDMENT No. 1559 presented by the Government

ARTICLE 38 TER Replace paragraphs 2-8 the following ten paragraphs:

“1. The fifth paragraph of Article 24 is amended as follows:

“A) After the word” humanity “are inserted the words” the enslavement of crime and exploitation of an enslaved person “;

“B) is supplemented by the words”, including if these crimes have not resulted in the conviction of perpetrators “;

“2. After the first paragraph of Article 24a are inserted three paragraphs as follows:” Will be punished the same way those who have denied, trivialized or minus of outrageous manner by one of the means set forth in Article 23 the existence of a genocide other than those referred to in the first paragraph of another crime against humanity, a crime of enslavement or exploitation of a disabled person in slavery or war crime, as defined by Articles 6, 7 and 8 of the Statute of the international criminal Court created in Rome on 17 July 1998 and by articles 211-1 to 212- 3 224
1 A to C 224-1 and 461-1 to 461
31 of the Criminal Code when:

“1 This crime resulted in a conviction by a French or international court or,

“2. The denial, markdown or the trivialization of the crime constitutes incitement to violence or hatred against a group of persons or a member of such a group defined by reference to the alleged race, color, religion, descent or national origin. “;

“3. After Article 48-1, inserted Article 48-1-1 as follows;

1-1. – All regularly registered association for at least five years, is intended by its statutes to fight against slavery or defend the memory of slaves and the honor of their descendants may exercise the rights granted to the civil party in respect apology offenses, denial, markdown or trivialization of crimes of enslavement or exploitation of a disabled person in slavery under articles 24 and 24 bis.

“However, when the offense is committed against persons considered individually, the association will be admissible in its action if it proves it has obtained the consent of such persons or to justify that these persons do not oppose prosecution. “

SUMMARY STATEMENT

The fight against discrimination is a priority of the Government, which finds expression in this bill. It requires recognition of its more extreme forms, such as crimes against humanity, including genocide and slavery crimes.

The specificity of these crimes requires that they can be judged and recognized by the court as long as their authors remain, that is why they are imprescriptible. It also means fighting beyond, against their denial or trivialization.

The questioning of these crimes, be it genocide, trafficking and slavery or any other crime against humanity when it contradicts the facts that have been tried and found by the courts, or when it incites hatred or violence, may indeed be tolerated.

MP Victorin Lurel wanted to make a significant improvement in this respect to our legislative system when reviewing the text in committee, by broadening the scope of the repression of the protest or the trivialization of crimes against humanity, today ‘ hui limited to the denial of the Holocaust, in all these crimes, including trafficking and slavery.

The Government shares this objective and therefore fully supports this approach. He therefore wishes to ensure the highest level of legal certainty on a sensitive issue, and have shown a decision of the Constitutional Council in 2012 and a notice of the State Council in 2013.

The aim of this amendment is to improve the wording of article 38 bis adopted in committee to clarify and strengthen the legal security.

It thus provides:

• To better distinguish advocating crimes against humanity, which falls under Article 24 of the Press Law, it should be supplemented to mention there slavery, their denial. It should also be noted that for the apologies of Article 24, it is not required that the perpetrators were convicted.

• Better define the negation of crime or trivialisation of these crimes respecting both constitutional requirements and the Framework Decision 2008/913 / JHA of 28 November 2008 on the fight against certain forms and expressions of racism and xenophobia means of criminal law. Two hypotheses are thus provided for either the crimes were the subject of a conviction by an international court or by a French court, or the denial or trivialization of these crimes is exercised in a way that incites violence or hatred.

While only the denial of the Holocaust is repressed today, this text will punish the challenge or the trivialization of all crimes against humanity or war crimes, but not limited to, when they have been recognized by a court.

It will, for example, penalize the denial of the Rwandan genocide.

But it will, above and more generally, to take into account the historically recognized crimes, although their seniority rules out any possibility for the court to decide when their dispute or trivializing them will be committed in conditions encouraging to hatred or violence. This second category will notably cover the case of the Armenian genocide of 1915, which France has recognized, but there is more opportunity to prosecute. •

Allow associations to fight against slavery or slaves defense memory and honor of their descendants to become a civil party in proceedings to these crimes.

Wednesday, June 29, 2016,
Ara © armenews.com

Other information available: EQUALITY LAW AMENDMENT AND CITOYNNETÉ 1559

Turkey Continues Campaign of Denial at Lecture in OC

June 17, 2016 By administrator

turkish ambassador LA MISSION VIEJO—On the eve of Germany’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Turkish Consul General of Los Angeles, Raife Gulru Gezer, continued Turkey’s campaign of denial during a presentation hosted by the World Affairs Council of Orange County (WACOC).

During her presentation, she discussed the Syrian refugee crisis and Turkey’s humanitarian efforts in the region, claiming Turkey was actually helping millions of Syrian refugees. She omitted discussing Turkey’s relations with ISIS (Dayesh), the strained relations with Russia and Israel and failed in her attempt to portray the Republic of Turkey and Erdogan as compassionate and caring champions of human rights.

At the end of the presentation, as is customary during WACOC event, attendees wrote their questions on cards and submitted them for the moderator to read aloud.

When asked about land records and deeds, and personal property belonging to Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians that had been lost during World War I and the Armenian Genocide, the Gezer’s response was dismissive: she simply stated that in times of war property is lost and gained by many people.

When asked about Turkey’s terrible record with countless journalists in jail, she reached for a handbook under the podium and read aloud the number of journalists in prison and arrogantly stated their incarceration is due to doing more than reporting facts as a journalist.

The Consul General was also asked how Turkey reconciles its position regarding the Armenian Genocide with the fact that the architects of the Genocide, Talaat, Enver and Jemal Pashas were tried and convicted in Turkey for war crimes and mass killing of Armenians, and sentenced to death in Absentia. Her response was that that the three pashas were acquitted of committing many crimes.

Finally, when asked about the Armenian Genocide and Turkey’s continued campaign of denial in light of world opinion and historical fact, she took a stern approach and restated the Republic of Turkey’s policy of denial as she stared down a few of the Armenians that were present. After which the Armenians left the event in protest.

Prior to the presentation, an Armenian woman was singled out by the numerous attendees of Turkish descent in an attempt to intimidate her and force her to leave. She was quietly seated at her table with the Orange County Board of Supervisors who passed a resolution designating April 24 as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day when a Turkish woman started arguing about the resolution stating that it was offensive. The Armenian woman responded by saying Turkey’s denial of the Genocide is offensive and that it would be best for the two of them to not talk.

Soon after, others attempted to engage the Armenian woman in an aggressive manner. Some complained to the WACOC and venue’s management who came to her table to warn that police were on their way, suggesting she should leave. She was told it was a private event, and that the organizers had complained even though the Armenian woman was a member and purchased her ticket. WACOC board members, including the chairwoman, helped deescalate the situation while defending the Armenian woman’s right to be present and ask questions.

Unfortunately, the Armenian woman was a victim of ethnic persecution here in the United States just as Armenians continue to be victims in Turkey, where even members of parliament such as Garo Palyan are attacked simply for being Armenian.

The World Affairs Council of Orange County held an event in 2015 during the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide where the ANCA Orange County chapter was one of the sponsors.

Amnesty International Press Release from April 2016 about actual events occurring in Turkey which were omitted in Gezer’s presentation:

“TURKEY: ILLEGAL MASS RETURNS OF SYRIAN REFUGEES EXPOSE FATAL FLAWS IN EU-TURKEY DEAL.

New research carried out by the organization in Turkey’s southern border provinces suggests that Turkish authorities have been rounding up and expelling groups of around 100 Syrian men, women and children to Syria on a near-daily basis since mid-January. Over three days last week, Amnesty International researchers gathered multiple testimonies of large-scale returns from Hatay province, confirming a practice that is an open secret in the region.

It is reported that refugee “registration is required to access basic services. In Gaziantep, Amnesty International met with the son of a woman requiring emergency surgery to save her life but who was denied the ability to register – and therefore have the surgery. She eventually was able to register elsewhere and receive the life-saving treatment.

All forced returns to Syria are illegal under Turkish, EU and international law.”

For more information on Turkey’s human rights violations, visit:

Amnesty International: http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/countries/europe/turkey

Human Rights Watch: https://www.hrw.org/europe/central-asia/turkey

Reporters without Borders: https://rsf.org/en/turkey

Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks, and The Denial of The Armenian Genocide

March 30, 2016 By administrator

Ce1QTW7UUAAymnL Source: unsafespeech.com

Cenk Uygur, host of the online show The Young Turks, has a dark history of both denying the genocide of the Armenian people, and subsequently naming his show after its Turkish perpetrators.

Unsafe Speech via The Lowdown with Lalo March 30 ’16@unsafespeech thelowdownwithlalo

The Armenian Genocide

In 1908, under the Ottoman Empire, a political group named the Young Turks waged a rebellion against Sultan Abdul Hamid II forcing him out of political office. By 1915, this political party would become the perpetrators of what has come to be known as the Armenian Genocide, in which up to 1.5 million were estimated to have been systematically dislocated, tortured, and massacred. This event culminated on 24 April 1915, when Young Turk members arrested, and later killed, 250 various Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in the Ottoman capital of Constantinople. The evidence confirming the Armenian Genocide is not only abundant, but also dishearteningly tragic.

In 1915, The New York Times alone published 145 articles describing the Armenian massacres as “systematic” and “authorized and organized by the government.” Leslie A. Davis, American Consul to the US Ambassador to Turkey, wrote:

“Practically every male Armenian of any consequence at all here has been arrested and put in prison. A great many of them were subjected to the most cruel tortures under which some of them died. Another method was found, however, to destroy the Armenian race. This is no less than the deportation of the entire Armenian population, not only from this province, but, I understand, from all six provinces comprising Armenia. For people travelling as these Armenians who are going into exile will be obliged to travel it is certain death for by far the greater part of them.”

American Ambassador Henry Morganthau Sr. said in his memoirs: “When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these deportations, they were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race; they understood this well, and in their conversations with me, they made no particular attempt to conceal the fact.” U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt described the massacres of the Armenian people during WWI as, “The greatest crime of the war.” Raphael Lemkin, the Polish Jewish lawyer who coined the term ‘Genocide’ in 1943, stated in 1949 that he was partly inspired to create the term after having learned of the Armenian Genocide. And in 1997, the Association of Genocide Scholars of North America passed a resolution in which an assembly reaffirmed the mass murder of over a million Armenians in Turkey in 1915, declared that the event conformed with determined characteristics of a genocide, and lastly, condemned the denial of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish government.

Even today, despite an abundance of evidence, any mention of the Armenian Genocide is illegal under Article 301 of the Turkish penal code, which states that insulting Turkey, the Turkish nation, or Turkish government institutions is not permitted. People such as Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, and prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink were both charged with violating the law after having spoken about the Armenian Genocide. Dink also received death threats for years and was subsequently assassinated in 2007.

Cenk Uygur

In November 1991, while Cenk Uygur was on the Student Activities Council representing the Turkish Students Association at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, he published an article in the The Daily Pennsylvanian titled ‘Historical Fact or Falsehood?’ In the article Uygur wrote:

“The claims of an Armenian Genocide are not based on historical facts. If the history of the period is examined it becomes evident that in fact no such genocide took place… there cannot be any harm in taking a closer look at history to find the truth. After all, if the genocide did take place it should be relatively easy to prove. It is kind of hard to miss the planned extermination of 1.5 million people, isn’t it?”

Towards the end of the article Uygur states:

“Once you really examine the history of the time it becomes apparent that the allegations of an Armenian Genocide are unfounded. So the question arises of why the Armenians would bother to conjure up such stories, and even go as far as committing approximately 200 acts of terrorism since 1973 to further their cause, resulting in countless deaths and injuries to government officials and civilians. The answer is that they want their demands met.”

In June of 1999, in the ‘Letters to the Editor’ section of Salon, Uygur wrote:

“The United States helped to sponsor war propaganda against Turkey during World War I as part of an official campaign to smear its enemies, as it did with Germany. Part of this propaganda was the evil butchery of the Turks against the defenseless Christian Armenians. This is what has been rooted in the popular memory of America, with very few Turkish-Americans to combat the insinuations of savagery, yet this is not propaganda?”

Uygur concludes this letter by stating:

“I once asked a professor of mine who taught a class on the laws of war and war crimes at Columbia Law School to deprogram me from all the propaganda I had received growing up Turkish. I asked him to please find me evidence of the genocide by neutral scholars so I could know the truth.

After investigating the issue, he came back and said that he could not find one non-Armenian scholar who believed this was a genocide, but since ‘it looked like a duck, it walked like a duck and it talked like a duck, it must be a duck.’ If that’s not the product of excellent propaganda, I don’t know what is.”

*I encourage everyone to read the full context of what Cenk Uygur wrote, as it is only worse in its entirety.

The Young Turks

A few years later, in 2002, Cenk Uygur started a talkshow on Sirius Satellite Radio called ‘The Young Turks’. Of course, no one who has actually read Uygur’s previous statements could believe that the naming of the show could be completely unrelated to the history of Turkey and Armenia, yet this is what Uygur and his co-hosts at the Young Turks are attempting to have their audience believe.

During an appearance at a California State Democratic Party convention in 2012, Uygur found himself confronted by protesters who were upset by Uygur’s past comments on the Armenian genocide. To this Uygur responded that he completely understood the tremendous pain the Armenian community feels about the “historical situation that happened in that era”, and that he could sympathize with the concerns about the name of the show. He further excused himself, and his past denial of the genocide, by stating that “It (The name ‘Young Turks’) has no historical reference what so ever”, and that the dictionary definition he “looked up” said “young progressives looking to overthrow an established system”. Uygur promised that he would “work with the Armenian community further, and at a different time, to resolve the issue”. So how did Cenk resolve the issue? By sweeping it under the rug.

When searching for references to ‘Armenian Genocide’ or simply ‘Armenia’, no entries come up on the The Young Turks channel, except for some videos about the Kardashians (notice how in this video Cenk and Ana are careful to avoid mentioning the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide when speaking about the Kardashians’ visit to Armenia, despite that being the main reason for their visit). Furthermore, The Young Turks channel made no videos highlighting the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in 2015. However, Uygur’s Armenian co-host Ana Kasparian, made a video commemorating the Armenian Genocide on her own personal YouTube channel, whereby she ironically complains about the denying of the genocide by the US government and Turkey. Why Kasparian’s video could not be featured as an official segment on The Young Turks one can only speculate.

On an episode of TYT on November 18th, 2015 (at minute 41), Ana Kasparian angrily said:

“People are such clowns on the internet. Like ‘Did you know that the name of the show is the Young Turks?’ ‘How can an Armenian work for the Young Turks?’ It’s crazy I had no idea. Did you know Rod Stewart also had a song called The Young Turk? Do you think he was endorsing the Turks of like a century ago? Are you fucking kidding me right now? You think that an American show would name itself Young Turks because it’s paying homage to these fucking terrible people from a century ago? Get the fuck out of here with your dumb bullshit. Grab a dictionary, read, educate yourself.”

Well, Rod Stewart isn’t a Turkish immigrant who has written Armenian genocide denial articles for open publication, and Cenk Uygur is not Rod Stewart. Though, this does beg the question, are Armenians offended by the name?

Here is a statement from Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of America and what he has to say about Cenk Uygur and the show’s name:

“Denying a genocide, belittling its survivors, and then naming your political show after its perpetrators should be troubling not only to Armenian Americans but anyone concerned about human rights. Cenk Uygur not only did just this, but after hearing numerous concerns about the name of his show, went on to support two of the most virulent Armenian Genocide denying organizations (ATAA and ATC) in the country, both of which have, as primary objectives, denying the Armenian Genocide and preventing its teaching.”

I would ask Kasparian, should Aram Hamparian also “get the fuck out of here with his dumb bullshit”? I actually did ask a similar question to another TYT co-host, also of Turkish background, Hasan Piker:

https://twitter.com/LaloDagach/status/715316210129199104

The Hypocrisy

Besides all this, The Young Turks seem to have no problem holding others to a moral standard that they themselves do not practice. The Young Turks have done multiple videos expressing their belief that the American football team ‘The Redskins’, should change their name because it is offensive to an entire community. Uygur and Kasparian even went as far as to agree with the passing of a law that would ban the name ‘Red Skins’. Uygur asserted that anyone who complained about the law was “Stuck in 1955”. When referring to the offensiveness of the name, Uygur said that if we won’t stand for a football team named ‘The Chinamen’, then we should not stand for the name ‘The Redskins’. True enough. Though equally, if we would never tolerate a show named ‘The Third Reich’, due to the systematic massacres they committed against a specific ethnic group, we should also not tolerate a show entitled ‘The Young Turks’ for precisely the same reasons. Uygur, however, is taking advantage of the fact that most people are ignorant of the history of the Ottoman Empire and The Young Turks political party, whose members were responsible for the torture and deaths of over a million Armenians.

There are of course many more examples of this moral hypocrisy from The Young Turks channel. Ben Mankiewicz, when speaking about Saudi Arabia, thought that the Saudi multinational construction conglomerate called The Binladin Group, had “some balls” for keeping the name, because of the family connection to Osama bin Laden. Uygur did a segment on the offensiveness of the town seal of the village of Whitesboro, in which he expressed understanding for people’s attachment to names and symbols, but sometimes it’s best to “let it go”. In a video produced for Columbus Day 2015, Uygur explained that once one learns about the massacres Columbus had committed, it makes celebrating Columbus Day seem “childish”. Uygur added:

“You are making an active choice to deny facts and history, and say ‘I like to be ignorant’… but now that I know the facts, well obviously I change my mind on Christopher Columbus, cuz no one ever told me what the real facts were. You would have to be a monster to want to celebrate this guy.”

Though hypocritically Uygur chooses to remain ignorant on the facts of the Ottoman genocide of the Armenian people, and does not feel it is monstrous to celebrate The Young Turks.

Even if Uygur was ignorant of the historical meaning of the show’s name, the name itself is offensive to an entire community. Yet, who could honestly believe that Cenk Uygur, an immigrant from Turkey who has written articles denying the Armenian genocide, and only a few years later named a show after the perpetrators, was oblivious to the historical connotations of the name ‘The Young Turks’, and had solely the literal dictionary definition in mind when choosing a title?

The Young Turks channel is not a news outlet, but a YouTube based commentary show in which Cenk Uygur holds the entire world up to very high standards of scrutiny, which in itself is perfectly fine. Everyone should keep very high standards of ethics and morality for themselves, as well as for others. However, Uygur can not expect to be a public voice on cross-cultural matters and not have his audience hold him up to the same standards that he projects onto everyone else on a daily basis.

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