DELIBERATE HATE CRIME IS BEING COMMITTED!
Taraf (in Turkish), Turkey
Sept 18 2014
by Taner Akcam
[Translated from Turkish]
The series of articles [I wrote] on school books came to an end
yesterday!
However, I would like to add one more thing and end the series with
a long extract from a textbook called History 10 for Secondary Schools.
This is what the book says: "Armed by the Russians, the Armenians
raided Turkish villages and carried out massacres... At a time when
the Ottoman state was fighting a battle of survival on the Canakkale
[Gallipoli] front, the Armenians stepped up their preparation for
an overall uprising. Ararat, the official newspaper of the Armenian
organizations, published the following document for the Armenians to
tell them what course of actions they should be taking (August 1914.)"
The declaration allegedly extracted from Ararat has 15 articles in it.
The book has the entire document in it. I quote 10 of the articles
and ask you to read each of the articles carefully:
"1. All Armenians, regardless of who they are, should sell some of
their worldly possessions to arm themselves.
2. Armenians are to defy conscription [to the Ottoman army] and also
stop the other people, including the Muslims, from joining the army.
3. The Armenians already enrolled for service in the army are to
desert their post to join the Armenian gangs and voluntary units.
(...)
6. All noncombatant Muslims from the age of two onwards are to be
slain wherever they are found.
7. Armenians are to confiscate or destroy all food items, belongings,
and property owned by Muslims.
8. They are to burn down houses, grain stocks, churches, and charities
and blame it on the Muslims.
9. They are to commit acts of arson against government buildings and
kill Ottoman security forces and gendarme.
10. They are to kill wounded Ottoman soldiers returning from the front.
(...)
14. Armenians are to frame the Muslims for the uprising, the
revolution, and massacres they, the Armenians, commit and publicize
these events in Turkey and particularly abroad.
15. Armenians are to work as spies and guides for the allies."
The schoolbook claims that the Armenians "implemented this memorandum
straight away" and "did the Turkish people the biggest harm during
the World War I years."
There is absolutely no point in discussing whether such a memorandum
alleged to be published by Ararat magazine really exists or not. In
other words, I will not condescend to saying things along the lines of
"go and get hold of this document and publish the original, otherwise
I will call you liars."
This is because even those who published it know that such a document
with 15 articles does not exist! There is only one reason why I
allocate such wide space for the document in question and its contents!
Here what is being done, is done deliberately. Any person who says
that there is such a document could only be someone working for
Goebbels, Hitler's minister of propaganda, between 1933 and 1945. A
book containing this document could only have been published and
distributed by Nazi Ministry of Propaganda. I am happy to listen to
anyone ready to claim otherwise.
Just put yourselves in the place of a Turkish youth who would read
the articles in question as evidence that the Armenians did all this
during the war. What would these young minds feel and think about
the Armenians?
It goes without saying that the Armenian children in the Armenian
schools in Turkey, whose numbers are dwindling, are also expected
to read such books under the compulsory curriculum. I would not wish
to comment on the kind of psychological impact it would have on any
Armenian student who is made to read these books.
That is why I make such a case. There is a deliberate plan here! The
persons who do this know exactly what they are up to. A deliberate
hate crime is being committed with its consequences fully foreseen.
This goes to show one more thing! The mentality that wiped out over
one million people in 1915 is still in power. Social scientists refer
to this as "genocidal mentality"!
Every single person and institution that says that the AKP [Justice and
Development Party] is carrying out a silent revolution and supports
it, if they claim to be democrats respecting human rights, needs to
speak out against what is written in these books. As long as they
fail to do that, they have to accept that they stand to be accused
of being supporters of "genocidal mentality."
A final word to those intelligentsia of ours who recently started
a petition campaign to have the course "Ataturk's Principles and
History of Turkish Revolution" removed from the curriculum. As far
as I can see, they feel strongly about the matter; that is the only
reason why my message is addressed to them.
I beseech them to end the petition campaign. Given the situation
we are in, the issue they are concerned with is highly marginal and
minute. They are wasting their time; I can even go so far as to say
that they are making a pointless statement.
This is because the real issue is something else. The real issue
is the entire set of history books. What difference would it make
whether the course "History of Turkish Revolution" is removed from
the curriculum or not! Even worse things are written in history books
and that is what is taught at schools.
Dear campaigners, if you are serious about your ideas that inspire
your action, then start a campaign right away that calls for the
removal of all the history books and for the AKP government to issue
an apology for the books in question! I will be the first one to sign
your petition.
The year 2015 is approaching, the 100th anniversary of the genocide.
The AKP and all the individuals and the institutions that support it
need to know that every time they open their mouth on the "Armenian
issue," they will be reminded of these books. Without withdrawing
these books, without issuing a clear apology to the Armenians who
are made to read them and to the general public, not a single word
can be said about 2015!
[Groong note: The above was translated from Turkish]
