Turkey's true colors?

[gamavor]

For more than a century the Jewish organizations in USA were spewing venom against any mention of the Armenian genocide, and now suddenly change of heart? Turks are bad, Turks are terrorist, and Turks are....I don't know what else. Were the Jews blind and deaf for all those years? Turks and Jews really deserve each other.

 

 

IsraCast, Israel

Sept 4 2011

 

 

Turkey's True Colors?

 

Sunday, September 04, 2011

 

 

Turkey Expels Israeli Ambassador, Severs Military Ties & Warns Of

Further Sanctions Although Palmer Report Rules That Israel's Naval

Blockade Of Gaza Is Legal Under International Law

 

Israeli Cabinet Split Over Whether Israel Should Have Apologized To

Turkey Over Deaths of Nine Turks Killed While attacking Israeli

Commandos

 

IsraCast Assessment: Turkey's Islamist Regime Appears Bent On

Restoring Influence Of Despotic Ottoman Empire After Being Rejected By

European Union

 

Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and his Islamist regime is not taking

No for an answer - the Turks have rejected the Palmer Report's finding

that Israel's naval blockade of Gaza is legal. Ankara is now planning

to go to the International Court of Justice in the Hague to contest

the inquiry into the operation by Israeli naval commandos to prevent

the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara and other ships from breaking Israel's

legal blockade.Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has also

declared that Israel will pay by losing Turkey's friendship as well as

suffering Turkish sanctions. Analyst David Essing is of the view the

Mavi Marmara, like pirate ships of the past, sailed under false colors

to Gaza and the affair has now revealed where Turkey is now headed.

 

Israel is now bearing the brunt of Turkey's fury over being rejected

by the European Union after European leaders finally awakened to the

Islamist threat inside their borders. In response, Turkey's Islamist

regime is now bent on augmenting its power and prestige within the

region. Israel is its scapegoat. It began with Erdogan's unbridled

verbal attack on Israel's President Shimon Peres after the IDF was

sent into Gaza to suppress the relentless Palestinian rocketing of

Israeli civilians in 2008. At their face-to-face showdown in Davos,

Peres retorted: 'What would you do if your civilians were being

rocketed day and night?' Well just ask the Kurds whose villages are

being bombed indiscriminately by Turkish fighter jets. Or just ask the

Greek Cypriots who were brutally expelled from their homes in northern

Cyprus by an invasion of the Turkish army in 1974.

 

As for the Palmer report, it should not have come as a surprise that

it ruled Israel's blockade of Gaza is legal under international law:

'Israel faces a real threat to its security from militant groups in

Gaza- the naval blockade was imposed as a legitimate security measure

in order to prevent weapons from entering Gaza by sea and its

implementation complied with the requirements of international law'.

Under these circumstances, the Turkish flotilla attempt to run the

blockade was found to be 'reckless'. And in this vein: 'There exist

serious questions about the conduct, true nature and objectives of the

flotilla organizers particularly IHH (The Turkish aid organization

that is known to support terror groups). In Jerusalem, this part of

the report came as no surprise. Not only Israeli experts but also

prominent international jurists had stated categorically there was no

question about the legality of the blockade in light of the

Palestinian rocketing from Gaza. It is being viewed as a diplomatic

vindication of Israel despite some headlines in the international

media such as the BBC for example: 'Palmer Report Condemns Israel's

Excessive Use of Force!' The Palmer Report did refer to 'Forensic

evidence showing that most of the deceased were shot multiple times,

including in the back, or at close range has not been adequately

accounted for in the material presented by Israel'. The inquiry

recommended that Israel make 'an appropriate statement of regret and

pay compensation', there was no mention of an official apology as

demanded by Ankara.

 

But it would appear that after exonerating Israel on the legality of

Israel's naval blockade, the Palmer Report had to even the score. The

inquiry found that the Israeli commandos who descended by ropes from a

helicopter on to the deck of the Mavi Marmara faced significant,

organized and violent resistance that included knives, iron bars,

staves and chains and possibly firearms. Two IDF soldiers suffered

gunshot wounds, seven others were wounded by passengers, some

seriously. Three of the soldiers were overpowered as they descended

from the first helicopter and forced down below the deck of the

Marmara. This was documented by the Palmer report that went on to draw

a questionable conclusion from the mayhem that took place on the

Marmara, after some of the peace activists resisted what amounted to a

legal Israeli operation to board the vessel. The inquiry concluded:

'Forensic evidence showing that most of the deceased were shot

multiple times, including in the back, or at close range range, has

not been adequately accounted for in the material presented by

Israel'. Therefore, the report found that Israel had used 'excessive

and unreasonable force'.

 

 

 

 

Consider this: the IDF soldiers who first slid down the 'fast ropes'

were armed with paint guns that were considered sufficient to deter

'peace activists', but when they landed on deck they had to fight for

their lives using live ammunition. Take for example the fact that the

Palmer report said two of the soldiers suffered from gunshot wounds

while several others had been stabbed. If they had actually been

killed would this have persuaded the Palmer investigators that the

Israeli troops had been in a life threatening situation? Or the fact,

that three had been dragged prisoner below deck and had to be rescued

by their comrades, who serious would that be in the eyes of the

security experts. Moreover, video tape reveals there was a bloody,

hand-to-hand battle being waged on deck with some of the activists

indeed being shot at close range. If the Israelis were trigger happy

would they have waited to get within dangerous close range. This also

also explains how in such a donnybrook some of the activists were shot

in the back or suffered multiple wounds. And if the commandos had come

with automatic guns blazing away from the outset is it reasonable to

assume that three of their number would have been kidnapped and only

nine activists killed? And it should be noted that on the other ships

in the flotilla where the activists did not resist there were no

casualties at all.

 

The fact is that the Turkish government did nothing to prevent the

Turkish vessel from illegally trying to break the legitimate blockade

but then demands that Israel apologize. Prime Minister Binyamin

Netanyahu has expressed 'regret' and agreed to pay compensation as

recommended by the Palmer Report. But the PM and Foreign Minister

Avigdor Lieberaman and Cabinet Minister Moshe Yaalon, who tried to

negotiate a solution with the Turks, have all said the government

would not apologize for IDF soldiers defending themselves while

carrying out a lawful act. However, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and

Cabinet Minister Dan Meridor contended that Israel should swallow her

pride and make the apology, in order to try and salvage her important

ties with Turkey. In light of developments, it appears that Islamist

Turkey, a key ally of Syria until the recent upheaval, and still a

firm friend of Iran has taken a strategic decision to turn a hostile

shoulder to the Jewish state. Step by step, the Islamist regime is

taking off the gloves and Israel must take this into her strategic

planning. The outlook is bleak if Erdogan seeks a return to the

'glory' of the Ottoman Empire.

 

At this stage, the Turkish PM and his officials, are posing as the new

moralists of the Middle East, while adamantly refusing to acknowledge

Turkey's genocide of the Armenians in 1917. Israeli governments

persistently refused to call upon Ankara to acknowledge their

responsibility in order not to impair relations with Turkey. This is

particularly galling today in light of Turkey's decision to make

Israel her scapegoat in order to enhance her image in the Muslim

world.

 

The Armenian Genocide

 

 

 

 

The Armenian genocide refers to the deliberate and systematic

destruction (genocide) of the Armenian population of the Ottoman

Empire during and just after World War I. It was implemented through

wholesale massacres and deportations, with the deportations consisting

of forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of

the deportees. The total number of resulting Armenian deaths is

generally held to have been between one and one and a half million.

 

The atrocities committed against the Armenian people of the Ottoman

Empire during W.W.I. are called the Armenian Genocide. Genocide is the

organized killing of a people for the express purpose of putting an

end to their collective existence. Because of its scope, genocide

requires central planning and a machinery to implement it. This makes

genocide the quintessential state crime, as only a government has the

resources to carry out such a scheme of destruction. The Armenian

Genocide was centrally planned and administered by the Turkish

government against the entire Armenian population of the Ottoman

Empire. It was carried out during W.W.I. between the years 1915 and

1918.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Armenian people was subjected to deportation, expropriation,

abduction, torture, massacre, and starvation. The great bulk of the

Armenian population was forcibly removed from Armenia and Anatolia to

Syria, where the vast majority was sent into the desert to die of

thirst and hunger. Large numbers of Armenians were methodically

massacred throughout the Ottoman Empire. Women and children were

abducted and horribly abused. The entire wealth of the Armenian people

was expropriated. After only a little more than a year of calm at the

end of W.W.I., the atrocities were renewed between 1920 and 1923, and

the remaining Armenians were subjected to further massacres and

expulsions. In 1915, thirty-three years before THE UN Genocide

Convention was adopted, the Armenian Genocide was condemned by the

international community as a crime against humanity.

 

How many people died in the Armenian Genocide?

 

It is estimated that one and a half million Armenians perished

between 1915 and 1923. There were an estimated two million Armenians

living in the Ottoman Empire on the eve of W.W.I. Well over a million

were deported in 1915. Hundreds of thousands were butchered outright.

Many others died of starvation, exhaustion, and epidemics which

ravaged the concentration camps. Among the Armenians living along the

periphery of the Ottoman Empire many at first escaped the fate of

their countrymen in the central provinces of Turkey. Tens of thousands

in the east fled to the Russian border to lead a precarious existence

as refugees. The majority of the Armenians in Constantinople, the

capital city, were spared deportation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1918, however, the Young Turk regime took the war into the

Caucasus, where approximately 1,800,000 Armenians lived under Russian

dominion. Ottoman forces advancing through East Armenia and Azerbaijan

here too engaged in systematic massacres. The expulsions and massacres

carried by the Nationalist Turks between 1920 and 1922 added tens of

thousands of more victims. By 1923 the entire landmass of Asia Minor

and historic West Armenia had been expunged of its Armenian

population. The destruction of the Armenian communities in this part

of the world was total.

 

Who was responsible for the Armenian Genocide?

The decision to carry out a genocide against the Armenian people was

made by the political party in power in the Ottoman Empire. This was

the Committee of Union and Progress , popularly known as the Young

Turks. Three figures from the CUP controlled the government; Mehmet

Talaat, Minister of the Interior in 1915 and Grand Vizier (Prime

Minister) in 1917; Ismail Enver, Minister of War; Ahmed Jemal,

Minister of the Marine and Military Governor of Syria. This Young Turk

triumvirate relied on other members of the CUP appointed to high

government posts and assigned to military commands to carry out the

Armenian Genocide. In addition to the Ministry of War and the Ministry

of the Interior, the Young Turks also relied on a newly-created secret

outfit which they manned with convicts and irregular troops, called

the Special Organization (Teshkilati Mahsusa). Its primary function

was the carrying out of the mass slaughter of the deported Armenians.

In charge of the Special Organization was Behaeddin Shakir, a medical

doctor. Moreover, ideologists such as Zia Gokalp propagandized through

the media on behalf of the CUP by promoting Pan-Turanism, the creation

of a new empire stretching from Anatolia into Central Asia whose

population would be exclusively Turkic. These concepts justified and

popularized the secret CUP plans to liquidate the Armenians of the

Ottoman Empire.

 

The Young Turk conspirators, other leading figures of the wartime

Ottoman government, members of the CUP Central Committee, and many

provincial administrators responsible for atrocities against the

Armenians were indicted for their crimes at the end of the war. The

main culprits evaded justice by fleeing the country. Even so, they

were tried in absentia and found guilty of capital crimes. The

massacres, expulsions, and further mistreatment of the Armenians

between 1920 and 1923 were carried by the Turkish Nationalists, who

represented a new political movement opposed to the Young Turks, but

who shared a common ideology of ethnic exclusivity.

 

David Essing

 

http://www.isracast.com/article.aspx?ID=1307&t=TURKEY'S-TRUE-COLORS

 

http://xecutrix.usc.edu/news/msg388064.html

[Yervant1]

IF TURKEY WANTS ISRAEL'S APOLOGY IT SHOULD APOLOGIZE FOR ARMENIAN GENOCIDE FIRST

 

HULIQ.com

http://www.huliq.com/8738/apologies-all-around-except

Sept 5 2011

 

Some say Turkish neo-ottoman appetite is growing and as Turkey

wants Israel to apologize for the flotilla incident, it should first

apologize to Armenia for the Armenian genocide by looking back to

its own history.

 

The subject was thrown into sharp relief this weekend when Turkey

sent Israel's ambassador home after the Israelis refused to issue an

apology for killing nine Turkish nationals while enforcing a naval

blockade Israel has imposed on Gaza.

 

Turkey took the action after a United Nations panel found that Israel

had used excessive force in stopping a flotilla of Hamas sympathizers

launched from Turkey from reaching Gaza. The same panel, however,

also found that Israel was within its rights to impose and enforce

the blockade, and the Israeli government has used this finding to

reject Turkey's call for an apology.

 

Turkey's temper tantrum in response is somewhat ironic in light

of a similar request that has been waiting in its inbox for several

decades. That one, from Armenia, calls on Turkey to express regret for

the extermination of more than a million Armenians during the First

World War years, an act many regard as the first modern genocide but

which Turkey refuses to acknowledge as such.

 

As the Turkish and Armenian governments have been engaged in a delicate

diplomatic dance aimed at producing a mutually satisfying answer to

that request, and as the Turks have done nothing further recently to

upset the Armenians, there have been no displays of official ire from

Yerevan over the lack of response to that request.

 

In contrast, Turkey allowed the flotilla to set sail from its

territory, an action the Israelis could have interpreted as a

deliberate provocation on the Turkish government's part.

 

Israel, however, counts Turkey as one of its few friends in the

Islamic world, and as such, has avoided any actions that might annoy

the Turks. That includes speaking up about the Armenian genocide, an

issue that one might expect the Israelis to be especially sympathetic.

 

The German government has issued a formal apology to Israel for the

Holocaust as well as paid reparations to Israel and the descendants

of those who perished in the systematic German extermination of Jews.

 

One of the reasons Turkey refuses to issue an apology for the Armenian

genocide is because the events occurred under a regime and in a country

that no longer exists. Yet the same could be said about the regime

that carried out the Holocaust. And with Turkey's current government,

led by an Islamist party, moving to assert itself more as a regional

power, some of its traditional rivals are expressing fears that it

may have Ottoman ambitions.

 

All of this suggests that the Turkish government might want to rethink

its actrions in the wake of Israels refusal to apologize for the

flotilla intervention. Or maybe work on one of its own.

[Boghos]

What we are saying here, once and again, is that Armenia is a passive player in the international arena. Should we have expected differently? Probably not. But it does not mean that we couldn't be more active internationally. We certainly could but our state institutions are either paralyzed or lost in meaningless activities. There are exceptions but they are just that.

 

So we get the US Congress, after humiliating Armenians countless times over historical truth, to approve the Genocide Bill because the Jewish/Israeli lobby decides that the Turks are bad. Wow! We are doing well.

[Yervant1]

Boghos Jan, our institution leaders are busy getting their specialty license plates with the money that they get through corruption. So they don't have enough time in their hands to look after the interests of the country.

[Boghos]

That's exactly right, dear Yervant. I do recognize that the diaspora, still to this day, has a romantic version of Armenia. But acting like unruly princelings of a far corner of the Russian Empire is a disgrace.

[Yervant1]

Few years ago when we were all hoping and saying that, things will change and get better, it's still new and in time they will sort it out. But today when I read unbelievable articles, it's not bothering me anymore because my senses are numb and I have given up that it will ever get better for as long we have vultures coming one after the other.