Lover's Quarrel

[Yervant1]

Old Allies are at it again and the appearance of Armenian Genocide on the stage when needed as a tool to punish. Erdoghan you better listen or else they will recognise AG, maybe NOT!

 

 

From the mixed-up files of Obama's trusted friend

Power Line Posted on March 1, 2013

by Scott Johnson

 

In his most recent verbal assault against Israel, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has characterized Zionism as a crime against humanity along with anti-Semitism, fascism, and, of course, Islamophobia. Isn't leaving homophobia off such a list itself a crime against humanity? Prime Minister Netanyahu has issued this concise response: `This is a dark and mendacious statement the likes of which we thought had passed from the world.' Netanyahu is constrained by the conventions of diplomacy. Almost as concise but more to my taste is the less constrained response of the head of the Conference of European Rabbis, Pinchas Goldschmidt, in an email to Reuters: `The irony of these comments will not be lost on the families of those slaughtered during the Armenian genocide, a crime still not recognized by the Turkish government.' Andrew McCarthy's new book devotes substantial attention to the deep thoughts of Erdogan. Andy puts Erdogan's noxious emission in context here, though not the kind of context that excuses the offense. Let's give Andy the last word for the moment at somewhat greater length: "I think `crime against humanity' has become a verbal tic for Turkey's Islamic-supremacist Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In Vienna, at one of the UN's nauseating =80=9Cdialogues' between Islam and the West (you know, those conferences where Western leaders explain how much they admire Islam and Islamic leaders reciprocate by explaining how much they, too, admire Islam), Erdogan pronounced Zionism a `crime against humanity,' which he placed on a par with anti-Semitism. The latter is a subject Erdogan knows a thing or two about. As I recount in Spring Fever: The Illusion of Islamic Democracy (just released in paperback this week), Erdogan first burst on the scene almost 40 years ago as the 20-year-old writer-director-star of a theatrical production called Maskomya. As Andy Bostom edifies us, Mas-Kom-Ya is short for Masons, Communists, and, yes, Yahudi - Jews. In Erdogan's telling, these were evil subversive groups whose common denominator was - all together now! - Judaism. Spring Fever documents Erdogan's application of `crime against humanity' label to calls for Muslims in Europe and America to assimilate in the Western societies where they've chosen to live. He also said it was a `crime against humanity' for Israel to defend itself in 2008's `Operation Cast Lead' after over 3000 rockets and mortar shells were fired into Israeli territory by Hamas - the international terrorist organization that Erdogan's Turkey lavishly funds and whose leaders he receives as dignitaries. In this week's Vienna speech, Erdogan reached unprecedented epistemological buffoonery when he explained that not only Zionism but Islamophobia is a `crime against humanity.' Either he does not know what a crime is or he does not know what a phobia is, but since a rational mental state is required for the former the latter doesn't qualify. Or maybe Erdogan knows exactly what crimes and phobias are, but as an Islamo-fascist he figures such niceties should never get in the way of a good smear. Oh, almost forgot, Erdogan also said fascism was a `crime against humanity.' Between his invocation of anti-Semitism and fascism, we see that Erdogan at least knows how to project. In 1975, a year after Maskomya had its run, Erdogan's fellow Islamic-supremacists engineered the passage of U.N. General Assembly Resolution 3379, declaring that Zionism was a form of racism. The condemnation by the United States of this blatant act of anti-Semitism was unequivocal. The late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, then the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., asserted, `The United States ... does not acknowledge, it will never abide by, it will never acquiesce in this infamous act.' Even the fraudulent enterprise that is the U.N. eventually felt compelled to buckle under forceful American leadership (much of it provided in the Bush 41 State Department by a young assistant secretary named John Bolton). The noxious `Zionism equals racism' resolution was finally repealed in 1991. Now, Erdogan has seen racism and raised it to a crime against humanity, but we've thus far heard no Moynihan-like condemnation from the Obama administration. Notwithstanding that the prime minister's claim to fame is imprisoning uncooperative journalists and political opponents on trumped up charges, President Obama has described Erdogan as one of his most `trusted friends' among world leaders. Although Erdogan is a top provider of material support to Hamas, a serious felony in the United States, Obama recently said of him: `The bottom line is that we find ourselves in frequent agreement upon a wide range of issues.' And, indeed, it is Erdogan who has been prodding Obama to repeat the administration's Libya debacle by overtly supporting the Syrian `rebels' - the jihadist-rife, Muslim Brotherhood-dominated opposition seeking to topple the Iran-backed regime of Bashar al-Assad. It appears Obama and his second-term foreign policy team are poised to give Erdogan his way. Sigh. Maybe for just a few minutes, Obama could pretend that Erdogan was a Republican and that anti-Zionism was the sequester..." Via Jennifer Rubin/Right Turn

Edited March 2, 2013 by Yervant1

[Yervant1]

Erdogan's hypocrisy

 

Erdogan? `Zionism, anti-Semitism and fascism are crimes against

humanity.' Oom Shmum? `We're keeping shtum'

 

The Jerusalem Post

02/28/2013

 

By DEBORAH DANAN

 

If it didn't pose the threat of malediction, I'd say that the

following absurdity uttered by Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip

Erdogan might just be the most hilarious thing I've read this year:

`Just like Zionism, anti-Semitism and fascism, it becomes unavoidable

that Islamophobia must be regarded as a crime against humanity.'

 

So said the Turkish premier in a UN conference in Vienna on Wednesday.

 

Tellingly, but hardly surprising, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon-who

shared the stage with Erdogan-chose to keep shtum. Once again, the UN

has proved itself to be the world's premier forum for champions of

hate and hypocrisy. As UN Watch rightly pointed out in the wake of

Erdogan's latest pronouncement, Ban should be reminded that his

predecessor, Kofi Annan, repealed the UN's 1975 Zionism-is-racism

resolution because it was an expression of anti-Semitism. And let's

not forget the Israel hate-fest at the UN-sponsored World Conference

against Racism in Durban, South Africa, a decade ago.

 

But never mind the UN, let's return for a moment to Erdogan, hypocrite

extraordinaire.

 

Someone should probably let our old pal Erdogan know that lumping

Zionism together with anti-Semitism is in and of itself

anti-Semitic. And while he's abroad preaching against hatred, back at

home one of his country's largest papers, The Hurriyet, published its

findings that the Jews-no surprises there-are the number one target

for hate speech in Turkish media. The report examined all 1000 local

and national newspapers published between September and December 2012

and found that out of a total of 21 minority groups, the Jews receive

a whopping 25 percent of all hate-speech content. Even more

interesting is the fact that Israel is actually listed as a separate

target group, so that lays to rest any claims that hatred against the

Jews is actually about Israel.

 

So Erdogan proves himself as a warrior for combating anti-Semitism

(and its evil cousin Zionism) yet he can't even control the media in

his own backyard?

 

It's worth noting that before Erdogan's AKP party came to power,

anti-Semitism was very much a fringe issue within Turkish society. Way

before the Mavi Marmara misadventure, when Erdogan still served as

Istanbul's mayor, he made the following harrowing statement: `Today,

the image of the Jews is no different than that of the Nazis.' Prior

to his coming to power, the group that took the main brunt of Turkey's

hate speech was the Armenians, now number 2 on Hurriyet's list of

media's most targeted. Ah, the Armenians, the eternal thorn in

Erdogan's side. The group that have the chutzpah to claim genocide of

1.5 million of its people at the hands of the Ottomans during World

War I. No recognition of genocide-let alone anything akin to an

apology-and a 16 year blockade of Armenia are all the long-suffering

Armenians have gotten in response to their claims against the

Turks. Erdogan's rebuke of Israel's war crimes flies in the face of

his country's Armenian population, not to mention other victims of

Turkish tyranny including Greek Cypriots and Kurds.

 

So who's going to take Erdogan on and expose him for the bullying

humbug that he is? Certainly not Ban Ki Moon and the other insidious

officials at the UN. Perhaps US Secretary of State John Kerry might

slip him a hushed scolding on his upcoming visit to Turkey?

 

I, for one, am not holding my breath.

[Yervant1]

Turkish PM Sparks Israeli Fury With UN Comments

 

Criticism of Zionism in Passing Dubbed 'Anti-Semitic' by Israeli Leadership

 

AntiWar.com

February 28, 2013

 

by Jason Ditz

 

The comments weren't even supposed to be directed at Israel.

 

In a speech at the UN Alliance of Civilizations meeting, Turkish Prime

Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the international community to

speak out against Islamophobia, terming it a `crime against humanity'

and likening it to `Zionism, anti-Semitism and fascism.'

 

The mention is Zionism in passing was enough to spark a livid reaction

from Israeli officials, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

condemning it as a `libelous' comment, and other Likud officials

dubbing it `anti-semitic.'

 

Demands for apology were quick to follow, with Israeli officials and

European Jewish leaders suggested the comments had something to do

with the Armenian genocide, seemingly brought up only to get a rise

out of Turkey.

 

All of this falderal over a single comment reflects the ongoing

tension in what was once Israel's strongest regional alliance, which

has remained in ruins since the 2010 attack on the Mavi Marmara, with

Israel's government still split years later on whether or not to

apologize for killing Turkish aid workers on board the aid ship.

[Yervant1]

Similar to Holocaust!!!!!!!!! am I seeing this right?

 

 

Israel outraged by Erdogan's statement

 

Vestnik Kavkaza

1 March 2013

 

Prominent Israeli journalists, lawmakers and public figures are

outraged by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's recent

statement, according to which Zionism is similar to fascism and Israel

is responsible for 'crimes against humanity'. It's still not clear

whether Israel will respond to these remarks or not.

 

The remarks were made by Prime Minister Erdogan at a UN forum on

Wednesday. Talking about Islamophobia, the Turkish leader said that

Zionism is a violent ideology similar to fascism.

 

In Israel many people note that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon was

present at the meeting and did nothing to stop Erdogan's speech.

 

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has not responded yet, maybe because of

the political tensions continuing in the country. No official has

agreed to comment on the incident, however one representative of the

ministry said that Erdogan could have been mistaken. He could have

thought that UN Resolution No. 3379, which was adopted in 1975 under

pressure from the Soviet Union and Arab states and condemned Zionism,

had not been repealed, the official believes. In fact the resolution

was repealed in 1991.

 

Nowadays, many Israeli officials believe that it's high time to

reconsider the 1915 Armenian genocide and announce it a tragedy

similar to the Holocaust. It's also possible to discuss the violence

committed by the Turkish authorities against Kurds, the official says.

 

 

Pyotr Lyukimson reporting from

Israel. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza.

[Yervant1]

Erdogan's Double Standards

 

Al-Monitor Israel Pulse

March 3, 2013

 

By: Shlomi Eldar

 

`Turkey and Israel are both vital allies of the United States. We want

to see them work together in order to be able to go beyond the

rhetoric and begin to take concrete steps to change this relationship,'

said new U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at a news conference in

Ankara on Friday [March 1]. Kerry also condemned Turkish Prime

Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his verbal attack two days earlier,

when he compared Zionism to fascism and called it a `crime against

humanity.' These two sentences by Kerry express the vast distance

between hope for rehabilitating the relations with Ankara - and

reality.

 

In the past, I had thought that it would be possible for Israel and

Turkey to consider their joint interests and restore their

relationship in the near future. The leaders of the two countries, I

had reckoned, would be forced to swallow their pride, if only out of

Middle Eastern logic. After all, friends are friends, all hell broke

loose in the Middle East and this is the time to make up and bury the

hatchet.

 

But then along came Erdogan's statement this week in the United

Nations -- which was uttered, by the way, at a U.N. forum, established

to `improve understanding and cooperative relations among nations and

peoples across cultures and religions.' This statement certainly

proved how far off the mark I had been.

Erdogan is a serial troublemaker. Two-and-a-half years ago he

quarreled with Israel over the Marmara episode; a year ago he

quarreled with France; and over the past year he quarreled with

Damascus, almost to threat of war. If we can rely on commentaries and

evaluations of the situation, Erdogan's crass verbal exchanges with

his old friend Syria is meant to help ingratiate him with Cairo,

Tehran, Baghdad, Qatar and in effect the entire Arab world, in order

to actualize his megalomaniac aspirations to become the Mukhtar of the

Muslim world.

 

I believed that one day, Erdogan would understand that he could fill

the tremendous void left by the leaders of the Arab world that were

deposed or weakened - and diplomatic wisdom would dictate to him to

soften his position vis-a-vis Israel.

 

This `path of wisdom' seemed tangible, attainable, logical and even

self-evident to me. True, no one believes that a new friendship

between the two countries could reemerge; a relationship as close and

courageous as in the past. But even a cold friendship could be

useful. These hopes/assessments were strengthened when I'd

occasionally hear leaks about secret contacts between Israeli and

Turkish representatives regarding an end to the crisis. We even

received news recently in the Turkish press that Israel supplied

Turkey with advanced electronic warfare systems for aircraft systems,

that significantly upgrade the Turkish Air Force's Airborne Warning

and Control System (AWACS). This happened last month.

 

So, I asked myself, if that's not a sign portending well for the

future, if that doesn't bode well, how else can we explain it? Two

countries that were friends and became enemies are now taking

confident steps toward reconciliation.

 

But then Erdogan rose to the speaker's rostrum at the U.N. Alliance of

Civilizations in Vienna, leaving his listeners in shock and causing me

to feel baffled with myself over my naiveté. `The international

community should consider Islamophobia a crime against humanity like

Zionism or anti-Semitism or fascism,' said Erdogan at the stand of the

startled U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

 

`Crime against humanity,' he said.

 

That is the moment when the penny dropped. Erdogan's conduct vis-Ã

-vis Israel is not a reaction or a result of anything. It has no

connection to diplomatic mishaps or to the failures connected to the

tragic takeover of the Mavi Marmara ship. It is not connected to the

various operations of the IDF in the Gaza Strip; it's not even about

Erdogan's megalomaniac aspirations to lead the Muslim world, for which

he is willing to sacrifice the long-standing friendship between Turkey

and Israel. It's not about the impasse in negotiations between Israel

and [Palestinian Chairman] Abu Mazen and not even connected to the

ridiculous conduct of former Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, who

subjected Turkey's ambassador to Israel to the humiliating ceremony of

placing him on a low seat.

 

It is hatred.

 

Erdogan simply hates Israel. If we listen carefully to his words at

the Vienna convention, we realize that he doesn't even try to hide

it. He simply hates the Israelis and everything they represent with

such deep, built-in, dark hatred that nothing will help. We should

have understood this a long time ago, but better late than never.

 

`Obviously, we not only disagree with it. We found it

objectionable. We denounce Erdogan's statement,' Kerry said at that

same press conference in Ankara during the weekend [March 1], and it

was good that he said what he did.

 

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who also recently expressed

opinions similar to those of the prime minister, fixed his gaze on

Kerry without batting an eyelash.

 

And since Erdogan started all this, since he was the one to hurl the

`crime against humanity' hot potato, the time has come for us to turn

the history-book pages and consider an item that all Turkish leaders

in the past attempted to hush up, and even forced those surrounding

them to deny. Again, I raise the subject here with the requisite

caution, only because Erdogan himself felt free to run off at the

mouth. I am referring to something that can only be labeled a `crime

against humanity,' meaning genocide, that Turkey was connected

to. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

 

A few months ago, I visited Armenia. I went on a tour of the genocide

museum in Yerevan, the capital city. A million and a half Armenians

were murdered in what is called the =80=9CArmenian Genocide' that was

carried out during World War I in the Ottoman Empire period, before

the founding of the modern Turkish state. The museum is located in the

heart of the capital city, longingly overlooking the Ararat Mountain

that is holy to the Armenians but located in Turkish territory. The

museum is full of appalling testimonies and photographs that clearly

answer to the description of `crime against humanity.'

 

Despite the tremendous efforts invested by Turkey in the last hundred

years to prevent this, dozens of democratic countries in the world

have acknowledged the Armenian genocide. Dozens of countries - bur not

Israel, which has avoided recognizing the genocide for years, when

relations with Turkey were close and even after the crisis with Turkey

erupted. It seems that some small spark of hope for repairing the

relations between the countries, prevented Israel from officially

acknowledging the genocide of the Armenian nation.

 

I have no intentions of settling accounts with the Turkish nation, or

pouring more oil on the fire of the ongoing conflict. But to throw out

into the air that `Zionism is a crime against humanity' and continue

to deny the Armenian genocide =80' that's impossible.

 

So Erdogan, with your permission, one friendly piece of advice: The

one who searches for justice must come with his hands clean. Otherwise,

his search might wake up undesirable ghosts from the past - ghosts

that you have tried to keep dormant.

 

 

Shlomi Eldar is a contributing writer for Al-Monitor's Israel

Pulse. For the past two decades, he has covered the Palestinian

Authority and especially the Gaza Strip for Israel's Channels 1 and

10, and has reported on the emergence of Hamas. In 2007, he was

awarded the Sokolov Prize, Israel's most important media award, for

this work. He has published two books: Eyeless in Gaza (2005), which

anticipated the Hamas victory in the subsequent Palestinian elections,

and Getting to Know Hamas (2012).

[Yervant1]

US LAWMAKERS URGE ERDOGAN TO RETRACT ZIONISM SLURS

 

TERT.AM

11:07 ~U 14.03.13

 

Eighty-nine members of the US Congress signed a letter calling on

Turkey's prime minister to retract his comments blasting Zionism,

JTA reported.

 

The lawmakers, representing both houses of Congress and both political

parties, sent the one-page letter to Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday to

express "our grave disappointment with the statement you made at the

United Nations-sponsored conference in Vienna last month equating

Zionism - the foundation of the Jewish state and the movement for

Jewish self-determination -with fascism and anti-Semitism, and labeling

it a 'crime against humanity.' "

 

Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), who signed the letter, in a statement

sent to JTA said Erdogan's "outlandish comment is simply unacceptable"

and "further threatens unrest in an already perilous region."

 

Another signer, Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), said, "Rather than pursuing

closer ties with the United States, Europe and Israel, Erdogan

continues to pursue a policy of distance and isolation from the West."

[Yervant1]

TURKEY IN NO POSITION TO SCHOOL ISRAEL ON HUMAN RIGHTS

 

Protestors chant slogans against Israel and Syrian President Bashar

al-Assad as they carry a mock coffin with the mention "In Hule,

50 children massacred by knives" during a rally on May 31, 2012 on

Taksim Square in Istanbul, marking the first anniversary of the Mavi

Marmara incident. (photo by BULENT KILIC/AFP/GettyImages)

 

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/03/turkey-accuses-israel-faces-own-human-rights-violations.html

By: Orhan Kemal Cengiz for Al-Monitor Turkey Pulse. Posted on March 19.

 

Who can take Turkey seriously when it accuses Israel of crimes

against humanity and then lays out a red-carpet state reception for

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who has an arrest warrant from

the International Criminal Court?

 

Or let's put it another way: Can the Turkey that couldn't settle the

accounts of its massive human rights violations against the Kurds in

the past and couldn't even apologize for what happened to the Armenians

in 1915, place Israel's crimes against humanity on the world's agenda?

 

Turkey's problematic past not only impedes its efforts to call

attention to Israel's inhuman practices against the Palestinians,

but also prevents it from holding violators of the rights of Turkish

citizens accountable. For example, look at what transpired after the

Israeli military attack on the Mavi Marmara flotilla in 2010.

 

Nine Turkish nationals lost their lives in the Israeli attack against

the flotilla. The Israeli operation against the ship, from beginning to

end, was an array of violations of international law. For an account

of the terrifying actions of Israeli soldiers in that operation,

one need only look at the report of the UN Human Rights Council dated

Sept. 22, 2010 [A/HRC/15/21]. The UN report clearly says that contrary

to Israeli allegations, nobody had fired on the Israeli soldiers. The

Israeli soldiers had fired on civilians on board from close range,

and even after the wounded civilians had fallen to the ground. The

conclusions of the UN report clearly explain the human tragedy on

Mavi Marmara that day:

 

"The conduct of the Israeli military and other personnel towards the

flotilla passengers was not only disproportionate to the occasion but

demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence. It

betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality."

 

The Human Rights Council also provided a legal assessment of the

Israeli operation: "It constituted grave violations of human rights

law and international humanitarian law."

 

So what did Turkey do against these "grave human rights violations"

that killed nine of the citizens? It launched a born-dead legal case

at Istanbul's High Criminal Court. The Istanbul public prosecutor asks

for nine life sentences for the then-Israeli chief of staff, commanders

of its navy and air force and the head of military intelligence for

their responsibility in the deaths. In Turkish jurisprudence, it is

not possible to try and sentence defendants in absentia. That means

that unless these former Israeli officials agree to come to Turkey

for trial by a high criminal court, they can't be penalized.

 

Istanbul's 7th High Criminal Court held four sessions starting in

November 2012 and heard depositions of hundreds of plaintiffs. The

court is likely to hear even more plaintiffs in its next sessions,

but since it cannot hear the depositions by defendants, it will

at some point decide to suspend the trial. If the defendants ever

come to Turkey, they will risk detention to compel appearance before

the court. The court can also call on Interpol for the arrest of the

defendants, should they show up in any European country, to bring them

before the Turkish court. However, no such request has been sent to

Interpol at the moment.

 

If Turkey had been a country unworried about accounting for its own

human rights violations, what choice did it have in the Mavi Marmara

case? For example, if Turkey had been a party to the International

Criminal Court, it could have asked for the Israeli soldiers to be

tried there, as the operation was carried out on board a Turkish ship.

 

The prosecutor in Istanbul said the Mavi Marmara, although

Comoros-flagged, was registered in Turkey. The Israeli attack would be

considered to have been committed on Turkish soil. Turkey then would be

able to claim that this attack, along with the blockade against Gaza,

was a war crime. And as there were crimes against humanity committed

against those on board, the ICC would be qualified to try the case.

 

Why doesn't Turkey become a signatory to the ICC, long demanded by the

EU it hopes to join one day? Turkey is afraid of its past human rights

violations being brought to the court one way or the other. Some of

these fears pertain to the Kurdish issue and others to the Cyprus

question. Turkey is afraid of being accused of ongoing violations

arising from the inability of Kurdish villagers to return to the

villages which were set ablaze in 1990s. Turkey also fears its 1974

military intervention in Cyprus could be classified as aggression as

per the Rome Statute. Although the ICC had declared its intention to

investigate crimes of aggression only after 2017, Turkey is not sure

of settling the Cyprus issue until then, and still fears of being

accused. Turkey, although a candidate for EU membership, is the only

country among all EU members and membership candidates that doesn't

does recognize the ICC's jurisdiction.

 

A country that cannot effectively cope with its own human rights

and other issues in its past cannot give lessons in human rights to

another country. Sadly, Turkey is so fearful of its own past that

it cannot leave the corner it has backed itself into, not even to

prosecute crimes against humanity committed against its own citizens.

 

Instead, it must be content with filing legal complaints that will

not produce any meaningful outcomes and serve only to appease its

own public.

 

Orhan Kemal Cengiz is a Turkish lawyer, journalist and human rights

activist. A former president of the Human Rights Agenda Association,

a respected Turkish NGO that works on human rights issues, he has been

the lawyer of the Alliance of Turkish Protestant Churches since 2002.

 

He writes for Today's Zaman and Radikal.

[Yervant1]

13:16 21/03/2013 » Analysis

Steven Simpson: If there has ever been a country in the Middle East guilty of committing crimes against humanity, it is Turkey

 

 

Below is an article by Steven Simpson, published in The American Thinker, in which he presents the crimes committed by Turkey.

Turkey's Islamist prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is once again engaging in his favorite political pastime - Israel-bashing.

Late last month at a U.N. convention held ironically to promote religious tolerance, Erdoğan lambasted Israel by calling Zionism "a crime against humanity." Indeed, Erdoğan even outdid the biggest anti-Israel institution in the world - the United Nations - which in 1975 passed its infamous "Zionism is Racism" resolution.

But Erdoğan's continuous contempt for Israel shows the arrogance and hypocrisy of Turkey. For if there has ever been a country in the Middle East guilty of committing crimes against humanity, it is Turkey. Indeed, next to Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, 20th-century Turkey ranks right up there when it comes to massacres, rapes, expulsions, and rapine perpetrated against ethnic and religious minorities - namely Armenians, Greeks, and Kurds.

Before documenting Turkey's crimes against other people, it should first be noted that today's Turkey has for all intents and purposes become an Islamic republic in everything but name only. The so-called "Turkish-Israeli" alliance has been in tatters since Erdoğan came to power in 2003. Aside from veering Turkey on an Islamist course - and cause - the Turks (even with Obama's "apology tour" that began in Turkey back in 2009) remain extremely anti-American. This writer back in 2010 documented Erdoğan's democratic ascent to power, his ideology and goals, and what an Islamist Turkey means to America, Israel, and the West in general.

Regrettably, Israel allowed herself to once again be verbally slapped down by the vitriolic and sanctimonious Erdoğan. With Erdoğan's latest diatribe, all Israel could weakly say was "that it was a sinister and mendacious comment." America, fearful of losing its only Muslim NATO "ally," also was quite quiet when it came to Erdoğan's latest bombastic tirade.

Ironically, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was on his way to Turkey to meet with officials when Erdoğan had his latest verbal apoplectic attack against Israel. Though the mainstream media made it out that the U.S. was furious with Erdoğan, Kerry simply called the comments "objectionable." Indeed, Erdoğan upbraided Kerry when Kerry had apologized for being late to a dinner with the Turkish prime minister after holding talks with Turkey's foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu. Mr. Kerry had commented to the prime minister that he had held lengthy discussions with Mr. Davutoglu. An irritated Erdoğan then acerbically stated to Kerry that they "must have spoken about everything so there is nothing left for us to talk about." Kerry meekly responded "that there's a lot to talk about." However, it remains unknown what the two actually discussed, and if Kerry raised any objections to Erdoğan's statements on Israel, no one has yet reported on the event.

This now leaves us with Erdoğan's hypocrisy in lecturing Israel about supposed "war crimes" and leads us to actual war crimes perpetrated by Turkey during the 20th century - crimes that still go on today against the Kurds. It is a record that not only has caused of blood to be spilled, but still has repercussions felt to this day.

Probably the most well-known war crime that Turkey engaged in was the slaughter - if not genocide - perpetrated against the Armenians in the first two decades of the 20th century. In fact, the Turks were already slaughtering Armenians in the late 19th century in what has come to be known as "the Hamidian massacres." Estimates of the slaughter range from hundreds of thousands to millions. In any event, Turkey has consistently and constantly denied that such crimes against the Armenians took place. Turkey is so sensitive to the charge of genocide that when the U.S. Congress in 2010 finally passed a resolution condemning this crime, Turkey threatened "serious consequences" to the "partnership" between America and Turkey. Ironically, Barack Obama, who had the audacity to say back in 2007 that "nobody is suffering more than the Palestinian people," sought to stop the congressional resolution on the Armenian genocide.

Continuing with Turkish war crimes, and the hypocrisy of the neo-Ottoman crypto-Sultan Erdoğan, there were the massacres and expulsions of the Greeks from their ancestral homelands. This is another Turkish crime against humanity that is little-known, and even less spoken or written about. "The Pontian Genocide" took place between the years of 1916 and 1922. Again, estimates vary in the casualty rate, but the slaughter could have been as close to 1,000,000 Greeks killed. This doesn't even take into account the surviving 1.5 million Greeks who lived in Asia Minor (Anatolia) for millennia before being expelled by the Turks to European Greece during this era.

Finally, there are the Kurds. If there was ever an authentic Middle Eastern minority of Muslims that deserves a nation-state, it is the Kurds. While Islamist governments in Iran and Turkey (as well as the Arab world) talk about "Islamic solidarity" when it comes to the so-called "Palestinians," there is not even a syllable of talk regarding the plight of the Kurds. The Kurds have been killed and suppressed by Arab, Persian, and Turk for centuries, all of whom see the legitimate aim of the Kurds to establish their own state as a threat to the status quo of continuous Arab, Persian, and Turkish imperialism.

While the Kurds are spread out over Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Turkey, it has been in the last country that the Kurds have basically been written out of history by the Turks. The Turkish quest to deny any semblance of a Kurdish existence has been so bizarre that Turkey even banned the Kurdish language during the years 1983-1999 and routinely referred to them as "mountain Turks." To this day, Turkey routinely crosses the Syrian and Iraqi borders to fight against "Kurdish terrorists."

This background on Turkish war crimes is just a brief sketch of the brutal actions that Turkey has committed over the decades (if not centuries). The next time the arrogant, bellicose, and venomous Erdoğan along with his fellow Islamists lectures Israel about "crimes against humanity," they should look in the mirror and admit to true war crimes.

Indeed, Israel - and America, for that matter - would do history a great justice if they reminded Turkey in the strongest language possible, of the Turks' bloody crimes against their own minorities, instead of sitting back and allowing Turkey to pontificate about Israel's nonexistent "crimes against humanity." Continued silence will only strengthen bullies and thugs like Erdoğan, lend credence to his outlandish slander, and allow Turkey to continue to rewrite history in its own image.

Source: Panorama.am

[Yervant1]

It seems Lover's quarrel have ended for now!

09:02 23/03/2013 » Society

Israel apologizes for deadly flotilla raid

 

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized Friday to Turkey for a 2009 raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, both nations said, signaling a potential major thaw after three years of chilly relations between the two key Middle East nations, CNN reported.

The Israeli leader phoned his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while sitting with U.S. President Barack Obama in a trailer on a Tel Aviv airport tarmac. In the call -- which Turkey's foreign minister said lasted for nearly 30 minutes -- Netanyahu acknowledged "operational mistakes" during the raid, which ended with eight Turks and an American of Turkish origin dead.

"(Netanyahu) made it clear that the tragic results regarding the Mavi Marmara were unintentional and that Israel expresses regret over injuries and loss of life," the Israeli government said.

Erdogan accepted the apology, which came shortly after he talked with the leaders of Egypt and Qatar. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said later on state TV, according to the semiofficial Anadolu news agency, that all Turkey's demands had been met.

 

Source: Panorama.am

[Yervant1]

Israeli Former Foreign Minister considered apologies to Turkey to be

rude mistake

 

12:57, 23 March, 2013

 

YEREVAN, MARCH 23, ARMENPRESS: Former Foreign Minister of Israel

Avigdor Lieberman gave negative response to Israeli initiation on

apologies to Turkey. As reports Armenpress, referring to `Hyurriet'

daily, Avigdor Lieberman considered apologies to Turkey to be a rude

mistake.

 

According to Former Foreign Minister of Israel what happened will have

a negative impact on the Israeli soldiers' motivation and national

dignity.

 

On March 22, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel apologized in

a personal phone call to Turkey's prime minister for a deadly commando

raid on a Turkish ship in 2010, in a sudden reconciliation between the

two countries that was partly brokered by President Obama during his

visit to Israel this week, according to Israeli, Turkish and American

officials.

 

Mr. Netanyahu expressed regret for the raid, which took place as

Israeli troops were enforcing an aid embargo on Gaza, and offered

compensation, Turkish and Israeli officials said. And after years of

holding out for a public apology for the deaths, the Turkish Prime

Minister, Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an, accepted Israel's gesture in the phone

call.

[Yervant1]

Erdogan: Israeli apology signals Turkey's growing regional influence

 

March 23, 2013 - 20:54 AMT

 

PanARMENIAN.Net - Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday,

March 23 an Israeli apology for the 2010 deaths of nine Turkish

pro-Palestinian activists that was brokered by President Barack Obama

met Turkey's conditions and signaled its growing regional influence,

Reuters reported.

"We are entering a new period in both Turkey and the region," said

Erdogan, who plans to visit the Palestinian territories, including the

Gaza Strip, next month.

"We are at the beginning of a process of elevating Turkey to a

position so that it will again have a say, initiative and power, as it

did in the past."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a phone call on Friday,

agreed to meet Turkey's three conditions for normalizing relations,

Erdogan said.

These were a clear apology, compensation to the victims' families and

a relaxation of the blockade against Gaza, Erdogan told a rally

broadcast live from the western town of Eskisehir.

Israel bowed to a demand by Ankara to apologize formally for the

deaths nearly three years ago aboard the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish

vessel carrying humanitarian aid and challenging Israel's naval

blockade of the Palestinian-run Gaza Strip.

The men died after Israeli marines stormed the ship. The incident

wrecked diplomatic ties between Turkey and Israel, once strategic

partners.

Muslim Turkey expelled Israel's ambassador and froze military

cooperation after a U.N. report into the incident released in

September 2011 largely exonerated the Jewish state.

"I expressed that normalizing (relations), which will facilitate

regional peace, would depend on these steps," Erdogan told reporters

on the train to Eskisehir, according to CNN Turk.

Reviving the relationship is seen as a key source of stability as the

two countries and their Western allies confront civil war in Syria and

the prospects of a nuclear-armed Iran.

Erdogan also told the crowd that Obama, who was in Israel on Friday

for talks with Netanyahu, had called him before passing the telephone

to the Israeli premier to apologize.

The Turkish leader said Netanyahu had told him restrictions on

consumer goods reaching Gaza and the West Bank would also be lifted

and pledged to seek Turkish help in improving humanitarian conditions

in the Palestinian territories.

[Yervant1]

Apology? Extortion

 

The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles

March 24, 2013

 

Posted by Ariel Blumenthal

 

On Thursday, as President Obama was getting ready to deliver his

vision of peace to Israeli students, the alternative to that vision

was typically expressed by a rocket attack from Gaza. On Thursday

morning the contrast between the two visions was clearly illustrated;

Just a day later the violent alternative received a tremendous boost.

 

Hamas applauded Turkish PM Erdogan on finally getting his apology,

declaring it `A victory' - and so they should: The effort to rescue

the Hamas regime in Gaza, taken by the Turkish Islamist organization

IHH three years ago, ended Friday with their calamitous moral

victory. Since IHH radicals on board of the Mavi Marmara are still too

often related to as `carrying humanitarian aid' and as `peace

activists', I'm inclined to remind my readers who they were, via this

3:35 video I made with my friend Guy Ross

(

).

 

No, these were no peace activists attacked by ruthless commandos while

selflessly seeking justice; These were fanatic Islamists confronted

with paint guns while seeking martyrdom and itching for a holy

fight. These `peace activists', die-hard supporters of Hamas and the

alternative it offers to the region, were never looking for peace. And

on Thursday morning, back in their homes in Turkey, they were very

happy to see some rockets flying into Israel. These are the people

granted an apology.

 

Beyond the context of intent and ideology, there's also the issue of

affiliation. Three years ago the Muslim Brotherhood was unknown to the

Western public; Today it's a household name, making the significance

of IHH's ties to the global Brotherhood clear. A report by the

Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs showed that `The IHH ... was an

integral part of a Turkish Muslim Brotherhood network' and that `Since

2006, Turkey has become a new center for the Global Muslim

Brotherhood, while the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip acted as the

main axis for this activity.' You can't expect the IHH to care for

Shiites, or even non-Brotherhood Sunnis (like the Palestinian

Authority). The flotilla was an act of alliance between Muslim

Brotherhood affiliates; The thin veneer of `humanitarian aid' that

miraculously still holds, was intended for those who are foolish

enough to still believe in it.

 

Erdogan did not hesitate to throw his weight behind the IHH and keep

it there for three years. The PM and his Justice and Development

party, (which last year received Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal with a

standing ovation and `damn Israel!' chants), are Brotherhood

sympathizers, if not affiliates themselves. The moral ramifications

are to be expected.

 

Erdogan doesn't think Hamas is a terrorist organization, but calls

Israel a `terrorist nation'. He takes no notice of Hamas' violence and

accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza, while ironically facing a very

similar situation with the Kurdish PKK, a challenge he responds to

with lethal ferociousness. Describing Erdogan as a non-objective

mediator is an understatement. In 1998 he said that `the image of the

Jews is no different than that of the Nazis'; In 2011 he rallied an

Arab League meeting: `Israel must pay the price for its aggression and

crimes.' He told his Parliament that Israel is engaged in ethnic

cleansing; He said that `Israel is inexplicably cruel' and `hiding

behind the Nazi Holocaust'. Some classic Antisemitic themes? Here you

go: `The world media is under the control of Israel' and `Wherever

Jews settle, they make money.' Bizarro roots? By all means: Back in

1974 Mr. Erdogan wrote, directed and starred in the play `Maskomya'

about a Free-Mason - Communist - Jewish (Mas-Kom-Ya) evil conspiracy.

 

And finally, just three weeks ago he told a press conference in Vienna

that Zionism is a crime against humanity. This coming from the PM of

Turkey, whose nationalism cost an enormous number of Armenian, Greek

and Kurdish lives - is infuriating. This is the man granted an

apology...? The game of apologies in the Middle East is a one-way

affair: the provocateur demands it, the provocateur is granted it.

 

Commentator Robin Wright was correct to say on Friday's =80=9CLeft

Right & Center' that the apology `was the most important thing to come

out of Obama's visit'. The diplomatic necessity for Turkish-Israeli

cooperation in light of the chaos in Syria is clear; Access to NATO

facilities in Turkey and the dismissal of abusive legal charges

against Israeli officers are just two of many immediate benefits. It's

a prospect you can't refuse.

 

This is an artificial apology, a product of extortion. Israelis don't

believe in it, their PM had to eat a dish-full of frogs in order to

make the call. The Turkish PM will escalate again very soon - he won't

be able to help it. It's the ideology, stupid. Did I hear

reconciliation? Erdogan was remarkably quick to cool it down on

Saturday using confrontational language the world has grown so deaf to

identify.

 

The moral consequences are devastating. If I were an Islamist anywhere

in the world - I'd be launching a new flotilla tomorrow. For the rest

of the world, the understanding of good and bad intentions, violent

and peaceful ideologies and the very principle of justice, is more

blurry today. As I wrote here yesterday, reality and perception are

growing further and further removed.

[Yervant1]

Erdogan Ups the Ante

 

The Jewish Press

March 27th, 2013

 

Netanyahu's apology to Turkey hasn't been enough to satisfy the

appetite of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Netanyahu's

offer of putting nearly a million dollars into a fund for the nine

Turkish activists killed when they attacked IDF soldiers boarding the

Mavi Marmara who were illegally trying to break the blockade on Gaza,

hasn't been sufficient for Erdogan either.

 

Erdogan told the Turkish parliament that he expects a million dollars

for each activist killed, and a lifting of the naval blockade against

Gaza.

 

Not lifting the blockade would be a deal breaker, he claimed.

 

It is unlikely that Netanyahu would lift the blockade on the Gaza

Strip, which is currently controlled by Hamas terrorists.

 

Minister Naftali Bennett posted on his Facebook page that Erdogan has

done everything in his power to make Israel regret the apology, as he

[Erdogan] runs a personal campaign against Turkish-Israel relations.

[Arpa]

Shun@ hishe, payt@ qashe.

Shan atam@ yev khozi kashin.

Shun@ shanits, yerkousn el mi tanits.

Edited March 29, 2013 by Arpa

[Yervant1]

ISRAEL: THE POLITICS BEHIND THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

 

Al-Monitor

April 22 2013

 

By: Akiva Eldar for Al-Monitor Israel Pulse Posted on April 22.

 

On Wednesday [April 24] the world will mark the 98th anniversary of

the genocide carried out against the Armenians by the Ottoman Empire.

 

As it does every year, this year, too, Israel will be silent. The

Jewish state, which just two weeks ago [April 8] honored the 6 million

Jews who perished in the Holocaust, will abstain from marking the

genocide in which 1 million to 1.5 million Armenians perished.

 

President Shimon Peres, who spoke at the central memorial ceremony

at Yad Vashem and pointed a finger at "those who forget and deny the

Holocaust," will continue, as he does every year, to ignore the cruel

genocide carried out a quarter of a century before World War II.

 

When Adolf Hitler was asked how the world would respond to his "Final

Solution" plan - the extermination of the Jewish people in Europe -

he replied, without compunction: "Who, after all, speaks today of

the annihilation of the Armenians?"

 

Germany speaks today of the annihilation of the Jews, assumes

responsibility for the Holocaust, memorializes the victims and

compensates the survivors. Turkey not only refuses to recognize the

Armenian genocide - its government conducts all-out wars against

states that mention the event and punishes governments that grant

it official recognition. Only a year and a half ago, Turkey recalled

its ambassador from Paris to protest the French parliament's approval

of legislation that criminalizes the denial of the Armenian genocide

(several weeks later, the law was repealed).

 

The 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide

defines genocide as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole

or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such."

 

The man who coined the term genocide and fought for adoption of the

treaty was the Jewish-Polish jurist Raphael Lemkin, whose entire

family was annihilated in the Holocaust. He himself managed to flee

to the United States. Lemkin referred specifically to the Armenian

annihilation as an act of genocide. This position was never adopted

by Israeli governments. The official Israeli position was summed up

in 2001 in an interview by then-Foreign Minister Shimon Peres with

the Turkish Daily News: "The Armenians suffered a tragedy," he said,

"but not genocide."

 

In advance of the Armenian memorial day someone should point out to

the president a compilation of testimony provided by members of Nili

(a Jewish spy ring that operated in Palestine during World War I in

an effort to help the British army wrest it from the Turks) about

what befell the Armenians. He might just change his mind.

 

This is the testimony of Eitan Belkind, a Nili man who infiltrated

the Turkish military:

 

"I was amazed to see the river colored red with the blood and bodies of

decapitated children floating on the water. The sight was horrendous -

and we are powerless to help." Belkind later described how Circassian

soldiers ordered the Armenians to gather thorns and thistles and form

them into a large pyramid, tied some 5,000 people to each other hand

to hand in a ring around the thorn pile and set it on fire. "The fire

rose to the sky along with the screams of the wretched people charred

to death in the bonfire," he wrote. "I fled from the place because I

could not watch that horrible scene. I urged my horse to gallop with

all his might and after a wild two-hour ride I could still hear their

miserable cries until their voices died out. Two days later I went back

to the place and saw the charred bodies of thousands of human beings."

 

In a memorandum submitted to the British Ministry of Defense in 1916,

Nili leader Aaron Aaronsohn wrote: "The massacre of the Armenians is

a well-planned Turkish action and the Germans were partners in this

shameful act."

 

These harsh words were echoed at a seminar held on April 11 of

this year on the subject of "The Nakba in Israel's National Memory"

(by The Walter Lebach Institute for Jewish-Arab Coexistence through

Education and the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research at Tel

Aviv University). During the discussion, Professor Yair Auron of the

Open University, who for years has been leading a determined struggle

for recognition of the Armenian genocide, was sharply critical of

the indifference of Israel's political and academic elite to the

tragedies of other nations. Later, in an interview with Al-Monitor,

Auron contended that through their indifference, "they are defiling

the memory of the Holocaust."

 

And, in fact, other than a handful of right- and left-wing politicians,

none of the leaders of mainstream Israeli politics showed up. For

them, any attempt to hint that other peoples were also persecuted

and massacred for racist reasons is considered "disrespect for

the Holocaust" (they themselves, on the other hand, often use

the term "Holocaust," especially to scare the Israeli public with

the Iranian threat). They do not define the Armenian genocide as a

human-Jewish-ethical issue. Israeli universities make do with teaching

the Jewish Holocaust and evince no interest in the disasters of other

peoples. Nonetheless, at Auron's instigation, the Open University has

for several years been teaching a course on the Armenian genocide,

which is much in demand by students.

 

The recognition of the Armenian genocide by Israeli decision-makers

is a question of politics, of the relationship between Israel,

Turkey and the United States. Who cares about relations with little

Armenia (3 million citizens)? In fact, Israel even earned several

million dollars recently, benefiting from the Turkish government's

decision to cancel a weapons deal with France in retaliation for the

above-mentioned legislation against denial of the Armenian genocide.

 

In 2007, the Knesset decided to remove from its daily agenda a proposal

by Knesset Member Haim Oron of the Meretz Party to debate the Armenian

genocide in the Education and Culture Committee. The decision resulted

from orders by then Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister

Tzipi Livni, who feared that further discussion of the issue would

lead to a diplomatic crisis between Israel and Turkey.

 

In a debate that took place in the Knesset five years later (June 12,

2012), over the objections of the diplomatic echelon, the government's

representative, then Minister of Environmental Protection Gilad Erdan,

confessed that "this whole debate is taking place against the backdrop

of relations between Israel and Turkey." Nothing has changed.

 

At the low point of relations with Turkey, following the failed May

2010 Israeli takeover of the flotilla to Gaza which gave birth to the

"Marmara Crisis," some right-wing politicians suggested "punishing"

the Turks by recognizing the Armenian genocide. And what would we have

done now? Would Prime Minister Netanyahu have repealed the recognition

of the Armenian genocide to complement his apology to Turkey over the

Marmara? Hearing of that idea, Auron reacts with anger: "As a human

being and as a Jew, I am deeply ashamed that an issue of such basic

principle and ethics has been turned into a pawn."

 

The office of President Peres did not respond to a query by Al-Monitor,

asking whether he had changed his mind regarding the genocide of the

Armenian people.

 

Akiva Eldar is a contributing writer for Al-Monitor's Israel Pulse. He

was formerly a senior columnist and editorial writer for Haaretz and

also served as the Hebrew daily's US bureau chief and diplomatic

correspondent. His most recent book (with Idith Zertal), Lords of

the Land, on the Jewish settlements, was on the best-seller list in

Israel and has been translated into English, German and Arabic.

 

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/04/the-politics-behind-the-armenian-genocide.html