FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE TURKISH AMBASSADOR

[Yervant1]

FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE TURKISH AMBASSADOR

 

(Public Service Announcement)

 

http://www.keghart.com/Editorial-ForBenefitTurkishAmbassador

Editorial, May 2013

 

On a cold night in late November 1914 police rounded up 100 Turkish

immigrants living in Brantford, Ontario (56 miles west of Toronto).

 

Most of the arrested were laborers in a local foundry. A few days later

the 100 men were shipped off to a concentration camp in Kapuskasing

(then called MacPherson), 520 miles north of Toronto. The Turkish

immigrants spent most of the First World War in the Canadian gulag

(average winter temperature -25C).

 

What was their crime?

 

They happened to be citizens of Ottoman Turkey, a country which was

at war with the British Empire. The Dominion of Canada considered

the Turks dangerous aliens.

 

Flipping the calendar 100 years forward... the long-forgotten story of

the 100 Turks came to light in recent years. Soon after, the Turkish

embassy in Canada, Ankara authorities, and the Turkish media got wind

of the occurrence. How did these men-mostly bachelors and thousands

of miles from their home-live in Canada's sub-Arctic internment

camp? How were they treated? How many survived? The Turkish media

eagerly reported on the internments. There was much hand-wringing in

Ankara. A Turkish documentary was planned.

 

The Turkish Ambassador and his mignons began salivating at the

opportunity to hit the Canadian government and to demonstrate Canada's

cruelty to Turkish immigrants. The ambassador and his bosses in Ankara

saw the long-shrouded incident as a slap at the face of Prime Minister

Stephen Harper who, in 2006, recognized the Genocide of Armenians.

 

What Canada did to these poor Turkish immigrants was no different

from what Turkey did to the Armenians, according to Turks. Turkish

"scholars" and canny propagandists concluded the internment episode

was God-sent: they could now promote a moral equivalency between the

internment of the 100 Turks in remote Kapuskasing and the deportation

of 500,000 Armenians by Turkey in 1915. Turkey would also hijack the

Genocide of Armenians' centenary commemorations by displaying its

own victims. The Kapuskasing case would add unexpected sparkle to

Ankara's global festival of denialist lies in 2015. We can't wait

for the newsbreak.

 

But unfortunately for Turkey, there's a tiny fly in the ointment.

 

Before Ankara starts spending vast sums to market the Kapuskasing

story, we would like to send a public service announcement to its

ambassador in Canada. Shortsighted Turkish authorities might think we

are raining on their parade, but all we are doing is help Turkey save

billions of liras as it foolishly engineers a full-court propaganda

campaign about the Kapuskasing 100.

 

Ahem. Here we go: the Kapuskasing Turks were ... not Turks!

 

Not T-u-r-k-s. They were Alevis, Arabs, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Greeks,

Jews, Kurds...and Armenians. Their names say it all: Kevork, Elias,

George, Alex, John, Albert, Thomas, Kiro Vasileff, Maic Yanos, Nick

Yarowy, Kamil Rosa, Arakilian, Salaman, Marcus, Kuriakos, Kibicz,

Manchur... and those with Arab/Muslim names (Khalil, Rachim...are

Arabs, Kurds, and Alevis). They were members of ethnic and religious

minorities who had fled Turkish oppression for freedom in a cold

country thousands of miles away.

 

Indeed, the non-Armenians among the 100 "Turks" were close to the

Brantford Armenians and many were boarders in Armenian-owned houses.

 

Because they had Turkish citizenship, Canadian immigration officers

registered their identity as Turkish. For the same reason, to this day

many in South America refer to Middle Eastern minorities as 'Turcos'.

 

The internment saga of the 100 immigrants is rich in multiple ironies:

members of minorities persecuted by Turkey were imprisoned for being

Turks; Turkey plans to exploit the imprisonment of people it chased

out of Ottoman Turkey. That's gall.

 

But Turkey is an old hand at spouting brazen lies with a straight

face. Ankara has squadrons of "scholars" whose sole task is fiddling

with history, altering and creating turcophile facts: In 1915 Turkey

transported Armenian civilians to Syria for their own protection;

armed Armenian peasants were organizing to dismantle the Ottoman

Empire; Armenians are not native to Asia Minor-they came from the

Balkans. A few weeks ago Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu

capitalized on Ottoman casualties at Gallipoli, identifying them

as Turks. Suddenly Ottoman Arab, Kurd and Armenian soldiers became

Turkish. This year Turkey is building a 2.3-hectare (the size of 13

football fields) colossus called the Museum of Civilization which will

appropriate the 10,000-year civilizations of the Anatolian Plateau as

Turkic. And talking of chutzpah, let's not forget Turkey's financial

demands from Western insurance companies for slain-by-Turks Armenians

who had bought life insurance in the West prior to 1915.

 

Any day now Ankara "scholars" might reveal to the world that Noah's

nick name was Grey Wolf... Noah was a Turkish patriarch! After that

they will studiously address the question as to why Noah planted

vine soon after disembarking from the Ark, when Muslims consider wine

"harram" (forbidden)?

 

Canada has established a $10 million endowment (Canadian First

World War Internment Recognition Fund) to study and publicize all

WWI internments. Because the big push for the endowment came from

Ukrainian-Canadians, most of the council members overseeing the

endowment are Ukrainian. But recently a Turkish-Canadian, from

the Anatolian Heritage Foundation, joined the council, thanks to

Ukrainian largesse. The move was probably a reprisal for Armenian

lack of support for a Ukrainian pet project. Shame on the petty

Ukrainian representatives who have embraced an organization which

denies the Genocide of Armenians. In light of the revelations about

the identity of the interned "Turkish immigrants" we wonder what will

be Turk Ercan Kilic's function on the council.

[Zartonk]

Thanks Yervant. So much going on in one short article...

[Yervant1]

THE URGENT DIRECTIVE

http://www.keghart.com/Editorial-TurkeyDirective
Editorial, 25 August 2013

A few years ago an urgent directive was dispatched from the Turkish
Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Turkish diplomats around the globe.

While the message was sent to all Turkish diplomats, the key targets
were those stationed in Europe and in North America.

To dispense with the bureaucratese, in plain English the ministry
ordered its diplomats to dig up-in the regions they served--for
anything, anyone, any incident, any place related to Turks or to
Turkey. The rationale was simple: Turkey, and its predecessor Ottoman
Empire, have had for centuries, "bad press" in the Western world. As
recently as a few decades ago, Italian mothers would threaten their
misbehaving children that the terrible "Turci" would come and get
them. "Turk", in English slang, means a brutal person. According to the
'Maledicta' scholarly journal (Winter 1979), Turk also means pederast
and sexual degenerate. And to say "fights like a Turk" means to fight
savagely. The head of the Klux Klan is called the Grand Turk.

Then there are all the stories of lewd harems, executioner-eunuchs,
kidnapped white women held in seraglios, fratricidal despots, and
tales of people tossed into the Bosporus at the whim of a corrupt,
obese sultan.

It was time to erase the negative image of Turkey. Turkish diplomats
were expected to do yeoman duty to eliminate centuries of "bad press"
and invent a brave new Turkey-progressive, democratic, friendly,
civilized... and to tell Westerners that Turks have contributed to
the culture and societies of the Western world.

Which brings us to Ali Riza Gunay, Turkish consul general of Toronto.

Seemingly an eager-beaver, he took Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's
order to heart and set out to find anything Turkic to please his
bosses in Ankara. And then... miraculously a great "Turkish" story
fell into his well-tailored lap: a Brantford, Ontario man, who for
decades had been researching the history of the city, had discovered
that 100 Brantford "Turks" had been interned by the Canadian government
during the First World War and that perhaps some of the 16 "~TMuslims"
buried in a corner plot of the city's Mount Hope Cemetery were Turks.

Here was a lost "Turkish" jewel of a story right in the heart of
Southern Ontario. A veritable Turkish delight. Here was a story which
could get Mr. Gunay many brownie points in Ankara. He could become
a new rising star in the Turkish diplomatic firmament. And even more
important than establishing a historic Turkish presence in Canada, the
discovery would offer Ankara a God-sent opportunity to punish Canada
for recognizing the Genocide of Armenians. Through the "mistreatment"
of the "Turkish" internees Ankara could portray Canada as racist,
intolerant, cruel; undemocratic... that should teach Canada a lesson
for nosing into affairs which are not Ottawa's business.

The ambitious diplomat enthusiastically jumped into action. He quickly
met the Brantford researcher; he wooed the mayor; he networked with
interested parties in Brantford. His goal? To persuade them the
"Turks" who had been interned during WWI, and the "Turks" who had
been buried at the Mount Hope Cemetery, deserved a monument.

The news soon reached the shores of the Bosporus. "Sabah" and "Bugan"
newspapers reported on the "heart-wrenching tragedy of the Turkish
prisoners..."; TV documentaries were planned; a Turkish scholar wrote
her thesis on the topic. Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag
was scheduled to lead the monument unveiling ceremonies during July.

And then disaster hit.

News leaked out, thanks mostly to the nosey Alevi and Armenian media,
that the internees were NOT Turks; that they were not mistreated;
that the internment was a federal "job-creation project" at a time
of widespread unemployment, poverty, and even hunger; that there was
no evidence the people buried in the Brantford cemetery were Turks;
that four-fifths of the internees returned to Turkey after the war
because of the false promises of the Ataturk government that the bad
old days of Alevi repression were over. And the biggest arrowhead? The
Canadian government said there were no Turkish internees.

But why let bad news get in the way of a juicy-albeit false--story?

Undeterred by the facts, the Turkish diplomat plunged deeper into
his fabrication. He visited the cemetery; near the gravestones of the
"Turks" he got himself photographed by a Toronto Turkish news outlet,
looking pensive. He continued networking with the mayor and the nascent
"lobby group" he had helped create in Brantford. The unveiling of the
monument would proceed as planned. The Turkish blood-red flag would
flutter at the occasion.

Bur sadly for the up-and-coming star of the Turkish diplomatic galaxy,
people started to pay attention to the Alevi and Armenian media. The
evidence that the internees were not Turks, that the people buried
in the cemetery were most likely Alevis was undisputable. The
Alevi-Armenian version had traction.

But the situation further deteriorated for the stressed consul general:
the researcher, who had discovered the "Turkish" story three-four years
ago, stated publicly that he was no longer convinced the internees were
Turks. He said they were probably Alevi Kurds. The mayor was getting
edgy because of the controversy--Alevi and Armenian delegations were
"pestering" him. By late August the monument had been demoted to a
plaque. The unveiling, scheduled for July, still had not taken place.

Meanwhile, the Alevis and the Armenians continued their efforts to put
"finis" to the whole misbegotten Turkish farce. Addressing the Erdogan
government, the "Yeni Hayat" Alevi newspaper in Toronto published a
hard-hitting article titled "Leave Our Dead Alone!" The Alevis and the
Armenians said they wanted the 33 ft. by 33 ft. area of the cemetery,
where Alevis-and NOT Turks--are buried, named Alevi plot.

So much for the Turkish Plot.

[MosJan]

ohhhhh boyyyyy

[Yervant1]

Dear Barcin, you deliberately left one fact in your article which is that those people in question were not turks!!!!!!!!!!!!! Read the above first article. Of course before they called them turks to cover their behind cleverly it's now ottoman turks.

 

ARMENIAN DIASPORA AND THE MEMORY OF 205 OTTOMAN TURKS IN CANADA

Hurriyet Daily news, Turkey
Feb 4 2014

by BARCIN YÄ°NANC

Three years ago I went skiing in Banff National Park in Canada. At
that time I did not know that Turks who were incarcerated during World
War I were perhaps among those who helped build Banf National Park!

I just recently discovered that during First World War, "enemy aliens
(nationals of Germany and of the Austro - Hungarian and Turkish
Empires) were subject to internment... Of 8,579 men at 24 camps
across Canada, 5,954 were of Austro-Hungarian origin, including 5,000
Ukrainians; 2009 were Germans, 205 were Turks and 99, Bulgarians. All
endured hunger and forced labor, helping to build some of Canada's
best-known landmarks such as Banff National Park," according to the
Canadian Encyclopedia.

These Turks used to live in Bradford. All 200 or so of them were
picked up one night and sent to a camp North of Ontario. They spent
five years there. Some have died there. Others came back to Bradford.

There is a burial site in the city where the bodies of some of those
who came back are believed to be.

This year marks the centenary of the start of World War I. So the
Turkish Ambassador to Canada, just like his other Italian or German
colleagues decided to start an initiative to commemorate the Turks
that suffered under the detention camps. The response of the local
municipality to the wish to mark the place with a plaque was positive
in the beginning, yet local authorities appear to be hesitating in
backing this purely humanitarian initiative. No doubt the Armenian
community is behind it. They think this is an effort to derail their
lobbying activities!

Turkish historian Taner Akcam, who claims World War I mass killings of
the Armenians under the Ottoman hands to be genocide, talks about a
"denial industry" in Turkey. I would not contest it, except that the
same is also true for the Armenian diaspora. Their industry is about
closing all eyes and ears to anything that can question genocide. But
this industry goes as far as "obstructing anything Turks do; hating
anything Turkish." Of course there are moderate Armenians looking for
dialogue but it seems they are being terrorized by the more radicals.

What's wrong with commemorating a few hundred Turks who had nothing
to do with the Armenian tragedy in Anatolia. It would have been much
wiser to come and attend the ceremony and perhaps give messages or
letters to the Turkish ambassador asking the Turkish state to show
the same sensitivity to the thousands of dead Armenians.

Another example of the Armenian "industry." Apparently whenever
Turkish representations would donate books reflecting the Turkish
side of what happened to the local libraries; Armenians would take
the book, destroy it and then pay compensation.

The denial industry in Turkey is losing, albeit slowly, its force;
I wonder when this will be the case with the Armenian diaspora. I
wonder to what degree they are ready to realize that taboos are being
broken in Turkey about the Armenian tragedy. More and more people
are questioning the past. It is imperative that the Armenian diaspora
realizes this change in Turkey. Yet without any bridges for dialogue,
how can we blame them for not being aware of current developments on
the subject.

In contrast to the past, the Turkish government is very much willing
to enter into a dialogue with the diaspora; in fact Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu had called them the "Anatolian diaspora."

But in view of the resistance that will emanate from the diaspora,
countries that are hosting Armenian communities should help initiate
this dialogue. After all, several countries from Europe to the
Americas will come under extreme pressure from both Armenians and
Turks in these two years ahead.

February/04/2014

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/armenian-diaspora-and-the-memory-of-205-ottoman-turks-in-canada.aspx?pageID=449&nID=61958&NewsCatID=412

 

[Yervant1]

Keghart.com

 

 

Festival of Falsehoods

 

By Marsha Skrypuch, Ontario, 5 February 2014

On Feb. 4 "

Hurriyet

" daily of Turkey published an article titled "The Armenian Diaspora and the Memory

http://www.keghart.com/sites/default/files/images2/Marsha%20-Skrypuch.jpg

of 205 Turks in Canada" by columnist Barcin Yinanc. The fatuous article was riddled with outright lies, half-truths and distortions. Here's a categorical reply to Yinanc by Marsha Skrypuch, author of five books set in the Genocide of Armenians and two books set in the WWI Canadian internment operations.--

Editor

"Three years ago I went skiing in the Banff National Park in Canada. At that time I did not know that Turks who were incarcerated during World War I were perhaps among those who helped build the park!"

MARSHA SKRYPUCH: This is incorrect. There was one person from the Ottoman Empire interned at Banff: J. Camilbeck--an Assyiran, not an ethnic Turk. Assyrians were persecuted by the Ottoman government and the Young Turk government. (Source: Roll Call can be downloaded and searched at http://uccla.ca/sources.htm )

"I just recently discovered that during the First World War, “enemy aliens (nationals of Germany and of the Austro–Hungarian and Turkish Empires)"
MS: There was no such empire as the Turkish Empire in WWI. There was an Ottoman Empire.

"were subject to internment. Of 8,579 men at 24 camps across Canada, 5,954 were of Austro-Hungarian origin, including 5,000 Ukrainians; 2009 were Germans, 205 were Turks.

MS: My count is actually 135 from the Ottoman Empire, but this does not make them ethnic Turks. Virtually all of those interned who came to Canada from the Ottoman Empire were from persecuted minority groups--mostly Alevi Kurds, although there were some Assyrians and a few Armenians.

"and 99 were Bulgarians. All endured hunger and forced labor, helping to build some of Canada’s best-known landmarks such as the Banff National Park, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia."

MS: Those who were interned from cities were already enduring hunger. those who had stayed in the Ottoman Empire would likely have died not only because of the war but because the Young Turk triumvirate had decided upon the destruction of citizens who were not ethnic Turks.

"These Turks"

MS: They were not Turks. They were immigrants from the Ottoman Empire.

"used to live in Bradford."

MS: Brantford in Ontario.

"All 200"

MS: The correct overall figure is 135, but not all of them lived in Brantford. Approximately 100 lived in Brantford.

"or so were picked up one night"

MS: Arrested because of an unfounded rumor that they had tried to blow up the local post office in an act of treason. This assertion was soon dropped. Those who had citizenship papers were let go. Those who didn't were interned. They were fed and likely ate better than they had in months. Residents from enemy countries who had not become naturalized Canadians were subject to restrictions in time of war. Some were interned while others had to report regularly to the local authorities. Those who were interned did do hard labour but were credited 25 cents a day, which could be redeemed at the camp store. They were fed and housed.

"and sent to a camp north of Ontario."

MS: The camp was not north of Ontario. It was in Northern Ontario--Kapuskasing, Ontario.

"They spent five years there."

MS: Most spent less than two years. Many were paroled and worked in factories, some in the St. Catharines area of Southern Ontario, near Brantford.

"Some died there."

MS: One Ottoman internee died while in Kapuskasing, Ontario. His name was Alex Hassan, an Alevi Kurd, not an ethnic Turk.

"Others came back to Bradford."

MS: Brantford. There is also no documentation that any returned to Brantford.

"There is a burial site in the city where the bodies of some of those who came back are believed to be."

MS: This is inaccurate. In Mount Hope cemetery, close to the Armenian section, is a section where Alevi Kurds are buried. When comparing the names of people buried in this plot, there is no exact match to the names of known internees. There are three similar names but in all three cases, the names are classic Alevi Kurd names. In short: it would be a lie to claim that ethnic Turk internees are buried here.

"This year marks the centenary of the start of World War I. So the Turkish ambassador to Canada, just like his other Italian or German colleagues, decided to start an initiative to commemorate the Turks that suffered in the detention camps."

MS: Except that there is no documentation of any ethnic Turks who were interned in Canada.

"The response of the local municipality to the wish to mark the place with a plaque was positive at first, yet local authorities appear to be hesitating in backing this purely humanitarian initiative."

MS: If this were a humanitarian initiative the Turkish ambassador would have acknowledged the true ethnicity of these people. This is clearly a propaganda effort and it was recognized as such by local (Brantford) authorities.

"No doubt the Armenian community is behind it."

MS: While there is no documentation that ethnic Turks were interned, there is documentation of a few Armenians who were interned. For this reason it would be natural for the Armenian community to be interested in the subject.

I must point out that I am not Armenian. My heritage is Irish/French on my mother's side and Ukrainian on my father's side. My own Ukrainian grandfather was interned in WWI in Jasper Alberta. I find the ambassador's entire charade to be disrespectful of the memory and hardship that the true internees were subjected to. I resent having my own grandfather's tragedy used as a political tool by the Turkish ambassador in his quest to deny the Armenian Genocide.

"They think this is an effort to derail their lobbying activities!"

MS: It is fairly clear that the ambassador wishes to label these non-Turks in order to use them as a propaganda tool.

"Turkish historian Taner Akçam, who claims that the World War I mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman hands was genocide, talks about a “denial industry” in Turkey. I would not contest it, except that the same is also true for the Armenian diaspora. Their industry is about closing all eyes and ears to anything that can question genocide."

MS: The writer is fabricating again. Since there is no documentation of Turks interned in Canada, it is the Turks who are shutting their eyes to the truth.

"But this industry goes as far as “obstructing anything Turks do; hating anything Turkish.”

MS: This is incorrect. There are many stories passed down from survivors of the Genocide of Armenians about Turks who saved their Armenian neighbors from destruction, even risking their own lives to do so. Virtually every survivor heard of at least one of these noble Turks. Why can't the Turkish government acknowledge the Genocide of the past? People alive today did not commit it, but by this continual denial there can never be healing between Turks and Armenians. If the ambassador wants a 100th anniversary story to highlight Turkish history, let him focus on those brave and righteous Turks of the past who stood in the way of tyranny and saved their neighbors. Don't fabricate history. Contemporary Turks deserve to know the truth so the healing process can begin. And Armenians must have the sins perpetrated upon their ancestors acknowledged so that their healing can begin.

"Of course there are moderate Armenians looking for dialogue, but it seems they are being terrorized by the more radicals."

MS: It's not radical to stick to the truth.

"What’s wrong with commemorating a few hundred Turks who had nothing to do with the Armenian tragedy in Anatolia?"

MS: What's wrong? They were not Turks. And there weren't a few hundred. There were approximately 135 Alevi Kurds, Assyrians, Armenians and other minorities who fled the Ottoman Empire for a better life in Canada who were then tragically caught up in war hysteria and interned as enemy aliens.

"It would have been much wiser to come and attend the ceremony and perhaps give messages or letters to the Turkish ambassador, asking the Turkish state to show the same sensitivity to the thousands of dead Armenians."

MS: Thousands? Try a million-and-a-half. What sort of sensitivity is the ambassador showing? Those interned had fled oppression in the Ottoman Empire. They were Ottoman citizens, but they were not ethnic Turks. They were Kurds, Alevis, Assyrians, and Armenians. Why can't the ambassador acknowledge this?

"Another example of the Armenian “industry”: Apparently whenever Turkish representations donate books reflecting the Turkish side of what happened to the local libraries, Armenians take the books, destroy them, and then pay compensation."

The denial industry in Turkey is losing, albeit slowly,

MS: Thank goodness.

"its force; I wonder when this will be the case with the Armenian diaspora."

MS: The Armenian diaspora has amassed an impressive collection of primary documentation about the Genocide of Armenians. It is a pursuit for justice, with hard data to back it up.

"I wonder to what degree they are ready to realize that taboos are being broken in Turkey about the Armenian tragedy.

MS: The correct descriptive is Genocide.

"More and more people are questioning the past. It is imperative that the Armenian diaspora realizes this change in Turkey. Yet without any bridges for dialogue, how can we blame them for not being aware of current developments on the subject?"

MS: The ambassador could demonstrate this development by looking at the facts of WWI internment instead of spinning into propaganda.

"In contrast to the past, the Turkish government is very much willing to enter into a dialogue with the diaspora; in fact Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has called them the “Anatolian diaspora.

"But in view of the resistance that will emanate from the diaspora, countries that are hosting Armenian communities should help initiate this dialogue. After all, several countries, from Europe to the Americas, will come under extreme pressure from both Armenians and Turks in these two years ahead."

[Yervant1]

CEMETERY TO HONOUR "MUSLIM" DEAD

Regular readers of Keghart are familiar with the Alevi and Armenian
campaigns in Canada to make sure the Turkish Embassy doesn't erect
a fake monument in the Mount Hope Cemetery in the city of Brantford
(60 miles west of Toronto) to commemorate imaginary Turkish immigrants
who supposedly lived in that city during WWI. While the Alevi-Armenian
campaign has been successful in eliminating the Turkish Embassy's
proposal to include, on the monument, references to Turkey, Turks,
Ottomans, the proposed plaque would wrongly identify the people buried
in the cemetery as "Muslims" when, according to credible documents,
they were mostly Alevis. The Alevis and the Armenians plan to attend
a public meeting (May 26) at the Brantford City Hall to insist the
monument identifies the buried as Alevis.--Editor.

By Vincent Ball, Brantford Expositor, 13 May 2014

The city is planning to recognize 14 men buried in a previously
unmarked section of Mount Hope Cemetery.

Most of the men were buried from 1912 to 1918, city officials say.

Councillors at a committee of the whole meeting this week voted to
support using stanchions and chains to section off the area of the
unmarked grave. They also voted to support installing a stone, which
will include a Muslim prayer, to recognize the names of those buried
on the site.

The Brantford Mosque and the Muslim Association of Brantford raised
funds for the headstone and foundation.

The plan will come to city council for final approval May 26.

"This is the right thing to do for these 14 individuals," Mayor Chris
Friel said after bringing the resolution forward at Monday's meeting.

"They have been forgotten for generations."

Friel noted that people have been walking across the graves for years
without knowing the significance of that section of the cemetery.

The mayor also read a 1912 Expositor story about the first burial to
take place at the site. The story described the burial as "the first
Mohammedan funeral ever held in this city."

The city's plan follows a highly contentious debate that first surfaced
in August when plans to erect a plaque or monument at the site became
public. At that time, the plan called for the plaque to have the dual
purpose of marking an early Ontario Muslim burial plot and telling
the story of the 1914 roundup of about 100 so-called "enemy aliens"
following the outbreak of the First World War.

Plans for the plaque were prompted by a visit to Brantford by the
Turkish consul general Ali Riza Guney, who toured the Mount Hope
Cemetery and paid a visit to Friel. The Turkish government had become
interested in the topic after learning that a local historian -
Bill Darfler - was researching the internment of the city's Turkish
population following the outbreak of the First World War.

But the proposal stirred up controversy that went beyond the boundaries
of Brantford for a lot of reasons.

First, some of the people buried on the site were buried there two
years before the First World War began.

As well, representatives of the Canadian-Armenian community objected
to the plan, calling it a politically motivated gesture by the Turkish
government. An online petition to "Stop the Fake Monument" was started.

There is also a question of who is actually buried at the Mount
Hope site.

Most of the people buried there are believed, by their names, to
be Alevi, a distinct religious sect. Suleyman Guven, editor of Yeni
Hayat, the Alevi newsletter, said the inclusion of a Muslim prayer on
the stone is 'inappropriate" and that people in the Alevi community
would find that objectionable.

He said he will be consulting with members of the Alevi community to
determine what should be done but said there will be a protest with
respect to the council's decision.

City councillors need to be educated about who is buried there
and should not be putting up any kind of stone or monument without
consulting with the Alevi community, said Guven.

At Monday's meeting, several councillors praised Friel for taking
the initiative to recognize those buried at the unmarked plot.

"Whoever they are, they are deserving of respect," Ward 2 Coun. John
Utley said.

Coun. Dan McCreary, however, said that the city needs to be careful
with respect to what appears on the marker.

"I think we need to be extremely cautious about the messaging on
the stone," McCreary said. "...I think we should be checking our own
cemetery bylaws to see what is and isn't allowed."

In presenting the resolution to council, Friel said the federal
government has provided the city with no guidance even though the
issue is one for federal authorities.

But Brant MP Phil McColeman said Tuesday that the federal government
is aware of the issues surrounding the Mount Hope burial site.

"I'm kind of surprised the mayor would say that because we've had
numerous discussions and in fact those discussion have been ongoing
and are continuing," McColeman said. "The Turkish ambassador has
spoken to various ministries about the site."

However, nothing has been decided with respect to the placement of
any marker or plaque at the site, he added.

In addition to discussions with Turkish representatives, the federal
government has also heard from representatives of the Canadian-Armenian
community, McColeman said.

He said he believes the Armenian community has no issue with a stone
or plaque going up on the site but has insisted that whatever is put
on the plaque must be historically accurate.

http://keghart.com/Ball-Brantford-Cemetery

[Yervant1]

BREATHTAKING LIES: MYTHINFORMATION--ANKARA STYLE

[ Part 2.2: "Attached Text" ]

When Hannah Arendt coined her famous "banality of evil" phrase she
was referring to the Nazis. The Holocaust scholar's ringing
description of the criminal Nazi regime perfectly applies to the
Turkish perpetrators of the Genocide of Armenians and to thedenialists
who try to kill Armenians for the second time by falsifying what the
Ottoman authorities committed in cold blood from 1915 to 1923.

Such denialist is one Mehmet Ozay of the Carleton University
in Ottawa. In the latest issue of "Turkish Society of Canada"
publication, the man penned an article which belongs in the fantasy
shelf of bookstores, next to such titles as "True Lies", "The Moon
is a Cheesecake" and "Turks Descend from Trojans and Hittites".

Keghart readers are familiar with the two-year Turkish ploy
to designate as 'Ottoman' a segment of the Mount Hope Cemetery
in Brantford, Ontario, despite vast amounts of evidence that the
people buried there are Alevis, a persecuted minority in the Ottoman
Empire who settled in Brantford upon the encouragement of their
Armenian neighbors. Although there isn't a shred of evidence that
a single Turk is buried in the cemetery, Ankara, in its wisdom,
dictated that the Alevis were Turks and that was that: truth be
damned. Ankara's motives were as transparent as an odalisque's veil:
Through it representatives in Canada, Ankara wanted to brand Canada a
genocidier! On what evidence? Simple: the people buried in Brantford
were TURKS. And they were killed by the Canadian government during
WWI for being Turks. This was Ankara's insane tit-for-tat for Canadian
government's recognition of the Genocide of Armenians.

Ankara's ambassador to Canada also wanted to put the heat on Ottawa
so that next year the Canadian government would be circumspect when
the Genocide centennial is commemorated.

Enter Ozay of Carleton University with his version of history, titled
"120 Brantford Turks", printed in the "Turkish Society of Canada"
publication. Deploying cunning worthy of an imbecile, Ozay launched
his fantasy world with these words: "Did Canada carry out Genocide
against Ottoman Turks in 1914? Limited available evidence in Canadian
archives is highly suggestive...matching or even exceeding what the
Ottoman military authorities did for the disloyal Armenians in 1915..."

After reading the inane article, the first question any person
knowledgeable in the Genocide of Armenians is apt to ask is: "How can
someone like Ozay be allowed to teach at a Canadian university?" It
would be a waste of breath to say "Shame" to the man responsible
for the malevolent screed. "Shame" should instead be directed to the
Ottawa university where such a fantasist teaches history to innocent
Canadian students. Incidentally, it's no surprise that Ozay published
his imaginings in a Turkish newsletter. He must know full well that no
self-respecting Canadian publication would consider his words anything
but an Ankara provocation directed at Canada and its government.

Keghart.com asked Marsha F. Skrypuch, researcher, student of the
Genocide, and award-winning author of more than a dozen books and
an appointee to the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition
Endowment Council to comment on the fables of Ozay. Below is Ozay's
piece and Ms. Skrypuch's comments.-Edit.

120 BRANTFORD TURKS

Mehmet Ozay, Distinguished Research Professor, International Affairs,
Senior Fellow, Modern Turkish Studies, Carleton University

GENOCIDE IN CANADA, 1914? THE CASE OF LOST TURKS OF BRANTFORD, ONTARIO

Did Canada carry out Genocide against Ottoman Turks in
1914? Limited available evidence in Canadian archives is highly
suggestive…matching or even exceeding what the Ottoman military
authorities did for the disloyal Ottoman Armenians in 1915.

At the outset of WWI, a small group of Ottoman Turks, residents in
Brantford, Ont., were forcibly relocated to a POW Camp in Kapuskasing

At the outset of WWI, by order of the Federal government under the
War Measures Act [WMA], a small group of Ottoman Turks, residents in
Brantford, Ont., were forcibly relocated to a POW Camp in Kapuskasing,
Northern Ontario….

All these Turks perished during and after this internment. Their only
“crime” was being Ottoman Muslims. Ottoman Christians
(e.g. Armenian) residents were untouched.

Timing of this little known Canadian history is in sharp contrast to
the Harper Governments recognition under M 381 of the 1915 Otto-man
Relocation of Anatolian Armenians as “Genocide.” Both
the Canadian and the Ottoman decisions on forced relocation were
war-related.

What is “Genocide”? The UN Genocide Convention 1948
states: Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of
the fol-lowing acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in
part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

1. Killing members of the group; 2. Causing serious bodily or mental
harm to members of the group; 3. Deliberately inflicting on the group
conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction
in whole or in part; 4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births
within the group; 5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to
another group.

This definition is legal and is subject to fine-tuning. The term
“Genocide” was coined well after WWI as a result of the
efforts of the ultra-nationalist Armenian Dasnak group.

The Convention definition is loaded with legal and logistical problems,
in particular issues with interpretation, verification and enforcement.

As regards interpretation, one can argue that the Canadian government
in 1914 did not act “with intent to destroy” the Brantford
Ottoman Turks. These Turks were declared “enemy aliens”,
along with Germans, Austrians, and Ukrainians…simply to be
put away in military custody.

What is good for the goose must be true for the gander! The same
argument would apply in the case of the

Ottoman military decision in 1914 to relocate Anatolian
Armenians…with even more justification, it seems, since these
Armenians actively fought with invading Russians who occupied Ottoman
lands*.

Many Ottoman Armenians died and perished during forced marches. In the
case of 120 Brantford Turks, all perished…none survived the POW
internment. These early Turks in Canada vanished in captivity or after.

Number of human losses of Brant-ford Turks and Ottoman Armenians differ
greatly…but policy of forced relocation is identical…and
in the Genocide Convention, INTENT is the key.

Verification of official intent depends on historical documentation.

Only official records of Brantford Turks and Anatolian Armenians can
shed light on exactly what happened.

In the case of 120 Brantford Turks, all perished…none survived
the POW internment.

Tragically, the Canadian government took a decision in 1948 to destroy
all records on this black chapter of Canadian history. By contrast,
the Turkish official archives are open to all historians and experts
for study and investigation.

Most tellingly, however, the Canadian government has taken courageous
steps to set right the wrong done the WMA officially apologizing to
Ukrainians and the Japanese [in the case of WWII]. To date no such
apology exists for the Turks of Brantford, Ont.

The Turkish government has signed Protocols with Armenia that
provides, inter alias, the setting up of an independent historical
commission to determine what exactly happened in 1914 with Ottoman
Armenians. Diaspora Armenian communities, in Canada as well as in
the USA, have rejected these Protocols which, sadly, remain inactive.

What of the lost Ottoman Turks of Canada? They are all gone. Only a
“Turkish Lot” exists in the public Cemetery in Brantford,
a piece of land they themselves purchased privately, a self-dedication
marked simply as Muslim Ottomans in 1909. Currently a Plaque in
their memory stands frozen on the agenda of the Brantford City
Council. Justice demands Federal recognition of their loss.

Click here to see the Armenian source.

"120 Brantford Turks"

by Marsha Skrypuch, 19 June 2014

The "esteemed professor" even gets his title wrong. Approximately 100
immigrants from the Ottoman Empire were rounded up. Approximately 98
were interned. They were not "Turks".

Genocide in Canada, 1914? The case of lost Turks of Brantford, Ontario

They were not lost and they were not "Turks". During the war some of
the Ottoman immigrants were paroled to jobs in private industry. A
few continued to be interned until 1919 as "prisoners of war". One
Ottoman immigrant died of natural causes in Kapuskasing. His name was
Alex Hassan. He was not Turkish, but was likely either Alevi or Greek.

Did Canada carry out genocide against Ottoman Turks in 1914?

The question itself is a red herring. The Ottoman immigrants who were
interned during World War I were of a variety of minority ethnic groups
who fled the Ottoman Empire because of religious and ethnic persecution
perpetrated by the Young Turk government, and before them, the sultan.

Limited available evidence in Canadian archives is highly
suggestive…matching or even exceeding what the Ottoman military
authorities did for the disloyal Ottoman Armenians in 1915.

It is impressive how many lies the "esteemed professor" can fit into
a single sentence. The Young Turk government shot Armenian males who
had registered to fight for the Ottoman Empire. They then rounded up
women, children, babies and grandmothers and sent them on a deportation
march into the desert without food or water. Many died of thirst or
starvation, others were killed outright. Eighty-five percent of the
Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire were killed.

Compare this to what happened in Canada where 8,000 "enemy aliens"
were interned during World War I. Most of those interned were Ukrainian
and Christian (including my own grandfather). Some did die.

There is not a single documented incident of an ethnic Turk or a
Muslim who died during the WWI Canadian internment operations.

I am particularly appalled that the "professor" would label children
and babies as "disloyal". The Armenians were killed by the Turks not
for anything that they did, but because of their nationality.

At the outset of WWI, a small group of Ottoman Turks, residents in
Brantford, Ont., were forcibly relocated to a POW Camp in Kapuskasing.

At the outset of WWI, by order of the federal government under the
War Measures Act [WMA], a small group of Ottoman Turks, residents in
Brantford, Ont., were forcibly relocated to a POW Camp in Kapuskasing,
Northern Ontario….

These Ottoman citizens were identifiably Alevi Kurds, not Muslim Turks.

All these Turks perished during and after this internment.

Not a single Turk died during the internment. One Ottoman internee
died of natural causes and is buried in the internee cemetery at
Kapuskasing. His name was Alex Hassan, and he was not an ethnic Turk
and was not Muslim.

Their only “crime” was being Ottoman Muslims. Ottoman
Christians (e.g. Armenian) residents were untouched.

A quick look through roll call will demonstrate the falseness of this
claim. Several Armenians were interned, for example Kevork Arakilian,
Aram George, and Sarkis Hamparsumian.

Timing of this little known Canadian history is in sharp contrast
to the Harper Governments [sic] recognition under M 381 of the 1915
Otto-man Relocation of Anatolian Armenians as “Genocide.”
Both the Canadian and the Ottoman decisions on forced relocation
were war-related.

False: The Harper government has recognized the WWI internment
operations and has made restitution in the form of a $10
million endowment fund. More information can be found here:
http://internmentcanada.ca/

What is “Genocide”? The UN Genocide Convention 1948
states: Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of
the fol-lowing acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in
part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

1.

Killing members of the group;

2.

Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

3.

Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated
to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

4.

Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

5.

Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

This definition is legal and is subject to fine-tuning. The term
“Genocide” was coined well after WWI as a result of the
efforts of the ultra-nationalist Armenian Dasnak [sic] group.

The Convention definition is loaded with legal and logistical problems,
in particular issues with interpretation, verification and enforcement.

As regards interpretation, one can argue that the Canadian government
in 1914 did not act “with intent to destroy” the Brantford
Ottoman Turks. These Turks were declared “enemy aliens”,
along with Germans, Austrians, and Ukrainians…simply to be
put away in military custody.

The Canadian government interned approximately 8,000 enemy aliens
during WWI. These people were fed, clothed and given shelter. Was
it unjust? Yes. Was it genocide? It would be false to say so. At the
same time as these 8,000 people, mostly Ukrainian, mostly Christian,
mostly men were interned, approximately 100,000 other enemy aliens were
NOT interned, but had to carry identity papers and report regularly
to the authorities.

Contrast that to what the Young Turks did--executing Armenian males
who had proven their loyalty by enlisting in the army--rounding up the
remaining men, plus women, children, babies, old people--and marching
them into the desert with no food or water with the express purpose
of killing them. All Armenians were treated this way 15% survived.

What is good for the goose must be true for the gander! The same
argument would apply in the case of the Ottoman military decision
in 1914 to relocate Anatolian Armenians…with even more
justification, it seems, since these Armenians actively fought with
invading Russians who occupied Ottoman lands*.

Women, children and babies actively fought?

Many Ottoman Armenians died and perished during forced marches. In
the case of 120 Brantford Turks, all perished…none survived
the POW internment.

This is an outright lie. First, they weren't Turks, second, all
survived but one, and that one died of natural causes.

These early Turks in Canada vanished in captivity or after.

These internees were Alevi Kurds, not Turks. Many of them moved to
St. Catharines, Ontario. There is also some evidence to show that
at least one attained a homestead in western Canada. None vanished
in captivity.

Number of human losses of Brant-ford [sic] Turks and Ottoman
Armenians differ greatly…but policy of forced relocation is
identical…and in the Genocide Convention, INTENT is the key.

False.

Verification of official intent depends on historical documentation.

Only official records of Brantford Turks and Anatolian Armenians can
shed light on exactly what happened.

In the case of 120 Brantford Turks, all perished…none survived
the POW internment.

Tragically, the Canadian government took a decision in 1948 to destroy
all records on this black chapter of Canadian history.

False. There are lots of documents at Archives Canada, at Ron Morel
Museum in Kapuskasing, at the Brantford Public Library to name a few.

As well, at the time, Canada was under British domain, and copies of
the government records can be accessed through British archives.

By contrast, the Turkish official archives are open to all historians
and experts for study and investigation. Most tellingly, however,
the Canadian government has taken courageous steps to set right the
wrong done the WMA officially apologizing

False. The government has acknowledged the injustice. The Ukrainian
community has never asked for an apology because the people who did
the internment are long dead.

to Ukrainians and the Japanese [in the case of WWII]. To date no such
apology exists for the Turks of Brantford, Ont.

False. Acknowledgement of the injustice done to all affected groups
in WWI was made at the same time as the Ukrainians. Restitution in
the form of an educational fund was made. In fact, more weight is
given to the non-Ukrainian groups than it is to the Ukrainians.

The Turkish government has signed Protocols with Armenia that
provides, inter alias, the setting up of an independent historical
commission to determine what exactly happened in 1914 with Ottoman
Armenians. Diaspora Armenian communities, in Canada as well as in
the USA, have rejected these Protocols which, sadly, remain inactive.

The Turkish government does not acknowledge the Armenian Genocide
and has never made any sort of restitution.

What of the lost Ottoman Turks of Canada? They are all gone. Only a
“Turkish Lot” exists in the public Cemetery in Brantford,
a piece of land they themselves purchased privately, a self-dedication
marked simply as Muslim Ottomans in 1909.

There is no documentation to link those interned with the cemetery
plot in Mount Hope cemetery. However, all indications point to those
buried as being Alevi, not Muslim.

Currently a plaque in their memory stands frozen on the agenda of
the Brantford City Council. Justice demands Federal recognition of
their loss.

http://www.keghart.com/Skrypuch-Ozay-Brantford

[Yervant1]

Hey ambassador pay attention, no turks!!!!!!!!!!!

REMEMBERING A HISTORIC INJUSTICE

The Hamilton Spectator, Canada
July 3 2014

Hamilton and Burlington will see four commemorative plaques unveiled
as part of a "first-ever attempt in Canadian history to recall an
historic injustice by simultaneously unveiling 100 plaques."

The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation is using the plaques
to mark the 100th anniversary of the imposition of the War Measures
Act and the start of the internment operations during the First World
War. The project is also supported by the Canadian First World War
Internment Recognition Fund.

The plaques are being installed Aug. 22 across Canada in parish halls,
cultural centres, museums and archives associated with ethnic groups
that experienced internment.

During the First World War, more than 8,500 people of Ukrainian,
German, Hungarian, Serbian, Croatian and Armenian heritage in Canada
were deemed to be "enemy aliens" and placed into camps, while having
property taken from them.

The Hamilton Spectator

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/4614733-remembering-a-historic-injustice/

 

[Yervant1]

IDENTITY THEFT GRAND SLAM

Editorial, 11 July 2014

Thanks to the Internet the invasion of privacy has become a commonplace
bane of our lives. The criminals who try to steal our identities
usually have financial gain in mind. Recently there was an identity
theft on a grander scale: a theft far, far more ambitious,virulent, and
far reaching. The identities stolen were that of national origin. There
were 16 such simultaneous thefts. The criminal was none other than
the Republic of Turkey.

This is how the heist started:

Five years ago a researcher in Brantford (100 kilometers west of
Toronto) discovered that about 16 "Turk" internees from World War I
period were buried in that city's Mount Hope Cemetery. The news caught
the eye of Ali Riza Gunay, the eager-beaver Turkish consul in Toronto.

The diplomat realized he had hit a jackpot: his superiors had recently
sent a directive to all Turkish diplomats to search in the countries
where they served for places, events, and people linked to Turkey.

The idea was to burnish the questionable image of Turkey by building
"bridges" to countries all over the world. The "Turkish" interns
would eminently fill the bill. There was also a huge bonus: Ankara
saw the Turkish internees as a whip to lash Canada for recognizing
the Genocide of Armenians. To underline their nefarious intent,
the mandarins in Ankara decided to erect a Turkish monument in the
cemetery. Upon learning of the plot, Ontario Armenians and Alevis
launched a campaign to stop it: further research by the Brantford
historian soon revealed that the internees were Kurdish Alevis who had
emigrated to Canada just before WWI and often lived in the houses of
Armenians who had been their friends back in "old country" and had
encouraged them to flee Ottoman persecution for freedom in Canada.

About 25 Toronto-area Armenian activists initiated a campaign in
early July 2013 to stop the Turkish monument. They met Alevi leaders,
including Suleyman Guven, editor of the "Yeni Hayat" Alevi newspaper
and visited the cemetery, along with Alevis, and interviewed the
Brantford researcher who repeated that the internees had been Kurd
Alevis. The Armenians also launched a petition and sent letters to the
local MP, to the minister of multiculturalism and other officials of
the federal, provincial and municipal governments, including Brantford
Mayor Chris Friel and his council.

The Armenian group then invited to a meeting Toronto-area Armenian
political parties to discuss how to collectively react to the Turkish
farce. Mike Kharabian, the head of the Ramgavars attended, in addition
to Vazken Terzian, a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.

The latter in unofficial capacity. Upon the request of the "Stop
the Fake Monument" group, Hye Tadd was invited to the activists'
second meeting. At that meeting, Hye Tadd representative Nshan Atikian
dismissed the work that the activists had done and informed the group
that Hye Tadd had been following the issue for several years. He
almost implied that the activists were interfering with the good work
of Hye Tadd.

Assuming the campaign was in good hands, the activists' group
disbanded, although several of its members, including the editorial
board of Keghart.com, kept an eye on developments.

Facing bad publicity and solid resistance from the Armenian and Alevi
communities, the Turkish consul changed his tack and suggested a
modest plaque, instead of a loud monument. Meanwhile, the Brantford
City Council decided to obtain the federal government's view before
proceeding. The issue became dormant.

The Turkish project was silently revived this spring (from modest
plaque to tombstone). The Brantford City Council heard from Mr. Guven
of "Yeni Hayat" and the imam of the Brantford mosque about a proposal
to install two tombstones in sector of the cemetery where the Alevis
were buried. The Imam insisted that the people buried were Muslims.

Mr. Guven, who presented ample proof, made it clear that the interned
were Alevis, thus not Muslim or Turk. The council voted to hold
a meeting in early June to decide on the date of a second meeting
which would be the final word on the Turkish-initiated project. But
suddenly, on June 11, it was announced in the "Brantford Examiner"
that at its first meeting in June, the council had decided to give
permission to two tombstones--one for the Muslims, the other for the
Alevis. Each group would cover its expenses. Alevis were not even
informed of the council's final decision, said Mr. Guven. How the two
tombstones idea was expedited and engineered by Mayor Friel remains
a mystery: throughout the controversy, the mayor had been close to
Consul Gunay. The mayor had complained that he didn't want to see
Brantford enmeshed in "international" politics, although for several
years he had been playing footsy with Mr. Gunay. Perhaps he didn't
know that the very job of Mr. Gunay is international politics. The
mayor also crossed verbal swords with Mr. Guven who publicly accused
the mayor of pro-Turkish bias.

While the two tombstones plan was being approved, the Armenian
National Committee of Canada (ANCC) had been presumably working
behind the scenes. The "Brantford Expositor" said that in addition to
"discussions with Turkish representatives, the federal government has
also heard from representatives of the Canadian-Armenian community".

Councilor Phil Coleman said that the Brant MP [the local riding]
"believes the Armenian Community has no issue with a stone or plaque
going up on the site but has insisted that whatever is put on the
plaque must be historically accurate." Was that lame stance the essence
of ANCC's attitude? Was the milquetoast response the best ANCC could
do to stop the Turkish propaganda project?

And before one could say "Recep Tayyip Erdogan", a slick "Muslim"
monument was planted in the plot where Alevis are buried: a Turkish
political plot over an Alevi plot.

To celebrate, the Turkish Federation in Toronto bused some of its
members to the inauguration (June 22) of the "Muslim" tombstone which
had the Turkish flag etched at its top. Although it was supposed
to be a Muslim ceremony officiated by the local Arab imam, three
Turkish imams from Toronto and Hamilton took over the ceremony and
made speeches in Turkish, referring to the Alevis as Turkish martyrs
("shaheeds") similar "to the people who liberated the homeland
('vatan')" meaning Turkey. Meanwhile, the Turkish community held a
victory dance and stomped all over the cemetery, fluttering at least
eight over-sized Turkish flags...celebrants wore red tee-shirts with
the Turkish star-and-crescent blazing on them; others wore red jackets
with the Turkish flag. Too late the Palestinian imam realized that
the Turkish community and its federation had hijacked the "Muslim"
ceremony into a Turkish "chifteh telli". Mayor Friel, who had attended
the Turkish requiem-fiesta together with Councilors Dave Neumann and
Vince Bucci, told to Mr. Guven in an email a few days later: "Turks
absolutely politicized the process and much to my disgust. We have
severed any remaining contacts with their representatives...Brantford
Muslims were blindsided as I was." Too late, Mr. Mayor; too late to
wake up and smell the Turkish coffee. The $4,500 Turkish monument is
now comfortably encased in the plot where no Turk is buried.

While the Turkish consul and his friends were pretending the monument
was in honor of Muslims, the Turkish Federation and the 100 Turks bused
in from Toronto gave away the game through their words and misbehavior,
and called a spade a spade: the monument was Turkish. The Turkish
attendees also exposed the hypocrisy of the Turkish government and
its representatives in Canada. To emphasize the point, local Turkish
TV and radio provided full coverage of the "Muslim" ceremony and
accurately called the tombstone "Turkish monument". On "Turkuaz TV",
a Turkish Federation spokesman said: "We meant to erect a Turkish
monument. As a first step we put the crescent-and-star as the symbol
of our Turkish flag. We want to commemorate our martyrs." Anatolian
Radio (June 21) invited its listeners to attend the "Ottoman Turkish
Internment" ceremony in Brantford. It said: "The Turkish Community
finally succeeded in its efforts to have a tombstone erected in
the Turkish section of the Mount Hope Cemetery in Brantford for our
compatriots who were rounded up by the Canadian Government during
the First World War and imprisoned in Kapuskasing and who then lost
their lives..." The "Canadaturk" newspaper gave full-court coverage.

Now that the efforts of the Armenian activists and members of the
Alevi community have failed, there are several questions which remain
unanswered.

Why didn't the Alevi community provide adequate support to the
energetic and committed editor of its newspaper "Yeni Hayat"? Was it
because Alevis are afraid their kin in Turkey might be harmed? The
Alevi community has the right to know.

Why did ANCC's Ontario chapter fail to stop the Turkish tombstone,
especially after reams of documentation (some of them posted in
Keghart.com) available which unequivocally proved that the interned
are Alevis?

>From day one the ANCC knew that the monument was politically motivated
(one of its representatives said so). It was such an important
propaganda project for Ankara that last year, when the Turkish consul
had planned to erect a monument Ankara scheduled Deputy Prime Minister
Bekir Bozdag to attend its unveiling, and arrangements were made
to cover the event on a prestigious TV station in Ontario. From day
one the ANCC knew that Ankara wanted to portray the Alevi buried in
Brantford as Turks killed by the Canadian government. From day one
the ANCC knew that the intention was to use these "Turkish martyrs"
to tarnish Canada's image and to chastise it for recognizing the
Genocide of Armenians. It was to force an apology from Canada for
committing "genocide" of Turks. From day one the ANCC knew that the
Turkish Project was to put Canada on the defensive, to neutralize it,
especially with the Genocide centennial on the corner. Canada is well
known around the globe as a protector of human rights. The Ankara jab
is to throw mud at Canada. A country which kills demonstrators, bans
Twitter and YouTube, jails more journalists than any other country,
a country where to call someone "Armenian" is a common curse, is out
to teach Canada about human rights.

Despite the importance of the issue, how can the ANCC explain its
lukewarm (at best) and dismissive (at worst) attitude? Armenians
have the right to expect more from their "most effective" lobbying
organization. Supine doesn't work in politics.

Midway the campaign to stop the Turkish monument, the Armenian
activists had an extensive program to publicize the Turkish sham,
to attend Brantford City Council meetings, to meet the local media,
to hold demonstrations in Brantford, to network in Brantford, to
distribute flyers in that city exposing the Turkish Game... These
plans were promptly abandoned when the group disbanded upon the
ANCC assurances that the "official Armenian lobby" was on top of
the situation.

Now what?

Will the ANCC do what Armenians campaign for the removal of the
disgraceful and fraudulent Turkish tombstone and work for its
replacement by a non-religious, non-political tombstone or at least
remove the objectionable Turkish flag on top of Alevi immigrants who
died in Canada a century ago?

We wait with bated breath.

http://www.keghart.com/Editorial-Identity-Theft-Brantford