On Oct 17, 2:39 am, "Ali Asker" <pasa_as...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Ties That Blind
> by Vera Beaudin Saeedpour, Director of Research
> Turkey's repressive Kurdish policy represents the antithesis of values
Je=
ws
> espouse. Yet the state of Israel has not only kept silent on Turkey's
> treatment of the Kurds, it has been in the forefront of promoting
Turkey's
> image and Turkey's interests abroad. Prominent members of the Jewish
> community in the United States have worked to undermine recognition of
thc
> Armenian genocide as well. In 1992 Jews and Turks held celebrations to
ma=
rk
> 500 years of Turkish "tolerance." Why is this so? In large part because
J=
ews
> equate their survival with that of Israel, a fragile state in a
precarious
> part of the world. And this value takes precedence over the historical
> concern of Jews with ethical issues.
>
> In this Israel is not alone. All nations are pre-occupied with
strengthen=
ing
> their economies, enhancing their power, and assuring their survival at
the
> expense of loftier values to which they tend to pay lip service when
there
> is need to justify or obscure policies. Stateless people such as the
Kurds
> are natural flotsam in the interplay of geopolitics, gaining attention
and
> significance, or relegated to obscurity in almost direct pro****tion to
th=
eir
> utility in furthering, or at least in not threatening the agendas of
> existing states. Such helps to explain why sup****ters of Israel have
long
> been promoting the cause of the Iraqi Kurds while ignoring and
suppressing
> the fact of Kurdish repression in Turkey.
>
> History to Live Up To
> Remember Bitburg? TheJewish communitywas outragedwith President Reagan
for
> agreeing to visit the graves of German soldiers. Elie Wiesel said, "That
> place, Mr. President, is not your place. Your place is with the victims
of
> the SS..." Wiesel went on to talk of what he had learned in the past
> fortyyears: "I learned that in extreme situations when human lives and
> dignity are at stake, neutrality is a sin...Jews were killed by the
enemy,
> but betrayed by their so-called Allies who found political reasons to
> justify their indifference or passivity...I have learned the danger of
> indifference, the crime of indifference." (Congressional Record, Vol.
131
> No. 47, 4.22.85)
>
> When Czech president, Vadav Havel, visited Kurt Waldheim in Austria, New
> York Times pundit A. H. Rosenthal mounted the moral high ground to
remind
> him that "Now and then even a philosopher-hero should take account of
the
> emotions and values of the people who do remember yesterday and its
> lessons."(NYT 9.29.90)
>
> In 1990 when the U.S. moved to condemn Israel's response to the
Palestini=
an
> uprising, Jewish groups charged that the U.S. betrayed Israel and "its
own
> honor." Rabbi MarcAngel, president of the Rabbinical Council of America
> called "American complicity in this hypocrisy...alarming." And he asked,
> ''Will oil and terrorism become the arbiters of justice in the world?"
(N=
YT
> 10.11.90)
>
> It is no accident that Rabbi Angel alluded to justice. For not love, but
> justice is the foundation of Jewish ethics. Justice demands equal
> application of the same standard one invokes to *****s the acts of one's
> friends and one's adversaries. If not, such lofty declamations are
relega=
ted
> to the moral ash heap. Yet, to keep on Turkey's good side, sup****ters of
> Israel have become accomplices in denying the Armenian genocide. To stay
=
in
> Turkey's good graces, Jews have remained silent on Turkey's repression
of
> more than 15 million Kurds, over half the Kurds in the Middlc East, even
=
as
> sup****ters of Israel court Kurds in Iraq.
>
> Menachem Rosensaft, chairman of the International Network of Children of
> Jewish Holocaust survivors had this to say about the responsibility of
Je=
ws,
> "We must take our place at the forefront of the struggle against racial
> hatred and oppression of any kind, and to accept the heavy
responsibility
> inherent in our unique id.entity." (NY Post 5.28.88) But he also
askedJews
> to "identify unambiguously with Israel." And therein lies the dilemma.
>
> History to Live Down
> Look at a few highlights of Turkey's history. The Ottoman forebears of
the
> modern Turks swooped down from outer Mongolia to conquer the Middle East
=
up
> to the borders of the Persian Empire and to occupy a vast domain
populated
> by Christians and Muslims. Details of the conquests still live in dusty
> stacks in our nation's libraries, though they remain an enigma to most
> Americans who still have trouble locating that part of the world on the
m=
ap.
> And what a dismal history it is.
>
> The Janissaries, crack troops of the Ottoman Sultan, were Christian boys
> forcibly taken from their mothers before they reached the age of eight
and
> raised as Muslims and defenders of the Empire. As men they were turned
lo=
ose
> to murder those who gave them life. History holds other times when
Christ=
ian
> mothers wept. For instance, on September 18,1824, nearlytwo centuries
ago,
> the Salem Observer informed Massachusetts readers of "the cruelties of
the
> Turks. On entering Melenia, they put to the sword all the Christians
above
> eight years of age, and at Pergamos, they massacred in thirty eight
hours,
> ten thousand Christians." The New York Times of October 11,1917 noted
that
> before the first crusade, the Arabs had never persecuted Christian
pilgri=
ms
> to Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulchre, "But the Seljukian Turks changed
all
> that when they occupied all Syria and the Holy Land in the eleventh
centu=
ry.
> They persecuted Arab, Jew and Christian pilgrim alike." And all their
wom=
en
> wept.
>
> Five years later, American Consul to Smyrna, George Horton penned these
> unhappy words: "I have often been impressed with the hopelessness of
maki=
ng
> people who have not been eye-witnesses, comprehend the dreadful
character=
of
> the massacres which are carried on by the Turks against the Christian
> population of the Orient...One of the keenest impressions which I
brought
> away with me from Smyrna was a feeling of shame that I belonged to the
hu=
man
> race...the Turks were glutting freely their racial and religious lust
for
> slaughter, rape and plunder within a stone's throw of the Allied and
> American battle-****ps because they had been systematically led to
believe
> that they would not be interfered with...And this, the presence of those
> battle-****ps in Smyrna harbor, in the year of our Lord 1922, impotently
> watching the last great scene in the tragedy of the Christians of
Turkey,
> was the saddest and most significant feature of the whole
> picture...Christians were abandoned as no Christian power desired to
offe=
nd
> the Turk, from whom great benefits were expected...It is a curious fact
t=
hat
> the Turk is still able to deceive Europeans, despite long observation of
=
his
> tactics..." (Re****t on Turkey, USA Consular Do***ents)
>
> Never mind the historical record. The record of Turkey in this century
al=
one
> is rife with massacres, atrocities and repression. Ask any Armenian,
Alevi
> Arab or Kurd. Yet, in 1986 after the massacre of Jews in the Neve Shalom
> synagogue in Istanbul, Turkey's Permanent Representative to the United
> Nations had no qualms about defending his country's "historical record
of
> religious tolerance and non discrimination." This at a time when the
total
> suppression of Kurds in the country had reached its sixty first year and
> counting. "...all Turkish citizens are under the protection of the state
> irrespective of their religion, language, race and color," he
proclaimed.=
As
> Jewish women wept . (NYT 9.10.86)
>
> Of millions of Christians who fell under Ottoman dominion, Christians of
=
all
> kinds number less than 0.5% of Turkey's population today. Of the more
than
> 200,000 Jews in the Ottoman Empire at the turn of the century, barely
20,=
000
> remained to witness the synagogue massacre in 1986. Even less now. And
for
> more than sixty years after the genocide of Armenians it has been the
Kur=
ds'
> turn to be assimilated - or else. And still Kurdish women weep. The
argum=
ent
> that the Turk of today is not the Turk of yesterday is a subterfuge.
Turk=
ey
> has yet to acknowledge the Armenian genocide. As this is written, the
> decimation of Kurds is still underway in a country that is nowhere near
t=
he
> secular democracy that Ankara and its allies claim.
>
> "Jews who were admitted into the Ottoman Empire bySultan Bayazid 11 are
of
> the opinion that claims of genocide in Jvrkey are ties. " David Asseo,
> Istanbul's Chief Rabbi
>
> Relations between Israel and Turkey
> Jews were undcrstandablygrateful to Ottoman Turks whogave them refuge
when
> they fled the Spanish Inquisition in 1492. Not that the Turks were
motiva=
ted
> by altruism. Time and again history records that Jews were allowed into
> countries to finance a ruler's misadventures. Denied land owner****p,
they
> served as craftsmen and money-lenders. When the time for repayment came,
> more often than not theywere expelled. Understandably Jews were
appreciat=
ive
> when the non-Arab government of Turkey officially recognized Israel's
> statehood in 1948. But they were less pleased when Turkey reacted to
> Israel's incor****ation of East Jerusalem evicting the Israeli ambassador
=
to
> Ankara and lowering diplomatic exchanges between the two countries to
the
> level of second secretaries. However, as they looked to polish their
image
> and further their economic interests in the U.S. it wasn't long before
the
> Turks concluded that the Jewish lobby and Jewish media influence could
be=
of
> great use. Israel's sup****ters acquiesced, eager as they always are to
fi=
nd
> a friend of any ilk in an otherwise unfriendly Middle East, especially a
> friend blessed by the United States.
>
> George Gruen, the American Jewish Committee's Director of Middle East
> Affairs explained Turke's motives in an interview that appeared in the
> Jewish Exponent: "Ankara believes that good relations with Israel are
> helpful in building sup****t for Turkey in the United States...Not
onlycan=
it
> argue that the U.S. should look favorably on Turkey since, with the
> exception of Egypt, it is the only Middle Eastern state which has
>
> read more =BB...
You are quoting lies fabricated by guilty people like yourself.
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