Contrary to Grenville Byford's insinuations, not only the United States but Turks of all political persuasions support an accelerated evolution of democracy in Turkey. Last August, sweeping reforms dramatically relaxed restrictions on freedom of speech, press, assembly, and political association. Broadcasting and education in "mother tongues", including in Kurdish, were legalized. Greater human rights safeguards were mandated within the police and prisons. The military profile has faded in security courts and the National Security Council. The idea that the "secular establishment" would thwart an electoral success by the Justice and Development Party is fatuous. Turkey has a track record for fair and free elections. As in the past, the voting process will be completely transparent and open to international monitoring.

It is a fact that Turkey has enjoyed many more years of democracy than Spain and Portugal when the latter were admitted and has contributed incomparably more to peace and prosperity of the European continent than all the current applicants combined. In sympathizing with the European Union's biased resistance to admitting Turkey to membership, Byford snidely asserts that "no one in an EU country would be banned from politics for reciting a poem." But Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to whom he refers, is intensely involved in campaigning for the November 3, 2002 elections, and enjoys far greater political space than the EU has permitted for France Marie LePen or Austria's Jorg Haider.

Sincerely,
Guler Koknar
Executive Director
Assembly of Turkish American Associations

•••

A film Review Without Balance
Letters to the Editor
The Washington Post
Re: "Diplomatic Dispatches, A Cinematic Record of Atrocities Long
Forgotten," October 11, 2002
To the Editor:

If balance is the hallmark of great movies and journalism, the film "Ararat" and its celebration in "Diplomatic Dispatches" (Oct. 11) fail the test.

Turkey has never denied the gruesome suffering of the Armenians during World War I.

But the other side of the story is seldom, if ever, told. Tens of thousands of Ottoman Armenians defected to the enemy and fought ferociously, slaughtering Ottoman Muslims on all fronts. They captured Van, the city around which the movie "Ararat" centers, massacred all of its Muslim inhabitants, and declared a provisional independent Armenia. Sabotage and espionage against the Ottoman Empire by Armenians was widespread. Their leaders boasted of the Armenian treason and their service toward the victory over the Ottoman Empire, which resulted in the death and massacres of over 2.5 million Ottoman Muslims, at the Paris Peace Conference. It is because of this historic fact of that many historians, like Middle East historian Bernard Lewis reject the Armenian genocide claims or even a remote comparison with the Holocaust.

Armenians spawned terrorist organizations to avenge the claimed "genocide." Both in the US and abroad, Armenians have murdered, bombed, and harassed Turkish officials and civilians, including Turkish Americans, in hundreds of incidents. Unfortunately, the perpetrators of these endless abominations are still deified within the Armenian American community. Indeed, the film "Ararat" also, in its ending, shows sympathy and vindicates this kind of terrorism.

Mr. Egoyan has artistic license to create whatever creative piece of art he feels comfortable. But the movie is not a by any stretch a true and impartial rendition of history. Unfortunately, through its crass demonization and vilification of all things Turkish, and its omission of any responsibility for atrocities by the Armenian side, its only service is to perpetuate hate against Turks today and drive Turks and Armenians further apart.

Sincerely,
Guler Koknar
Executive Director
Assembly of Turkish American Associations