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A Totally Unfair Article on Turkey
Letter to Sun-Sentinel, Florida
Sat, 16 Nov 2002
Dear Editor: I am a Sun-Sentinel reader from Boca Raton and
would like to bring an article to your attention which was published
in your newspaper this week: Decision Time in Ankara, by Philip
Terzian.
Mr. Terzian is known as an anti-Turkish writer.
I read his several articles about Turkey before. As some other
Armenians who do not like Republic of Turkey because of the
civil war between Turks and Armenians at the beginning of the
last century, Mr. Terzian harshly criticizes Turkey and Turkey's
friends as Rep. Robert Wexler of State of Florida. Fortunately,
Rep. Wexler knows the importance of Turkey for the United States
and Israel ans works to develop good relations in between two
best allies of the U.S.A.
The article you published was totally unfair and
had statements which are not correct.
First of all, Turkey is not and will not be an
Islamic Republic like Iran because this only secular and democratic
Moslem country has very strong institutions and a tradition
against a fundamentalist regime. Its armed forces are very determined
to keep the legacy of the founder of the Republic, Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk. As Rep. Wexler always states, neither Israel nor Turkey
will turn to be a dictatorships because of the democratic tradition
they always had.
Secondly, Turks always welcomed other nations
since 1492 which was the date the Sephardic Jews were expelled
from Spain. Ottoman Turks were the ones opened their cities
to Jewish immigrants. Jews always lived freely and happily in
Anatolia since then. The Jewish language of Ladino which is
the mixture of Jewish, Spanish and Turkish is still spoken in
Western Turkey. Saying "Turks are threatening Jewish minority"
is being ignorant or not telling the truth by Mr. Terzian.
Turks banned the death penalty, gave rights to
minorities the right of learning their own languages and broadcasting
freely this year. They have changed many laws to harmonize with
Europe's. Even though U.S. administration is trying to help
Turkey's membership in European Union, Europeans openly declared
that the reason they do not want Turkey as a member is not economical
or political differences but religious and racial. Instead of
seeing how Turks are so far ahead of Europe for not discriminating
minorities and respecting them, putting Turkey down with historical
allegations is not fair.
I would suggest you to publish the article written
by Barbara Lerner which was published on November 4th by National
Review Online. She explains why Turkey is the only democracy
in the Muslim Middle East. Her another article "Invisible Natives
and Occupied Lands" takes a deeper research on the humanitarian
side of Turks.
As a Turkish-American resident of Palm Beach county
and a reader of Sun-Sentinel, I will appreciate if you publish
more balanced articles about my homeland and give both sides
of stories regarding important ally of ours, Turkey. I believe
also the other more than a thousand Turkish-American families,
who are the readers of Sun-Sentinel and the members of Florida
Turkish American Association, would appreciate it.
Sincerely,
Vural Cengiz
President-Elect
Assembly of Turkish American Associations
Palm Beach, Florida
***
On the 64th Anniversary of Atatürk’s
Passing Away
"Mankind is a single body and each nation a part
of that body. We must never say 'What does it matter to me if
some part of the world is ailing?' If there is such an illness,
we must concern ourselves with it as though we were having that
illness."
These words belong to our great leader Mustafa
Kemal Atatürk, who passed away on November 10 1938. He
stated, immediately after the Turkish War of Independence, that
"peace is the most effective way for nations to attain prosperity
and happiness." During past 64 years since Atatürk passed
away, the world has had many bad experiences that showed there
was still a long way to completely apply "Peace at home,
Peace in the world" as Atatürk always mentioned and
struggled for during his life. Under very difficult conditions
and with very limited resources, he not only spent his life
for establishing an independent, secular, modern country, but
also for a peaceful future of the world.
In 1932, the League of Nations invited Turkey
to become a member. Many of Atatürk's ideas and ideals
presaged the principles enshrined in the League of Nations and
the United Nations." As clearly as I see daybreak, I have the
vision of the rise of the oppressed nations to their independence...
If lasting peace is sought, it is essential to adopt international
measures to improve the lot of the masses. Mankind's well-being
should take the place of hunger and oppression... Citizens of
the world should be educated in such a way that they shall no
longer feel envy, avarice and vengefulness."
In recognition of Atatürk's untiring
efforts to build peace, the League of Nations paid tribute to
him at his death in November 1938 as " a genius international
peacemaker".
In 1981, on the occasion of the Centennial of
his birth, the United Nations and UNESCO honored the memory
of the great Turkish Statesman who abhorred war -
" Unless the life of the nation faces peril, war
is a crime," - and expressed his faith in organized peace: "If
war were to break out, nations would rush to join their armed
forces and national resources. The swiftest and most effective
measure is to establish an international organization which
would prove to the aggressor that its aggression cannot pay."
On the 64th Anniversary of his passing away,
we here state again
that we firmly follow the system of reforms and
development introduced by him, and promise to focus our efforts
on global peace and healing. Looking at our common future, we
invite you all to think only a moment, and ask yourself ‘what
am I doing for a peaceful future of the world?’. We should
never forget that every one of us counts!
Best Regards,
Ozgur Madak, President, ITSS
Intercollegiate Turkish Students Society
www.itss.org
om2007@columbia.edu
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