I would like to rebut the article you had released online entitled “Democracy Trampled in France Parliament.” Although I am not sure of the date of its release, I would like to nevertheless write about a few contradictions that might help shed light on the issue and, perhaps, allow for a more balanced view of what happened. In the spirit of the free speech that journalism promotes, I kindly ask you to publish this despite opposition you may be subject to from the authors of the piece that I will be refuting.

   First, I do not believe it was prudent for the author to state that it was “fair” to pick two people that were the subjects of the interview if their descent is of Turkish origin. Disregarding nationalities, oftentimes, ethnic identity is a much larger determining factor of a person’s ideas than where they were born or what their passport says.

   Now, to answer some of the questions posed by the author. “Where is the democracy?” Actually, the democracy is inherent in what the French Parliament did. The representatives of the people voted to pass this bill. If anything, this is democracy at work. As far as the law of free speech is concerned, we know that free speech also has its limitations depending on which country you go to. Such a law would probably not be accepted in the United States. At the same time, in Germany, it is a crime to deny the Holocaust and I wonder if the author would be so courageous as to suggest that since such a law is a limitation of free speech, it should be rescinded.

   In the piece, the author asks what genocide is and provides a definition. I am curious to know whether the author is familiar with Rafael Lemkin, the man who coined the phrase “genocide”. Mr. Lemkin was a European Jew who, horrified by the atrocities of the Armenian Genocide (yes, the Armenian one), decided to create a word to describe such a terrible event. Sadly, Mr. Lemkin and his family were, in later years, subject to the vile plans of Nazi Germany and he suffered through the Holocaust. So, let us make an effort to not forget what genocide means, where it comes from, and who lobbied international entities to accept this word as a description of what it is.

   Also, I would like to clarify that by the time World War I was taking place, it was no longer the Ottoman government who was fighting in the war but a group of nationalist Turks called the Young Turks. Being of Turkish descent, I would have expected the author or the interviewees to have made that point. Of course, those who know the Armenian Genocide took place are familiar with the history of the Young Turks and know that they were the ones who orchestrated the Genocide. Three men by the names of Enver Pasha, Talaat Pasha, and Djemal Pasha (all Young Turks) were the ones who organized
and ordered the annihilation of the Armenian people in Anatolia (what is now modern Turkey).

   On another point, the author again fails to mention the two conferences organized by Turkish universities in the last few years that would have brought Armenian and Turkish historians together on Turkish soil to discuss the history of the Armenian Genocide and to debate the facts. These conferences were first postponed and subsequently cancelled because of massive protests by the Turkish citizens and threats by Turkish judges and advocates that the organizers would be subject to prosecution if the conferences took place. It has been the policy of the Turkish government that “history should be left to the historians” – why is there no mention of this by the author or the interviewees?

   Concerning the fallout from the passage of this bill, I would not be surprised if the Turkish government indeed renamed the French Quarter the Algerian Quarter. In order to spite those that do not agree with its ideologies, Turkish governments in the past and present have infallibly changed the history of the country and the people. Plants and animals in modern-day Eastern Turkey that had Armenian names have been renamed so as to erase any indication that there was ever an Armenian presence in the area. Armenian churches, monuments, cities, and villages have been left to rot and have been exposed to the elements for almost one hundred years now so that soon they will be nothing but rubble on the land. Why would a country that had nothing against its Armenian population be willing to go to such lengths to absolve any evidence that Armenians were ever there? Why have the responses from the Turkish government been so caustic rather than proposing dialogue with these European nations? Why is it that these European, North and South American, and Asian countries have acknowledged the Armenian Genocide? These are all questions that those who know the Armenian Genocide happened ask themselves when they hear of Turkish denial of what happened. Your readers, perhaps, can ask themselves these same questions in an effort
to gain a better understanding of the events that took place and, hopefully, find the truth.

   Let us not desecrate the memory of all those who were massacred by ignoring calls for recognition and denying that their suffering ever took place.

   Thank you for the opportunity to express my views and present them to your
publication.