Re: Turkish Tragedy?!

Dear Governor,

I called your office to protest the Proclamation of the "Remembrance Day of the Turkish Tragedy in Asia Minor." Your assistant was happy to inform me that the original text had been revised to exclude language that was historically inaccurate and blatantly offensive to thousands of Armenian and Greek survivors of Turkish brutality during and following the First World War. Despite the changes, a number of questions remain:

1. How did that offensive language find its way in the first proclamation?

2. Looking at the facts, how can one speak of tragedy of people who still live in their homes and the homes of those forcefully expelled from lands they inhabited for thousands of years?

3. The new proclamation equates aggressors and victims. In this form it does injustice to the ethnic groups that suffered the Turkish wrath and were exterminated from Asia Minor in the first act of ethnic cleansing of the 20th century.

4. The forced migrations of Armenians and Greeks were carefully planned by German generals and executed by the official Turkish army. As such, they constitute the dress rehearsal of the Nazi extermination of the Jews 15 years later. Do not forget Hitler's comment: "Who remembers the Armenians?"

5. Did someone bring to your attention the simple fact that Turkey fought AGAINST the United States and Western democracies in the Great war? Do you also know that Turkey shone in its NEUTRALITY during WW II favoring on most occasions the Axis nations? Why then this historically inaccurate sensitivity towards a nation suspect of its true intentions?

6. One would be willing to overlook this history if the present record of modern Turkish state suggested a democracy adhering to the RULE OF LAW in its domestic and international affairs. Reports of Amnesty International and other organizations will leave you no doubt that little has changed from the mentality that led to the genocides of the beginning of the century.

Please try to understand that there is ample historical evidence of the true events that actually took place in Asia Minor between 1912-1923 and revisionist attempts will only bring embarrassment to their authors and signatories. You can adhere to an ill advised proclamation or seek the opinion of politically neutral scholars on this matter. It is imperative that elected officials show respect for history and reinforce our belief in human rights and the rule of law.

Sincerely,

Gregory Stephanopoulos
Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology