The anniversary of Edinburg City Council (ECC) motion of shame


Dear Councillor,

Turks all around the world and the Turkish community in Scotland, remember the date of
17th November 2005 with great sadness and disappointment.

On that day, Edinburgh City Council (ECC) members passed a motion to recognise the so-called Armenian genocide. Unfortunately, all our efforts to inform you about ‘the events of 1915 Ottoman Turco – Armenian War Tragedy’ were ignored and the basic principles of law and respect for truth were brushed aside; instead animosity towards Turks was displayed by the majority of Labour and Liberal councillors who acted on hearsay instead of historical research.

We commend the Conservative Party group and those councillors who voted against the
said motion; for upholding a basic fundamental principle that local councils do not have the necessary resources, expertise or jurisdiction; therefore lack authority to pass judgement on
this highly disputed international historical and legal matter.

The Turkish community will remember how Lord Provost so unjustly forced the Turkish delegation to present its deputations first and then allowed the Armenians to have the last word at the Full Council Meeting, denying the Turkish delegation of the chance and the right to respond to their accusations. Such unfair treatment has left a black mark on the once untainted reputation of the ECC.

On that day, the ECC members passed, without any regard to truth, a motion that was not only unjust and contradictory but also contained material inaccuracies (such as the percentage of votes in the European parliament, a simple mathematical matter). This demonstrated to the Turkish community that the ECC does not care about the misrepresentation of facts and is poorly informed about the matters it passes judgement on.

We will always remember how the ECC leader Cllr. Donald Anderson reneged on his promises to the Turkish community and delayed the proposed amendments to the last minute denying Turkish representation the opportunity to address the revised motion. We were shocked at ECC members’ unwillingness to challenge Mr Anderson as to why he proposed so many amendments to the motion at the last minute despite being so sure of the facts it contained in the first place. This is further proof that the ECC is indifferent about the accuracy or consistency of the motions under its consideration.

On that day, the Turkish delegation witnessed how councillors preferred to focus on the daily politics of present day Turkey instead of on the historical events of 1915-18 during the Ottoman period, which was purportedly the subject of the motion. Furthermore, they made humiliating remarks about Turks and Turkey that had no bearing on the issue in question. We will always remember this discriminatory attitude as well as how readily some respected councillors exposed their own ethnic and religious prejudices while preaching to others about fairness and human rights.

The Turkish community in Scotland follows with great interest the candidacy of Mr. Anderson;
the architect of the said motion, for Edinburgh South and will inform the members of the Turkish community about his hostile manner towards Turks and Muslims. We will not forget how he took advantage of this motion, presenting it to the media as an international success and using it as a stepping-stone to launch his candidacy for Holyrood.

The 17th day of every November, will remind us of how the councillors preferred prejudice against and hatred towards us over truth and friendship and how they turned unsubstantiated historical accusations into public condemnation of Turks and Turkey, damaging the prestige of the city of Edinburgh in the eyes of the Turkish community. Until this appalling decision by the ECC is reversed and the truth brought to light at the Edinburgh City Council, the Turkish community will neither forget nor forgive.

Yours faithfully,

Şener Sağlam ( Mr )
PresidentFTA UK

AMERICAN ACADEMICIANS RESPONSE TO THE ALLEGED"ARMENIAN GENOCIDE?"TO THE MEMBERS OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES The undersigned American academicians who specialisein Turkish, Ottoman and Middle Eastern Studies areconcerned that the current language embodied in HouseJoint Resolution 192 is misleading and/or inaccuratein several respects. Specifically, while fully supporting the concept of a"National Day of Remembrance of Man's Inhumanity toMan," we respectfully take exception to that portionof the text, which singles out for specialrecognition: "...the one and one half million people of Armenianancestry who were victims of genocide perpetrated inTurkey between 1915 and 1923..." Our reservations focus on the use of the words"Turkey' and "genocide" and may be summarised asfollows: From the fourteenth century until 1922, the areacurrently known as Turkey, or more correctly, theRepublic of Turkey, was part of the territoryencompassing the multinational, multi-religious stateknown as the Ottoman Empire. It is wrong to equate theOttoman Empire with the Republic of Turkey in the sameway that it is wrong to equate the Hapsburg Empirewith the Republic of Austria. The Ottoman Empire,which was brought to an end in 1922, by the successfulconclusion of the Turkish Revolution which establishedthe present day Republic of Turkey in 1923,incorporated lands and people which today account formore than twenty-five distinct countries inSoutheastern Europe, North Africa, and the MiddleEast, only one of which is the Republic of Turkey. TheRepublic of Turkey bears no responsibility for anyevents which occurred in Ottoman times, yet by naming'Turkey' in the Resolution, its authors haveimplicitly labelled it as guilty of "genocide" itcharges transpired between 1915 and 1923. As for the charge of "genocide," no signatory of thisstatement wishes to minimise the scope of Armeniansuffering. We are likewise cognisant that it cannot beviewed as separate from the suffering experienced bythe Muslim inhabitants of the region. The weight ofevidence so far uncovered points in the direct ofserious inter communal warfare (perpetrated by Muslimand Christian irregular forces), complicated bydisease, famine, suffering and massacres in Anatoliaand adjoining areas during the First World War.Indeed, throughout the years in question, the regionwas the scene of more or less continuous warfare, notunlike the tragedy, which has gone on in Lebanon forthe past decade. The resulting death toll among bothMuslim and Christian communities of the region wasimmense. But much more remains to be discovered beforehistorians will be able to sort out preciselyresponsibility between warring and innocent, and toidentify the causes for the events which resulted inthe death or removal of large numbers of the easternAnatolian population, Christian and Muslim alike. Statesmen and politicians make history, and scholarswrite it. For this process to work scholars must begiven access to the written records of the statesmenand politicians of the past. To date, the relevantarchives in the Soviet Union, Syria, Bulgaria andturkey all remain, for the most part, closed todispassionate historians. Until they become available,the history of the Ottoman Empire in the periodencompassed by H.J. Res. 192 (1915-1923) cannot beadequately known. We believe that the proper position for the UnitedStates Congress to take on this and related issues isto encourage full and open access to all historicalarchives and not to make charges on historical eventsbefore they are fully understood. Such charges asthose contained H.J. Res. 192 would inevitably reflectunjustly upon the people of turkey and perhaps setback irreparably progress historians are just nowbeginning to achieve in understanding these tragicevents. As the above comments illustrate, the history of theOttoman-Armenians is much debated among scholars; manyof who do not agree with the historical assumptionsembodied in the wording of H.J. Res. 192. By passingthe resolution Congress will be attempting todetermine by legislation which side of the historicalquestion is correct. Such a resolution, based onhistorically questionable assumptions, can only damagethe cause of honest historical inquiry, and damage thecredibility of the American legislative process. SIGNATORIES TO THE STATEMENT ON H.J. RES. 192ADDRESSED TO THE MEMBERS OF THE U.S. HOUSE OFREPRESENTATIVES RIFAAT ABOU-EL-HAJ Professor of History CaliforniaState University at Long Beach RODERIC DAVISON Professor of History George WashingtonUniversity SARAH MOMENT ATIS Professor of Turkish Language &Literature University of Wisconsin at Madison WALTER DENNY Professor of Art History Associate & NearEastern Studies University of Massachusetts KARL BARBIR Associate Professor of History SienaCollege (New York) DR. ALAN DUBEN Anthropologist, Researcher New YorkCity ILHAN BASGOZ Director of the Turkish Studies Programat the Department of Ural-Altaic Studies IndianaUniversity ELLEN ERVIN Research Assistant Professor of TurkishNew York University DANIEL G. BATES Professor of Anthropology HunterCollege, City University of New York CAESAR FARAH Professor of Islamic & Middle EastemHistory University of Minnesota ULKU BATES Professor of Art History Hunter College,City University of New York CARTER FINDLEY Associate Professor of History The OhioState University GUSTAV BAYERLE Professor of Uralic & Altaic StudiesIndiana University MICHAEL FINEFROCK, Professor of History College ofCharleston ANDREAS G. E. BODROGLIGETTI Professor of Turkic &Iranian languages University of California at LosAngeles ALAN FISHER Professor of History Michigan StateUniversity KATHLEEN BURRILL Associate Professor of TurkishStudies Columbia University CORNELL FLEISCHER Assistant Professor of HistoryWashington University (Missouri) TIMOTHY CHILDS Professorial Lecturer at SAIS, JohnsHopkins University PETER GOLDEN Professor of History Rutgers University,Newark SHAFIGA DAULET Associate Professor of PoliticalScience University of Connecticut TOM GOODRICH Professor of History Indiana Universityof Pennsylvania JUSTIN McCARTHY Associate Professor of HistoryUniversity of Louisville ANDREW COULD Ph.D. in Ottoman History Flagstaff,Arizona JON MANDAVILLE Professor of the History of the MiddleEast Portland State University (Oregon) MICHAEL MEEKER Professor of Anthropology University ofCalifornia at San Diego RHOADS MURPHEY Assistant Professor of Middle EasternLanguages, Cultures & History Columbia University THOMAS NAFF Professor of History & Director, MiddleEast Research Institute University of Pennsylvania PIERRE OBERLING Professor of History Hunter College ofthe City University of New York WILLIAM OCHSENWALD Associate Professor of HistoryVirginia Polytechnic Institute ROBERT OLSON Associate Professor of History Universityof Kentucky WILLIAM PEACHY Assistant Professor of the Judaic, NearEastern Languages & Literatures The Ohio StateUniversity DONALD QUATAERT Associate Professor of HistoryUniversity of Houston HOWARD REED Professor of History University ofConnecticut WILLIAM GRISWOLD Professor of History Colorado StateUniversity TIBOR HALASI-KUN Professor Emeritus of Turkish StudiesColumbia University WILLIAM HICKMAN Associate Professor of TurkishUniversity of California, Berkeley J. C. HUREWITZ Professor of Government Emeritus FormerDirector of the Middle East Institute (1971-1984)Columbia University JOHN HYMES Professor of History Glenville StateCollege West Virginia HALIL INALCIK University Professor of Ottoman History,Member of the American Academy of Arts & SciencesUniversity of Chicago RALPH JAECKEL Visiting Assistant Professor of TurkishUniversity of California at Los Angeles RONALD JENNINGS Associate Professor of History & AsianStudies University of Illinois JAMES KELLY Associate Professor of Turkish Universityof Utah KERIM KEY Adjunct Professor Southeastern UniversityWashington, D.C. DANKWART RUSTOW Distinguished University Professor ofPolitical Science City University Graduate School NewYork ELAINE SMITH Ph.D. in Turkish History Retired ForeignService Officer Washington, D·C· STANFORD SHAW Professor of History University ofCalifornia at Los Angele EZEL KURAL SHAW Associate Professor of HistoryCalifornia State University, Northridge METIN KUNT Professor of Ottoman History New York City FREDERICK LATIMER Associate Professor of HistoryRetired University of Utah AVIGDOR LEVY Professor of History Brandeis University BERNARD LEWIS Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of NearEastern History Princeton University DR. HEATH W. LOWRY Institute of Turkish Studies Inc.Washington, D.C. GRACE M. SMITH Visiting Lecturer in Turkish Universityof California at Berkeley JOHN MASSON SMITH, JR. Professor of History Universityof California at Berkeley DR. SVAT SOUCEK Turcologist, New York City ROBERT STAAB Assistant Director of the Middle EastCenter University of Utah JUNE STARR Associate Professor of Anthropology SUNYStony Brook JAMES STEWART-ROBINSON Professor of Turkish StudiesUniversity of Michigan DR. PHILIP STODDARD Executive Director, Middle EastInstitute Washington, D.C. FRANK TACHAU Professor of Political Science Universityof Illinois at Chicago METIN TAMKOC Professor of International Law andRegulations Texas Tech University DAVID THOMAS Associate Professor of History RhodeIsland College MARGARET L. VENZKE Assistant Professor of HistoryDickinson College (Pennsylvania) WARREN S. WALKER Home Professor of English & Directorof the Archive of Turkish Oral Narrative Texas TechUniversity DONALD WEBSTER Professor of Turkish History, Retired WALTER WEIKER Professor of Political Science RutgersUniversity JOHN WOODS Associate Professor of Middle EasternHistory University of Chicago MADELINE ZILFI Associate Professor of HistoryUniversity of Maryland