Ragıp Soylu - Washington, D.C.
The New York Times refused to run a pro-peace and
reconciliation advertisement over the 1915 Armenian atrocities because it did
not recognize the Armenian genocide, an e-mail correspondence between the
newspaper's advertising department and the Turkish-American Steering Committee
revealed yesterday.
The ad, which was published by the Washington Post today
instead, is written as an open letter addressing President Barack Obama and
members of Congress, informing them that the Turkish-American community would
march through downtown D.C. on April 24, beginning at the White House and
ending in front of the Turkish Embassy to commemorate the 100th anniversary of
the 1915 atrocities. "Our most sincere hope is that Armenian Americans
will join us on this walk. We will walk to pay our respects to the lives lost
from all ethnicities and creeds, and to kindle a spark for what we believe
should be our shared future" the letter reads.
However the e-mails obtained by Daily Sabah revealed that
The New York Times asked the Steering Committee that represents over 145 Turkish-American
associations to remove three out of five paragraphs of the letter, which
depicts the 1915 incidents as a civilian tragedy that cost the lives of
millions of Ottoman citizens including Armenians, Turks, Kurds and Arabs. The
targeted paragraphs underline the fact that there is no academic consensus on
the incidents by referencing substantial number of international scholars who
declined to label the atrocities as genocide. "My legal team crossed out
the first three paragraphs that do not pass acceptability," wrote Michael
Hayden, the officer responsible for Advocacy Advertising at The New York Times.
Hayden also said in the email that the legal team had wanted to exclude the
slogan "Unite Us, Not Divide us," and this sentence in the fifth
paragraph: "One hundred years ago, a brutal war started neither by Turks
nor Armenians cost the Ottoman Armenians, the Ottoman Turks and many other
groups so dearly."
The newspaper made it clear that the letter must be
changed before it could be published. Subsequently, emails from the Steering
Committee asking for an explanation, Mr. Hayden had explained that as a matter
of policy, they do not accept ads that deny great historical events that are
generally accepted as facts, including the Armenian "genocide," the
Holocaust, and the World Trade Center bombing.
Armenian community here in United States long pushed
President Barack Obama administration for the official recognition of the
genocide but failed this year too as senior White House officials stated on Wednesday
that g-word wouldn't be included in the Friday's statement on Armenian
Remembrance day.
Turkey and Armenia disagree on what happened during the
events that took place between 1915 and 1923, with Armenia saying that 1.5
million people were deliberately killed, and Turkey saying the deaths were a
result of deportations and civil strife.
Turkish-Armenian relations have remained strained for
decades due to Armenia's constant demand for Turkey to officially accept the
Armenian claims of "genocide." Tensions peaked in 1993 when Turkey
closed its borders with Armenia in reaction to the war in Nagorno-Karabakh and
in support of its close ally Azerbaijan.
Last year, then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made
attempts to thaw tensions between the two countries by issuing a message ahead
of the 99th anniversary of the 1915 incidents. In an unprecedented move, Prime
Minister Erdoğan extended his condolences to the grandchildren of the Armenians
who lost their lives in the 1915 events.
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder
Not: Yalnızca bu blogun üyesi yorum gönderebilir.