Armenian Orthodox Chruch Representative: Kemal was a Butcher, too

zaman.com ^ | Wednesday 13, 2005 | Anadolu News Agency (aa)

[Destro]

Armenian Orthodox Chruch Representative: Kemal was a Butcher, too

By Anadolu News Agency (aa)
Published: Wednesday 13, 2005
zaman.com

Armenian Orthodox Church representative Vertanes Kalayjian insulted Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the modern Republic of Turkey, at a conference held in the US Congress, saying: "Kemal was a butcher, too."

The Helsinki Commission, an independent organization of the US government conducting studies on issues like human rights and democracy, has organized a conference about "religious freedoms in Turkey" in the US House of Representatives in Rayburn.

During his speech at the conference Kalayjian said that despite a reconciliatory initiative by Turkey, he has no reason to share this optimism today.

Kalayjian referred to the founder of the Turkish Republic Ataturk as "Kemal" and said: "In my personal opinion, Kemal was a butcher, too."

Upon this, Fatih Yildiz, a diplomat from Turkey's Washington Embassy, who was not invited to the conference as a participant, but attended in the audience, started to talk and protested Kalayjian's remarks.

"They should have checked the background of all participants before organizing such a conference. At the US Congress, it is impossible to accept any insults against the founder of Turkey, Ataturk as it is equally impossible to accept insults against the founder of the US, George Washington " reacted Yildiz.

Moderators of the session indicated that they had noted these remarks and that Yildiz's criticism would be taken into consideration.

[10:41:00]

Washington, D.C.

[xJones]

They should have checked the background of all participants before organizing such a conference. At the US Congress, it is impossible to accept any insults against the founder of Turkey, Ataturk as it is equally impossible to accept insults against the founder of the US, George Washington " reacted Yildiz.

Ahem, George Washington wasn't a mass-murderer, or even an a accessory to mass-murder.

[A. Pole]

Bump

[Bombardier]

Kalayjian referred to the founder of the Turkish Republic Ataturk as "Kemal" and said: "In my personal opinion, Kemal was a butcher, too."

What else was to be expected? Kemal was a muslime. Can't escape from what his cult expected of him.

[JohnnyZ]

Mustafa Kemal deserves great credit for forcing Turkey into the 20th century, a century much of the Muslim world is only now discovering. Ataturk created the stable, peaceful, secular, modern nation of Turkey.

He was definitely authoritarian and I do not know the details of his misdeeds, which I'm sure exist.

[Destro]

That is like crediting Stalin for bringing industrialization to Russia.

[JohnnyZ]

Ataturk is not Stalin. Get a grip. A modern parallel might be a dictator like Musharraf, if he were to completely remake Paki society and government on a secular basis.

True, there are some who hate all Turks and seek to demonize them, but a lot of the rhetoric you hear coming from the "Armenian genocide" folks is just divorced from reality.

[Nachum]

That is like crediting Stalin for bringing industrialization to Russia.

And the trains ran on time.

[Destro]

Ataturk is not Stalin? How many Christians are left in the land that gave the world the word "Christian"? Greeks? Armenians? Any of the other dozen ethnicities that used to be part of Anatolia's ethnic mix?

[JohnnyZ]

Ah, so that's all Ataturk's fault because he's a Turk so he's evil. I get it!

[Destro]

It is the orders he gave.

[JohnnyZ]

It is the orders he gave.

Which you imply were "kill or remove all Christians from Turkey".

[Destro]

Go to Turkey and look around - see any left in pre Kemal era numbers?

[JohnnyZ]

You have not yet provided one single instance of wrongdoing by Ataturk. I'm sure he did plenty of bad stuff (not as bad as the racists claim) but you can't just say, "now you see 'em now you don't therefore Kemal is Stalin".