Month: April 2021

Categories
political

The Next Approach For Cyprus

Turkish Cypriot “leader” Ersin Tatar has rejected any deal on Cyprus that is not based on the occupied territories becoming a state. This is not surprising considering that Turkey has always demanded the partition of Cyprus. Mr. Tatar himself is not a real leader, but the representative of the Turkish government in Cyprus.

The United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres says he does not intend to give up. The Secretary General may be well intended but the fact is that Turkey and its puppet regime in the North of Cyprus have always refused to comply with United Nations Resolutions demanding the withdrawal of all Turkish troops and settlers. The problem has been that neither the United Nations nor any Government in the world has ever forced Turkey to comply with the Treaties of 1960 which established the Republic of Cyprus.

There really cannot be a change until there is a real commitment to forcing Turkey to comply with international law. In 1991, the first Bush administration went to war to force Iraq from Kuwait. The Clinton administration bombed Serbia during the 1990’s to force Belgrade to comply with western demands. Other cases could be cited in which the international community has been willing to force certain countries to comply with their demands.

It is not necessary to declare war on Turkey in order to liberate Cyprus. But there have to be means to punish Turkey for sustaining the occupation of Cyprus. Sanctions would be a legitimate start. Other measures intent on isolating Turkey could be imposed gradually.

There is no willingness to force Turkey to comply with international law and the norms of civilization. This has been the case since the formation of the Turkish Republic in 1923. Therefore, the United Nations and the powerful governments of the world are responsible for sustaining the Turkish occupation.

Cyprus must find means to liberate itself from the Turkish occupation. It certainly cannot depend on the so called civilized world. With the passing of time, it will become more difficult to reverse the occupation of Cyprus. This is what Turkey has been aiming for.

Both Cyprus and Greece need to demand from the United Nations that sanctions be imposed on Turkey. Ankara makes the decisions regarding occupied Cyprus. Cyprus should have ceased negotiating with officials of the Turkish occupation back in the days when Rauf Denktash served as Ankara’s man in the occupied territories.

Ersin Tatar says that is pointless to continue negotiating. In this, he is entirely correct but not in the way that he means. The Cypriots suffer a loss of dignity by sitting down with the representative of the Turkish Government who disguises himself as the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community. Cyprus should cease meeting with him and his associates and should isolate them much as Cyprus has worked to isolate the recognition of the occupied territories.

The Republic of Cyprus should demand from the United Nations that there must be no more contact with the occupied territories. They could then suggest that sanctions or penalties be enacted against Turkey. Perhaps the UN response will not be a positive one but at the very minimum what does Cyprus have to lose by hardening its position and refusing to meet with Turkey’s lackeys who have no intention of negotiating seriously?

It is time for an evaluation of the situation in Cyprus. There must be more effective ways for Cypriot leaders to work for the liberation of Cyprus than sitting down in useless negotiations with the occupiers. Nicosia should also consider the possibility of raising war crimes that were perpetrated by Turkish forces in Cyprus in 1974. They can ask interpol and the United Nations to actively pursue the murders who murdered Cypriot protesters Tasos Isaac and Solomos Solomou during the summer of 1996.

They should change their emphasis from useless negotiations to less ambitious but more aggressive goals in seeking to punish Turkey for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Cyprus should push the human rights angle among international organizations and governments more aggressively.

Categories
political

Sucking Up To Turkey Again

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has begun the process of groveling before Turkish dictator Erdogan. In the aftermath of the Biden administration’s formal recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Blinken has stated that Biden does not blame Turkey for the Ottoman perpetrated genocide. The reality is that the Ottomans alone are not responsible for Genocide.

The Genocide of the Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians began under the Ottomans but were completed in 1923 after the rise to power of the murderous Mustafa Kemal, the founder of the modern Turkish Republic. To suggest that modern Turkey in not complicit in Genocide is absolutely false and is demonstrative that the American foreign policy establishment is shamelessly groveling at the foot of the Turks.

Mustafa Kemal’s army systematically exterminated all Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians in territories that came under its control. This is historical fact. It is also true that Kemalist Generals such as the notorious Noureddin Pasha were responsible for the indiscriminate slaughter of civilian populatins. It was Noureddin Pasha who presided over the burning and destruction of the City of Smyrna. It was Noureddin Pasha who handed over Greek Archbishop Chrysostom to the Turkish mobs to be butchered.

Even after the war ended, Kemal presided over the mass ethnic cleansing of well over one million ethnic Greeks from Asia Minor and Eastern Thrace. Previous to this, panic had struck the Christian populations of Constantinople when it was still under the control of the Great Powers. The Christians within the city had become aware of the slaughter at Smyrna and at least 300,000 or so Greeks fled Constantinople in the belief a repetition of the slaughter at Smyrna would occur within the City.

During the Second World War, the Turkish Government imposed harsh taxes on Greeks, Armenians, and Jews. When members of these communities could not pay they were deported into the interior of Anatolia from which they never returned. In September 1955, the Turkish Government organized the pogroms against the Greek population of Constantinople and within a decade most Greeks had been ethnically cleansed.

In 1974, came the Turkish invasions and ethnic cleansing of Cyprus. Between 1984 and 1999, the Turkish military destroyed over 3,000 Kurdish villages in a dirty war against the Kurds. To suggest that modern Turkey is not guilty of Genocide is inaccurate and highly offensive. The Turkish Republic was born in Genocide.

Under the Erdogan regime, Turkey supported the Islamic State. The Islamic State perpetrated Genocide against Yazidis, Christians, and Shi’ite Muslims. Turkey aligns itself with the perpetrators of Genocide.

The Secretary of State is an utterly contemptible individual as are all State Department officials attempting to whitewash Turkey’s history of Genocide. This puts the Biden recognition in an entirely different light. Regrettably, what should have been a real achievement and a hope for progress in holding Turkey accountable for its long list of crimes against humanity has been cheapened by a foreign policy establishment bending over backwards to appease the murderous Turkish Republic.

In the future, all efforts in obtaining recognition of the Genocides perpetrated by Turkey against Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks should make it clear that the Turkish Republic is as much responsible for the extermination of Christians as the Ottoman Empire was.

Categories
Letters

Letter to the Catholic League

As a Greek Orthodox, I would like to thank the Catholic League for acknowledging President Biden’s official recognition of the Armenian Genocide. I also appreciate your references in the statement to the Greeks and the Assyrians who were targeted for extermination by the Turks. Your statement is entirely correct when it asserts that the genocide was based on the faith of the Armenians, as well as of the Greeks and Assyrians.


The book published in 2019 by Israeli historians Benny Morris and Dror Ze’evi called “The Thirty Year Genocide” makes the point that the slaughter of these Christian communities was based on their faith. The subsequent Turkish victory in 1922 over the Greek Army and the conquest of the newly established Republic of Armenia led to the further genocide of those Christian populations. It is refreshing to see that the victims of genocide are finally being recognized and commemorated. 
                   

Thank you for your statement
                  Theodore G. Karakostas 

Categories
political

Good Job Joe Biden

President Joe Biden has done a good thing and it is important to give him credit. Under Joe Biden, the White House has finally recognized the Armenian Genocide. Too many Presidents from both parties lacked the courage and integrity to refer to the Genocide.

Joe Biden did the right thing and he deserves praise and commendation for doing so. The Turks murdered one and a half million Armenians (and two million more Greeks and Assyrians) during the First World War. In actuality, the Genocide of all these Christians originated in 1894 according to the historians Benny Morris and Dror Ze’ev, authors of the outstanding “The Thirty Year Genocide”.

Turkey up to the present remains a murderous and bloodthirsty state. Let us hope that Joe Biden’s courageous recognition of the Armenian Genocide leads to a change in foreign policy that will serve not only as the basis of his administrations foreign policy, but as the permanent policy of administrations that will follow his.

It is about time. This is a significant victory. Congratulations once more to Joe Biden for doing the right thing and to the Armenian American community who worked hard to achieve this recognition.

Categories
Letters

Letter to National Public Radio

The following is in response to “Biden Calls the Massacres of Armenians Genocide” (April 24) by Peter Kenyon and Krishnadev Kalamur. There are certain parts of this news report that should not go unchallenged. For example, the report expresses concernabout damage to “already strained ties with Turkey.” Why should relations with Turkey be a concern for the United States? The Turkish Government is a collaborator and partner with murderous terrorist organizations such as Al Quada and ISIS. The Turkish regime has become a partner of modern day jihadists who share the genocidal tendencies of the Young Turks and Mustafa Kemal who committed genocide against Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians. 


Indeed, according to Israeli historians Benny Morris and Dror Ze’evi in their masterfully researched “The Thirty Year Genocide” three successive Turkish regimes were instrumental in the systematic slaughter of these three Christian populations that culminated in the plan to exterminate them. All Turkish regimes from the time of Mustafa Kemal who took over from the Young Turks have been playing western governments and media for suckers through a carefully orchestrated public relations campaign combined with outright threat sand intimidation should the democracies recognize the reality of Turkey’s genocidal past. There should be no concern whatsoever about strained ties with Turkey. 


Turkey should be targeted as an enemy for being an aggressor against peaceful democracies such as Armenia (with its partner Azerbaijan), Cyprus, Syria, and the Kurdish community living within Turkey itself. The assertion that Turkish leaders have voiced regret for the killings is a false statement. Turkish leaders up to the present time have never condemned or repudiated the genocide and crimes against humanity that were perpetrated against the Armenians, Greeks, or Assyrians. Turkish leaders have on occasion referred to their genocidal past by suggesting indirectly that a repetition of past genocide could be directed against Armenia or Greece if these peaceful countries dare to assert their rights against Ankara’s acts of aggression against them. 


Turkish leaders have over the past century presided over smaller scale crimes against humanity against the remnants of Christian populations that managed to survive the genocide and ethnic cleansing campaigns that occurred between 1914 and 1923. Turkish leaders deported thousands of Armenians, Greeks, and Jews to concentration camps in Anatolia during the Second World War. In 1955, Turkish leaders organized a pogrom against the Greek population of Constantinople and during the 1960’s deported thousands more from Turkey in a campaign of ethnic cleansing. 


In 1938, Turkey invaded Syria and in 1974 invaded and occupied the northern part of the Republic of Cyprus which led to the ethnic cleansing of 200,000 ethnic Greeks. Perhaps the gentlemen who compiled this news report could explain when exactly Turkish leaders have ever expressed regret for Turkish sponsored genocide? The late journalist Christopher Hitchens perfectly captured the mindset of Turkish leaders when he wrote about then Prime Minister (now President) Erdogan’s threat of physical violence against the Armenians of Constantinople in response to the efforts of Armenians in the west to achieve formal recognition of the Armenian Genocide. All Turkish leaders have been firmly consistent in denying the reality of Genocide and pursuing policies of continued repression and brutality against both the Christian and Kurdish communities living in Turkey. 


The report says that “many historians” recognize the Armenian Genocide. It would be more accurate to say that ALL historians recognize the Armenian Genocide, along with the Genocide of the Greeks and the Assyrians. Only propagandists and frauds serving as mercenaries at the behest of the Turkish regime such as the despicable Bernard Lewis have ever challenged the reality of Turkey’s murderous and genocidal past. 


The most offensive and outrageous assertion in the news report was to imply that the victims were responsible for their own fate. Accusations are made that Armenians were fighting with the Russians. The historical facts and the political realities of the times were that Russia was a civilized state protecting the Armenians from the murderous Ottoman Empire. The indiscriminate slaughter directed against men, women, and children of Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian ancestry demonstrated that the Ottoman Empire had no moral legitimacy and could not be permitted to rule over these Christian populations that had been systematically massacred, starved, and marched to death. Historical reality demonstrated unequivocally that the Russians were liberators. 


At the end of the first World War, an Armenian Republic was proclaimed and Greece was given parts of Asia Minor following the justified partition of the Ottoman Empire. The subsequent rise of Mustafa Kemal led to the final mass murders of Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians. The western democracies played a shameful and disgusting role in assisting Kemal’s troops as they burned the great city of Smyrna and slaughtered its Christian inhabitants. 


Support for Turkey by the western democracies over the past century has compromised them morally and politically. Up to the present time, Turkish leaders arrogantly presume to dictate to the democracies what they can and should not do. It is long past time that the Turkish question was settled. This necessitates terminating all aid to Turkey and assisting the Kurdish populations of Turkey and Syria who have served honorably and bravely with the United States against the Islamic State.


In addition, the United States should declare Turkey’s ally Azerbaijan a sponsor of terrorism and should unconditionally support Armenian rights to the whole of Nagorno Karabakh. Furthermore, the United States should demand from Turkey the full withdrawal of all Turkish troops and settlers from Cyprus and should back Greece against the aggressive designs being put forward by Turkey on Greek territory. 


President Biden’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide is to be praised. It should be followed up by the formal repudiation of past policies toward Turkey. This could be the dawn of a new era in which the United States does away with Turkey that has contributed nothing to western security but has made the west complicit in its horrific crimes and acts of aggression. 

                                     Theodore G. Karakostas 

Categories
political

Provoking Russia

President Joe Biden has announced sanctions will be imposed on Russia in response to the alleged interference in the 2016 elections and in response to the alleged hacking of American government agencies. The Biden administration is taking the world back to the era of the cold war. One vividly remembers the fear of a potential nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. A return to the Cold War is something that no responsible or rational leader wants.

In the post Cold War era the United States had the world to itself. Indeed, American neoconservatives predicted after the fall of the Soviet Union that the US would have about twenty years to do as it wishes without having to worry about the Russians. The United States attempted to impose its ideological vision on the world in other countries. The invasion of Iraq turned out to be disastrous as were the American interventions in Libya and Syria.

It really is time to put ideology aside and to focus on reality. The Russians have put troops on the border with Ukraine in response to increasing hostility from the west. Joe Biden must abandon his narcissism and engage the Russians. The United States and NATO must recognize Russia as a sovereign country with legitimate interests around the world from Ukraine (which borders Russia) to Syria. If the United States adopted a friendlier posture toward Russia the atmosphere would likely improve.

Russia is a nuclear country which makes the escalation of tensions very dangerous. There is no question America and NATO have provoked the Russians by attacking Serbia when that Russian ally was weak and by expanding NATO to the Russian border. American officials from George W. Bush to the Clintons to Biden have extremely high opinions of themselves and view themselves as champions of democracy even in the aftermath of wars of devastation.

Such unrealistic visions of the world in the aftermath of the horrors of Iraq and Syria are proving to be extremely dangerous and irresponsible. Hillary Clinton compared Putin to Hitler. Biden recently called Putin a killer. These are irresponsible and dangerous names to call the Russian President. Such name calling serves to escalate the already tense relations with Russia by making the emerging conflict personal.

Sanctions should not be imposed on Russia. Talks should be held between Washington and Moscow and the US should be looking to clear the air and to deescalate tensions. It should be remembered that Russia did not intervene in Crimea until American neoconservatives and ideological fanatics such as Geoffrey Pyatt and Victoria Nuland participated in the overthrow of Ukraine’s government.

No sane or rational person wants an escalation of tensions with Russia. One would think American officials would rethink their approaches to foreign policy in the aftermath of the disasters that occurred in the Middle East. The Republican Party emerged as the voice of reason on Russian matters during the administration of Donald Trump.

The Republican Party should warn Biden against escalating tensions with Russia and should maintain Trump’s America first policies. If Biden wishes to adopt a hostile posture toward the Russians, the Republicans should make it clear that they will not support him.

Categories
faith

Ethno Martyr Commemorated

On April 10 of the Church calendar we commemorated the martyrdom of Patriarch Gregory V who was executed by hanging at the gate of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on the orders of the Ottoman Sultan in retaliation for the Greek War of Independence. Patriarch Gregory was a righteous martyr who gave his life for Christ and for the Greek nation. His death was a sacrifice for others.

In the aftermath of the conquest of Constantinople, the Ottoman Sultan reached an agreement with the new Patriarch Gennadios. The Patriarch was to discourage any form of revolutionary activity in return for a degree of autonomy for the Greek Orthodox Church. The agreement had many problems with it but it was as good an agreement as possible following the complete collapse of the remnant of Byzantium.

Following the Greek uprising, the Sultan in his wrath ordered the execution of the Patriarch and several other Bishops. The Patriarch Gregory was a very frail and skinny man. It took many excruciating hours for him to die. Even after death, the Sultan refused to permit his body to be removed. Furthermore, the Sultan demanded an immediate election for a successor to Gregory.

The Synod in a state of terror elected Patriarch Eugenios as his successor. The new Patriarch was forced to enter the Patriarchate through the gate in which his predecessors body was still hanging. Eventually, the Patriarchs body was dragged through the streets of Constantinople until it was thrown into the bosporus.

His remains were recovered by the Russians and a state funeral was given to the martyred Patriarch by the Russians. In 1871, the Russians gave the Patriarchs relics to Greece where they can be venerated by the faithful within the Annunciation Cathedral of Athens. The Patriarch was canonized as a Saint in 1921 on the centennial of his martyrdom.

Patriarch Gregory had become aware of plans for a Greek uprising. The Patriarch stated that he could not become involved because of his delicate position in the Ottoman Empire. But he did not reveal plans for the uprising to the Turks and it is for this reason that he was executed. Patriarch Gregory’s death also spared countless numbers of Orthodox Greeks within the Ottoman Empire from potential mass slaughter.

The Turks began organizing terror and violence against the Greeks of Constantinople, Smyrna, and Thessaloniki as retribution for the Greek uprising. The death of Gregory V helped alleviate the Sultan’s anger and the massive violence against the Greeks still within the Empire subsided. The British and the Russians both expressed anger and outrage at the execution of the Patriarch and in Russia popular opinion turned heavily against the Ottomans.

Patriarch Gregory V was a martyr and a Saint of the Church. His death served as a sacrifice in place countless men, women, and children among his flock. His execution ended what had been his third tenure on the Patriarchal throne. The Patriarch had been removed from the Patriarchate twice before for political reasons. As an Orthodox traditionalist he had spent much time on Mount Athos.

He was also known as a staunch conservative in matters of faith. His writings included criticism of the Latin faith and a defense of Orthodoxy. Patriarch Gregory was not interested in what is today called “ecumenism”. He has been criticized for excommunicating the the Greek Revolutionaries.

But in proper context, this excommunication was not considered valid or binding by the Greek Revolutionaries who understood the difficult position the Patriarch had been in. May the martyred Patriarch Gregory intervene on behalf of suffering Christians throughout the middle east today, and may he watch over the present Ecumenical Patriarch and correct him from his misdeeds.

Categories
political

Turkish Consul and the Archbishop

Archbishop of America was invited by the Turkish Ambassador to the Turkish Consulate

The new Turkish Consul has invited Archbishop Elpidophoros of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese for a visit. The invitation may very well be innocent but when was the last time that any hierarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate met with any officials of the Russian government or even representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church. The schism in Orthodoxy emanating from the Phanar’s meddling in Ukraine still threatens the unity of the Orthodox Church.

It would be interesting to find out what the Archbishop discussed with the Turkish Consul. Did the Archbishop protest the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a Mosque? It should be remembered that the Russian Orthodox Church and the primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (the real Ukrainian Church) condemned the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a Mosque. Did the Archbishop discuss the Turkish occupation of Cyprus and the destruction of over five hundred Greek and Armenian Churches within the Turkish occupied territories?

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese has been waving the Greek flag in the run up to the anniversary of Greek Independence. Did the Archbishop protest Turkish threats of war against Greece and Cyprus? It is interesting that this news item from the Orthodox Times did not mention any specifics discussed at the meeting.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate has used nationalist rhetoric against the Russians since it invaded the canonical territory of the Russian Church in Ukraine. Let us see if the exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in America expressed sentiments regarding Hellenism in his meeting with the Turkish Consul.

Categories
Letters

Letter to the LA Times

The following letter is in response to the April 5 op-ed on the Armenian genocide. The Times deserves praise for taking a moral andprincipled stance in calling on the President to formally denounce Turkey’s policies against the Armenians in 1915 for what they were-genocide. The Ottoman government of the time led by the notorious Young Turks likewise targeted the Greeks and the Assyrians in whatwas a policy of genocide of Christians under Turkish rule. The recent scholarly work, “The Thirty Year Genocide” by Israeli scholars and experts Benny Morris and Dror Ze’evi makes very clear that Turkish leaders targeted these groups for extermination largely on the basisof their faith. 


Furthermore, the genocide of the Christians did not cease after the downfall of the Young Turks. The infamous Mustafa Kemal who emergedas the successor to the Young Turks proceeded to complete the campaign of mass murder and ethnic cleansing that his predecessors had begun. Kemal’s armies slaughtered all Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek Christian communities that had managed to survive the Young Turks.In fact, the foundation of modern Turkey by Mustafa Kemal was achieved through the genocide of these Christian communities. 


The legacy of the Turkish orchestrated genocide can be seen today through Turkish expansionism in Syria and by the support given by Turkey to the genocidal ambitions of Azerbaijan which instigated a war of aggression against democratic Armenia. Furthermore, Turkey has been threateningthe democratic countries of Greece and Cyprus. Ankara has claimed several Greek islands as being Turkish despite the fact that they are recognized as part of Greece by international treaties. Turkish leaders disregard that the populations of these islands are exclusively Greek and therefore any Turkish assault upon them would make possible a repetition of the mass slaughter of Greek and Armenian Christians that occurred in Smyrna in 1922 when that freed city was reconquered by the Turks. 
President Biden must by all means condemn the Armenian genocide. He should also condemn the genocide of the Greeks and Assyrians as well.Then his administration should proceed to take action to punish Turkey for its acts of aggression against Greece and Cyprus and to punish Azerbaijan for its aggression against Armenia.

Theodore G. Karakostas 

Boston